Contains information on criminal justice publications and other materials available from NIJ's information clearinghouse, the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), and other sources.

Despite the rehabilitative model of the juvenile justice system, little research has examined the accuracy of mental health diagnoses and treatment planning with youth in the juvenile justice system. Youth in the juvenile justice system tend to have significant mental health needs, often presenting with comorbid psychiatric problems. However research shows that many juvenile offenders are not getting these needs met, thereby, increasing their likelihoods of recidivism, as well as of other future problems. This study served to gain insight into the clinical decision-making of treatment providers in the juvenile justice system. Specifically, it evaluated how the presence of psychiatric comorbidity affects juvenile justice treatment providers accuracy of diagnosis and ability to match treatment to diagnosis. Results indicated that when simultaneously presented with symptoms of two disorders (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder), treatment providers provided the correct diagnoses less often than did providers presented with symptoms of only one of these disorders. Implications for these findings are discussed and future research is suggested.