Relationship Between Experiences With the Criminal Justice System and Mental Health Outcomes Among Survivors of Homicide

• NCJ Number: 252871
• Journal: Violence and Victims Volume: 33 Issue: 2 Dated: 2018 Pages: 310-329
• Author(s): Evgenia Milman; Joah L. Williams; Kaitlin Rheingold; Alyssa A. Rheingold
• Date Published: 2018
• Length: 20 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2009-VF-GX-K009
• Sponsoring Agency: Office for Victims of Crime (OVC)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Since homicide survivors are at increased risk for mental health disorders, including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and complicated grief (CG), this survey study examined how satisfaction with the criminal justice system (CJS) was associated with depression, PTSD, and CG among 47 homicide survivors, and It also examined how satisfaction with specific aspects of the CJS related to satisfaction with the overall CJS.

Abstract

The study found that satisfaction with the overall CJS was uniquely associated with depression (odds ratio [OR] = 2.32; 95 percent confidence interval [CI] [1.16, 4.66]), and satisfaction with the police department was uniquely associated with CG (OR = 2.14; 95 percent CI [1.02, 4.47]). Satisfaction with having input into the CJS process and satisfaction with efforts devoted by the CJS to apprehend the perpetrator were uniquely related to satisfaction with the overall CJS ( = .49, p = .003 and = .40, p = .007, respectively). (publisher abstract modified)