TY - JOUR PY - 2014// TI - Juvenile crisis intervention teams (CITs): a qualitative description of current programmes JO - Police journal A1 - Lurigio, Arthur J. A1 - Doulas, Anabelle V. SP - 114 EP - 125 VL - 87 IS - 2 N2 - This article describes one of the newest, most specialised law enforcement programmes in the United States: Crisis Intervention Teams (CITs) for youth with mental illness. In response to the fragmentation of behavioural healthcare services in the educational, juvenile justice and mental health systems, Juvenile-CITs (J-CITs) have been implemented in a handful of jurisdictions to serve as an intervention for troubled and troublesome adolescents in need of mental health care. Information about J-CITs is limited; little has been written about such programmes, and no published studies have examined their effectiveness. Hence the present study was undertaken to identify all of the currently operational J-CITs in the United States. We conducted structured telephone interviews in order to gather qualitative data regarding the philosophy, origins, operations and components of each J-CIT. We afford an early look at several J-CIT programmes in diverse geographic areas. We conclude with observations concerning the role of such programmes in a law enforcement as well as the challenges that police departments are likely to face in the implementation and maintenance of such initiatives.
LA - en SN - 0032-258X UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1350/pojo.2014.87.2.534 ID - ref1 ER -