P. Ann Dirks-Linhorst

How Will They Understand if We Don’t Teach Them? The Status of Criminal Justice Education on Gay and Lesbian Issues

Inclusion of race and gender in criminal justice education has, to some degree, been prompted as a result of perceived bias by criminal justice system professionals. Utilizing the race and gender experience as a template, interactions between the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) community and the criminal justice system are explored. This study surveyed criminal justice undergraduate degree programs to ascertain course content on gay and lesbian issues. Results indicate that an extremely small number of programs have such a course or alternatively incorporate GLBT issues within existing race and gender courses. Implications for criminal justice education are discussed.

Factors Associated with Mental Health Court Nonparticipation and Negative Termination

Mental health court outcomes research shows moderate success in reducing criminal recidivism. Far less research concentrates on defendants who do not choose to participate or are negatively terminated. Eight years of data from a suburban Midwestern mental health court indicate that substance abuse history and having multiple psychiatric diagnoses increased the odds of nonparticipation, while a bipolar diagnosis, the other category of diagnosis, and referral source, decreased the odds. For those negatively terminated, being male, racial minority status, having multiple diagnoses, a charge of stealing, and committing a new crime while under Municipal Mental Health Court supervision increased the odds of negative termination. A substance abuse history, increased mental health court attendance, receiving disability income, and psychiatric medication prescription decreased the odds of negative termination. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed, including better engagement strategies for participation and treatment.

Implementing the Essential Elements of a Mental Health Court: The Experiences of a Large Multijurisdictional Suburban County

Mental health courts developed in the USA in the late 1990s as one means to reduce the involvement of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system. In response to the growth in number of mental health courts, the Council of State Governments led an initiative to identify essential elements of mental health courts to guide their development and implementation. This paper applies these essential elements to a municipal mental health court in a multijurisdictional, suburban county. While this court met most essential elements, they faced a number of challenges. The primary ones included not being able to advance from hearing municipal cases only to state misdemeanor and felonies, not having the resources to expand program capacity for municipal cases, and participants not being able to always access needed mental health treatment, rehabilitation, and support services. The paper concludes with implications for behavioral health administrators and direct service staff in implementing the essential elements of mental health courts.Mental health courts developed in the USA in the late 1990s as one means to reduce the involvement of people with mental illness in the criminal justice system. In response to the growth in number of mental health courts, the Council of State Governments led an initiative to identify essential elements of mental health courts to guide their development and implementation. This paper applies these essential elements to a municipal mental health court in a multijurisdictional, suburban county. While this court met most essential elements, they faced a number of challenges. The primary ones included not being able to advance from hearing municipal cases only to state misdemeanor and felonies, not having the resources to expand program capacity for municipal cases, and participants not being able to always access needed mental health treatment, rehabilitation, and support services. The paper concludes with implications for behavioral health administrators and direct service staff in implementing the essential elements of mental health courts.

The Impact of Insanity Acquittees on Missouri's Public Mental Health System

Even though state departments of mental health have primary responsibility for the care, custody, and treatment of insanity acquittees, the impact of insanity acquittees on the public mental health system is generally lacking in policy discussions and as a topic for policy research. This issue has received increased attention in Missouri, where insanity acquittees now occupy half of the long-term public psychiatric hospital beds. This article examines the presence of Missouris insanity acquittees on the states public mental health system and includes the impact on goals, fiscal costs, inpatient and community psychiatric services, and inpatient treatment staff. As states consider managed care and other cost containment measures, it remains to be seen if the high costs associated with extensive use of hospitalization of insanity acquittees to promote public safety will influence policy changes to more community-based insanity acquittee systems.

A Critical Assessment of Disposition Options for Mentally Ill Offenders

We evaluate three disposition options for mentally ill offenders: abolishing the insanity defense, substituting a guilty but mentally ill verdict, or retaining the insanity defense with a conditional release. We review the foundations of each position and the research on implementation and policy outcomes. We also discuss the political support behind each position. We argue that retaining the insanity defense with conditional release and community monitoring is the most viable option.

Missouri's Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity Acquittees, 1980–2009: Is Gender Important When Comparing Female and Male Insanity Acquittees and Convicted Offenders?

Although increasing attention is being paid to differences between female and male offenders in the correctional population, potential differences between female and male insanity acquittees have not been explored. Also unexplored are the potential differences between female insanity acquittees and their correctional counterparts, both subgroups of the mentally ill offender population. This study analyzed 30 years of insanity acquittals in Missouri, finding that females were more likely to have committed murder, more likely to have been diagnosed with major depression, more likely to be older, more likely to have been married, less likely to have a substance abuse diagnosis, and more likely to be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder than male counterparts. Differences emerged when female insanity acquittees were compared to the female correctional population. Race differences were also found within the female insanity acquittee population. The focal concerns perspective is discussed to interpret implications for future practice and research.

LGBT Issues and Criminal Justice Education

This chapter reviews the state of the literature regarding college students’ attitudes toward LGBT individuals, and then narrows that focus to discuss criminal justice majors in particular. The status of criminal justice education on LBGT issues is discussed, with particular attention to why such issues are important for undergraduate criminal justice education. The authors suggest a paradigm for inclusion of such issues in criminal justice curriculum globally, modeled after the decision to include race and gender issues in that same curriculum.

Tough on Crime or Beating the System: An Evaluation of Missouri Department of Mental Health’s Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity Murder Acquittees

Homicide defendants asserting the insanity defense make a volatile combination. Numerous studies review inmates with murder convictions, yet the literature is not rich regarding defendants found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) for murder. This study analyzes 27 years of insanity acquittals in Missouri, finding significant differences between those defendants found NGRI for murder and those found NGRI for other crimes. The get-tough-on-crime initiatives found in the criminal justice system may have led to longer hospital stays post-1996 for NGRI murder acquittees, yet hospitalization lengths increased for all NGRI acquittees, a potential unintended consequence. Policy implications and future research directions are discussed.

A Description of the Design and Costs of an Insanity Acquittee Conditional Release, Monitoring, and Revocation System

Conditional release, monitoring, and revocation are important components of insanity acquittee systems because they help to balance public safety with the treatment needs of insanity acquittees. We describe a state conditional release system within the United States that uses existing personnel to assess risk and make release decisions as another model for how to design and implement an insanity acquittee conditional release system. The State of Missouris system had low costs per client associated with monitoring insanity acquittees in the community. However, substantial time commitments by actors in the mental health and criminal justice systems were required to ensure a high level of public safety in the release process. In addition, hospitalization was used extensively to protect public safety, which in part has resulted in insanity acquittees occupying approximately 50% of the states long-term public psychiatric hospital beds. It is possible that other jurisdictions may be able to design insanity acquittee conditional release systems that still provide an acceptable degree of public safety yet do not incur some of the substantial costs associated with lengthy hospitalization and indefinite community oversight found in Missouris insanity acquittee system.

Rearrests During Mental Health Court Supervision: Predicting Rearrest and Its Association with Final Court Disposition and Postcourt Rearrests

Mental health courts are one means to address the involvement of persons with mental illness in the criminal justice system. Using a sample of 811 participants of a municipal mental health court, this study found that 23.2% of participants were rearrested during court supervision. This study also identified factors associated with these rearrests, as well as the effect of rearrests during supervision on program completion and rearrests in the 1-year period following program completion. This study concludes with implications for mental health court supervision.