Nation's Juvenile Justice Systems Fail Children with Mental Health Care Needs

NATION'S JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEMS FAIL CHILDREN WITH MENTAL HEALTH CARE NEEDS

ALEXANDRIA, VA (March 10, 1998) "If Americans knew the conditions children are subjected to in juvenile justice facilities, they would be horrified and appalled," Michael Faenza, President and CEO of the National Mental Health Association, said at a Congressional Children's Caucus hearing today. "Children with emotional disorders are routinely hog-tied, beaten, put in isolation, forced medication and even denied medication."

U.S. Department of Justice investigations in Louisiana, Georgia and Kentucky provide chilling documentation of brutality and failure to provide mental health treatments to children in juvenile justice facilities. For children with mental and emotional disorders, particularly severe disorders, time in such facilities can be harrowing and result in the worsening of a disorder.

Up to 70 percent of children in the juvenile justice system have a diagnosable mental or emotional disorder; 20 percent have a serious disorder. The majority of children in the juvenile justice system -- 94 percent -- are involved for non-violent offenses. The children are overwhelmingly poor and disproportionately children of color. The vast majority have family troubles.

"Many children are involved in the juvenile justice system because they have never received appropriate services, including mental health care. Children with emotional disorders typically act out their pain," Faenza said. "If they do not get mental health treatment in the juvenile justice system, they are more likely to grow up to be adults in corrections systems."

For more information, or to arrange an interview with Michael Faenza, President and CEO of the National Mental Health Association, contact Patrick Cody at NMHA: (703) 838-7528. To view Faenza's full written testimony or position statement, visit NMHA's web site at www.nmha.org.