The Relationships between Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment and Juvenile Crime

Alison Evans Cuellar, Sara Markowitz and Anne M. Libby

No 9952, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of mental health and substance abuse treatment in reducing crimes committed by juveniles. The observed high correlations between crime, substance abuse and poor mental health suggests that factors which reduce substance abuse and improve mental health may also be effective in reducing criminal activities. This paper uses detention data in conjunction with substance abuse and mental health treatment data for youth enrolled in the Colorado state foster care program. We analyze the impact of treatment in delaying or preventing this group of at-risk youth from engaging in criminal behavior. Results show a negative effect, i.e., longer duration before detention, for youth who receive treatment and for youth in areas with high treatment rates.

JEL-codes: I0 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hea, nep-law and nep-ure
Note: EH CH
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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