Seattle University Collaborative Projects - International Academy of ...

In many areas, the juvenile justice system has been a safety net for community mental health.Practitioners of juvenile justice often report that youth in their care are demonstratingsignificantly more mental health symptoms than in past decades. The question is, are these youthpenetrating deep-end juvenile justice programs because they are mentally ill or is it because theyare delinquent? This presentation will explore the differences between mentally disordered youthand non-mentally ill youth who have been committed to long-term secure placements. Using chisquareand logistic regression techniques, this study will examine the differences in regards tooverall composite risk, antisocial attitudes, peers, and family. Based on the results of theseanalyses, policy and practice implications will be explored.A Comparison of Juvenile Drug Court Effective for Youth with Co-Occurring orSubstance Use Only DisordersCarrie Sullivan, University of Cincinnati (carrie.sullivan@uc.edu)Paula Smith, University of Cincinnati (paula.smith@ uc.edu)Christopher Sullivan, University of Cincinnati (sullivc6@ucmail.uc.edu)Leslie Blair, University of Cincinnati (leslie.blair@hotmail.com)Edward J. Latessa, University of Cincinnati (edward.latessa@uc.edu)Studies of the effectiveness of juvenile drug courts have yielded mixed findings. A study ofjuvenile drug courts, funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, wasrecently completed in the United States. The study combined evaluations of the processes usedby nine juvenile drug courts with outcome evaluations of their respective effectiveness inreducing recidivism and/or the improvement of other important outcome measures. While theseresults generally advance our understanding of how varying drug court practices impact theeffectiveness of juvenile drug courts, this paper will present differences in findings betweenyouth with co-occurring disorders and youth with only substance use disorders to determine ifyouth with co-occurring disorders can be well served in drug courts. The possible implicationsfor drug courts and mental health courts will be explored.Separate but Equal? Understanding the Impact of Gender ResponsiveTreatment in Correctional SettingsLori Brusman-Lovins, University of Cincinnati (brusmala@ucmail.uc.edu)There is much debate in corrections about the best method for treating and managing femaleoffenders. Generalists argue that there is limited empirical evidence that the method for reducingrecidivism differs for males and females. Those in the gender specific camp argue that thepathway to criminality differs for females, thus treatment for female offenders should vary from138