Faculty from the Division of Population Behavioral Health, Dr. Natalie Ramos and Dr. Eraka Bath have a new article published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Summary
LGBTQ youth, and especially Black and Latinx LGBTQ youth, face an increased risk of justice involvement across all touchpoints of the juvenile justice system. To start, these youth are more likely to have initial contact with law enforcement, leading to entry into justice systems and entrapment into “no exit” cycles of incarceration. This article calls for attentiveness to the intersectional inequities facing LGBTQ youth involved in the justice system and offers solutions for improving their mental health outcomes. Child and adolescent mental health professionals can change trajectories of LGBTQ youth through clinical work that addresses modifiable risk factors facing LGBTQ youth, targeted research efforts on the experiences of LGBTQ youth in justice settings as well as intervention studies, and legislative advocacy that provides protective and appropriate services to LGBTQ youth across various justice system touchpoints.
To read the full article, visit: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890856721004196?via%3Dihub
