Substance Abuse, Untreated Mental Illness, and Crime

Criminal behavior is influenced by a number of individual and social-level risk factors. Person-level risk factors (e.g., addiction, mental illness, trauma exposure, stress exposure) and place-level risk factors (e.g., concentrated social disadvantage, lack of employment opportunities) are often identified as intervention targets within forensic psychology treatment. Since the mid-1990s, many crime-reduction initiatives have specifically identified and targeted person-level risk factors, such as substance abuse and untreated mental illness, via interventions that include assisted outpatient treatment, mental health courts, and drug treatment courts. The level of one’s risk of criminal behavior is often dependent upon a host of factors, including the severity and treatment of one’s substance abuse and mental illness, the co-occurrence of these two conditions, and the combination of other risk factors. This entry ...