This fact sheet highlighted a number of mental health initiatives funded under the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) focusing on the importance in addressing mental health problems among youth involved in the juvenile justice system.
In understanding the critical importance of mental health problems in the lives of youth involved in the juvenile justice system, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice recognized it was necessary to address not only the prevention of juvenile delinquency, but the underlying problems facing youth. OJJDP has been working on a number of initiatives to increase knowledge and improve available services. This fact sheet provided information on seven OJJDP funded youth and mental health initiatives: (1) the assessment of alcohol, drug, and mental disorders among juvenile detainees in Cook County, Illinois; (2) the intergenerational transmission of anti-social behavior in Rochester, New York; (3) the April 2000 mental health issue of OJJDP’s journal; (4) the building of an effective service delivery model of mental health and related substance abuse services to youth involved in the juvenile justice system; (5) a multi-site, multi-modal treatment study of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); (6) a prospective study of serious adolescent offenders from Phoenix, Arizona and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and (7) the Tribal youth program mental health initiative.