A National Problem

Mental health problems among children and youth are increasing at an alarming rate. The Surgeon General’s Report on Children’s Mental Health shows that in the U.S., 1 in 10 children and adolescents suffer from mental illness severe enough to cause some level of impairment. Yet, in any given year, only about one in five children receive mental health services.

The unmet need for mental health services has raised serious concern over the use of juvenile prisons to warehouse children suffering from mental illness. It is estimated that between 50 to 75 percent of incarcerated youth nationwide have a diagnosable mental health disorder. Many studies indicate the juvenile justice system’s difficulties in addressing mental illness among youth such as:

• Inadequate and fragmented services for youth with mental health and substance abuse problems involved in the juvenile justice system. Additionally, there are few programs specifically targeting the needs of youth in the juvenile justice system with cultural, racial, gender, sexual orientation and developmental issues;
• Failure to provide routine standardized screening and assessments. Youth of color are frequently misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all;
Lack of communication and coordination across the involved systems, such as schools, family and social service organizations, law enforcement agencies and medical institutions.

Much needs to be done to improve and respond to the mental health needs of youth in the juvenile justice system. Some of these challenges are:

• Inadequate funding;
• Need for further research on juvenile justice and mental health programming;
• Sensitivity in mental health programming to vulnerable populations, especially minority and female offenders, who require specific services and treatment for special needs and certain risk factors;
• Involvement of youths and their families in community-based mental health treatment that serve, support and supervise a child and family in an individualized way;
• Useful models and approaches for stimulating needed changes in policy, programs and practice.

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