ABSTRACT
Criminal justice–involved individuals must develop personal goals that are long-term and productive. Each criminal justice involved persons with mental illness (CJ-PMI) must have personally meaningful goals for which to strive. Without long-term goals, CJ-PMI has minimal reasons to avoid behaviors that are reinforcing in the short-term, but unproductive with regard to long-term goal accomplishment. CJ-PMI will frequently state their desire to discontinue their psychotropic treatment regimen with complaints of the negative side effects of their medications or the immediate gains of crime. It is important to help CJ-PMI develop personally meaningful goals that are realistic. They will not benefit by developing unrealistic or overly ambitious goals, as they will lose sight of these goals during the treatment program. Even in the best of circumstances, CJ-PMI may require a brief stay in a psychiatric hospital. In fact, many consider a brief voluntary admission for purposes of psychiatric stabilization to be indicative of recovery and healthy behavior.
