COURT INTERVENTION TO ADDRESS THE MENTAL-HEALTH NEEDS OF MENTALLY-ILLOFFENDERS

Objective: The authors examined the outcomes of mental health consulta tion provided to a municipal court and the court's resulting intervent ions for mentally ill persons who committed minor crimes. One aim of t he consultation program was to avoid criminalization of mentally ill p eople who committed minor offenses. Methods: Clinical and forensic rec ords of 96 persons charged with misdemeanors and referred to a clinica l psychologist court consultant for evaluation were studied. Determina tion of good versus poor outcome during a one-pear follow-up period wa s based on clients' status during the year after the court's dispositi on. Poor outcome was defined as the occurrence of one or more of four events during the follow-up year : psychiatric hospitalization, arrest , significant physical violence against persons, and homelessness. Res ults: Fifty-six defendants (58 percent) were mandated to receive judic ially monitored mental health treatment, as recommended by the psychol ogist court consultant, and 33 of them (59 percent) had a good one-yea r outcome. The relationship was statistically significant. Conclusions : Nonclinicians in the criminal justice system should have psychiatric assistance in making appropriate dispositions for mentally ill person s. If the judge is considering mental health treatment as a condition for eliminating or reducing punishment, then, to the extent justified by the law and the nature of the offense, the judge should both mandat e and monitor the treatment on an ongoing basis.