Open AccessJustice System Involvement Into Young Adulthood: Comparison of Adolescent Girls in the Public Mental Health System and in the General Population
Author(s) -
Maryann Davis,
William H. Fisher,
Bernice Gershenson,
Albert J. Grudzinskas,
Steven M. Banks
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2008.141135
Subject(s) - mental health , public health , population , economic justice , intervention (counseling) , psychology , psychiatry , cohort , medicine , environmental health , political science , nursing , law
We compared arrest onset and frequency and types of charges between a statewide cohort of adolescent girls in the public mental health system and girls of the same age in the general population to investigate important differences that could have policy or intervention implications. Girls in the public mental health system were arrested at earlier ages more frequently and were charged with more serious offenses than were girls in the general population. Our results strongly argue for cooperation between the public mental health and justice systems to provide mental health and offender rehabilitation in their shared population.