U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

of 1,000 Rochester youth (who were in the seventh grade when

the study began in 1987–88) and their parents. By the time they

reached age 21, 40 percent of the original Rochester youth participants were parents. The intergenerational study will combine

data obtained from the original study of the Rochester participants and their parents with new data on the children of the original participants. This approach provides a unique opportunity to

examine and track the development of delinquent behavior across

three generations in a particularly high-risk sample. The results of

the study should provide very useful findings with policy implications for prevention programs. OJJDP is funding the program

through an interagency agreement with the National Institute of

Mental Health.

Mental Health Issue of OJJDP’s Journal

OJJDP devoted an issue of its journal, Juvenile Justice (Volume

VII, Number 1, April 2000), to the topic of mental health. Journal

articles discuss youth with mental health disorders and emerging

responses to them; Wraparound Milwaukee, a program that has

successfully integrated a broad array of services to better meet the

mental health needs of youth who have been adjudicated delinquent; and suicide prevention in juvenile facilities.

Mental Health-Juvenile Justice: Building

an Effective Service Delivery Model

The goal of this new OJJDP-funded initiative is to create a model

for the delivery of mental health and related substance abuse services to youth involved with the juvenile justice system. Researchers will review the literature on theory and best practices in the

areas of screening, assessment, service provision, and quality

assurance; conduct a survey of mental health needs and services

among system-involved youth in selected regions; visit localities

engaged in promising programs; and, based on these activities,

develop a model to provide comprehensive mental health services

at every point in the juvenile justice system. The model will subsequently be replicated and evaluated at several sites. This is the

largest mental health initiative ever undertaken by OJJDP. The

OJJDP Mental Health Initiatives

By Kay McKinney

To prevent and reduce juvenile delinquency, it is necessary to

address not only the offenses that bring youth to the attention of

the juvenile justice system but also the underlying problems

these youth face, including mental health problems. The Office

of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) recognizes the critical importance of mental health problems in the

lives of youth involved in the juvenile justice system and has

been working for several years on a number of projects to increase knowledge and improve available services. This Fact

Sheet highlights a number of current activities in this area.

Assessing Alcohol, Drug, and Mental

Disorders Among Juvenile Detainees

Researchers at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, IL, have been studying alcohol, drug, and mental disorders

among a large sample of juvenile detainees in the Cook County

Detention Center in Chicago since November 1995. With funding from OJJDP, other Federal agencies, and private foundations,

a longitudinal component was added to this study in November

1998. Investigators are tracking and reinterviewing members of

the original sample, regardless of whether they have returned to

the community, remain incarcerated, or have left the immediate

area. The longitudinal study is allowing researchers to assess the

developmental course of substance abuse and mental disorders

among juvenile detainees; examine service availability, service

use, and barriers to service access; and identify patterns of risky

behavior in the areas of violence, substance use, and HIV/AIDS.

An OJJDP Fact Sheet, Assessing Alcohol, Drug, and Mental

Disorders in Juvenile Detainees, describes this research project.

Intergenerational Transmission of

Antisocial Behavior

Researchers at the University at Albany, State University of New

York, are examining the development of childhood antisocial

behavior in a three-generation prospective panel study. The focus

of this study is on the children of current participants in OJJDP’s

Rochester (NY) Youth Development Study, a longitudinal study

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research is being conducted by Policy Research Associates, Inc.,

of Delmar, NY.

Multisite, Multimodal Treatment Study

of Children With ADHD

In 1992, the National Institute of Mental Health began a study of

the long-term efficacy of stimulant medication and intensive behavioral and educational treatment for children with attention

deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). OJJDP’s participation,

which began in fiscal year 1998, is helping to fund continued

investigation into these children’s delinquent behavior and contact

with the legal system, including arrests and court referrals. OJJDP

staff have helped researchers revise one of their data collection

instruments to capture information that would be of interest to

juvenile justice researchers and practitioners. Some of the children involved in the study, who currently range in age from 9 to

13, have already come in contact with the juvenile justice system

for behaviors such as truancy, fighting, and stealing. A May 2001

OJJDP Fact Sheet, A Treatment Study of Children With Attention

Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, describes study findings.

Pathways to Desistance: A Prospective

Study of Serious Adolescent Offenders

OJJDP-funded research at the University of Pittsburgh is following 1,200 serious adolescent offenders from Phoenix, AZ, and

Philadelphia, PA, for 3 years after their involvement with the juvenile justice system. Researchers will interview the youth and individuals who know them; review official records (e.g., arrest

records, institutional records, treatment summaries); and explore

background characteristics (e.g., services received and sanction

histories), mediating factors (e.g., vocational opportunities),

changes in functioning (e.g., antisocial/prosocial behavior), and

involvement with interventions and sanctions during the followup

period. Data analysis will focus on identifying subgroups of offenders, differentiating those who continue offending from those

who desist. The researchers will evaluate the impact of life events,

treatment interventions, and sanctions on patterns of antisocial

and prosocial behavior, mental health, and social functioning. 

Tribal Youth Program Mental Health

Initiative

OJJDP’s Tribal Youth Program is providing funds to American

Indian and Alaska Native tribal communities to improve mental

health services for tribal at-risk youth and juvenile offenders. The

first six grantees selected for this program are engaged in a variety of diagnostic, service, and prevention projects, all with a

significant mental health component. The grantees are the Hannahville Indian Community (Potawatomi Band) of Wilson, MI;

the Chugachmiut of the Chugach Region, Anchorage, AK; the

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Nixon, NV; the Mississippi Band of

Choctaw Indians of Philadelphia, MS; the Fort Peck Assiniboine

and Sioux Tribes of Poplar, MT; and the South Central Foundation of Anchorage, AK. OJJDP will competitively select additional grantees in 2001.

For Further Information

The information in this Fact Sheet was extracted from OJJDP

Annual Report 2000, which includes a full chapter on OJJDP’s

current mental health initiatives. All publications mentioned in

the Fact Sheet are available from OJJDP’s Juvenile Justice

Clearinghouse (800–638–8736) and at OJJDP’s Web site

(ojjdp.ncjrs.org).

Kay McKinney is a Senior Writer-Editor in OJJDP’s Information

Dissemination and Planning Unit.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a component 

of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice

Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice,

and the Office for Victims of Crime.

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