NCJ Number
213723
Date Published
December 2005
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This bulletin describes the use of systemic criminal justice planning by Hamilton County in Ohio to improve its response to women offenders.
Abstract
Utilizing systemic criminal justice planning, Hamilton County in Cincinnati, OH modified its jail intake and pretrial services process in order identify offenders with mental illness and substance abuse disorders at intake, developed a way to relay information about mental illness and substance abuse disorders to judges at arraignment and other decisionmaking points in the process, and implemented new programming designed specifically for women with co-occurring disorders who previously had limited correctional program options. The county continues to yield tangible results using criminal justice planning with the reduction in the use of detention beds for women with co-occurring disorders, a reduction of psychiatric symptoms and substance abuse among women with co-occurring disorders, and the satisfaction of judges and probation officers. Lessons learned in observation of Hamilton County were that sound information facilitates good decisions, collaboration is the starting point to ongoing system improvement, and accurate decision mapping opens doors to change.