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Bridget M. Kuehn

JAMA. 2007;297:1641-1643.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

During the past decade, the number of specialty courts designed to divert mentally ill individuals from the criminal justice system into appropriate treatment programs has grown from 4 to about 120. This growth has been driven by concern about the large number of inmates with mental illness in jails or prisons nationwide and the hope that connecting them with appropriate treatment will improve their quality of life while reducing communities' crime rates and incarceration costs.

Alternative programs that divert mentally ill individuals from the criminal justice system at the time of arrest, bail, or sentencing are also being explored. Now, a small but growing body of evidence is providing support that mental health courts and similar interventions may indeed benefit individuals and communities.

A recent report by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) estimated that more than half of all prison and jail inmates have a mental . . . [Full Text of this Article]

TREATMENT, NOT PUNISHMENT



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