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                            Funding & Awards
 Assessing the Effectiveness of Juvenile Mental Health Courts as a Public Safety Strategy
Note:
              This awardee has received supplemental funding. This award detail page includes information about both the original award and supplemental awards.
Award Information
Awardee
              Policy Research Associates Inc
Award #
              2009-IJ-CX-0038
Funding Category
              Continuation
Location
                    Delmar, NY
Congressional District
              20
Status
              Closed
Funding First Awarded
              2009
Total funding (to date)
              $901,800
Original Solicitation
              NIJ FY 09 ORE Crime and Justice Research
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2009, $700,200)
The purpose of this study is 'Improving the Criminal Justice System:  Prosecution and Defense' by assessing the impact of an innovative and new alternative to case processing and disposition of justice-involved youth who have mental health disorders.  Specifically, the grantee will examine the impact of Juvenile Mental Health Courts on public safety, treatment and service involvement, and justice outcomes.  The judges who have initiated Juvenile Mental Health Courts, as well as specialty or 'problem solving' courts, recognize a failure of typical case processing in meeting goals of public safety and community justice with selected offender populations.  The rapid expansion of specialty courts underscores the initiative of justice professionals to redefine and rethink how to best use case processing and dispositional alternatives to reach public safety goals and meet the needs of juvenile offenders with mental health disorders.  Despite the considerable enthusiasm there is almost no empirical data on their effectiveness.  In this study, the research team will collaborate with the juvenile justice professionals in two study sites to conduct the first systematic examination of the impact of juvenile mental health courts.
The goal of this study is to conduct the first-ever rigorous evaluation of juvenile mental health courts and their impact on the processing, treatment, and outcomes of justice-involved youth.  By comparing a juvenile mental health court (JMHC) sample in two courts with a 'treatment as usual' (JTAU) sample in each site, the study will provide critical data on how this emerging and innovative case processing affects public safety and youth outcomes.  As such, the study will collect data in three areas necessary for understanding juvenile mental health courts and their impact:  (1) the youth they serve, (2) the interventions they provide, and (3) the outcomes they produce.
Methodology:  quasi-experimental design assessing characteristics of youth served by two juvenile mental health courts and the specific interventions provided by the programs.  Comparison groups will be drawn from the pool of justice-involved youth at each site not referred for participation in the juvenile mental health court.  The research team will also interview key informants at each site about the JMHC goals, structure, and processes.
ca/ncf
Supplemental Award 1 (Fiscal Year 2010, $201,600)
This project is a logical continuation of "Assessing the Effectiveness of Juvenile Mental Health Courts as a Public Safety Strategy."  Building on this study, the purpose of this additional work is twofold:  1) to identify the responsible court and procedures for adjudicating juvenile-related DUI/DWI cases in 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories; and 2) to compare outcomes for different court procedures.  The goals of this study are to determine if there is a type of specialty and non-specialty court and if these court procedures are more effective in reducing recidivism and in identifying drinking disorders among youth arrested for alcohol-related DUI/DWI offenses.  This works seeks to answers six research questions related to juvenile DWI/DUI cases, court processing, adjudication, and program outcome.  This project will involve a national survey and a three-site outcome study. nca/ncf


  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      Seven Common Characteristics of Juvenile Mental Health Courts
                  Seven Common Characteristics of Juvenile Mental Health Courts

  
Date Created: September 14, 2009
    
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