Social Work Commons^™

Front End Justice: Diverting People Affected By Mental Illness From The Criminal Justice System, Ariel Esqueda, Kelliann Kutschke, Matthew Miller, Kayleigh Wendland

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Many of the people caught up in the criminal justice system are non-violent offenders struggling with mental illness, which cannot and should not be addressed through incarceration. Our jails and prisons are ill-equipped to provide effective mental health services. Incarceration compounds the problem by contributing to increased psychological distress. We are relying on the criminal justice system to respond to mental illness, rather than investing fully in the spectrum of mental health care from prevention to recovery. Minnesota must invest in diverting people affected by mental illness away from the criminal justice system and into community-based treatment, services, and supports …

Criminal Mental Health, Tabitha Oliver

Senior Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to assess and address the prevalence of mental health issues among incarcerated individuals in America. There are multiple internal and external contributing factors to the disproportionately high numbers of mentally ill inmates. Comparing the United States prison system with other countries such as Norway allows for possible paths to improving the mental health crisis that we are currently experiencing. This thesis looks at the principles and practices used in Norway's prisons as well as how they affect inmate's mental health. By comparing Norway's prison policies and design, this thesis will suggest changes in staff …

From Incarceration To Community: Criminal Justice Reform For People Affected By Mental Illness In Minnesota, Nancy Altmann, Paige Myrick

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Minnesota needs a new pathway approach in supporting people affected by mental illness. It is time we stop the practice of criminalizing mental illness, reform the probation and supervision systems, expand Medicaid and MinnesotaCare access, and fully invest in supports for people reintegrating back to their families and communities. Let’s take the millions of dollars spent annually on incarceration and invest in supportive services for people affected by mental illness. This approach invests in the health, hope, safety, and justice for all Minnesotans.

Debt Bondage: How Private Collection Agencies Keep The Formerly Incarcerated Tethered To The Criminal Justice System, Bryan L. Adamson

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Article examines the constitutionality of statutes which allow courts to transfer outstanding legal financial obligations to private debt collection agencies. In Washington State, the clerk of courts can transfer the legal financial obligation of a formerly incarcerated person if he or she is only thirty days late making a payment. Upon transfer, the debt collection agencies can assess a “collection fee” of up to 50% of the first $100.000 of the unpaid legal financial obligation, and up to 35% of the unpaid debt over $100,000. This fee becomes part of the LFO debt imposed at sentencing, and like that …

The Argument For Moving Away From Residential Placement For Most Juvenile Offenders, Marika Dawkins

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

No abstract provided.

The Interaction Effects Of Subjective And Structural Factors On Crime Among Formerly Incarcerated Males, Christopher Alvin Veeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The high rate of recidivism in the over 600,000 individuals who return from incarceration each year is an important social problem facing U.S. society and the criminal justice system. Efforts undertaken so far early in the 21st century to address the problem of recidivism in the formerly incarcerated, particularly prison reentry programs, have produced disappointing results at reducing the rate of recidivism. Therefore, there is a need to identify new ways for prison reentry programs to reduce recidivism among individuals recently returned from prison, and social work with its person-in-environment perspective can make an important contribution through conducting research to …

Incarceration And Reintegration: How It Impacts Mental Health, April M. Marier, Alex Alfredo Reyes

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Background: Previous criminal justice policies have been non-effective leading to overpopulated prisons and unsuccessful reintegration. There is a lack of effective supportive and/or rehabilitative services resulting in high rates of recidivism and mental health implications. Objective: This study investigated the perceived impact that incarceration and reintegration with little to no supportive and/or rehabilitative services has on the mental health status of an individual. The emphasis was on participant perception and not on professional reports because of underreporting and lack of attention to mental health in the criminal justice system. Methods: Focus groups in the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley …

Suicide Within United States Jails: A Qualitative Interpretive Meta-Synthesis, Laura Frank, Regina T. P. Aguirre

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Suicide was the leading cause of unnatural deaths in local jails, accounting for 29% of all jail deaths between 2000 and 2007. Though much literature exists on suicide in jails, very little is qualitative. Additionally, little attention has been focused on how the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide applies to the jail environment. To gain a better understanding of suicide in jails, an interpretive meta-synthesis of three qualitative articles was conducted. The combined sample included thirty-four individuals from three jails. These three articles were analyzed to identify common themes that led inmates to suicide. Three broad categories were identified through constant …

Who We Are: Incarcerated Students And The New Prison Literature, 1995-2010, Reilly Hannah N. Lorastein

Honors Projects

This project focuses on American prison writings from the late 1990s to the 2000s. Much has been written about American prison intellectuals such as Malcolm X, George Jackson, Eldridge Cleaver, and Angela Davis, who wrote as active participants in black and brown freedom movements in the United States. However the new prison literature that has emerged over the past two decades through higher education programs within prisons has received little to no attention. This study provides a more nuanced view of the steadily growing silent population in the United States through close readings of Openline, an inter-disciplinary journal featuring …

Mass Incarceration: Triple Jeopardy For Women In A "Color-Blind" And Gender-Neutral Justice System, Sandra Enos

Journal of Interdisciplinary Feminist Thought

This article will explore the growth in the incarceration of women over the past three decades. Recent scholarship has examined the impact of the war on crime on men, the poor and persons of color and characterized this movement as the New Jim Crow. This strain of research has focused on men. In this article, I will explore the impact of the war on crime on women, their families and their children. I will also explore the so-called gender neutral sentencing reforms and demonstrate the impact of these protocols on women. Finally, I will map the array of social control …

A Content Analysis Of Statutory Grounds For Involuntary Termination Of Parental Rights: The Impacts And Susceptibility Of Incarcerated Mothers And Their Children, Holly Marie Duke

Master's Theses

As the myriad of complex circumstances surrounding incarceration and foster care debilitate the parent-child relationship, the likelihood of legal severance between an incarcerated parent and their child increases. Despite the nation’s mounting prison population over the last three decades, the growing interaction between the prison and foster care populations has received minimal attention in the literature. To date, the influence of the statutory grounds for involuntary termination of parental rights on the legal severance between incarcerated parents and their children has been largely ignored. The purpose of this research is to determine the susceptibility of incarcerated parents to the involuntary …