By Kaisa Marshall, Ph.D.
Per the ACLU, on any given day roughly 60,000 youth under the age of 18 are incarcerated in jails or prisons in the United States. New Mexico has roughly 227 youth incarcerated per every 100,000 people. Provided that there are 2,116,000 people living in New Mexico that means roughly 4,767 youth under 18 are incarcerated on any given day in the state. Although not the highest rate, New Mexico is considered to have a significant number of incarcerated youths. Notably, there is an overrepresentation of youth with mental health disorders in the juvenile justice system, such that approximately 70% have a diagnosable mental health disorder, with 30% of those experiencing severe mental health disorders. In comparison, nine to 22% of the general youth population experience diagnosable mental health disorders.
There are several factors that influence this overrepresentation, namely clinical, socio-legal, and intersystem factors. For instance, emotional and behavioral disorders linked to early childhood trauma have been correlated with later delinquency and/or involvement in the justice system. Indeed, youth exhibiting clinical mental health symptoms are more likely to demonstrate behaviors that results in contact with law enforcement, and those same symptoms are more likely to be perceived as unmanageable behavior which leads to heighted rates of arrest. Additionally, socio-legal factors, such as changes in statues, harsher penalties, more secure facility placements, and mandatory sentences have interfered with youth getting treatment in the community. With reduced access to mental health services, delinquent acts by juveniles with mental health disorders are more likely to increase, resulting in juvenile justice facilities either having to become mental health providers or part of a mental health team. Unfortunately, most juvenile justice facilities do not have the resources to appropriately take on this role, adding an additional challenge for youth and their families. More concerning is that these challenges have long-term impacts of youth and society as a whole. Youth who have come in contact with the justice system are at a heightened risk for repeated contact with the justice system and justice system involvement has been associated with many negative outcomes. Specifically, such youth have increased likelihood for psychological issues, heightened risk for physical health problems, education interruption and lower literacy rates, and higher rates of unemployment. All of these negative outcomes for youth are exacerbated when there are limited resources for youth or a lack of continuation of care following their involvement.
Across the United States there is a lack of youth mental health services and justice involved youth have been identified as the most neglected. There is also a documented lack of utilization of the resources that do exist for children, youth, and families. Research suggests this is associated with lack of problem recognition, reluctance to seek help (for many different reasons), unavailable service providers, lack of infrastructure established to house and operate mental health services in community. Although this can make addressing the problem feel dauting, it also highlights the variety of areas where we can intervene, especially if we work together as professionals and a community. And the outcome is worth it. In fact, the literature suggests that early interventions with justice-involved youth decreases the likelihood of recidivism, improves future outcomes of youth (e.g., education, physical health, mental health), and decreases potential burden on society across various domains. In sum, investing in youths’ well-being and mental health early on is one of the most impactful interventions we can make in our community as it benefits the individual, the legal system, and the public as a whole.
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