This brief report discusses the forensic assertive community treatment (FACT) model for treating people with serious mental illnesses who are involved with the criminal justice system.
The FACT (forensic assertive community treatment) model is a variation of the traditional ACT (assertive community treatment) model. FACT is used to treat people with serious mental illnesses who are involved with the criminal justice system. The FACT model has been adapted to incorporate various practices designed to 1) interface with the criminal justice process at certain key sequential points, and 2) assist individuals in avoiding future involvement with the criminal justice system. Some of these practices include using court sanctions to encourage offender participation, making re-arrest prevention an explicit goal for the FACT team, engaging probation and law enforcement officers as members of the team, and adding substance abuse residential treatment units for offenders with dual diagnoses. While FACT has been widely adopted around the country, few studies have been conducted that provide an evidence base on the models effectiveness. This brief highlights the findings from two studies that examined the effectiveness of the FACT model. While the findings from the first study were not that strong, the second study found that FACT participants had significantly fewer jail bookings, greater outpatient contacts, and fewer hospital days than did usual care participants. In addition, FACT participants had a higher probability of avoiding jail in the post-treatment phase. The brief discusses directions for further research based on the findings from these two studies. References