| Joseph J. Cocozza, Ph.D., is Vice President of Policy Research Associates (PRA) and Director of the National GAINS Center for People with Co-Occurring Disorders in the Justice System. Kathleen R. Skowyra is an Area Manager (Violence and Criminal Justice) for PRA. PRA offers comprehensive services for the application of social science research methods to crucial policy issues at the Federal, State, and local levels.
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Tragic mass homicides by juveniles, documented cases of neglect and inadequate services, and Federal policy initiatives focusing on providing systems of care for at-risk juveniles have propelled mental health issues among juvenile offenders into the headlines.
As the former Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has observed (Bilchik, 1998):
It is crucial that we deal not only with the specific behavior or circumstances that bring them [youth] to our attention, but also with their underlying, often long-term mental health and substance abuse problems.
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