Browsing by Subject "Criminal justice"
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Item Correlates of suicide risk among Black and White adults with behavioral health disorders in criminal-legal systems(Springer Nature, 2022-03-04) Lawson, Spencer G.; Lowder, Evan M.; Ray, Bradley; School of Public and Environmental AffairsBackground: Adults with behavioral health disorders in criminal-legal systems are at heightened risk of suicide relative to the general population. Despite documented racial disparities in criminal processing and behavioral health treatment, few studies have examined racial differences in suicide risk in this already high-risk population. This study examined 1) the correlates of suicide risk in this population overall and by race and 2) the moderating role of race in these associations. Methods: We investigated correlates of clinician-rated suicide risk at baseline in a statewide sample of 2,827 Black and 14,022 White adults with criminal-legal involvement who engaged in community-based behavioral health treatment. Regression-based approaches were used to model suicide risk and test for evidence of interaction effects. Results: Findings showed the strongest correlates of suicide risk were greater behavioral health needs, evidence of self-harm, and a primary mental health diagnosis or co-occurring diagnosis. In race-specific analyses, correlates of suicide risk were mostly similar for both Black and White clients, with a couple exceptions. Interaction terms testing between-group effects on correlates of suicide risk were non-significant. Conclusions: Adults with behavioral health disorders in criminal-legal systems experience similar risk factors for suicide as the general population. Similar to prior research, we found that Black adults, in particular, are at lower risk for suicide overall. Contrary to expectations, we found similarities in correlates of suicide risk across race in our sample of felony-level adults with behavioral health disorders in the criminal-legal system. Prior research shows that behavioral health professionals should be cognizant of cultural factors when developing a comprehensive approach to suicide care and treatment. Our findings show correlates of suicide risk are largely stable in Black and White adults involved in criminal-legal systems, suggesting culturally responsive treatment for suicide risk should target shared risk factors.Item Developing Substance Use Programming for Person-Oriented Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT): protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial(BMC, 2017-12-15) Watson, Dennis P.; Ray, Bradley; Robison, Lisa; Xu, Huiping; Edwards, Rhiannon; Salyers, Michelle P.; Hill, James; Shue, Sarah; Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public HealthBackground There is a lack of evidence-based substance use disorder treatment and services targeting returning inmates. Substance Use Programming for Person-Oriented Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) is a community-driven, recovery-oriented approach to substance abuse care which has the potential to address this service gap. SUPPORT is modeled after Indiana’s Access to Recovery program, which was closed due to lack of federal support despite positive improvements in clients’ recovery outcomes. SUPPORT builds on noted limitations of Indiana's Access to Recovery program. The ultimate goal of this project is to establish SUPPORT as an effective and scalable recovery-oriented system of care. A necessary step we must take before launching a large clinical trial is pilot testing the SUPPORT intervention. Methods The pilot will take place at Public Advocates in Community Re-Entry (PACE), nonprofit serving individuals with felony convictions who are located in Marion County, Indiana (Indianapolis). The pilot will follow a basic parallel randomized design to compare clients receiving SUPPORT with clients receiving standard services. A total of 80 clients within 3 months of prison release will be recruited to participate and randomly assigned to one of the two intervention arms. Quantitative measures will be collected at multiple time points to understand SUPPORT’s impact on recovery capital and outcomes. We will also collect qualitative data from SUPPORT clients to better understand their program and post-discharge experiences. Discussion Successful completion of this pilot will prepare us to conduct a multi-site clinical trial. The ultimate goal of this future work is to develop an evidence-based and scalable approach to treating substance use disorder among persons returning to society after incarceration. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov (Clinical Trials ID: NCT03132753 and Protocol Number: 1511731907). Registered 28 April 2017.Item HIV Care Continuum Among People Living With HIV and History of Arrest and Mental Health Diagnosis(Wolters Kluwer, 2023) Wiehe, Sarah E.; Nelson, Tammie L.; Aalsma, Matthew C.; Rosenman, Marc B.; Gharbi, Sami; Fortenberry, J. Dennis; Pediatrics, School of MedicineObjective: Justice involvement and psychiatric comorbidities contribute to excess HIV morbidity, yet their interaction is poorly understood. We examined associations of this overlap with HIV outcomes among people living with HIV (PLWH). Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of PLWH aged 13 years and older residing in Marion County (Indianapolis), IN, during 2018 (n = 5730) using linked HIV surveillance, arrest, and clinical data. We used univariable and multivariable regression to evaluate main and interaction effects of 2010-2017 arrest and mental health diagnosis on 2018 linkage to care (LTC), retention in care (RIC), and undetectable viral load (UVL). Results: LTC decreased among those with, versus without, an arrest (P = 0.02), although mental health diagnoses had no significant effect on LTC. When controlling for demographics and substance use disorder, analyses indicated a protective effect of arrest history on odds of RIC (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.54) and UVL (aOR = 1.26). Mental health diagnosis also increased odds of RIC (aOR = 2.02) and UVL (aOR = 1.95). Post hoc tests demonstrated that these results were mediated by outpatient care utilization, although an arrest or mental health diagnosis did increase odds of RIC among PLWH and a history of low outpatient utilization. Conclusions: Outpatient care utilization improves HIV outcomes, even among those with justice involvement and psychiatric comorbidities. Holistic approaches to care can increase utilization. Implementation of "no wrong door" approaches, such as integration of mental health care in the primary care setting, simplifies health care navigation and improves access. Among those arrested, access to a Behavioral Court program can improve, rather than disrupt, HIV care.Item "Just as expensive as sending him to college:" barriers and perceptions of treatment in justice-involved youth(Springer Nature, 2024-07-23) McBrayer, Corey; Turner, Annie; Whitener, Mackenzie; Adams, Zachary W.; Hulvershorn, Leslie; Zapolski, Tamika C. B.; Aalsma, Matthew C.; Pediatrics, School of MedicineBackground: Justice-involved youth have higher rates of substance use disorders (SUDs) than the general population. Many do not connect with or complete treatment, leading to recidivism. This qualitative study explores perceptions and barriers to treatment in this population. Results: Justice-involved youth participating in a larger study focused on access to SUD treatment were interviewed about available treatment and justice system involvement. Twenty-one dyads (youth and a guardian) and 3 individual guardians (total N = 45) were interviewed by phone. Inclusion criteria were youth aged 14-17 involved in the justice system that screened positive for SUD. Youth sample was 43% male. Thematic analysis guided the process. The study was Indiana University Institutional Review Board approved (#1802346939). Data was interpreted within the ecological system theory. Youth barriers included willingness to engage in treatment, time constraints/scheduling conflicts, and low perceived usefulness of treatment. Major guardian themes included high cost of treatment, lack of communication by the justice system about treatment, youth unwillingness or disinterest to engage in treatment, and limited program availability. Conclusions: The barriers to treatment for justice-involved youth are multifaceted and occur across the spectrum of levels of the ecological system, which include parents, peers, social systems, and cultural elements. Many youth and guardians suggested improvements for their interactions with the juvenile justice system. Further examination is needed of current policy implementation to address these concerns.Item The Trap Chronicles, Vol. 1: How US housing policy impairs criminal justice reform(Maryland Law Review, 2021-08-12) Silva, LahnyClose to fifty years after President Richard Nixon’s 1971 declaration of a War on Drugs, America is attempting to remedy the aftermath. Today, the War is generally considered a failure. Despite all the arrests and prosecutions, the War has been unsuccessful in accomplishing its two touted objectives: eliminating drug trafficking and eliminating drug addiction in the United States. America paid dearly; it was extremely expensive, disproportionately impacted communities of color, and took hundreds of thousands of prisoners. This final cost was highlighted when the “the land of the free” earned the number one spot for having the highest incarceration rate in the world. Recognizing the substantial costs associated with wartime criminal laws and sentencing practices, a criminal justice reform is currently sweeping through legislatures across the country. In the spirit of fair sentencing and second chances, legislatures are commissioning studies of sentencing regimes and modifying criminal penalties with retroactive application. The return of judicial discretion with the United Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Booker now allows punishments that deviate from otherwise strict determinate criminal sentences. And clemency is making a comeback, with both Presidents Obama and Trump utilizing the executive power to commute overly punitive terms of imprisonment. Over 100 days into his administration, President Biden has not yet made his views clear on clemency. Ex-offender reentry as a substantive and procedural legal issue is now considered a legitimate legislative concern, with Congress putting federal dollars behind evidence-based programs proven to reduce recidivism. States are following suit. Although this is a positive step in undoing decades of ineffective policy, other areas of law impacted by the Drug War must also be reviewed and modified if the damage caused is to be truly rectified. Wartime legislation contributed to the proliferation of not only criminal statutes and sanctions, but also numerous civil penalties associated with drug-related suspicion and/or conviction. Drug war policies bled over into civil and administrative areas of law, manifesting in rules that work as a form of further government control—wreaking havoc on poor, mostly minority communities that already absorbed the bulk of the War’s attacks on the criminal front. Commonly referred to as the “collateral consequences of conviction” in the academic literature, these civil statutes and administrative regulations are pervasive and pernicious, hindering the transition from prison to society. Collateral consequences affect almost every part of one’s life: areas that are essential to productive citizenship and socio-economic stability. As the War seems to be winding down on the criminal front, other rules continue to endure and serve as the predicate for intensive regulation and exclusion in civil and administrative matters such as voting, employment, and housing. This Article contributes to the existing scholarship on the War on Drugs, collateral consequences, and offender reentry by reviewing federal criminal and housing laws in the aftermath of redemptive rhetoric that has been employed to pronounce a retreat from the War. It applies drug war criticisms to federal housing policy and argues that the ideological shift away from “tough on crime” to “second chances” in the criminal context must be extended to national housing policy. I argue that wartime costs associated with criminal law are mimicked in the federal housing policy context, a battleground during the War on Drugs. More specifically, I argue that with wartime policy deeply penetrating the national housing agenda, the drug laws continue to serve as a justification to inflict socio-economic violence on targeted groups. This violence takes the form of intensive regulation in federal housing programs and operates as an additional layer of criminalization and social control on an already powerless group. In neglecting to review wartime policies beyond the criminal law, this Article contends that policymakers are creating an ideological schism that has manifested in an inconsistent legislative agenda. There are thus two systems: one where prisoners of the War are to be viewed as redeemed and worthy of a second chance, and the other where prisoners of the War continue to be demonized and excluded from mainstream society. In the criminal context, the government is pivoting from taking people out of their communities and incarcerating them to now releasing the legislative pressure valves to open the prison gates and release prisoners of the War. The question is: Where will they all live? Housing is identified as the primary barrier for those reintegrating. During this reform movement, legislators are overlooking collateral consequences affecting housing prospects for criminal justice-involved individuals, especially drug offenders, thus continuing the War on the civil front. This Article reasons that the next natural step in the retreat from the War’s policies is to review and modify Drug War legislation that transcends criminal law. This is a necessity if the proclaimed political promise of a second chance is to be truly fulfilled. If it is not, then the redemptive rhetoric is nothing but a trap—a political ploy used to pander to public opinion on the criminal justice front, while laying cover to the grave legislative mistakes made in the shadows on the civil front during the War.Item Use of Project ECHO to promote evidence based care for justice involved adults with opioid use disorder(Sage, 2022) Adams, Zachary W.; Agley, Jon; Pederson, Casey A.; Bell, Lauren A.; Aalsma, Matthew C.; Jackson, TiAura; Grant, Miyah T.; Ott, Carol A.; Hulvershorn, Leslie A.; Psychiatry, School of MedicineBackground: People with opioid use disorders (OUDs) are at heightened risk for involvement with the criminal justice system. Growing evidence supports the safety and effectiveness of providing empirically supported treatments for OUD, such as medications for OUD (M-OUD), to people with criminal justice involvement including during incarceration or upon reentry into the community. However, several barriers limit availability and accessibility of these treatment options for people with OUDs, including a shortage of healthcare and justice professionals trained in how to implement them. This study evaluated a novel education program, the Indiana Jail OUD Treatment ECHO, designed to disseminate specialty knowledge and improve attitudes about providing M-OUD in justice settings. Methods: Through didactic presentations and case-based learning (10 bimonthly, 90-min sessions), a multidisciplinary panel of specialists interacted with a diverse group of community-based participants from healthcare, criminal justice, law enforcement, and related fields. Participants completed standardized surveys about OUD knowledge and attitudes about delivering M-OUD in correctional settings. Thematic analysis of case presentations was conducted. Results: Among 43 participants with pre- and post-series evaluation data, knowledge about OUD increased and treatment was viewed as more practical after the ECHO series compared to before. Cases presented during the program typically involved complicated medical and psychiatric comorbidities, and recommendations addressed several themes including harm reduction, post-release supports, and integration of M-OUD and non-pharmacological interventions. Conclusions: Evaluation of future iterations of this innovative program should address attendance and provider behavior change as well as patient and community outcomes associated with ECHO participation.