Model Program Addresses Mental Health Problems in Juvenile Offenders

Three counties in Pennsylvania have received three-year $150,000 grants to turn pilot programs into models for the state and national juvenile justice system.

One program to benefit from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant is Chester County's two year old pilot program that fosters interagency cooperation to provide an array of services to youth who have been diagnosed with mental health issues and are involved in the juvenile justice system.

Almost fifty children have participated in Chester's pilot program, which was chosen for the grant because of its progressiveness and readiness to become a model program.

The most common mental health issues for juveniles in Chester's system include bipolar disorder, depression, and substance use disorders. Of a sample group of youth involved in the justice system who had been diagnosed with mental health disorders, half had been hospitalized for a psychiatric emergency, and 78 percent were on psychiatric medication.

Irregular medication, or self-medication in the form of substance abuse, may make these children more likely to commit crimes, according to Donna Gonzalez of the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. The average age of initial arrest for youth with diagnosed mental health problems is fourteen years old.

"One of the things we recognize is that many involved with the justice system commit low-level, nonviolent crimes," said Joseph J. Cocozza, director for the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justice. "Many of those kids should not be in there and do not belong in there."

"We work in a world down here doing the best we can," said Gonzalez. "We didn't know we were so innovative."

(3/4/2005)