Closing the Gap Using Criminal Justice and Public Health Data to Improve the Identification of Mental Illness
Overview
Researchers from Vera’s Substance Use and Mental Health Program created an unprecedented dataset including records from four Washington, DC criminal justice agencies and the Department of Mental Health to study the mental health needs of people arrested in the District of Columbia in June 2008. The resulting report provides information to improve the identification of mental health needs for this population, improve the delivery of mental health services, support the design of new policies and programs, and establish a baseline against which to measure the effectiveness of new initiatives.
