Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Community Behavioral Health Service Usage: A Comparison of Mental Health Court and Traditional Court Defendants

Abstract

Mental health courts (MHCs) are diversion programs for offenders with mental illness. Research has demonstrated that MHC participants receive more treatment than traditional court participants. However, little is known about racial/ethnic disparities in community treatment utilization among MHC participants compared with traditional court participants. The present study aimed to fill this gap. Data are from the MacArthur MHC Project which includes objective and subjective information from four MHC samples with traditional court samples at each site. Within the traditional court sample, African Americans were less likely than Whites to receive mental health and substance abuse services. However, significant racial/ethnic disparities were not found for the MHC sample. In an interaction model, African Americans were still less likely to use substance abuse services (but not mental health services) compared with the Whites. However, African American MHC participants utilized more substance abuse services than their counterparts. Policy and practice implications are discussed.