Psychiatric hospitalization is a time to address co-occurring mental illness and criminal risk

What is it about?

Criminal risk factors lead to criminal justice involvement; when these factors are addressed, justice involvement decreases. Although mental health symptoms are treated in correctional settings and in the community, criminal risk factors are often not addressed outside of the justice system. We examined the link between criminal risk factors and mental illness among adults in two hospitals' psychiatric units.

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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Why is it important?

We found 1) high rates (over 50%) of previous justice involvement in these inpatient samples, and 2) significant associations between mental illness and criminal risk factors-- such that as one goes up, so does the other. These results highlight the importance of assessing and addressing criminal risk factors and mental illness during hospitalization to reduce future justice involvement.