The authors thank John Monahan, Christopher Slobogin, Henry Steadman, Jeffrey Swanson, and Marvin Swartz for their comments on the paper. We also thank Steven Banks for his assistance with the analysis plan, the Broward County Sheriff's Office for assistance with data access, and Debra Livingston with the Florida Statistical Analysis Center and Keith Vossberg with the Florida Mental Health Institute for their assistance with acquisition and matching of Florida Department of Law Enforcement data.
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Research Article
Evaluating the efficiency and community safety goals of the Broward County Mental Health Court†
Article first published online: 7 APR 2005
DOI: 10.1002/bsl.647
Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Issue
1099-0798/asset/cover.gif?v=1&s=27cb3cb3b3e789b2519ed5b84bdb198bf5ddfb33 "Behavioral Sciences & the Law")
Behavioral Sciences & the Law
Special Issue: Diversion from the Criminal Justice System
Volume 23, Issue 2, pages 227–243, March/April 2005
Additional Information
How to Cite
Christy, A., Poythress, N. G., Boothroyd, R. A., Petrila, J. and Mehra, S. (2005), Evaluating the efficiency and community safety goals of the Broward County Mental Health Court. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 23: 227–243. doi: 10.1002/bsl.647
- †
Publication History
- Issue published online: 7 APR 2005
- Article first published online: 7 APR 2005
Funded by
- John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- Florida Legislature
- Abstract
- References
- Cited By
Abstract
Mental health courts have developed as one response to persons with mental illness who are involved with the criminal justice system. This study investigated the efficiency and safety goals of one such court in Broward County, FL. Mental health court (MHC) clients spent significantly fewer days in jail for the index arrest associated with study enrollment than a comparison group. MHC clients had similar survival time to re-arrest up to one year after study enrollment. MHC clients did not significantly differ from the comparison group in self-reported aggressive acts over an 8 month follow-up period, while they did self-report significantly fewer acts of violence than the comparison group at the 8 month follow-up. These findings suggest that some of the benefits associated with the MHC reported in prior studies were not achieved at the expense of efficiency and safety. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.