Prevalence of Mental Health Disorders Among Justice-Involved Veterans

Justice-involved veterans are a special population with unique mental health needs compared with other veterans or justice-involved adults. Prevalence estimates of mental health concerns of justice-involved veterans across 18 samples of these veterans (1987–2013), including both incarcerated and community samples, were identified through a systematic literature search of published studies supplemented by Department of Veterans Affairs VeteransJusticeProgramsdata.Despiteheterogeneityacrosssamplesandmeasuresused,thereviewhighlightsseveral prominent mental health concerns among veterans. Many justice-involved veterans have likely experienced at least one traumatic event, and many have post-traumatic stress disorder (prevalence from 4% to 39% across samples).Atleasthalfofjustice-involvedveteranshaveanalcoholand/ordrugusedisorder(estimatesashighas71%and 65%, respectively), and other psychiatric disorders, such as depression (14%–51%) and psychotic disorders (4%– 14%),arecommon.Justice-involvedveteranswithcomorbidsubstanceuseandpsychiatricdisordersareatincreased riskofnegative outcomes, including homelessness andviolent behavior.Overall, comparisons of justice-involvedveterans with other justice-involved adults found a slightly higher rate of mental health concerns among justice-involved veterans, with some indication that intravenous drug use is more prevalent. Compared with other veterans, justiceinvolved veterans have consistently higher rates of mental health concerns, particularly substance use disorders. criminology; mental disorders; veterans