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Blueprint for Change: A Comprehensive Model for the Identification and Treatment of Youth with Mental Health Needs in Contact with the Juvenile Justice System

NCJ Number
226427
Author(s)
Kathleen R. Skowyra; Joseph J. Cocozza Ph.D.
Date Published
2007
Length
147 pages
Annotation
This report presents a conceptual and practical framework for juvenile justice and mental health systems to use when developing strategies, policies, and services aimed at improving mental health services for youth involved with the juvenile justice system, resulting in a model to identify and treat mental disorders among youth at key stages of the juvenile justice process.
Abstract
The increasing awareness and concern about the unmet mental health needs of large numbers of youth in contact with the juvenile justice system has been accompanied over the past few years by the development of improved policies, strategies, and practices for responding to this population. The goal of this document, supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, is to capture this activity and present it in a way that looks at the juvenile justice system as a continuum, from intake to reentry, summarizing what is known about the best way to identify and treat mental disorders among youth at key stages of juvenile justice processing, and offering recommendations, guidelines, and examples for how best to do this. To develop the model, it was necessary to establish a framework to guide the effort. Nine principles were developed to serve as the underpinning and guide all subsequent efforts to improve the coordination and delivery of mental health screening, assessment, and treatment for youth in contact with the juvenile justice system. From these principles, four cornerstones emerged that formed the infrastructure of the model and provided a framework for putting the principles into practice: collaboration, identification, diversion, and treatment. Critical intervention points were identified and included: initial contact with law enforcement, intake, detention, judicial processing, dispositional alternatives, and reentry. The model was informed by the most comprehensive study of mental health problems conducted to date among youth in the juvenile justice system. The comprehensive model provides a theoretical and practical framework for responding to the large numbers of youth in the juvenile justice system with mental health needs. Figures, appendixes, and references