Taking the Sequential Intercept Model to the Next Level to Drive Efficiencies in Bucks County’s Systems of Human Services and Criminal Justice

Abstract

Undoubtedly, all levels of the criminal justice system are seeing more individuals with mental illness, substance use, and/or co-occurring disorders. Persons with behavioral health issues continue to be overrepresented in the criminal justice system and that number continues to rise. They often stay in jail longer, are less likely to make bail, and more likely to experience delays in case processing. Undetected or untreated behavioral health issues often become much worse and only exacerbate the problems. Arrest rate for persons with mental health, substance abuse, and/or substance use disorders is higher than those who don’t have those issues. Research has shown that persons without those disorders are arrested at a rate of 1.2 percent while for those with a mental illness, the rate was 4.1 percent with the rate going as high as 16.1 percent for those with a mental illness and a substance use disorder. Recent studies by Osher and colleagues place the rate of serious mental illness in jails at 14.5 percent for men and 31.0 percent for women (taken together, 17 percent of those entering those facilities), and 68 percent of jail inmates have a substance use disorder (SAMHSA, 2015). Of the 17 percent of individuals in jail with a serious mental illness, about 72 percent have a co-occurring substance abuse disorder (Osher, D’Amora, Plotkin, Jarrett, & Eggleston, 2012). Locally, this trend is evident in Bucks County, as stakeholders from both the systems of human services and criminal justice collaborate to devise strategies to reduce these numbers. By creating opportunities for diversion outside of the criminal justice system through appropriate community-based services would ameliorate this issue.