Young Aussies leaving the justice system are at high risk of psychiatric hospitalisation

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-03-28 00:01

Australia; NSW; WA

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Teenagers and young adults who have been involved with the criminal justice system are at high risk of a psychiatric hospitalisation once they leave supervision, according to Australian research. This group is known to be at risk of mental health problems, so researchers used survey data from 1556 justice-involved people aged 14-22 to look at how frequently they ended up in hospital due to psychiatric problems. The researchers say within two years after justice supervision ended, 11.4% of those surveyed had a psychiatric hospitalisation, compared to 3.5% during their supervision. The researchers say the rate of psychiatric hospitalisations among this group is 9-19 times higher than among their peers of the same age.

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Journal/
conference: BMJ Mental Health

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, The University of New South Wales, The University of Newcastle, The University of Sydney, National Drug Research Institute (NDRI)

Funder: The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

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