| Persons with mental illness present a unique set of challenges when they become involved in the criminal justice system. Past research on persons with mental illness who are also criminal offenders has focused on jail and prison inmates and parolees. The present research concerns probationers with mental illness, a group of persons about whom very little research exists.;The subjects were 633 persons who were placed on community supervision (probation) in Tarrant County, Texas in 1990 and 1991. Two groups were identified: 115 persons who had been diagnosed two or more times with severe mental illness through Texas' public mental health system (TDMHMR), and 518 persons who were never diagnosed with severe mental illness through this same system. The groups were compared in their demographics, criminal histories, and revocation and rearrest rates. Factors associated with successful probation were examined. Additional analyses were conducted for the 115 persons with severe mental illness, including analyses of their conditions of probation, their enrollment in outpatient mental health treatment, and the reasons for which their probation was revoked.;The results indicated that a significantly larger proportion of the subjects with mental illness were rearrested and had their probation revoked within three years. The groups also differed in their demographic composition, prior criminal histories, and probation offenses. The group with mental illness had proportionally more Blacks, more women, more persons with prior misdemeanor criminal records, and more persons who received their probation for a violent felony crime.;The results also showed that the courts and probation department are largely successful in identifying mental illness among probationers, but they are inconsistent in their response to it. Additionally, it was found that subjects who were court-ordered to outpatient mental health treatment often complied, but the significance of treatment in influencing probation outcomes remains to be determined.;Age, ethnicity, and prior criminal history were related to probation outcomes for both groups. For the group with mental illness, the number of court-ordered psychological examinations was also related.;The implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research are offered. |
