Addressing the Mental Health Needs of LGBTQ Youth in the Juvenile Justice System

While growing awareness of the unmet mental health needs of LGBTQ youth populations has prompted calls for greater emphasis on health equity, efforts have largely overlooked glaring inequities affecting LGBTQ youth who are justice-involved. The disproportionality of juvenile justice system involvement for LGTBQ youth is a public health concern that merits focused attention and advocacy from child and adolescent mental health professionals. The proportion of incarcerated youth in the juvenile justice system who are LGBTQ is twice that of LGBTQ youth in the general adolescent population.
Source: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Commentary Source Type: research