Associations between Legal Representation and Mental Health Court Outcomes

This study empirically examines the associations between legal representation and four key outcomes in mental health courts. The outcomes include whether eligible defendants chose to participate in a municipal mental health court (MMHC); if defendants chose to participate, whether the MMHC resolved...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Linhorst, Donald M. (Author)
Contributors: Kondrat, David ; Eikenberry, Jacob ; Dirks-Linhorst, P. Ann
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
In: American journal of criminal justice
Year: 2022, Volume: 47, Issue: 1, Pages: 75-97
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Keywords:
Legal representation
Mental health courts
Pro se representation
defense attorneys
Description
Summary:This study empirically examines the associations between legal representation and four key outcomes in mental health courts. The outcomes include whether eligible defendants chose to participate in a municipal mental health court (MMHC); if defendants chose to participate, whether the MMHC resolved their criminal charges without court supervision; whether eligible defendants attended the initial MMHC court hearings; and whether defendants successfully completed the MMHC program. The study included 1012 defendants who were accepted into a MMHC in a state where municipal court defendants do not have to be represented by a defense attorney. We conducted bivariate and logistic regression analyses to identify differences in each of the four outcomes between MMHC defendants who did or did not have a defense attorney. The results of the bivariate and logistic regression analyses found defendants represented by defense attorneys were more likely to choose not to participate in the MMHC, to resolve their criminal charges without court supervision, to participate in initial court hearings, and to successfully complete the MMHC program. All four regression models were statistically significant, although the amount of variance explained was relatively low, ranging from 6% to 13%.
ISSN:1936-1351
DOI:10.1007/s12103-020-09594-6