Citation

Lowder EM, Ray BR, Gruenewald JA. Community Ment. Health J. 2019; 55(3): 428-439.

Affiliation

School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, 801 W. Michigan Street, BS 3025, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10597-019-00370-3

PMID

30706306

Abstract

Despite the high prevalence of behavioral health disorders in justice settings and prior research on the importance of attitudes in successful treatment outcomes for behavioral health populations, few studies have examined criminal justice professionals' attitudes toward mental illness and substance use. We conducted a state-wide survey of 610 criminal justice professionals using items adapted from the Drug and Drug Problems Perceptions Questionnaire (Albery et al. 2003) to examine attitudes toward mental illness and substance use as a function of criminal justice position and personal contact. For attitudes toward both mental illness and substance use, defense attorneys and community corrections officers reported more positive attitudes relative to jail correctional staff and prosecutors. For attitudes toward substance use, personal contact moderated the effect of position on attitudes.

FINDINGS underscore the importance of targeted training and other contact-based interventions to improve criminal justice professionals' attitudes toward behavioral health populations.

Language: en

Keywords

Attitudes; Criminal justice; Mental illness; Personal contact; Substance use