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'Let's keep our mentally ill youth out of detention'

The Houston Chronicle published a notable column today titled "Let's keep our mentally ill youth out of detention," by former Texas Supreme Court Justice Harriet O'Neill, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, Harris County Juvenile Probation Department Executive Director Tom Brooks and Dr. Lynda Frost with the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. Among their more salient observations:It's time to set our sights on lowering the number of youth entering the juvenile justice system, and mental health is a critical factor that cannot be ignored. Nationally, a large proportion of youth in the juvenile justice system ? between 50 percent and 75 percent - have at least one mental health condition. In Harris County, the estimate is 52 percent.Why is mental health a factor? When left undiagnosed and untreated, a mental illness or emotional disturbance can cause symptoms and behaviors that get adolescents in trouble in school, at home or in the community...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on December 12, 2010 (boomark / email).