A SAMHSA research initiative assessing the effectiveness of jail diversionprograms for mentally ill persons

For nearly 30 years jail diversion programs have bad wide support: as a way to prevent people with mental illnesses and substance use disorders from u nnecessarily entering the criminal justice system by providing more appropr iate community-based treatment. Although these programs have had wide suppo rt, very few systematic outcomes studies have examined their effectiveness. This paper discusses findings on rates of incarceration of persons with se rious mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorders in U.S. jails , summarizes recently completed research on jail diversion programs, and de scribes a three-year-research initiative begun ih 1997 by the Substance Abu se and Meatal Health Services Administration that uses a standardized proto col to examine the characteristics and outcomes of various types of jail di version programs in nine sites throughout the U.S.