NCJ Number
244428
Date Published
September 2013
Length
34 pages
Annotation
This paper presents a set of strategies for use by mental health and juvenile justice agencies aimed at preventing juvenile suicide.
Abstract
This paper prepared by the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention presents a set of strategies for use by mental health and juvenile justice agencies aimed at preventing juvenile suicide by improving collaboration between the two systems. Current research has shown that suicide is the leading cause of death for youth in confinement, that youth in residential facilities have nearly three times the suicide rate compared to their peers in the general population, and that over half of confined youth had current suicidal ideation and one-third had a history of suicidal behavior. As a result of these and other findings, the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention developed a set of recommendations for improving the collaboration between the juvenile justice, law enforcement, mental health, substance abuse, child welfare, and education systems to more effectively and successfully combat suicide among justice involved youth. The recommendations are divided into two categories: overarching priorities and strategies. The 10 overarching priorities are aimed at informing joint policy and budgeting decisions associated with suicide prevention for youth involved in juvenile justice. The 12 strategies presented in this paper were developed to facilitate achievement of the overarching priorities. An environmental scanning tool is provided in the appendix to assist jurisdictions in assessing their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats across the 10 overarching priorities in order to lend direction to the process of building collaboration between agencies working with justice involved youth. Appendix and references