Every year, criminal courts send hundreds of thousands of people to programs that promise mental health treatment as an alternative to traditional sanctions. These ‘diversion' programs are widely celebrated as reforms that improve the outcomes of people with mental illness or substance use disorders. In this talk, Dr. Mary Ellen Stitt draws on twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork in a court-mandated treatment program and in courtrooms, 130 in-depth interviews, original survey data, and administrative data to outline the unexpected consequences of diversion. She finds that it reshapes mental healthcare provision and often increases the precarity of the most vulnerable individuals, with important implications for public health policy, research, and praxis.
Featuring:
Mary Ellen Stitt, PhD
Assistant Professor
Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy
University at Albany
Cost: Free
IPHAM
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