Improving Access To Care And Reducing Involvement In The Criminal Justice System For People With Mental Illness.
People with mental illness make up a disproportionate share of the criminal justice-involved population. The passage of critical new reforms affecting health care for vulnerable populations under the Affordable Care Act and the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 presents unique opportunities to transform systems of care and avert criminal justice involvement. In addition, state and local jurisdictions have implemented a number of strategies to divert people with mental illness from the criminal justice system and reduce recidivism. In this article we summarize current knowledge about the involvement of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system and consider the recent opportunities presented by national and local policies that aim to lower the proportion of such people who are incarcerated.
Alene Kennedy-Hendricks (alene@jhu.edu) is an assistant scientist in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore, Maryland.
Alene
A
Kennedy-Hendricks
Haiden A. Huskamp is a professor in the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, in Boston, Massachusetts.
Haiden A
HA
Huskamp
Lainie Rutkow is an associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, with a joint appointment in the Department of Health, Behavior, and Society, both at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Lainie
L
Rutkow
Colleen L. Barry is a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, with a joint appointment in the Department of Mental Health, both at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and is codirector of the Johns Hopkins Center for Mental Health and Addiction Policy Research.
Colleen L
CL
Barry
D003416:Criminal Law / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D014481:United States
Health Reform; Mental Health/Substance Abuse; Special Populations