Active Research
Building Interventions to Reduce the Risk of a Criminal Justice Encounter
Police Officer Response to Emotionally Disturbed Person Calls
Modeling Criminal Justice Involvement among Persons with Severe Mental Illness
Role of Alcohol and Drug Use in Persistence and Desistance from Offending
Quality of Life in New Jersey Prisons
Victimization inside Prison
Incarcerated Women with Mental Illness, Substance Use/Abuse, and Trauma Histories
Justice System-Involved Youth and Meanings Attached to Mental Illness
Critical Time Intervention (CTI): A Randomized Trial
Rethinking Prisoner Reentry: A Prisoner-as-Consumer Perspective
From Reentry to Career: Building Worklife after Jail
Therapeutic Relationship in the Context of Critical Time Intervention and Reentry
Formative Research: Methods and Tools
Building Interventions to Reduce the Risk of a Criminal Justice Encounter
Studies of encounters between persons with serious mental illness and the police have been useful in understanding issues in the management of offenders with serious mental illness in the early stages of criminal justice processing. Jail diversion and other efforts have proliferated in response to this need but show mixed results. Recognized evidence-based interventions, such as assertive community treatment, even when tailored for forensic clients, do not significantly reduce re-arrest rates. One explanation may be a flawed understanding of the causes of criminal justice contacts that arise from a failure to ground interventions in theoretically and empirically sound principles. This project brings together intervention researchers, representatives of specialized interventions, consumers, practitioners, and family members with experiences at the intersection of these systems. The goal is to develop a comprehensive, nuanced, and integrated understanding of why community-based living is not working for many people with serious mental illness who have criminal justice encounters, focusing on therapeutic, demographic, cultural, economic, environmental, and social factors, as well as techniques and processes of engagement.
For more information regarding this project, E-mail Dr. William Fisher (team leader).
Co-investigators: Robert Drake (Dartmouth College), Robert Morgan (Texas Technology University), Helene White (Rutgers University), Kim Mueser (Dartmouth College), Nancy Wolff (Rutgers University), and Jeffrey Draine (University of Pennsylvania)
Related Publications:
Fisher, W.H., & Drake, R. (2007). Forensic mental illness and other policy misadventures. Commentary on "extending assertive community treatment to criminal justice settings: Origins, current evidence, and future directions." Community Mental Health Journal, 43, 545-548.
Police Officer Response to Emotionally Disturbed Person Calls
Increasingly, police officers are key gatekeepers of access to mental health treatment. It is thought that police could better facilitate access and respond more appropriately to emotionally disturbed person (EDP) calls if they were informed about mental illness and how to respond to persons with a mental illness and felt more confident that appropriate resources were available to them. The “correct” or “more appropriate” response to emotional disturbance is an empirical issue. Taken as a premise is that officers develop frames of reference (or schema) for understanding these encounters; these schemas are shaped by socialization, training, and experience as police officers. Rather than assume what officers should know about identifying and responding to calls involving EDPs, the research team proposes an empirical approach that examines the schema that are actually applied to these situations. The specific aims are to identify schema that police officers apply to EDP calls and to develop a Needs on the Street Interview (NOSI) of police officers to assess their confidence and thinking in responding to different aspects of EDP calls.
For more information regarding this project, E-mail Dr. Amy Watson (team leader).
Co-investigators: Jeffrey Draine (University of Pennsylvania), Arthur Lurigio (Loyola University), William Fisher and Al Grudzinskas (University of Massachusetts Medical School) and Jennifer Skeem (University of California, Irvine)
Watson, A.C., Morabito, M.S., Draine, J., & Ottati, V. (2008). Improving police response to persons with mental illness: A Multi- level conceptualization of CIT. International Journal of Psychiatry and Law.
Morabito, M. S. (2007). Horizons of Context: Understanding the police decision to arrest people with mental illness. Psychiatric Services, 58, 1582-1587. Watson AC, Angell B, Morabito MS, & Robinson N. (2008). Defying negative expectations: Dimensions of fair and respectful treatment by police officers as perceived by people with mental illness. Administration & Policy in Mental Health & Mental Health Services Research. online first. DOI 10.1007/s10488-008-0188-5
Modeling Criminal Justice Involvement among Persons with Severe Mental Illness
Using a data set containing adult arrest histories for a cohort of persons with serious mental illness (SMI) who received either inpatient, residential, or case management services from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health during 2000, this study offers a unique opportunity to: examine the patterns of offenses for which persons with SMI are arrested; identify socio-environmental and mental health services correlates of arrest, and assess predictors of change in criminal justice involvement over time at the individual level. These data will provide preliminary evidence to support a more intensive study of arrest among persons with mental illness by providing a new framework that integrates mental health services and criminologic perspectives.
For more information regarding this project, E-mail Dr. William Fisher (team leader).
Related Publications:
Fisher, W. H., Roy-Bujnowski, K., Grudzinskas, A.J., Clayfield, J., Banks, S.M., & Wolff, N. (2006). Arrest in a Mental Health Service Use Cohort. Psychiatric Services, 57, 1623-1628.
Fisher, W. H., Wolff, N., Grudzinskas, A.J., Roy-Bujnowski, K., Banks, S., & Clayfield, J. (2007). Drug-related arrests in a cohort of mental health services recipients. Psychiatric Services, 58, 1448-1453.
Fisher, W. H., Roy-Bujnowski, K., Grudzinskas, A.J., Banks, S., Clayfield, J., & Wolff, N. (under review). Comparing risk for arrest in public mental health clients and the general public: Findings from a 10-year cohort study.
Role of Alcohol and Drug Use in Persistence and Desistance from Offending
There have been several studies in criminology that have examined patterns of offending and have found that most youth desist from offending in their late teens and early 20s with few continuing after age 30. Nevertheless, there remains a sizeable minority of individuals whose substance use escalates into adulthood and a small minority who continue to offend in adulthood. The aim of this project is to examine the development of substance use and offending from adolescence through emerging adulthood and their effects on persistence of substance use and offending in adulthood. The researchers are adding an additional hour to the in-person data collection effort of the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS), adding instruments on alcohol and drug use, intimate partner violence, aggression, social support, and current life situation. The investigation of desistance processes will be relevant for optimizing therapeutic interventions, particularly if potentially modifiable factors can be identified. Information that may lead to reduction in the length of an offending or problematic substance use career will pay off in reduced costs to society.
For more information regarding this project, E-mail Dr. Helene White (team leader).
Co-investigators: Rolf Loeber (University of Pittsburgh), Eun Young Mun (Rutgers University), Dustin Pardini (University of Pittsburgh), Magda Stouthamer-Loeber (University of Pittsburgh), and Nancy Wolff (Rutgers University)
Quality of Life in New Jersey Prisons
The Center for Mental Health Services & Criminal Justice Research, in conjunction with the New Jersey Department of Corrections, collected quality of prison life data from over 7,000 male and female inmates. Questions focused on conditions of safety, victimization, food, grievance procedures, quality of treatment, vocational and educational services, and treatment by officers. Results from this study will add significantly to the national discussion about the dangerousness of prisons and towards efforts to reduce violence and promote reentry success.
For more information regarding this project, E-mail Dr. Nancy Wolff
Co-investigators: Jing Shi (Rutgers University) and Jane Siegel (Rutgers University-Camden).
Related Publications:
Wolff, N., & Shi, J. (2009). Feelings of safety among male inmates: The safety paradox. Criminal Justice Review, in press.
Wolff, N., & Shi, J. (2009). Feelings of safety inside prison among male inmates with different victimization experiences. Violence & Victims, in press.
Wolff, N., Shi, J., & Siegel, J. (2009). Patterns of victimization among male and female inmates: Evidence of an enduring legacy. Violence & Victims, in press.
Victimization inside Prison
Violence is an integral part of prison life. People with serious mental illness are at significant risk for victimization in the community. Yet whether they are at elevated risk for victimization inside prison has not been shown empirically, although it has been suggested in numerous reports. As the ranks of people with mental illness have increased in correctional settings so has the concern about their safety there. This project collected data from a random sample of inmate subjects drawn from 14 adult prisons operated by the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Subjects aged 18 or older (7,221 men and 564 women) completed an audio-computer administered survey instrument. Prevalence rates and predictors of sexual and physical victimization were estimated for male and female populations, with emphasis on differences between those inmates with and without mental disorder.
For more information regarding this project, E-mail Dr. Nancy Wolff (team leader).
Co-investigators: Ronet Bachman (University of Delaware), Jing Shi (Rutgers University), and Jane Siegel (Rutgers University-Camden).
Related Publications:
Wolff, N., Shi, J., & Siegel, J. (2009). Patterns of victimization among male and female inmates: Evidence of an enduring legacy. Violence & Victims, in press.
Wolff, N., & Shi, J. (2009). Contextualization of physical and sexual assault in male prisons: The incidents and their aftermath. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 15(1), 58-77. DOI: 10.1177/1078345808326622.
Wolff, N., Shi, J., & Siegel, J. (2009). Understanding physical victimization inside prisons: Factors that predict risk. Justice Quarterly. DOI: 10.1080/07418820802427858.
Blitz, C., Wolff, N., & Shi, J. (2008). Physical victimization in prison: The role of mental illness. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 31(5), 385-393.
Wolff, N., Shi, J., & Bachman, R. (2008). Measuring victimization inside prison: Questioning the questions. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 23(10): 1343-1362. DOI:10.1177/0886260508314301.
Wolff, N., Shi, J., & Blitz, C. (2008). Racial and ethnic disparities in types and sources of victimization inside prison. The Prison Journal, 88, 451-472.
Wolff, N., Blitz, C., & Shi, J. (2007). Rates of sexual victimization inside prison for people with and without mental disorder. Psychiatric Services, 58(8), 1087-1094.
Wolff, N., Shi, J., Blitz, C., & Siegel, J. (2007). Understanding sexual victimization inside prisons: Factors that predict risk. Criminology & Public Policy, 6(3), 201-231.
Wolff, N., Blitz, C., Shi, J., Siegel, J., & Bachman, R. (2007). Physical Violence inside Prison: Rates of victimization. Criminal Justice & Behavior, 34(5), 588-599.
Wolff, N., Blitz, C., Shi, J., Bachman, R., & Siegel, J. (2006). Sexual violence inside prison: Rates of victimization. Journal of Urban Health, 83(5), 835-848.
Incarcerated Women with Mental Illness, Substance Use/Abuse, and Trauma Histories
Women are entering and leaving prison in record numbers. There is an abundance of evidence showing that the majority of women inside prison have mental health problems; have experienced physical, sexual, or emotional abuse during their formative years and often in adulthood, and have a substance use problem. A minority of these women receive posttraumatic stress disorder treatment while incarcerated, even though these problems are risk factors for returning back to prison after release. The objective of this study is to develop and evaluate an integrated treatment and skill-based reentry program for women with mental illness, substance use disorders, and trauma histories. The goal here is to test two well-known interventions for trauma-related difficulties and substance use for their efficacy and effects on reentry for women leaving prison. The integrated reentry intervention is skills-based and emphasizes taking responsibility for one’s life and making interpersonal, cognitive, and behavioral changes to move one’s life forward.
For more information regarding this project, E-mail Dr. Nancy Wolff (team leader).
Co-investigators: Joan Cook (Columbia Medical School), Christopher Frueh (Baylor College), Lisa Najavits (Boston University), Gregory McHugo (Dartmouth College), and Thomas Ten Have (University of Pennsylvania)
Related Publications:
Blitz, C., Wolff, N., & Paap, K (2006). Availability of behavioral health treatment for women in prison. Psychiatric Services, 57, 356-360.
Wolff, N. (2008). Rebuilding "person-first" reentry strategies for women leaving prison from the perspectives of the end users: The returning women. In Gido, R., L. Dalley, & D. McDonald (Eds.), Women’s mental health issues across the criminal justice system (pp. 226-243). Prentice Hall.
Justice System-Involved Youth and Meanings Attached to Mental Illness
This pilot study examines the meanings attached to mental illness labels and mental health services by youth involved in the criminal justice system and their parents. Via qualitative interviews with youth and their parents, this pilot project is collecting data that will inform a larger study that uses an adapted network episode model to examine how the attitudes and norms of youth in the criminal justice system and the networks they are involved in influence service linkage, participation, and outcomes.
For more information regarding this project, E-mail Dr. Amy Watson
Critical Time Intervention (CTI): A Randomized Trial
Critical time intervention (CTI) is an intensive, time-limited case-management model designed to increase housing stability among people who are homeless. CTI has been adapted as a reentry intervention for people with serious mental illness leaving prison. The key premise of the CTI intervention is to use front-loaded outreach services to provide a bridge between prison and the community, stabilizing the consumer and providing linkage to services and supportive community networks. In the reentry context, CTI acts as a form of social support that prevents re-offending and perpetuates “virtuous cycles” of community integration. The project team is conducting a National Institute of Mental Health-funded controlled trial of CTI based on a random sample of people with serious mental illness to be released from New Jersey prisons and relocated to Camden County, New Jersey. The trial is currently underway.
For more information regarding this project, E-mail Dr. Jeffrey Draine (team leader).
Draine, J., & Herman, D.B. (2007). Critical time intervention for reentry from prison for persons with mental illness. Psychiatric Services, 58, 1577-1581.
Rethinking Prisoner Reentry: A Prisoner-as-Consumer Perspective
Hundreds of prisoner reentry programs are being implemented around the country with targeted funding from federal legislation and state initiatives. These programs typically focus on the period just prior to and after leaving prison and on instrumental needs such as personal identification, housing, employment, and public entitlements. In many respects these programs are analogous to discharge planning programs for patients leaving long-term-care institutions, such as psychiatric hospitals and rehabilitation centers. Programs for reentering patients have evolved with input from “consumers” and because of pressure from the consumer movement, yet the notion of prisoner-as-consumer has not gained traction in the criminal justice field. This project uses a prisoner-as-consumer approach to identify the risks and assets of people leaving prison, their emotional and instrumental concerns and fears, and to develop a transition model from their perspective using a workshop and focus group methodology. Women and men residing in prisons located in six states who were expected to be released within six months were recruited to participate in the study. Of particular interest is whether the consumer perspective varies by gender, indicating the need for gender-specific reentry/rehabilitation/resettlement interventions.
For more information regarding this project, E-mail Dr. Nancy Wolff (team leader).
Wolff, N. (2008). Rebuilding "person-first" reentry strategies for women leaving prison from the perspectives of the end users: The returning women. In R. Gido, L. Dalley, & D. McDonald (Eds.), Women’s mental health issues across the criminal justice system (pp. 226-243). Prentice Hall.
From Reentry to Career: Building Worklife after Jail
Employment is a critical element of successful reintegration after incarceration. Conditional release decisions often hinge on having a job. Employment, because it structures day-to-day life, is often associated with reduced risk of re-arrest. Rarely, however, has intervention research on employment adequately addressed the context of employment as marking broader, meaningful aspects of community integration. Extant research does not adequately address the ways in which people with mental illness also leave jail facing a more complex and difficult time getting their lives together. It is also clear that current interventions for this dually disadvantaged population are ineffective, particularly in regard to gaining and maintaining employment. This pilot aims to conceptualize the role of employment in reentry more broadly. It will do so by setting employment in a frame that includes educational attainment, services at release, housing, social supports, and striving toward socially acceptable goals.
For more information regarding this project, E-mail Dr. Mark Salzer (team leader).
Co-investigators: Richard Baron and Jeffrey Draine (University of Pennsylvania)
Therapeutic Relationship in the Context of Critical Time Intervention and Reentry
The therapeutic relationship (or “working alliance”) has been established as a key intervening variable within psychotherapy research. The linkage between therapeutic alliance and positive treatment outcomes is well established in the psychotherapy and case-management literatures, yet there are no published studies that assess the role of the client-provider relationship in the effectiveness of reentry services for offenders with serious mental illness. The purpose of this pilot project is to examine the development of the therapeutic alliance within a time-limited intervention model (Critical Time Intervention [CTI]) for individuals with serious mental illness leaving prison. This study will use newly developed alliance measures tailored to the unique features of case management with a psychiatrically disabled population.
For more information regarding this project, E-mail Dr. Beth Angell.
Related Papers:
Angell, B. (2006). Measuring strategies used by mental health providers to encourage medication adherence. Journal of Behavioral Health Services Research, 24, 53-72. Angell, B., & Mahoney, C. (2007). Reconceptualizing the case management relationship in intensive treatment: A study of staff perceptions and experiences. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 34, 172-188.
Formative Research: Methods and Tools
Much of the evidence on mental health-addiction-criminal justice (MH-SA-CJ) interventions is based on evaluations conducted within the first two years of implementation. These evaluations, once published, become the evidence base. Often left unexplored in these evaluations, as well as in effectiveness research, is the extent to which interventions are targeting appropriate populations, are penetrating the target population in sufficient numbers, and are providing equal access to the intervention. The goal of this project is to develop the foundation for formative evaluations (first few years of implementation) in research on MH-SA-CJ interventions. This project will identify and develop the utility of formative evaluations as the first phase of intervention research; systematically investigate the potential for mis-targeting, poor penetration, and selection bias, and develop guidance on formative evaluations and tools to measure and evaluate target population penetration, selection bias, and potential threats to generalizability.
For more information regarding this project, E-mail Dr. Steven Belenko or Dr. Nancy Wolff (co-team leaders).
