4 Troubled Teens Blog

As the global economic recession continues, states are being forced to slash an increasing number of community services to balance budgets. One the unintended consequences is that young people with mental illnesses are being treated in jail cells rather than counselors offices.

An Aug. 9 article by New York Times writer Solomon Moore provided the following details about the problem:

About two-thirds of the nations juvenile inmates -- who numbered 92,854 in 2006, down from 107,000 in 1999 -- have at least one mental illness, according to surveys of youth prisons, and are more in need of therapy than punishment.

"We're seeing more and more mentally ill kids who couldnt find community programs that were intensive enough to treat them," said Joseph Pen, a child psychiatrist at the Texas Youth Commission. "Jails and juvenile justice facilities are the new asylums."

Nearly 35 states have cut community mental health programs by an average of five percent, the Times reported, and many plan to double those reductions for the 2010 fiscal year.

Labels: mental_illness, jails, young_adults

Posted By: Aspen/CRC