Problem-solving courts search for young people's strengths, and endeavor to support youth with needed educational, vocational, health, and mental health services. They seek to deliver services in a culturally relevant, developmentally appropriate manner, and they strive to link youth to effective aftercare. The youth court model evolved gradually over the last half century. Restorative justice conferences base their effectiveness on "principles of control, deterrence, and reintegrative shaming". Developers of mental health courts recognized the silo effect of two systems, mental health and juvenile justice, working independently to address the needs of the same severely emotionally and behaviorally disturbed youth who commit delinquent acts. Juvenile drug courts, mental health courts, and peer courts are innovative responses to justice-involved youth that restore the rehabilitative mission of the juvenile justice system. They promise to avoid the economic, and more importantly, the human cost of detention and punishment.

This chapter pinpoints the conceptual foundations and treatment strategies for early intervention and community-based treatment programs, and provides case examples illustrating the unique features of each approach. In addition, it presents two promising transition programs with implications for treatment of youth in secure programs prior to their participation in community-based aftercare treatments. Early intervention and community-based treatment programs are intended to provide alternatives to secure facilities for juveniles involved in criminal activity. These approaches are analogous to strategies used in public health to prevent, control, and reduce the impact of illness on quality of life, morbidity, and mortality. Two examples of early intervention programs include diversion programs and mentoring programs. All of the common characteristics of evidence-based programs highlighted in the chapter must be attended to and fulfilled, including: qualities of effective providers; training and protocol adherence; clinical supervision; and collaboration with stakeholders in the system.

This chapter reflects the dedication of a diverse group of professionals to the needs of an oft neglected population. With the realization that most justice-involved youth silently suffer from mental health problems, professionals have begun to seriously study both the prevalence of the disorders, and how they might effectively be treated. The chapter provides an overview of the key themes discussed in the book, which indicates the broad range of child and adolescent mental health needs in the juvenile justice system. The book points to strategies for screening and for assessing mental health issues, and it also indicates emerging evidence-based treatment interventions. For paths toward rehabilitation and reintegration to be forged, and for knowledge to be translated into effective interventions, communities must commit resources to these at-risk youth. The chapter also presents an overview of how the other chapters of the book are organised.