Why We Need Mental Health Screening and Assessment in Juvenile Justice Programs

At a recent meeting of the states’ administrators of juvenile correctional programs, the host asked one of them, “In your opinion, what are the three most pressing issues in juvenile justice facilities today?” The administrator answered without hesitation, “Mental health, mental health, and mental health.” He would probably have given a different answer if he had been asked the question 15 years ago. In the early 1990s, when the nation was facing a wave of juvenile homicides (Blumstein, 1995; Zimring, 1998), the most important issue on everyone’s minds—the public’s and juvenile justice administrators’ as well—was “public safety, public safety, and public safety.” That issue is still pressing. Yet only a decade or so later, the juvenile crime rate has subsided (Blumstein, Rivara, & Rosenfeld, 2000) while the issue of young offenders’ mental disorders has grown, stirring enormous public attention and governmental efforts to respond to what is widely identified as a crisis. This crisis is represented by the very high prevalence of mental disorders among youths in the juvenile justice system, verified only recently by adequate research studies (e.g., Teplin, Abram, McClelland, Dulcan, & Mericle, 2002; Wasserman, McReynolds, Lucas, Fisher, & Santos, 2002). Responses to this news by policymakers, legislators, administrators, and clinical professionals have been wide-ranging, calling for changes on four major fronts.