Probation & Mental Health.

My dissertation research was on the effect of probation on mental health inequities. This study was motivated an increasing prevalence of probation in the United States in the absence of information on the mental health consequences of this form of sentencing. I did not find evidence that probation was less deleterious to mental health than incarceration at the individual or community level. This speaks to the need to more drastically redesign the criminal legal system. Community-based substance use recovery, mental health treatment, and employment programs instead of punitive sanctions are all ways to redesign this system and meet individuals’ needs.