FIT study finds Mental Health Court beneficial
Hometown News: Palm BayAug 11, 2017
A recent study by the
Assistant professor Dr.
"Jail doesn't stop crimes by the mentally ill, treatment does,"
"[The inmates] are offered [a choice]," Dr.
Costopoulos told
Mental Health Court serves as an alternative to traditional imprisonment, where mentally ill inmates may not have access to resources that they need, such as medication or therapy.
"You're really looking at what we call ?severe clinical syndromes as the primary diagnosis of these individuals,"
According to officials, within the study "the most common diagnoses of defendants in the mental health court included 28 percent psychotic disorders (such as Schizophrenia), 46 percent mood disorders (such as bipolar disorder), and 20 percent mood disorders with psychotic symptoms (such as schizoaffective disorder)."
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the study was not only that Mental Health Court helps curb recidivism, but that when participants were re-arrested, their crimes were of a significantly lesser extent.
"One of the really neat findings was that of the 38 participants dismissed from the program for not completing the requirements, the more days that there were with the program even though they didn't complete it, the less severe were their offenses three years after they left the program."
"It's really surprising and I think really interesting that it could have such an impact on even people who ultimately can't complete it."