What can we do to to meet the mental needs of youth in terms of preventing incarceration?

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) recently released a study on delinquent youth called the “Functional Impairment in Delinquent Youth.” Nearly all detained youth eventually return to their communities and the findings presented in this series provide empirical evidence that can be used to better understand how to meet youth’s mental health needs and provide appropriate services while in detention and after their release. The authors hope the study will help guide innovative juvenile justice policy and create a better future for youth with psychiatric disorders in the justice systems.

Some highlights include juvenile functional impairment in the school, work, home, and community settings; and in terms of behavior toward others, mood and psychiatric concerns, self-harm, substance use, and rational thought. The authors also assess youth functioning by gender, race/ethnicity, and age and discuss future implications.

This study is part of the Beyond Detention series, which examines the results of the Northwestern Juvenile Project—a large-scale longitudinal study of youth detained at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago, IL.

Posted by MCCD on Thursday, December 12th, 2013 @ 11:43AM
Categories: Juvenile Competency, Juvenile Defense