Mental Health Screening and Assessment in Juvenile Justice

Thomas Grisso has a knack for doing what's most needed. His development of the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument provided the nation with its first practical and user-friendly instrument for screening children in the juvenile justice system. His books Double Jeopardy and Youth on Trial are superb volumes on the mental health issues and developmental issues that arise when children with mental illnesses or developmental problems are processed by a quasi-criminal system that lacks basic knowledge of the principles of either the mental health or the development of the children they are processing.

His new book Mental Health Screening and Assessment in Juvenile Justice is right on target as a desperately needed reference for people who are responsible for selecting, deploying, and developing instruments for screening and assessing youthful offenders. It describes a range of instruments from the highly sophisticated Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children to simple, practical, and inexpensive nonclinical, probation-friendly tools. It provides state-of-the-art assessments for substance abuse, violence, and other practical concerns of the juvenile justice system and the mental health providers who serve it.

A thoughtful and useful touch is a vignette that describes the use of each instrument after its properties, applications, and limitations are described. This book is an essential read or reference text for providers of mental health services in juvenile justice populations.