Does Juvenile Criminal Onset Distinguish among Offenders whose Criminal Behavior is Directly or Indirectly Related to the Presence of a Serious Mental Illness?

• In Event: Criminal Risk Among People with Mental Illness

Abstract

Researchers have suggested that the justice involvement of people with serious mental illness (SMI) may be a direct result of disruptive/unsafe expression of psychiatric symptoms being responded to by law enforcement. Other researchers have proposed that SMI may indirectly contribute to justice involvement, through environmental and social learning processes that place people with SMI at risk for criminal behavior. We examined the potential of early onset of criminal behavior to distinguish those groups for whom SMI plays a direct effect or an indirect effect on criminal behavior. This study utilized a disproportionate random sample of 379 inmates released from New Jersey Department of Corrections; 190 of whom had SMI and 189 of whom did not have SMI. Data came from administrative records. Findings indicate that criminal risk mediated the relationship between SMI and recidivism. This indirect effect was also conditioned by whether the individual had a juvenile conviction. Specifically, for early start offenders, criminal risk was positively related to recidivism while this relationship was not observed for late start offenders. Juvenile criminal onset did not condition the direct effects of SMI on recidivism. Implications of findings for interventions aimed at reducing justice involvement of people with SMI are discussed.

Authors

• Aaron Conrad, University of Kansas

• Jason Matejkowski, University of Kansas

• Michael Ostermann, Rutgers University