Kylie Kline

English 1201
Emily Kretzer
27 October 2019
Annotated Bibliography
My essay is attempting to disclose how effective jail diversion programs are for mentally

ill offenders. I have always been interested in the American prison system and how it effects the

mental health of inmates. This topic is slightly different in the fact that we’re discussing

offenders that have a documented mental illness. How often are diversion programs used in lieu

of standard prison time? What type of mental illnesses make a diversion program possible? Have

diversion programs helped rehabilitate these offenders, or did they turn around and reoffend?

Center, CMHS National Gains. “Practical Advice on Jail Diversion.”

Www.pacenterofexcellence.pitt.edu, 2007,

www.pacenterofexcellence.pitt.edu/documents/PracticalAdviceOnJailDiversion.pdf.

This article is slightly different in that it is not a study, although it does summarize

studies that were done. It really pushes the idea of diversion programs and how important they

are in communities for the mentally ill. It includes tips on how community members can try to

push for implementation of these services in their own towns. It gives a multitude of statistics

and evidence on mentally ill offenders and diversion programs.

The purpose of this article is to show how beneficial diversion programs can be for

mentally ill offenders. The audience is community members across the country that do not have

diversion programs implemented in their communities, and how they can act to try to make them

available.
 This article was published by the CMHS National GAINS Center which has provided

direct technical assistance to upwards of 175 U.S. communities and indirect support to hundreds

of others around the issues of developing appropriate and comprehensive services for offenders

with mental illness. The article gives statistics and evidence of how effective diversion programs

can be.

This piece gives a lot of backed up evidence of diversion programs and goes deep into

how effective these can be with persons with mental illness. It gives great real-world examples

and support as well as offering ways everyday people can help.

Gill, Kenneth J, and Ann A Murphy. “Jail Diversion for Persons with Serious Mental Illness

Coordinated by a Prosecutor's Office.” BioMed Research International, Hindawi, 3 Dec.

2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5733161/.

This article details a specific study that was done on diversion programs and mentally ill

offenders in a specific prison system. These subjects were studied over a lengthy five-year

period, as opposed to a standard 12 to 24-month follow-up. The offenders were directed to

mental health services such as case management, community-based services, and housing

support. Offenders that completed the program were found to be at a lower risk for being

rearrested, arrested fewer times, and incarcerated fewer days versus individuals that failed to

complete the program.

The purpose of this article is to prove that, when completed, diversion programs can be

effective in reducing individuals’ risk for reoffending. The article is targeted at people trying to
learn more or educate themselves on these programs. Since the study was so in depth, it could

really help push for more diversion programs to be available for eligible offenders.

The writers of the article are Kenneth Gill and Ann Murphy, both professionals at

Rutgers University School of Health Professionals. Their credentials are linked and listed in the

beginning of the article. This article was also recent in publication. They give a complete

breakdown of steps they used to achieve their data, backed by evidence for each step. Their study

incorporated real life scenarios and situations that reflect true outcomes in the “real world”.

I believe this is a great resource since it studies the exact question I’m looking to answer.

The study is very in-depth, about 2-4 times longer than an average study and that proves the

effectiveness of the diversion programs.

Sirotich, Frank. “The Criminal Justice Outcomes of Jail Diversion Programs for Persons With

Mental Illness: A Review of the Evidence.” Journal of the American Academy of

Psychiatry and the Law, Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law

Online, 1 Dec. 2009, jaapl.org/content/37/4/461.long.

This article discusses the problem of mentally ill individuals in prisons as well as studies

the effectiveness of diversion programs on these types of inmates. It details a few different types

of diversion strategies, these include pre-booking, post-booking, jail-based, court-based and the

role of forensic psychiatry. It compares several academic studies to find the most effective

diversion program, if any.

 The writer’s purpose is to compare 27 academic studies on diversion programs to find

how truly effective they are and which type of diversion program most effectively helps mentally

ill offenders avoid incarceration.

The author is Frank Sirotich, who is Manager of Court Support and Diversion Serives

with the Canadian Mental Health Association. He is also a doctoral candidate in the Factor-

Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. He not only summarizes his

findings but has a separate tab specifically for metrics and data for readers to analyze. There is a

multitude of evidence given to support the claims.

I will use this article to go into a more detailed breakdown of the different types of

diversion programs offered and their effectiveness with mentally ill offenders. It will help me

describe the different options given to these offenders and which ones are available to them

given their crimes.

Stainton, Lilo H. “Diversion Program Would Help Keep Mentally Ill Out of Jail.” NJ Spotlight,

19 Sept. 2019, www.njspotlight.com/2018/05/18-05-03-diversion-program-would-help-

keep-mentally-ill-out-of-jail/.

Stainton’s article focuses specifically on the state of New Jersey, and their plan for

diversion programs for the mentally ill. Two million mentally ill are jailed each year, and it gives

evidence of how diversion programs are like drug courts, which have been widely used and have

been fairly successful. According to federal data, more than half of men-and nearly three-

quarters of women-incarcerated in the United States are mentally ill.

 Stainton’s purpose is to try to detail how large the issue of prison and mental illness truly

is. Mentally ill offenders take up a large portion of inmates, and that’s not only detrimental to

them but also costs citizens in communities tax money. The audience is community members

and people trying to get more information on diversion programs and their success.

Lilo Stainton is a writer for NJ Spotlight, which highlights news, issues, and insight for

New Jersey. There is a fair amount of statistics provided throughout the article, backed up with

evidence. It also gives history on mentally ill offenders and how their treatment has potentially

evolved over time.

I plan to use this article to give more insight onto just how big of an issue mentally ill

offenders are in our prison system. This negatively effects not only the mentally ill, but the other

inmates, guards, and even the communities in which these prisoners are.

Steadman, Henry J., et al. “A SAMHSA Research Initiative Assessing the Effectiveness of Jail

Diversion Programs for Mentally Ill Persons.” Psychiatric Services, vol. 50, no. 12, Dec.

1999, pp. 1620–1623. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1176/ps.50.12.1620.

Steadman’s publication gives a good 30-year history that diversion programs have been

used as a way to prevent people with mental illnesses and substance use disorders from entering

the criminal justice system. Diversion programs are centered around community-based treatment.

The publishing discusses finding on rates of incarceration of persons with serious mental illness

in U.S. jails and summarizes recent research.

Steadman’s goal was to truly research just how effective these diversion programs can be

in reducing the likelihood of reoffending. This publication was written to prove effectiveness to
people that may argue that they’re ineffective, as well as support the use of these programs in

communities.

Henry Steadman is an academic author that has a doctorate in psychiatry. He lists his

credentials at the end of the article. His claims and information is all backed up by supporting

evidence and statistics and specific examples are given.

I plan to use this article to provide specific examples in which these programs were

effective and how beneficial they can be to the mentally ill. It gives good detail on the history of

these programs and answers how/why they should be more widely used to benefit the offender

and the community as well.

“Substance Abuse Treatment Included in $7.2 Million for Jail Diversion Programs for Mentally

Ill.” Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, no. 17, 2006, p. 7. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.145283446&site=

eds-live.

Nearly 800,000 arrests of people with mental illness are made each year. The federal

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will distribute $7.2

million in state grants to divert individuals with mental illness away from prisons and into

community-based mental health services. This grant is specifically in place for treatment and

support services of non-violent offenders. Research suggests that many these offenders have co-

occurring substance use disorders.

This article was published by EBSCOhost and gives the correlation between mentally ill

offenders and substance abuse. It highlights the potential problems with simply incarcerating
these people without treating their root issues. The audience is people interested in these types of

programs and how they can benefit individuals that fit the parameters.

This article gives a lot of good statistics and figures and backs them up with research

evidence. It discusses how the grants will be distributed and explains how the grant will help

these offenders and just where the money is going.

I think this is a great article that highlights the relationship between persons with mental

illness and substance abuse; a lot of the time these illnesses go hand in hand. It also discusses the

grant and how grants like these can benefit these offenders and help them lead a more successful

life while also keeping them out of the prison system.

Walker, Lenore E, James M. Pann, David L. Shapiro, and Hasselt V. B. Van. Best Practices for

the Mentally Ill in the Criminal Justice System. , 2016. Internet resource.

This book was written to discover the best practice for mentally ill offenders. Mental

illness is such huge problem in the prison system and simply locking up these offenders only

deteriorates their mental health, instead of rehabilitating them to be a functional member of

society. It breaks down different offenses and their type of arrest, levels of mental illness among

inmates. It goes into amazing detail on specific scenarios.

The purpose of the book is to overview different practices on treating mentally ill

offenders and how effective they can be. The audience is anyone trying to expand their

knowledge on different diversion programs and offenders.

This book was written by Lenore Walker, James Pann, David Shapiro, and Vincent Van

Hasselt. All have extensive education on these topics and work for the Center of Psychological

Studies. This book gives detail on a multitude of scenarios in which different practices come into
play for treatment. All of the claims are supported by statistics, studies, and evidence. They not

only discuss diversion programs, but other practices as well and compares them.

This is possibly my favorite source; it gives an abundance of information on the topic and

has evidence supporting or discrediting certain methods to effectively treat these specific

offenders. I will use this source to explain past scenarios for treatment and compare them to

diversion programs to see just how effective they are.