Article

Mental Health in the Context of Canada's Youth Justice System (invited paper)

Authors:
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors.

Abstract

The high prevalence rate of mental health difficulties in youth involved in the justice system raises concerns as well as numerous questions for research, policy, and practice. In this article we examine several aspects of the intersection between mental health and Canadian youth justice policy and practice, with a particular focus on describing models of the relationship between mental health problems and justice system involvement and considering the implications of these models for the effective assessment and treatment of justice-involved youth. Our review highlights that research examining this relationship has suffered because of a lack of communication between clinical and correctional researchers, and that the assumption regarding the causal role of mental health issues in offending behaviour needs much more attention. Recommendations following this review include widespread mental health screening for justice-involved youth, greater uptake on the available sections of the Youth Criminal Justice Act that allow for specialized assessments and sentencing for youth with mental health concerns, and a research agenda that focuses on the relationship between mental health concerns and criminal behaviour in both boys and girls.

No full-text available

Request Full-text Paper PDF

To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.

... In the case of children and youth, although it is estimated that ten to twenty percent of young people worldwide experience mental health challenges (Kieling et al., 2011), very little is known about their experiences of police, policing, and police encounters as a mental health intervention. The little that does exist is focused primarily on young people already involved with the criminal justice system, thus post-police involvement (Drerup et al., 2008;Peterson-Badali et al., 2015;Shufelt & Cocozza, 2006). Furthermore, the scarce information we have is dispersed across research areas, for example, in studies examining referrals to police and arrest rates among youth receiving mental health care (Robst et al., 2013;Vander Koep et al., 1997), and the mental health and/or substance use needs of convicted youth who, at some point in their encounters with the justice system, had police involvement (Carswell et al., 2004;Chassin, 2008;Erickson & Butters, 2005;Odgers et al., 2005;Teplin et al., 2002;Townsend et al., 2010). ...
Article
Full-text available
In this paper, we present the outcomes of a narrative study of thirteen interviews with six child and youth mental health practitioners and seven caregivers with a child between 12 and 24 years old involved with the mental health system and with a history of police involvement. The focus of the interviews was the how young people involved with the mental health system and their caregivers had experienced police encounters. Two main categories of themes emerged. Presented here are the outcomes in terms of the reasons for and nature of the police encounters. Across the interviews, police services were accessed primarily for support to deescalate physical or verbal situations involving a distressed child. As two subcategories, police encounters were described as negative and associated with stigma and criminalization, while positive encounters were associated with the appropriate use of police authority. A call is made for more compassionate policing.
... In other words, responding officers may be threatening or laying charges because of the belief that, once formally charged, the young person can be "forced" into treatment through the youth justice system. However, these beliefs are misguided, as other research suggests that the youth justice system is ill-equipped to support the mental health needs of its criminally involved youth (Drerup et al., 2008;Moskos et al., 2007;Odgers et al., 2005;Peterson-Badali et al., 2015). Essentially, these outcomes suggest psychiatrically distressed children and youth and their caregivers are passed back and forth and getting caught between the mental health and police systems-caught by the ways the systems are working, or more precisely, not working, together, the result being the criminalization of young people facing mental health crises. ...
Article
Full-text available
In this paper, we present the outcomes of a narrative study of 13 interviews with six child and youth mental health practitioners and seven caregivers with a child between 12 and 24 years old involved with the mental health system and with a history of police involvement. The focus of the interviews was on the experiences of young people involved with the mental health system, and their caregivers, with police encounters. Two categories of themes emerged. Presented here are the outcomes that show the contradictions between the child and youth mental health and police systems as contributing factors to the stigmatization and criminalization of psychiatrically distressed children and youth. A call is made for a collaboration between the mental health and police systems rooted in a commitment for de-policing crisis responses in child and youth mental health.
Article
In early 2021, half of the youth detention centres in Ontario, Canada, were abruptly closed. We ask how this development can be understood in relation to broader explanations of youth detention closures in Canada, which cite the success of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) and the best interests of youth, and the broader international context. Using a process tracing methodology to analyse existing data, we demonstrate that these closures had less to do with the interests of youth, and were primarily a cost‐effective calculation. We demonstrate this by pointing to three key developments: (i) the transference of institutionalised carceral logics onto community service providers; (ii) an undermining of the principle of ‘relationship custody’; and (iii) a focus on high‐capacity and high‐security detention centres, over smaller, locally situated open detention centres.
Article
Detained youth display substantive mental health and substance use problems. However, Canadian information is limited. The purpose of this study was 1) to assess mental health and substance use problems of youth in residential detention/custody facilities in Ontario, Canada, at intake, using the interRAI Youth Justice in Custodial Facilities (YJCF), and 2) to explore the added value of using the YJCF in addition to the facilities’ standard intake tool. This paper presents the findings of this pilot study. Drawing on all 20 youth secure custody facilities in Ontario, Canada, two groups were created through stratified random group assignment: 10 intervention and 10 non-intervention sites. Staff recruited eligible admitted youth aged 16-19 years between November 2014 and May 2016, with 164 in intervention and 143 in non-intervention arms. Substance use and traumatic life events were reported for the majority of youth. For youth who were assessed using the YJCF, a substantial number of integrated evidence-informed care plans, or Collaborative Action Plans (CAPs) were triggered for specific areas of risk and need. The majority of intervention group youth with YJCFs had CAPs triggered for substance use, interpersonal conflict, traumatic life events, education challenges, transitions and family functioning problems, while for almost half the youth, CAPs were triggered for harm to others and suicidality/purposeful self-harm. The YJCF, compared to the standard admission tool, identified a greater percentage of youth with mental health and substance use problems. Implications for providing expanded assessment for youth are discussed.
Article
Full-text available
Mental health courts are growing in popularity as a form of jail diversion for justice system-involved people with serious mental illness. This is the first prospective multisite study on mental health courts with treatment and control groups. To determine if participation in a mental health court is associated with more favorable criminal justice outcomes than processing through the regular criminal court system and to identify defendants for whom mental health courts produce the most favorable criminal justice outcomes. Longitudinal study. Four mental health courts in San Francisco County, CA, Santa Clara County, CA, Hennepin County (Minneapolis), MN, and Marion County (Indianapolis), IN. A total 447 persons in the mental health court (MHC) and 600 treatment-as-usual (TAU) controls. Eighteen months of pre-entry and postentry data for 4 jurisdictions. All subjects were interviewed at baseline, and 70% were interviewed at 6 months. Objective outcome data were obtained on all subjects from Federal Bureau of Investigation arrest records, jails, prisons, and community treatment providers. Annualized rearrest rates, number of rearrests, and postentry incarceration days. The MHC and TAU samples are similar on the major outcome measures in the pre-entry 18-month period. In the 18 months following treatment, defined as entry into mental health court, the MHC group has a lower annualized rearrest rate, fewer post-18-month arrests, and fewer post-18-month incarceration days than the TAU group. The MHC graduates had lower rearrest rates than participants whose participation was terminated both during MHC supervision and after supervision ended. Factors associated with better outcomes among the MHC participants include lower pre-18-month arrests and incarceration days, treatment at baseline, not using illegal substances, and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder rather than schizophrenia or depression. Mental health courts meet the public safety objectives of lowering posttreatment arrest rates and days of incarceration. Both clinical and criminal justice factors are associated with better public safety outcomes for MHC participants.
Article
Purpose The purpose of this review is to quantitatively review the accumulating MHC studies that have been conducted of both peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed studies. The primary objective of the current study is to provide a clearer picture as to whether MHCs are an empirically efficacious intervention for a significant health and criminological problem.Methods This study used meta-analytic techniques to assess the effectiveness of MHCs. A systematic search of the literature and electronic databases through July 2009, as well as an e-mail survey of mental health court program directors, generated 18 studies.Results Aggregate effects for recidivism outcomes revealed a mean effect size of -0.54 and -0.55 among quasi-experimental studies analyzed separately. There was a positive improvement among a limited number of clinical outcomes.Conclusions Our findings suggest that MHCs are an effective intervention but this assertion is not definitive. Methodologically, many of the studies are not as strong as would be ideal thus limiting our conclusions.
  • Shannon Brennan
Shannon Brennan, Youth court statistics in Canada, 2010/2011, online: Juristat <http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2012001/article/11645-eng.htm>.
Effect of Mental Health Courts on Arrests and Jail Days: A Multisite Study
  • J Henry
  • Steadman
Henry J. Steadman et al, "Effect of Mental Health Courts on Arrests and Jail Days: A Multisite Study" (2011) 68 Arch. General Psychiatry 167 at 172.