Race and Ethnicity, Mental Health Services and Cultural Competence in the Criminal Justice System: Are we Ready to Change?
- 1 October 2005
- journal article
- Published by Springer Nature in Community Mental Health Journal
- Vol. 41 (5), 557-569
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-005-6361-3
Abstract
By the end of 2003, 3.2% of the U.S. adult population or 6.9 million adults were incarcerated, on probation or on parole. While non-whites constitute approximately 25% of the general U.S. population, they represent the majority of the prison (62%) and jail population (57%), a 33% increase since 1980. Approximately 15% of this prison and jail population has active symptoms of serious mental illness with two-thirds likely to have a co-occurring substance use disorder diagnosis. Meanwhile, the lack of adequate mental health and substance abuse treatment within all levels of the criminal justice system continues to exist. This is further exaggerated by the dearth of evidence showing appropriate cultural awareness and competence in delivery of these much needed services to a majority non-white population. This article will review the existing racial disparities present in the criminal justice system, the lack of appropriate psychiatric services, and the effect of cultural dissonance in service provision when services do exist. Policy implications and recommendations are included in the conclusion with a call for action to all agencies directly and indirectly affected by this multifaceted problem.Keywords
This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- Effective prison mental health services: Guidelines to expand and improve treatmentPublished by American Psychological Association (APA) ,2004
- Psychiatric Disorders in Youth in Juvenile DetentionArchives of General Psychiatry, 2002
- Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders in Youths Across Five Sectors of CareJournal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2001
- Psychiatric Comorbidity and the 16‐Month Trajectory of Substance‐Abusing and Substance‐Dependent Juvenile OffendersJournal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 1999
- Mental Health and Incarcerated Youth. I: Prevalence and Nature of PsychopathologyJournal of Child and Family Studies, 1999
- Mental Health and Incarcerated Youth. II: Service UtilizationJournal of Child and Family Studies, 1999
- Prevalence of Common Psychiatric Disorders Among American Indian Adolescent DetaineesJournal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 1998
- Persons With Severe Mental Illness in Jails and Prisons: A ReviewPsychiatric Services, 1998
- Patterns and determinants of public shelter utilization among homeless adults in New York City and PhiladelphiaJournal of Policy Analysis and Management, 1998
- II. Utilization of Mental Health Services in a Tri-Ethnic Sample of AdolescentsCommunity Mental Health Journal, 1998