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Extending Assertive Community Treatment to Criminal Justice Settings: Origins, Current Evidence, and Future Directions

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Abstract

This paper presents an overview of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) as an evidence-based practice in mental health care. We then consider current evidence for FACT (ACT for forensic populations) and FICM (intensive case management for forensic populations) and the ways these models have been extended and adapted to serve mentally ill persons in a variety of criminal justice settings. The available evidence about the effectiveness of these models towards preventing recidivism among criminally-justice involved persons with mental illness is weak. We conclude with several suggestions for how the clinical model of FACT needs to be expanded to incorporate interventions aimed at reducing criminal behavior and recidivism.

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Acknowledgments

Work on this paper was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Mental Health Policy Research Network and the GAINS EBP Center. The helpful comments of Fred Osher, Kim Mueser, and Robert Drake on an earlier version of this paper are gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks are due to the attendees of the GAINS EBP Center’s Expert Panel Meeting on Assertive Community Treatment held in Bethesda, MD on February 18, 2005 where an earlier version of this paper was presented and discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, Department of Health Policy and Administration, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA

    Joseph Morrissey Ph.D.

  2. Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA

    Piper Meyer Ph.D.

  3. Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, School of Social Work, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA

    Gary Cuddeback Ph.D., M.S.W., M.P.H.

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  1. Joseph Morrissey Ph.D.
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  2. Piper Meyer Ph.D.
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  3. Gary Cuddeback Ph.D., M.S.W., M.P.H.
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Correspondence to Joseph Morrissey Ph.D..

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J. Morrissey is affiliated with the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and with the Department of Health Policy and Administration, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA.

P. Meyer is affiliated with the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and with the Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA.

G. Cuddeback is affiliated with the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and with the School of Social Work, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA.

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Morrissey, J., Meyer, P. & Cuddeback, G. Extending Assertive Community Treatment to Criminal Justice Settings: Origins, Current Evidence, and Future Directions. Community Ment Health J 43, 527–544 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-007-9092-9

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