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OJJDP Mental Health Initiatives
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Short Description: largest mental health initiative ever undertaken by OJJDP. The ... these youth face, including mental health problems. The Office ...
Content Inside: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention August 2001 #30 OJJDP Mental Health Initiatives By Kay McKinney To prevent and reduce juvenile delinquency, it is necessary to of 1,000 Rochester youth (who were in the seventh grade when address not only the offenses that bring youth to the attention of the study began in 198788) and their parents. By the time they the juvenile justice system but also the underlying problems reached age 21, 40 percent of the original Rochester youth par- these youth face, including mental health problems. The Office ticipants were parents. The intergenerational study will combine of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) recog- data obtained from the original study of the Rochester partici- nizes the critical importance of mental health problems in the pants and their parents with new data on the children of the origi- lives of youth involved in the juvenile justice system and has nal participants. This approach provides a unique opportunity to been working for several years on a number of projects to in- examine and track the development of delinquent behavior across crease knowledge and improve available services. This Fact three generations in a particularly high-risk sample. The results of Sheet highlights a number of current activities in this area. the study should provide very useful findings with policy implica- tions for prevention programs. OJJDP is funding the program through an interagency agreement with the National Institute of Assessing Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Mental Health. Disorders Among Juvenile Detainees Researchers at Northwestern University Medical School in Chi- Mental Health Issue of OJJDP's Journal cago, IL, have been studying alcohol, drug, and mental disorders OJJDP devoted an issue of its journal, Juvenile Justice (Volume among a large sample of juvenile detainees in the Cook County VII, Number 1, April 2000), to the topic of mental health. Journal Detention Center in Chicago since November 1995. With fund- articles discuss youth with mental health disorders and emerging ing from OJJDP, other Federal agencies, and private foundations, responses to them; Wraparound Milwaukee, a program that has a longitudinal component was added to this study in November successfully integrated a broad array of services to better meet the 1998. Investigators are tracking and reinterviewing members of mental health needs of youth who have been adjudicated delin- the original sample, regardless of whether they have returned to quent; and suicide prevention in juvenile facilities. 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 Mental Health-Juvenile Justice: Building among juvenile detainees; examine service availability, service an Effective Service Delivery Model use, and barriers to service access; and identify patterns of risky The goal of this new OJJDP-funded initiative is to create a model behavior in the areas of violence, substance use, and HIV/AIDS. for the delivery of mental health and related substance abuse serv- An OJJDP Fact Sheet, Assessing Alcohol, Drug, and Mental ices to youth involved with the juvenile justice system. Research- Disorders in Juvenile Detainees, describes this research project. ers will review the literature on theory and best practices in the areas of screening, assessment, service provision, and quality Intergenerational Transmission of assurance; conduct a survey of mental health needs and services Antisocial Behavior among system-involved youth in selected regions; visit localities engaged in promising programs; and, based on these activities, Researchers at the University at Albany, State University of New develop a model to provide comprehensive mental health services York, are examining the development of childhood antisocial at every point in the juvenile justice system. The model will sub- behavior in a three-generation prospective panel study. The focus sequently be replicated and evaluated at several sites. This is the of this study is on the children of current participants in OJJDP's largest mental health initiative ever undertaken by OJJDP. The Rochester (NY) Youth Development Study, a longitudinal study
