How better access to mental health care can reduce crime
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- SIEPR policy brief
- Author(s):
- Jacome, Elisa, author
- Contributor(s):
- Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Stanford, CA : Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), July 2021
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Crime -- prevention & control Health Services Accessibility Mental Health Services Cost-Benefit Analysis United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- For the past 50 years, the United States has relied on incarceration--rather than addressing many of the root causes underlying criminal activity--and this policy choice is taking a toll on society. A growing body of research shows that having a criminal record makes it harder to find a job and increases the likelihood of relying on public assistance (see e.g., Dobbie et al. 2018, Mueller-Smith 2015). Those factors--coupled with the high cost of keeping people behind bars--have called into question the cost-effectiveness of today’s criminal justice system. My research offers policymakers a consideration for reducing criminal justice costs while also better serving already vulnerable groups of Americans: increasing access to mental health services. Measuring the effectiveness of mental health care access has proved difficult because of the lack of data shared and linked between health and law enforcement agencies in the United States. But using administrative data from South Carolina that has been linked across various government agencies, I am able to show that men with a history of mental illness are more likely to be incarcerated after losing access to health care (Jácome 2020).
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (6 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918383974206676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918383974206676