This study used meta-analytic techniques in reviewing the literature on research that has assessed the effectiveness of mental health courts in reducing recidivism and improving clinical outcomes for offenders with serious mental illness.
The study determined that mental health courts were able to reduce recidivism of participations by an effect size of 0.32 (p less than .05), which can be considered mildly powerful regarding recidivism outcomes. This suggests that individuals who participate in a mental health court are statistically less likely to recidivate than non-participants. The results for clinical outcomes, however, showed an effect size of -0.09, which shows that mental health courts not only have no significant positive effect on participants' mental illness, but have a negative impact. The study also found that in the studies conducted, the majority of participants in mental health courts were White males in their mid-30s. The author notes that there are over 250 mental health courts throughout the United States, but only a few studies have been conducted to measure their effectiveness. Mental health courts continue to be created across the United States without sufficient empirical data and evaluations that demonstrate their effectiveness in reducing criminal behavior and addressing the mental health needs of mentally ill offenders. More empirically based evaluations are needed before definitive conclusions can be drawn about the general impact of mental health courts on recidivism and the mental health of participants. A total of 20 studies were identified that included information sufficient to compute the standardized mean difference effect size, focused on adult offenders, and were within the United States. Only studies with experimental and quasi-experimental research designs were reviewed. 7 tables, 2 figures, 85 references, and appended coding forms and the Maryland Scale of Scientific Method Guidelines