Supplement article
Health issues for adolescents in the justice system

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1054-139X(02)00494-9Get rights and content

Abstract

Three major health issues for adolescents in the justice system are discussed: the lack of mental health resources and services for youth in the system, increased prosecution of juveniles as adults (and consequent incarceration of youth in adult jails and prisons), and the epidemic of gun violence in this country. For each issue, the paper describes the scope of the problem, analyzes the components of the problem, and makes recommendations for future research and reform efforts. The analysis and recommendations are based on criminal justice, legal, service integration, and public health research.

Section snippets

introduction

In a groundbreaking 1982 report, Knitzer [4] concluded that children in the juvenile justice system with emotional and behavioral disorders were largely neglected and ignored by public service systems. Ten years later, in the most comprehensive monograph available on the subject, Cocozza [5] reported that “the situation has not changed.” Sadly, 6 years later juvenile justice and mental health are still, in Knitzer’s words, “the forgotten mandate.”

scope of the problem

Although official reports on this problem go

Juvenile crime and public reaction

Between 1987 and 1994, the rate of arrest for violent crimes by juveniles in this country rose by 70% [12]. The increase was led by juvenile arrests for murder, which more than doubled from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The homicide rate upsurge was completely firearm related, as young people committed murder with guns much more frequently than ever before [43]. At the same time, the media increasingly focused its attention on violent juvenile crime [53], and pundits, politicians, and news

Scope of the problem

Gun violence is an epidemic in our society. Guns, primarily handguns, were used in more than 740,000 crimes of violence in

Acknowledgements

Vonetta Brown, a third-year student at George Washington University National Law Center, and Michelle Light, a second-year student at New York University School of Law, provided invaluable research assistance in the preparation of this paper.

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