Psychiatric symptoms impact mental health court engagement`

(University of Missouri-Columbia) People living with mental illness are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. Interventions to help this population, such as mental health courts, are becoming popular across the country. New research from the University of Missouri finds that for mental health courts to be successful, every professional engaged in the process should be aware of the relationship between psychiatric symptoms and participant engagement within the system and connect participants with comprehensive treatment and services as early as possible.