This study examined the extent to which criminal justice content is addressed in all CSWE-accredited MSW programs in the United States (N=192). Criminal justice content was measured in three areas: 1) Dual or joint degree program; 2) Concentration or specialization; and 3) Coursework. Excluding social work and law classes, 22% of all accredited MSW programs offered a course specific to criminal justice. Nine programs (5%) offered a concentration or specialization in criminal justice. Only 1% of MSW programs offered all three areas of criminal justice content. These findings indicate that opportunities for MSW students to explore interests in criminal justice are quite limited. Implications for the influence of the social work profession on criminal justice policy and practice are discussed.

Objective: This study examined whether assisted outpatient treatment
(AOT) under New York’s “Kendra’s Law” is associated with reduced arrests
for violent and nonviolent offenses. Methods: Arrest records of 183 study
participants attending outpatient clinics in New York City, 86 of whom were
ever and 97 of whom were never assigned to AOT, were compiled to yield
16,890 months of observation. For each month the data indicated whether
an arrest did or did not occur and whether a participant was or was not assigned
to AOT. Generalized estimating equations and fixed-effects analyses
were used to compare arrest rates within different periods (before, during
or shortly after, and more than six months after) for those ever assigned and
between the ever- and never-assigned groups. Results: For those who received
AOT, the odds of any arrest were 2.66 times greater (p<.01) and the
odds of arrest for a violent offense 8.61 times greater (p<.05) before AOT
than they were in the period during and shortly after AOT. The group never
receiving AOT had nearly double the odds (1.91, p<.05) of arrest compared
with the AOT group in the period during and shortly after assignment.
Conclusions: Outpatient commitment under Kendra’s Law in New York
State is associated with a reduced risk of arrest. The coercion necessitated
by application of the law may forestall, at least for some people, the potentially
more potent and consequential coercion they would have experienced
in the criminal justice system.

Objectives. We examined the link between incarceration and sexually transmitted
infection (STI), including HIV, from a social network perspective.

Methods. We used data collected during a social network study conducted in
Brooklyn, NY (n=343), to measure associations between incarceration and
infection with herpes simplex virus-2, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis or
HIV and sex with an infected partner, adjusting for characteristics of respondents
and their sex partners.

Results. Infection with an STI or HIV was associated with incarceration of less
than 1 year (adjusted prevalence ratio [PR]=1.33; 95% confidence interval
[CI]=1.01, 1.76) and 1 year or longer (adjusted PR=1.37; 95% CI=1.08, 1.74).
Sex in the past 3 months with an infected partner was associated with sex in
the past 3 months with 1 partner (adjusted PR=1.42; 95% CI=1.12, 1.79) and with
2 or more partners (adjusted PR=1.85; 95% CI=1.43, 2.38) who had ever been
incarcerated.

Conclusions. The results highlight the need for STI and HIV treatment and
prevention for current and former prisoners and provide preliminary evidence to
suggest that incarceration may influence STI and HIV, possibly because incarceration
increases the risk of sex with infected partners.

This study examines the longitudinal relationship
between personal and sexual partner incarceration and
subsequent HIV risk behaviors among drug-involved men
and their primary female sexual partners. A random sample
of 356 men in methadone treatment in New York City were
interviewed at baseline, 6 and 12 months; these men also
reported information on their primary female sexual partners.
Female partner recent incarceration was associated
with subsequent increase in multiple partnerships for the
male participants (AOR: 3.31; 95% C.I.: 1.26–8.72,
P\.05). Female partner incarceration was also associated
with reduced likelihood of subsequent unprotected sex
between primary partners (AOR: .13; 95% C.I.: .05–.40,
P\.01); this finding is somewhat unique and warrants
further investigation. Findings support the notion of mutual
influence in the case of female partner incarceration, which
is associated with both female partner and male partner risk
behaviors. HIV prevention implications are discussed,
including the need for couple-based HIV prevention
interventions targeting couples affected by incarceration.

This monograph describes what we characterize as "first generation" mental health and criminal justice interventions aimed at linking criminal justice-involved persons with serious mental illnesses to mental health services. We then suggest ways in which we can build and improve upon first generation interventions and develop the "next generation" of behavioral health and criminal justice interventions -- interventions that better address the multiple and complex needs of persons with serious mental illnesses who are at risk of criminal justice involvement.