Mental Health Screening within Juvenile Justice: The Next Frontier (2008)

Over the last decade, there has been a steady increase in the awareness of the unmet mental health needs of many youth in the juvenile justice system. This attention has led to the development of improved strategies for responding to these youth. One of the most important responses to have emerged within the field is that of systematic mental health screening. Mental health screening is now routinely performed within many juvenile justice agencies and programs throughout the country. This is important progress in the overall effort to better identify and respond to youth with mental health treatment needs. Many agencies have now answered basic questions about whether screening should be performed, and with what tools. However, with this progress, a new set of issues has arisen around mental health screening, focusing on questions about the process and how its results should be used. These issues and questions require clarification to allow the field to move forward. The purpose of this paper is to explore these new issues and offer policy and practice clarification to the juvenile justice community.