Rochester Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (R-FACT)
Problems addressed
Recidivism
Crime and delinquency (multiple types)
Effectiveness

Promising

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Promising

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Life periods served
Adults (18 to 59 years)
Where the program was applied
Courts of justice
Outpatient - Justice and Sentence Enforcement Services
Country of application
United States
Description

This is an adaptation of the Assertive Community Treatment Program focusing on risk factors for crime and collaboration of mental health and criminal justice services for people involved with the criminal system. The goal is to reduce recidivism, prevent hospitalizations for psychiatric disorders, and promote access to housing.
The program includes four components:
1) Intensive assertive community treatment;
2) Identification and treatment of criminogenic risk factors;
3) Intervention with law enforcement to ensure adherence to the program; and
4) Coordination of mental health and criminal justice services for problem-solving.
The intervention consists of weekly meetings between mental health professionals, judges, and prosecutors to discuss problems and potential solutions before defining attendance at hearings.

Impact evaluations

An impact evaluation study identified a statistically significant reduction in conviction rates, days spent in jail, more days in outpatient mental health treatment, and fewer days in the hospital [1].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Lamberti, J. S., Weisman, R. L., Cerulli, C., Williams, G. C., Jacobowitz, D. B., Mueser, K. T., Marks, P. D., Strawderman, R. L., Harrington, D., Lamberti, T. A. & Caine, E. D. (2017). A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Rochester Forensic Assertive Community Treatment Model. Psychiatric Services (Washington, D.C.), 68(10), 1016–1024. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201600329

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