Vera’s Substance Use and Mental Health Program (SUMH) conducts applied research to help public officials and community organizations develop empirically driven responses to the substance use and mental health needs of people involved in justice systems. SUMH staff collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to examine the interaction between public health and justice systems and evaluate existing programs to understand the experiences of those affected by psychiatric disorders or substance use and policies that prolong their involvement in the justice system.
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Serving Safely
The National Initiative to Enhance Policing for Persons with Mental Illnesses and Developmental Disabilities
Serving Safely is a national initiative designed to improve interactions between police and persons affected by mental illnesses and developmental disabilities. The initiative has offered free remote and on-site assistance to police departments and prosecutors’ offices through training, evaluation, and guidance specific to requesting agencies' need...
Project
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Leah Pope
Changing Directions
The Intersection of Public Health and Criminal Justice
Creating a Culture of Safety
Sentinel Event Reviews for Suicide and Self-Harm in Correctional Facilities
Since 2011, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), through its Sentinel Events Initiative, has been investigating the feasibility of using a sentinel events approach to review and learn from errors in the criminal justice system such as wrongful convictions, eyewitness misidentifications, or incidents of suicide and self-harm in custody. Recogniz...
Related Work
A Sentinel Review Process Could Help Washington D.C.
Prosecutors charged him with second degree murder, and a judge found that he was a danger to the community, denying his request for pretrial release. Mr. Hicks spent 13 days in jail before his defense team noted that the video actually depicted a different suspect, prompting prosecutors to dismiss the case. Under the single cause-bad actor approach...
Blog Post
Akhi Johnson
Study Links Solitary Confinement to Increased Risk of Death After Release
The report found that the more time people spent in restrictive housing as a percentage of their total incarceration, the greater their risk of death in the first year after their release. Those who had been in solitary confinement two or more times during their incarceration were 41 percent and 74 percent more likely to die of homicide and suicide...
Blog Post
Aaron Stagoff-Belfort
Preventing Suicide and Self-Harm in Jail
A Sentinel Events Approach
Suicide is the leading cause of death in jails across the country. At a time when the public is paying closer attention to local jails and their primary role in mass incarceration, it is critical to shine light on the problem of jail suicide and the steps jails can take to prevent future deaths. This report is the second from Vera that frames suici...
Up Close with the Opioid Crisis
Officer Nicole Moyer of the Burlington Police Department opens up about working on the front lines of the opioid crisis.
For Mental Health Month, a New Initiative Focused on Serving Safely
As organizations across the country draw attention to Mental Health Awareness Month this May and to the various ways that mental illness impacts people’s lives, the launch of Serving Safely offers a chance to reflect on the myriad opportunities for improving the way criminal justice stakeholders interact with vulnerable community members at all sta...
Blog Post
Leah Pope
Rebecca Neusteter
Addressing Opioids
A crisis
The Role of Jails in Combatting the Opioid Crisis
Despite a proven evidence base and increasing calls from the President’s Commission on Combatting Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis to incorporate MAT into criminal justice settings, there remains reticence on the part of many jails to adopt MAT. National survey data suggest that utilization of these medications is very low in criminal justice s...
Blog Post
Leah Pope
Minimizing Harm
Public Health and Justice System Responses to Drug Use and the Opioid Crisis
For the Record Evidence Brief SeriesHow government and communities should respond to drug use is a perennial question that has gained a renewed sense of urgency in the face of the current opioid overdose crisis, and annual deaths from overdose have grown more than ninefold since 1980. In addition to the thousands of lives claimed, thousands more Am...
The Enhanced Pre-Arraignment Screening Unit
Improving Health Services, Medical Triage, and Diversion Opportunities in Manhattan Central Booking
New York City established Pre-Arraignment Medical Screening Units (PASUs) in all boroughs’ central booking facilities, except Staten Island, as a result of a 1993 legal settlement requiring the city to establish a process for screening the health needs of people who are arrested, booked into police custody, and awaiting arraignment. Unfortunately, ...
New White House Report Outlines Recommendations to Stem the Tide of Drug Overdose Deaths
The commission also focuses on law enforcement’s ability to prevent overdoses and save lives by urging the president to provide legislation for states to allow dispensing naloxone via standing orders. Naloxone is a life-saving drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, is non-addictive, and has no effect if a person does not have opioids...
Blog Post
Vedan Anthony-North
Leah Pope
ACA Cuts Would Endanger Justice-Involved People with Disabilities, Behavioral Health Needs
In 2010, aiming to provide affordable and comprehensive healthcare to people who otherwise would not have access to essential services, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law. But in an effort to “repeal and replace” the ACA, federal lawmakers are currently considering legislation that, if enacted, will undercut these services, negative...
Blog Post
Ashley Brompton
Vedan Anthony-North
With Public Support, States Continue to Embrace Drug Reform—and Save Lives
New reporting from the New York Times yesterday estimates that more than 59,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2016—the largest annual jump ever recorded in U.S. history. With drug overdoses now the leading cause of death for Americans under 50, the consequences of these numbers cannot be underestimated. However, despite new federal sentencing...
Blog Post
Karina Schroeder