Examining Associations Between Mental/Behavioral Health Services for Students With Disabilities in Secure Care Settings and Recidivism

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Special Ed: The Law and The Numbers

Abstract

This study examines recidivism patterns for students with disabilities (SWDs) in court-ordered secure-care settings within the juvenile justice system. Under federal law, each juvenile offender must receive education, behavioral intervention, and mental health services. Due to the diverse special education and mental health needs for SWDS (Quinn, Rutherford, Leone, Osher, & Poirier, 2005), understanding the link between programs and services received in secure-care settings and recidivism by characteristics such as race, gender, and county is necessary. Using descriptive and regression analyses, we find that program effects are insignificant for Black and Indigenous juveniles and that highest probabilities of being charged as an adult are for Black and Indigenous juveniles, even after factoring in group, program, and other individual-level characteristics.

Authors

• Natasha M Strassfeld, New York University

• Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng, New York University