CONTENT ANALYSIS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
ISSUES
Professor Presley
Purpose:
The purpose of this assignment is to provide a structured and systematic approach in conducting
a content analysis of literature relevant to the criminal justice field.
Content Analysis:
Content analysis is defined as any technique for making inferences by systematically and
objectively identifying special characteristics of messages. Data sources amenable to content
analysis include political speeches; open-ended survey items; newspaper articles; electronic or
print communications such as e-mail, interview transcripts, and audio recordings; and imagery
such as photographs, video, graffiti, and even tattoos [Mackey, D. A. (2014). Content analysis
The encyclopedia of criminology and criminal justice: 1 -5. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.].
Content Analysis Model:
Issue Main idea
Content Writings to review
Method Sampling (Delimiting the sample)
Code words/phrases Descriptors (Defining the clusters)
Findings Analysis
Positive (Favorable), Neutral. Negative
(Unfavorable)
Conclusions Overall summary of findings/analysis
EXAMPLE PROCESS:
1. Search Advanced Search with terms (All Fields), and check
newpapers/newpaper boxes in Show Content Type. Select appropriate article.
2. Click on Cite APA 6th and copy and paste. Be sure to check correctness.
McCarthy, J. J. (2017, Sep 24). Montgomery's mental-health courts need more support. The
Washington Post Retrieved from http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?
url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1941885474?accountid=12085
3. Then copy and paste the entire article and put in Word. Use Word Find to find and
count specific terms.
It is tragic that our jails have become our nation's largest mental-health treatment facilities. It's
a public policy disaster resulting from a 90 percent reduction in U.S. psychiatric beds since
deinstitutionalization began in the 1960s. Clearly, inadequate funding for community-based
mental-health services has compounded the crisis.
That's why the criminal-justice system is the default valve for many people who have mental
illness, and why Montgomery County's new mental-health courts are in high demand. Mental-
CONTENT ANALYSIS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
ISSUES
Professor Presley
health courts divert from prosecution to treatment defendants who are accused of low-level
crimes such as vandalism, trespassing, disorderly conduct, theft or simple assault whose alleged
offense is attributed to mental illness.
Our nation's more than 300 mental-health courts advance justice. A 2009 study by the MacArthur
Foundation and the Council of State Governments found they cut criminal recidivism of
participants by 20 percent to 25 percent and provide better links to mental-health treatment that
lead to productive lives. Mental-health courts also reduce emergency room visits. Reduced
recidivism also improves criminal-justice system efficiency by avoiding repeated arrests of the
same individuals for minor offenses.
Many people booked into jails need immediate mental-health care. In Montgomery County, that
number skyrocketed from 1,011 in 2011 to 2,137 in 2015. Calls to Montgomery County Police
related to a mental-health crisis increased from 4,440 in 2011 to 6,892 in 2016. Nineteen percent
of men and 28 percent of women in our jail have a serious and persistent mental illness, and
many have a substance-use disorder, too. Some have been arrested multiple times for the same
minor offense because the underlying cause hasn't been addressed. Each booking costs
thousands of dollars.
Montgomery mental-health courts are Maryland's most recent "problem-solving" courts, joining
long-standing, successful mental-health courts in Baltimore City, Harford County and Prince
George's County. Mental-health courts are challenging to establish and operate because they
require collaboration among many different agency personnel, including judges and court
administrators, prosecutors, public defenders, correctional staff, probation officers, mental-
health clinicians and case managers, state hospitals, and private providers.
A blue-ribbon task force chaired by Phil Andrews, a former County Council member, studied
Maryland's and the District's mental-health courts, reviewed best practices and developed
recommendations that became the blueprint for our mental-health courts.
In July 2016, Circuit Court Administrative Judge John W. Debelius III and District Court
Administrative Judge Eugene Wolfe secured approval from the Maryland judiciary to
launch mental-health courts. The County Council unanimously approved a start-up
appropriation of
$193,000, requested by County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), for case management in the Circuit
Court and to fund two county mental-health therapists to serve both courts. Maryland's Office
of Problem-Solving Courts provided funding for District Court administration and case
management. Nine months ago, Montgomery's mental-health courts opened for justice.
Mental-health court participants must be 18 or older, county residents, deemed to be competent
and not dangerous to the public and assessed to have a mental illness. As an incentive to
participate, defendants who complete the program have charges dropped or reduced. Mental-
health court referrals come from many agencies, as well as from defense attorneys and family
members. My prosecutors will veto a proposed participant if the charge or the defendant's
criminal history or behavior threatens public safety. Mental-health court team meetings and
sessions are held weekly.
CONTENT ANALYSIS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
ISSUES
Professor Presley
A large majority of Montgomery's 57 mental-health court participants - 45 in District Court and
12 in Circuit Court - are on track to complete the 18-month program. Success requires taking
prescribed medication, weekly court check-ins, consulting with case managers and therapists,
following probation rules, living in court-approved housing and, often, drug testing. Only three
participants have been re-arrested, none for major crimes.
Montgomery County's District Court mental-health court is at full capacity. Diverting eligible
defendants from jail to treatment requires additional financial support from the county. That this
court is at capacity just months after it began shows that it was needed. Expansion of the county's
mental-health courts is the smart and just thing to do.
1.
1.
Evaluation Form
1.
SOURCE:
McCarthy, J. J. (2017, Sep 24). Montgomery's mental-health courts need more support. The
Washington Post Retrieved from http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?
url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1941885474?accountid=12085
1. ISSUE Need more mental health courts
2. CONTENT: News article (information), editorial
3. SAMPLE The Washington Post
4. CODE WORDS/PHRASES Mental health courts-16
Mental illness-4
Mental-health participants/Criminal
justice/Probation/Problem
solving/Capacity/Success/Jails/Divert-2
5. FINDINGS/ANALYSIS/TONE (Positive, neutral, negative): Overall positive
Each booking costs thousands of dollars (para 4)
Expansion of the county's mental-health courts is the
smart and just thing to do (para 10)
Need more support (title)
6. CONCLUSION Expansion of the county's mental-health courts is the
smart and just thing to do (para 10)
SOURCE:
1. ISSUE
CONTENT ANALYSIS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
ISSUES
Professor Presley
1.
2.
2.
2. CONTENT:
3. SAMPLE
4. CODE WORDS [Cut and paste comment with page number [p. x] or paragraph [para x].
5. FINDINGS/ANALYSIS
6. CONCLUSION
SOURCE:
1. ISSUE
2. CONTENT:
3. SAMPLE
4. CODE WORDS [Cut and paste comment with page number [p. x] or paragraph [para x].
5. FINDINGS/ANALYSIS
6. CONCLUSION
