Role of treatment in behavioral health and public safety outcomes among mental health court and treatment as usual samples

This paper examines how behavioral health and public safety outcomes are affected by the type and duration of community and jail treatment in four mental health courts and between the two samples. We obtained the community and jail treatment data for all study subjects for the three years before and after their target arrest prior to entry into mental health court (MHC) or target jail booking (TAU). Accessing hospitalization records was impossible in two sites, but we were informed that in those two sites among our samples, fewer than 5% were hospitalized during our study period. The findings reported here are based on in-county community and jail treatment data, self-report interview measures, and public safety outcomes from FBI reports (arrests) and incarceration days (in-county jail and state prison). Treatment is measured by the type and duration of treatment. Community data are annualized for days in the community, and jail data are likewise annualized for days in jail or prison. An underlying premise of mental health courts is that enrollees are more likely to be connected to community treatment following release from jail. Implicit in this assumption is that this treatment engagement will be associated with better behavioral health and public safety outcomes. We first examine whether or not the MHC sample receives more treatment following court enrollment compared with the TAU jail sample. The second set of questions address the effect of treatment on behavioral health (e.g. CSI, ITAQ, homelessness) and public safety (e.g. arrests, incarceration days) outcomes.