Presentation Type
Poster
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
James Tuttle
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Department of Criminology/Sociology
Abstract / Artist's Statement
My research study examines the relationship between mental health and a person’s success in probation. I used secondary data that was sourced by the Criminology research group at UM that collected probation data from the Feder Probation District in Montana during 2022. I wanted to specifically understand whether probationers that were receiving mental health treatment were more likely to recidivate while in the probation program. In this study, recidivism refers to an instance in which a probationer violated a condition of their release and was sent back to prison. From the binary logistic regression analyses I estimated, I discovered that those receiving outpatient mental health care had a 243% greater chance of reoffending.
This study implicates the imperativeness of recognizing that those with mental health disorders often struggle to manage their lives effectively enough to keep up with conditions parole officers set for them. Offering additional resources such as trauma-informed responses and policies, service collaborations, and training probation officers to use proper techniques and tools for appropriately working with people with mental health issues would all be great steps to addressing this. Preventing more people from going to prison could serve to help both public safety and those under probation supervision.
Category
Humanities
The Impact of Mental Health on Recidivism: A Logistic Regression Analysis Examining Federal Probation Outcomes
UC South Ballroom
My research study examines the relationship between mental health and a person’s success in probation. I used secondary data that was sourced by the Criminology research group at UM that collected probation data from the Feder Probation District in Montana during 2022. I wanted to specifically understand whether probationers that were receiving mental health treatment were more likely to recidivate while in the probation program. In this study, recidivism refers to an instance in which a probationer violated a condition of their release and was sent back to prison. From the binary logistic regression analyses I estimated, I discovered that those receiving outpatient mental health care had a 243% greater chance of reoffending.
This study implicates the imperativeness of recognizing that those with mental health disorders often struggle to manage their lives effectively enough to keep up with conditions parole officers set for them. Offering additional resources such as trauma-informed responses and policies, service collaborations, and training probation officers to use proper techniques and tools for appropriately working with people with mental health issues would all be great steps to addressing this. Preventing more people from going to prison could serve to help both public safety and those under probation supervision.