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Juvenile Probation Officers’ Mental Health Decision Making

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Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 23 September 2008

Abstract

We reviewed case records for 583 juvenile delinquency intakes in four county juvenile probation offices; 14.4% were receiving mental health or substance use services at case opening, and 24.9% were newly identified during probation contact. Youths were significantly more likely to be newly identified if they were repeat offenders, if their probation officer knew more about mental health and if they resided in a county without a shortage of available mental health professionals. Probation officers were especially likely to underidentify internalizing disorders. Policy implications for promoting identification of mental health needs and improving linkage to community service providers are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant to the first author from SAMHSA (5-SM57433). We would like to acknowledge the help and support of Norma Tyler (NYS DPCA) as well as the Probation Directors and staff in Albany, Broome, Onondaga and Orange County, who made this work possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Center for the Promotion of Mental Health in Juvenile Justice, Columbia University/NY State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive (Unit 78), New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Gail A. Wasserman, Larkin S. McReynolds, Andria L. Whited, Joseph M. Keating, Hana Musabegovic & Yanling Huo

Authors
  1. Gail A. Wasserman
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  2. Larkin S. McReynolds
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  3. Andria L. Whited
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  4. Joseph M. Keating
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  5. Hana Musabegovic
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  6. Yanling Huo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gail A. Wasserman.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10488-008-0191-x

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Wasserman, G.A., McReynolds, L.S., Whited, A.L. et al. Juvenile Probation Officers’ Mental Health Decision Making. Adm Policy Ment Health 35, 410–422 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-008-0183-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-008-0183-x

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