Outcomes of Mandated and Nonmandated New York City Jail Diversion for Offenders with Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Disorders

Abstract

The authors studied 175 mentally ill, substance-using adult jail detainees assessed at baseline, 3, and 12 months through a quasi-experimental comparison design. The study examines the effect of diversion, treatment, and individual characteristics on criminal justice, mental health, substance use, and life satisfaction outcomes. The intervention group included nonmandated and mandated diversion tracks. The comparison participants met diversion acceptance criteria but underwent standard criminal justice processes. Main findings included that mandated diversion clients were less likely to spend as much time in prison and more likely to spend time in the community, have been linked to residential and outpatient treatment, have received more treatment, and decrease drug use. However, those who did not perceive themselves coerced and had insight into their mental illness received more treatment regardless of diversion condition. Although mandated diversion was found effective for some outcomes, individual characteristics, treatment, and diversion in general significantly contributed.

The Effect of Homelessness, Housing Type, Functioning, and Community Reintegration Supports on Mental Health Court Completion and Recidivism

“…Offenders with Downloaded by [Queensland University of Technology] at 16:20 01 November 2014 mental disorders who are detained and awaiting competency examination had 40 times the rate of homelessness compared to the general population and 21 times the rate homelessness compared with the non-criminal justice involved mentally ill New York City population (Martell, Rosner, & Harmon, 1995). Similar high rates of homelessness (63% in 12 months prior to arrest; 30% at arrest) were found for those competent and detained in New York City jails with diagnoses of co-occurring serious mental illness and addictive disorders (Broner, Mayrl, & Landsberg, 2005).…”

Who succeeds in jail diversion programs for persons with mental illness? A multi‐site study

“…The study by Lamberti and colleagues (2001) of a post-booking diversion program in Rochester, NY, documented a reduction in mean jail days, average arrests, and mean hospital days using a 12-month pre-post comparison. A study of New York City's LINK diversion program, comparing mandated and non-mandated divertees with nondiverted individuals, found that individuals in the mandated diversion track had fewer jail days, more time in the community, reduced substance use, and spent more time in treatment than non-mandated diverted or non-diverted individuals (Broner, Maryl, & Landsberg, 2005). Broner and colleagues (2005) concluded that structured programming and supervision increased the likelihood that diverted individuals would achieve positive outcomes.…”

Lessons from a Canadian province: examining collaborations between the mental health and justice sectors

“…The findings indicate that diversion programs are associated with less days spent in jail (Steadman et al 1999;Hoff et al 1999;Christy et al 2005;Broner et al 2005;Lattimore et al 2003), longer time to re-arrest (McNiel and Binder 2007) and either reduced recidivism (Moore and Hiday 2006;Teller et al 2004;Trupin and Richards 2003) or produced no increase in recidivism rates when compared to people with serious mental illness processed in the traditional court system (Shafer et al 2004;Steadman et al 1999;Christy et al 2005). With regard to clinical outcomes, there is evidence that diversion programs are associated with reduced homelessness and psychiatric hospitalizations, and improvements in psychosocial functioning (Cosden et al 2005;O'Keefe 2006).…”