A Process Evaluation of Toronto’s First Youth Mental Health Court

This is the author's post-print.Youth mental health courts are a relatively new type of specialty court designed to address the mental health needs of justice-involved youth, usually with the ultimate goal of desistance from future offending. As part of a process evaluation of Toronto’s first youth mental health court, court records and files for 127 youth who participated in the program from its inception in 2011 until August 2013 were reviewed to: 1) describe the operation of the court and the clients it serves, 2) explore predictors of successful court completion, and 3) examine how the court addresses the mental health and criminogenic needs of its clients. Most clients successfully completed the court requirements, with case processing time comparable to ‘traditional’ youth courts; completers were more likely than non-completers to have a mental health diagnosis and higher initial treatment motivation. Half of youth received treatment targeted to their identified mental health needs. Analysis of a subsample of cases indicated that for most youth, mental health issues were indirectly related to their offences, indicating the need to address criminogenic needs in addition to mental health needs in the court. Findings are discussed with regards to best practice for treating justice-involved youth with mental health needs