Youth justice and mental health in perspective.

Research indentifies that a significant proportion of youth within the justice system possess some form of mental health disorder, and that the presence of an emotional disorder can provide important explanatory value regarding the causes of crime. Evidence is now overwhelming that services within the youth justice system need to account for the causes of crime in order to effectively reduce the likelihood of reoffending. Such an ethic within youth justice service delivery not only reduces symptoms and risk within the youth and their families but also is linked to increasing community safety through reductions in reoffending. This review characterizes the relevance of mental health disorder in considering the needs of anti-social youth, and how this appreciation is linked to the delivery of effective services as well as what constitutes supportive youth justice legislation.