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Who is Diverted? Case Selection for Court‐Monitored Mental Health Treatment
Author(s) -
Luskin Mary Lee
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
law and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.534
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-9930
pISSN - 0265-8240
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9930.00111
Subject(s) - disadvantage , mental health , economic justice , mentally ill , selection (genetic algorithm) , structuring , psychology , law , point (geometry) , criminology , political science , psychiatry , mental illness , computer science , artificial intelligence , geometry , mathematics
Specialized courts raise questions about the decisions that bring some defendants into such courts and keep others out. Because of risks perceived in diverting mentally ill defendants, decisions to select defendants for mental health courts are especially interesting. I estimate a model of the decision to divert defendants into court‐monitored mental health treatment. I find that gender and age combine to disadvantage young male defendants and older female defendants. The findings point to the importance of structuring selection processes in the design of specialized courts. They shed light on the consequences of including treatment personnel in justice system decisions.