Reductions in arrest under assisted outpatient treatment in New York.
OBJECTIVE
Individuals with serious mental illness have a relatively high risk of criminal justice involvement. Assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) is a legal mechanism that mandates treatment for individuals with serious mental illness who are unlikely to live safely in the community without supervision and who are also unlikely to voluntarily participate in treatment. Under an alternative arrangement, some individuals for whom an AOT order is pursued sign a voluntary service agreement in lieu of a formal court order. This study examined whether AOT recipients have lower odds of arrest than persons with serious mental illness who have not yet initiated AOT or signed a voluntary service agreement.


METHODS
Interview data from 2007 to 2008 from an evaluation of AOT in New York State were matched with arrest records from 1999 to 2008 for 181 individuals and analyzed using multivariable logistic regression.


RESULTS
The odds of arrest for participants currently receiving AOT were nearly two-thirds lower (OR=.39, p<.01) than for individuals who had not yet initiated AOT or signed a voluntary service agreement. The odds of arrest among individuals currently under a voluntary service agreement (OR=.64) were not significantly different than for individuals who had not yet initiated either arrangement. The adjusted predicted probabilities of arrest in any given month were 3.7% for individuals who had not yet initiated AOT or a voluntary agreement, 1.9% for individuals currently on AOT, and 2.8% for individuals currently under a voluntary agreement.


CONCLUSIONS
AOT may be an important part of treatment efforts to reduce criminal justice involvement among people with serious mental illness.
Gilbert
Allison R
AR
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Box 3071, Durham, NC 27701, USA. allison.gilbert@duke.edu
Moser
Lorna L
LL
Van Dorn
Richard A
RA
Swanson
Jeffrey W
JW
Wilder
Christine M
CM
Robbins
Pamela Clark
PC
Keator
Karli J
KJ
Steadman
Henry J
HJ
Swartz
Marvin S
MS
D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D035846:Law Enforcement; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D028642:Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D008875:Middle Aged; D009518:New York