Laura Honegger

Type

Text

Type

Dissertation

Advisor

Cohen, Shelly | Hayward, R. Anna | Linden, Pamela | Marmo, Robert | Ford, William.

Date

2015-05-01

Keywords

Social work | mental health court, problem-solving courts

Department

Department of Social Welfare.

Language

en_US

Source

This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.

Identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/11401/76781

Publisher

The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.

Format

application/pdf

Abstract

The prevalence of mental illness among inmates represents a major public health concern within the United States. Instead of providing needed treatment and resources, evidence suggests that jails and prisons typically exacerbate symptoms of mental illness. Mental health courts arose as one response to this concern, with a primary aim of reducing criminal recidivism. These courts typically divert an individual with mental illness away from incarceration in return for participation in monitored mental health treatment. Thus far, mental health court research has neglected the potential utility of criminogenic risk factors and their ability to impact recidivism outcomes. A retrospective analysis of 165 suburban mental health court participants was conducted to explore and compare the strength of demographic, psychosocial, psychiatric, and criminogenic characteristics to predict in-program non-compliance, program failure, and post-graduation re-recidivism. Stepwise likelihood ratio logistic regression analyses were conducted to estimate models that accurately predicted the presence of any new arrests, bench warrants, jail sanctions, or jail days during participation, as well as models that predicted program failure, and, finally, re-arrest of graduates two years after program completion. Of many psychosocial, clinical, and demographic factors examined, only gender, childhood emotional abuse, and homelessness were significant predictors of in-program non-compliance. In contrast, many criminogenic risk factors were strong predictors of in-program non-compliance and program failure. These factors included prior probation or parole violation, juvenile justice residential placement, lower levels of educational attainment, and substance abuse or dependence. These results support the use of a multi-dimensional framework that includes demographic, psychosocial, and clinical characteristics, but emphasizes the importance of criminogenic risk factors in mental health court program design, policy formulation, and research. | 216 pages

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