The Effectiveness of Mental Health Courts in Reducing Recidivism

Mental health courts were created to help criminal defendants who do not meet not-guilty-for-reason-of-insanity criteria, but who have a mental illness that is a significant contributing factor to their arrest. A systematic review of the literature was undertaken to look at the current evidence on the effectiveness of mental health courts in reducing client recidivism and contact with police. A secondary data analysis was done on mental health court support clients to see what individual level factors were associated with positive recidivism outcomes. From the systematic review, there is some evidence that diversion to a mental health court can lead to a significant decrease in recidivism while the effect on police contact is less clear. From the secondary analysis, age and criminal history were found to be significant factors associated with recidivism. Future research should explore other demographic, socio-economic, or programmatic factors that may be associated with positive recidivism outcomes.M.Sc