Mental Health and the Justice System (2024-2025)

Background 

Mental illness is over-represented in the incarcerated population. In Durham, many stakeholders across the law enforcement and health sectors have a long-standing interest in this issue and have been working for many years to reduce the incidence of incarceration in those with mental illness. While Durham has many programs that support people within the criminal justice system suffering from mental illness, it is essential to determine which programs are effective so officials can make informed decisions about how to deploy limited public resources. 

Project Description 

Using data from the Durham County Detention Facility (DCDF) merged with data from Duke Health, this multiyear project has been working to inform stakeholders in the criminal justice system of the extent, usage patterns, medical needs and insurance status of individuals with needs that lie at the intersection of mental health and criminal justice.  

Over the past five years, team members have collaborated with DCDF to develop a rich dataset including all bookings into the DCDF, and all Duke Health encounters of individuals diagnosed with mental illness from 2014 to 2021. This includes over 23,000 individuals who were booked at least once during that time, over 17,000 of whom were also seen at Duke Health at least once during that time.  

In 2024-2025, team members will clean new data to prepare it for analysis and incorporate it into the team’s current models and interactive visualizations. As the team digs into the rich dataset, students will develop new research questions and participate in the qualitative research process, performing focus group interviews with people who have been incarcerated in Durham who also have been diagnosed with mental illness and/or substance use disorders. 

Ultimately, new analyses will help the team make recommendations to DCDF as to the cost-effectiveness and overall success of their intervention strategies and identify ways in which Duke Health can continue to be a supportive partner in their efforts. 

Anticipated Outputs 

Regular reports to Durham County stakeholders; website with interactive visualizations; scholarly publications relating to mental health and incarceration; student presentations at national meetings 

Student Opportunities 

Ideally, this project team will include 2 graduate students and 6 undergraduate students. Applicants may be from any major, including (but not limited to) statistics, computer science, psychology, neuroscience, sociology and public policy. Prospective applicants should be enthusiastic about community-engaged research and the intersections between health and social and criminal justice, and willing to learn. 

Students will learn to clean, analyze and interpret results from a complex dataset, and some will participate in qualitative research, performing focus group interviews. Team members will also develop skills in statistical analyses using R programming language; learn how to design research questions and develop strategies to address them; engage in a journal club and learn to read and interpret academic publications; prepare findings for publication in scholarly journals; learn how to effectively engage community partners; and develop skills to translate findings to a lay audience of stakeholders. 

Graduate students will gain skills in project management, leadership and team building, and they will have opportunities to publish their work and interact with stakeholders. 

A graduate student will be selected to serve as project manager. 

See the  related Data+ project for Summer 2024. This summer component is required. All applicants for the year-long project team must also participate on the Data+ team. Interested students may apply through either the Bass Connections application  or  the Data+ application. 

Timing 

Summer 2024 – Spring 2025 

• Summer 2024 (required):  Data+ students: Gain familiarity with the dataset and statistical methods 

• Fall 2024:  Develop research questions and proceed with data preparation and analyses 

• Spring 2025: Continue analyses and prepare findings for publication 

Crediting 

Academic credit available for fall and spring semesters; summer funding available 

See related Data+ summer project, Mental Health and the Justice System in Durham County (2024), and earlier related team, Mental Health and the Justice System in Durham County (2023-2024). 

 

Image: Bare Tree/Durham, by Nathan Walls, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0