Critique of Jennifer L. Boyer’s Research Paper on Mental Health Courts
Jennifer assesses the effectiveness of mental health courts by reviewing some of the recent empirical studies on this topic. Overall, I think Jennifer did a good job finding important research studies and using them in examining the effectiveness of the mental health courts. In the following, I am going to critique Jennifer’s paper based on the guideline document provided by Dr. Lee. I will use the same topics which are laid out in the paper rubric.
Introduction
I think that Jennifer did a nice job of introducing the mental health courts by providing information about its popularity and its function. She mentions that various theories relate to the rationale of developing mental health courts, but there is a lack of research on the effectiveness of mental health courts. This is a good point because it underlines the fact that there is a need to review empirical research on the effectiveness of mental health court besides developing these courts by grounding its rationale to …show more content…
The history and the popularity of the mental health courts are discussed well. Perhaps, some statistics about the number of mental health courts and the number of people who went through these courts could be provided. Also, a description of what a serious Axis I diagnosis would be helpful for the reader. In addition, the author could add some information about the consequences that program dropouts face, as the type of punishment may affect their future behavior.
The author also discusses cost effectiveness of the mental health courts. I think, to provide a balanced perspective about cost effectiveness of the mental courts, the author could include some research opposing the cost effectiveness of mental health courts because cost effectiveness of a program is always subject to debate.
Theoretical
Jennifer assesses the effectiveness of mental health courts by reviewing some of the recent empirical studies on this topic. Overall, I think Jennifer did a good job finding important research studies and using them in examining the effectiveness of the mental health courts. In the following, I am going to critique Jennifer’s paper based on the guideline document provided by Dr. Lee. I will use the same topics which are laid out in the paper rubric.
Introduction
I think that Jennifer did a nice job of introducing the mental health courts by providing information about its popularity and its function. She mentions that various theories relate to the rationale of developing mental health courts, but there is a lack of research on the effectiveness of mental health courts. This is a good point because it underlines the fact that there is a need to review empirical research on the effectiveness of mental health court besides developing these courts by grounding its rationale to …show more content…
The history and the popularity of the mental health courts are discussed well. Perhaps, some statistics about the number of mental health courts and the number of people who went through these courts could be provided. Also, a description of what a serious Axis I diagnosis would be helpful for the reader. In addition, the author could add some information about the consequences that program dropouts face, as the type of punishment may affect their future behavior.
The author also discusses cost effectiveness of the mental health courts. I think, to provide a balanced perspective about cost effectiveness of the mental courts, the author could include some research opposing the cost effectiveness of mental health courts because cost effectiveness of a program is always subject to debate.
Theoretical