Citation

Behnken MP, Arredondo DE, Packman WL. Juv. Fam. Court J. 2009; 60(3): 23-44.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1755-6988.2009.01030.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A review of an evaluation of the Court for the Individualized Treatment of Adolescents (a prototype Juvenile Mental Health Court in Santa Clara, California) is presented along with admission criteria. Participant demographics are described. McNemar Test and Paired T Test results show that study participants committed violent, aggressive, and property crimes in significantly lower numbers in the 23 months following court admission than in the 18 months preceding court admission, despite escalating patterns of antisocial behavior prior to court involvement. The importance of developing multidisciplinary models to address moderately severe offenders with serious mental illness is discussed.