IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/15858.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Mental Health Treatment and Criminal Justice Outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Frank
  • Thomas G. McGuire

Abstract

Are many prisoners in jail or prison because of their mental illness? And if so, is mental health treatment a cost-effective way to reduce crime and lower criminal justice costs? This paper reviews and evaluates the evidence assessing the potential of expansion of mental health services for reducing crime. Mental illness and symptoms of mental illness are highly prevalent among adult and child criminal justice populations. The association between serious mental illness and violence and arrest is particularly strong among individuals who are psychotic and do not adhere to medication. Two empirical studies augment the empirical research base relating mental illness to crime. In a recent community sample of adults, we find higher rates of arrest for those with serious mental illness and with substance abuse. Among youth, even with family fixed effects, antisocial personality scores predict future school problems and arrests. A large body of research tracks mental health and criminal justice outcomes associated with treatments and social policies. Reviews of the cost-effectiveness of treatments for children with behavioral problems, mental health courts, and mandatory outpatient treatment are inconclusive.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Frank & Thomas G. McGuire, 2010. "Mental Health Treatment and Criminal Justice Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 15858, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15858
    Note: EH
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w15858.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Currie, Janet & Stabile, Mark, 2006. "Child mental health and human capital accumulation: The case of ADHD," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 1094-1118, November.
    2. Edward C. Norton & Jangho Yoon & Marisa Elena Domino & Joseph P. Morrissey, 2006. "Transitions between the public mental health system and jail for persons with severe mental illness: a Markov analysis," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(7), pages 719-733, July.
    3. Teplin, L.A., 1990. "The prevalence of severe mental disorder among male urban jail detainees: Comparison with the epidemiologic catchment area program," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 80(6), pages 663-669.
    4. Swanson, J.W. & Swartz, M.S. & Essock, S.M. & Osher, F.C. & Wagner, H.R. & Goodman, L.A. & Rosenberg, S.D. & Meador, K.G., 2002. "The social-environmental context of violent behavior in persons treated for severe mental illness," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(9), pages 1523-1531.
    5. Dave E. Marcotte & Sara Markowitz, 2011. "A cure for crime? Psycho‐pharmaceuticals and crime trends," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 29-56, December.
    6. Wilper, A.P. & Woolhandler, S. & Boyd, J.W. & Lasser, K.E. & McCormick, D. & Bor, D.H. & Himmelstein, D.U., 2009. "The health and health care of US prisoners: Results of a nationwide survey," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(4), pages 666-672.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Deza, Monica & Maclean, Johanna Catherine & Solomon, Keisha, 2022. "Local access to mental healthcare and crime," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    2. Otsu, Yuki & Yuen, C.Y. Kelvin, 2022. "Health, crime, and the labor market: Theory and policy analysis," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    3. Yoon, Jangho & Luck, Jeff, 2016. "Intersystem return on investment in public mental health: Positive externality of public mental health expenditure for the jail system in the U.S," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 133-142.
    4. Monica Deza & Johanna Catherine Maclean & Keisha T. Solomon, 2020. "Local Access to Mental Healthcare and Crime," NBER Working Papers 27619, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. D. Mark Anderson & Resul Cesur & Erdal Tekin, 2015. "Youth Depression And Future Criminal Behavior," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 53(1), pages 294-317, January.
    2. Dave E. Marcotte & Sara Markowitz, 2011. "A cure for crime? Psycho‐pharmaceuticals and crime trends," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(1), pages 29-56, December.
    3. Yoon, Jangho, 2011. "Effect of increased private share of inpatient psychiatric resources on jail population growth: Evidence from the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(4), pages 447-455, February.
    4. Susan Busch & Ezra Golberstein & Ellen Meara, 2011. "The FDA and ABCs: The Unintended Consequences of Antidepressant Warnings on Human Capital," NBER Working Papers 17426, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Frijters, Paul & Johnston, David W. & Shah, Manisha & Shields, Michael A., 2008. "Early Child Development and Maternal Labor Force Participation: Using Handedness as an Instrument," IZA Discussion Papers 3537, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Dinand Webbink & Sunčica Vujić & Pierre Koning & Nicholas G. Martin, 2012. "The Effect Of Childhood Conduct Disorder On Human Capital," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(8), pages 928-945, August.
    7. Vikesh Amin & Jere R. Behrman & Jason M. Fletcher & Carlos A. Flores & Alfonso Flores‐Lagunes & Hans‐Peter Kohler, 2021. "Genetic risks, adolescent health, and schooling attainment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(11), pages 2905-2920, November.
    8. Hendrik Jürges & Luca Stella & Sameh Hallaq & Alexandra Schwarz, 2022. "Cohort at risk: long-term consequences of conflict for child school achievement," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 1-43, January.
    9. Dalsgaard, Søren & Nielsen, Helena Skyt & Simonsen, Marianne, 2014. "Consequences of ADHD medication use for children's outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 137-151.
    10. Griffin Edwards, 2014. "Doing Their Duty: An Empirical Analysis of the Unintended Effect of Tarasoff v. Regents on Homicidal Activity," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(2), pages 321-348.
    11. By Tyas Prevoo & Bas ter Weel, 2015. "The importance of early conscientiousness for socio-economic outcomes: evidence from the British Cohort Study," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 67(4), pages 918-948.
    12. Pritha Dev & Blessing U. Mberu & Roland Pongou, 2016. "Ethnic Inequality: Theory and Evidence from Formal Education in Nigeria," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(4), pages 603-660.
    13. Milovanska-Farrington, Stefani, 2019. "The effect of family welfare support on the likelihood of having another child and parents’ labor supply," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 243-263.
    14. Sarah Baird & Jacobus de Hoop & Berk Özler, 2013. "Income Shocks and Adolescent Mental Health," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(2), pages 370-403.
    15. Josselin Thuilliez, 2007. "Malaria and Primary Education: A Cross-Country Analysis on Primary Repetition and Completion Rates," Post-Print halshs-00144666, HAL.
    16. von Hinke, Stephanie & Rice, Nigel & Tominey, Emma, 2022. "Mental health around pregnancy and child development from early childhood to adolescence," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. Jo Blanden & Paul Gregg & Lindsey Macmillan, 2007. "Accounting for Intergenerational Income Persistence: Noncognitive Skills, Ability and Education," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(519), pages 43-60, March.
    18. Nuarpear Lekfuangfu, 2016. "Childhood Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Later-Life Outcomes: A Hidden Consequence of the 1989 Typhoon Gay," PIER Discussion Papers 32., Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research, revised Jun 2016.
    19. Breitkopf, Laura & Chowdhury, Shyamal K. & Priyam, Shambhavi & Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah & Sutter, Matthias, 2020. "Do economic preferences of children predict behavior?," DICE Discussion Papers 342, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    20. Dinand Webbink & Pierre Koning & Sunčica Vujić & Nicholas G. Martin, 2013. "Why Are Criminals Less Educated than Non-Criminals? Evidence from a Cohort of Young Australian Twins," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 29(1), pages 115-144, February.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15858. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.