A Mental Health and Juvenile Justices: Moving Toward More Effective Systems of Care

Interviews with mental health experts, correctional officials, and parents, along with media reports and congressional investigations, confirm that the juvenile justice system is being used as a system of last resort for many children with mental disorders. The consensus is that these children would be more effectively served in the community, and that mental health services provided by the juvenile justice system are inadequate to meet the need. Available evidence suggests that more than 70 percent of the children in the juvenile justice system have a mental health disorder and approximately
20 percent have a serious mental illness.¹

These children with mental health disorders land on the doorstep of the juvenile justice system in a number of ways. Some parents have their children arrested for minor infractions because they cannot find or afford mental health care and the child's behavior has begun to threaten his or her personal safety and that of the family. Other children get arrested on their own by committing minor offenses, such as drinking in public and vandalism. Still other children have committed serious crimes that most agree require secure placement in the justice system. (Excerpt from report)