Targeting criminal recidivism in mentally ill offenders: structured clinical approaches

Decreasing criminal recidivism in justice-involved individuals with mental illness, is among the most consistently desired outcomes by programs, policy makers and funding agencies. Evidence-based practices with track records of effectiveness in treating mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse, while important clinically, do not necessarily address criminal recidivism. Addressing recidivism, therefore, may require a more targeted criminal justice focus. In this paper, we describe recent challenges to decriminalization approaches and review factors associated with recurrent criminal behavior. In particular, we focus on structured clinical interventions which were created or adapted to target the thoughts and behaviors associated with criminal justice contact.