Outcomes Studies

For nearly 30 years, jail diversion programs have had wide support as a way to prevent people with mental illness and substance use disorders from unnecessary involvement in the criminal justice system through the provision of more appropriate community-based treatment services. However, to date very few systematic outcome studies have been conducted to examine their effectiveness. The TAPA Center's publication, What Can We Say About the Effectiveness of Jail Diversion Programs for Persons with Co-Occurring Disorders? provides an overview of those outcomes studies that have been published, as well as a presentation of the results of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) three-year Knowledge Development and Application (KDA) Study on jail diversion, conducted from 1998-2000.

As Coordination Center for the CMHS Jail Diversion TCE Initiative, the TAPA Center is conducting the largest multi-site evaluation of jail diversion programs to date. Data collection is ongoing, but TAPA hopes to have some preliminary analysis completed in the coming months.