NCJ Number
170386
Journal
Corrections Management Quarterly Volume: 1 Issue: 4 Dated: (Fall 1997) Pages: 19-27
Date Published
1997
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article examines the Ohio Department of Youth Services' program to address the needs of aggressive mentally ill juvenile offenders.
Abstract
Psychiatric and behavioral disorders of juvenile offenders involved in Ohio's juvenile justice system are a significant concern for corrections and clinical managers. Generally, juvenile offenders have co-occurring problems to conduct disorders, such as substance abuse, histories of violence, and major psychiatric disorders, which bring about a new type of juvenile offender: the aggressive mentally ill. The Ohio Department of Youth Services has created a continuum of mental health services to address the needs of these juveniles, including: (1) a diagnostic and assessment center, Circleville Youth Center; (2) a 240-bed coed facility with staff members who are specially trained in mental health strategies and interventions; (3) four mental health units to provide individualized mental health services for non-acute or chronically mentally ill juveniles; and (4) a 42-bed institution for juveniles with depressed intelligence and functional deficits. These services are not as clinically powerful as community-based mental health services. Incarceration and juvenile justice is accompanied by a strong set of precepts, making it difficult for treatment professionals to attend fully to the mental health problems of offenders. At best, the system has an organized infrastructure for mental health services to be triaged for timely programs. References