Criminal Justice Interventions for Offenders With Mental Illness: Evaluation of Mental Health Courts in Bronx and Brooklyn, New York

Ridge House Final Report CRIMINAL JUSTICE INTERVENTIONS FOR OFFENDERS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS: EVALUATION OF MENTAL HEALTH COURTS IN BRONX AND BROOKLYN, NEW YORK FINAL REPORT Shelli B. Rossman Janeen Buck Willison Kamala Mallik-Kane KiDeuk Kim Sara Debus-Sherrill P. Mitchell Downey This report was prepared under ASP BPA 2004BF022, Task Requirement T-014, Task Order 2006 TO096 for the National Institute of Justice This report was prepared under National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Task Order #2004-DD-BX-1123. F I N A L REP O R T F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 2 Acknowledgments The authors thank the many people whose support and contributions made this research possible. Foremost, we wish to acknowledge the contributions and assistance of the dedicated staff of the Bronx and Brooklyn Mental Health Court programs, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), and the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). While it is impossible to name the many staff who assisted us with this study, we would like to highlight the special contributions of the following individuals: Bronx TASC Mental Health Court Program Judge John P. Collins; Dr. Charles Amrhein; Cynthea Kimmelman-DeVries; Ryna Dery Brooklyn Mental Health Court Judge Matthew D’Emic; Lucille Jackson Center for Court Innovation Michael Rempel; Carol Fisler; Sarah Fritsche New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Dr. Daniel Selling; Dominic Domingo; Patricia Brown; Louise Cohen; Suzette Gordon; Dr. Jason Hershberger; Dr. Charles Luther; Olivette Burton; Jacqueline Rivera New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services David J. van Alstyne; Renee Konicki; Diane Cavin We also extend our appreciation to Marilyn Moses, Social Science Analyst, at the National Institute of Justice, for her support and guidance throughout the study, and to Ruby Qazilbash, Senior Policy Advisor for Substance Abuse and Mental Health, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, for sharing her insights and expertise. Additionally, we thank Nancy LaVigne, Director of the UI Justice Policy Center, Julie Samuels, Rayanne Hawkins, Lynn Johnson, Katie Johnson, and Aaron Horvath for their support and assistance in completion of the final report. Although we appreciate the contribution of those noted above, and any others inadvertently omitted, the authors acknowledge their responsibility for any errors within this report. This report is dedicated to the late Laura Winterfield, Ph.D. the project’s original Principal Investigator. i TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. EVALUATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE INTERVENTIONS FOR OFFENDERS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS: STUDY CONTEXT AND LITERATURE REVIEW.............................................................................. 1 THE MENTAL HEALTH TASK ORDER: GOALS AND OBJECTIVES .................................................................................. 1 OVERVIEW OF THIS REPORT .............................................................................................................................. 2 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .............................................................................................................................. 3 What are Mental Health and Mental Illness? ....................................................................................... 3 The Relationship Between Mental Illness and Crime ............................................................................ 4 The Justice System’s Response to Mental Illness .................................................................................. 6 The Emergence of Problem‐Solving Courts ........................................................................................... 9 Mental Health Courts: An Overview .................................................................................................... 12 Current Status of Mental Health Courts .............................................................................................. 13 Mental Health Court Research ............................................................................................................ 15 Process Evaluations ......................................................................................................................................... 16 Outcome Evaluations ...................................................................................................................................... 17 Limitations of Existing Research ......................................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 2. EVALUATION DESIGN AND METHODS ............................................................................ 20 THE PROPOSED STUDY ................................................................................................................................... 20 FINAL EVALUATION DESIGN .............................................