Treating Criminal Justice-Involved Serious Mental Illness (SMI) Clients in the Community

Authors

Brittany Hood, Texas A & M International University

Abstract

With criminal justice-involved individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) at an all-time high in the criminal justice system, research on community mental health centers (CMHCs) demonstrates a lack of treatment for justice-involved persons. Scholars have argued that providing appropriate treatment to criminal justice-involved individuals with SMI could alleviate symptoms. Therefore improving the effectiveness of mental health treatment to reduce recidivism in this population is paramount. The current study used a qualitative approach to examine how community service providers perceived organizational-level variables and legal constraints to influence treatment decisions for justice-involved individuals with SMI. Findings suggest three critical implications for policy and practice. First, CMHCs remain underfunded. Second, service providers perceived their greatest budget and legal constraints to be driven by Medicaid. Third, and most importantly, collaboration with the criminal justice system can help clients receive the most appropriate treatment to address their criminogenic and mental health needs.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Hood, Brittany (2023) "Treating Criminal Justice-Involved Serious Mental Illness (SMI) Clients in the Community," Qualitative Criminology (QC): Vol. 12: No. 1, Article 6.
Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/qc/vol12/iss1/6