Community-Based Correctional Programs

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Community-Based Correctional Programs for the Mentally Ill Individuals with mental illness experience high rates of interaction and involvement with the criminal justice system. This strong interaction is related to several different factors; mentally ill can have communication and behavior issues from their disorder that may have unintentional criminogenic effects. An example would be an individual with schizoaffective disorder who has a voice inside his head which tells him to enter a house, goes into the house, house-owners call the police, and the individual is then charged with burglary. There are several community-based correctional options and programs available to mentally ill offenders two of which are Mental Health Courts and Forensic …show more content…

FACT is constructed from the ACT model. The main organization of ACT is a conjunction of several mental health professionals who work in a similar fashion as inpatient treatment by providing individualized treatment for offenders within the community (George, Durbin, & Koegl, 2008). The main components of ACT are continuous involvement from providers, education provided to individuals about the illness and management tools, motivational interviewing, additional resources for comorbid disorders such as substance addiction, low volume caseloads and 24/7 response in regards to psychiatric emergencies (McKenna, & et al., 2015; Prins & Draper, …show more content…

Lurigio (2011) found that issuing psychiatric treatment to mentally ill offenders assist with making those offenders more reactive to interventions which decrease recidivism. Research in ACT program effectiveness illustrates consistent outcomes of reducing psychiatric hospitalization and investment in housing stability for the mentally ill. However, this consistency in outcomes is not seen in regards to decreasing mental health symptoms, arrests, substance abuse, adjustment into society, and overall life quality for these offenders (Neumiller & et al., 2009). FACT identifies the outcomes not shown effectiveness in ACT and promotes services within the program that has demonstrated mixed effects in decreasing mental health symptoms, arrests, substance abuse, and adjustment into society (Prins & Draper,

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