A research team headed by Amy Blank Wilson of the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences examined recidivism rates for 20,112 inmates admitted to the Philadelphia jail system in 2003. After four years, Wilson's team found different rates of recidivism among four different groups of these inmates:
- 54 percent re-incarceration for people with severe mental illness;
- 60 percent for those with no diagnosis;
- 66 percent for those with substance abuse problems;
- 68 percent for those with co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse.
"These findings point to a possible need for more integrated services for mental [illness] and substance abuse," says Wilson, principal investigator and assistant professor of social work at Case Western Reserve University's Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences.
The findings from the study, "Examining the impact of mental illness and substance use on recidivism in a county jail," are reported in the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry (see citation below).
COMPLETE STORY
The full story about this research appears in The Daily, an online news service of Case Western Reserve University ( click here ). ((DEAD LINK))
RESEARCH CITATION
Amy Blank Wilson, Jeffrey Draineb, Trevor Hadley, Steve Metraux, Arthur Evans (2011). Examining the impact of mental illness and substance use on recidivism in a county jail. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, v34, n4, July-August, p264-268 ( click here ).