Monday, September 13, 2004

Assessing the Mental Health Status of Youth in Juvenile Justice Settings
Report from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice - "Reports the results of a study that used the Voice DISC, a computerized, self-administered version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC), to screen for psychiatric disorders in youth newly admitted to juvenile assessment centers. The Voice DISC offers the following advantages for use in the juvenile justice system: minimal staff support requirements, immediate scoring that generates provisional diagnoses, and privacy that increases the likelihood of disclosure of sensitive personal information." The report is available in both HTML and Acrobat versions.  
  

Treatment gets its day in court (Montana)
Great Falls Tribune story - "Great Falls is a community in pain, economically and emotionally scarred by drug abuse, gambling and alcoholism, addictions that span generations and destroy families. For the last year, a core group of people has been working on a plan to help break the cycle. It's being touted as an unusually bright light on an otherwise bleak landscape. Come January, Cascade County will initiate Treatment Court, a voluntary program for nonviolent, adult offenders whose underlying problem is an addiction to drugs, alcohol or gambling. The largely federally funded program will emphasize treatment over punishment, employ intensive, frequent, personal methods of supervision and tailor assistance to meet the specific needs of the individual being treated..."