Mentally Disordered Offenders - A National Survey of Patients and Facilities

• NCJ Number: 84270
• Journal: Law and Human Behavior Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: (1982) Pages: 31-43
• Author(s): H J Steadman; J Monahan; E Hartstone; S K Davis; P C Robbins
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 8 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Discussed here are the results of a survey of admissions and the average daily census of individuals institutionalized in the United States in 1978 as incompetent to stand trial (IST), not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI), mentally disordered sex offenders, or transfers from prisons to mental health facilities.

Abstract

The survey also aimed to identify all institutions specializing in the treatment and detention of such persons. A comparison of the survey data is made with the 1967 findings of another study, and offers an index of trends in the institutionalization of mentally disordered offenders in the U.S. The survey consisted of telephone and followup mail interviews with the forensic director in each of the 50 States concerning placement options available or the four categories of mentally disordered offenders and the availability of statewide information on the numbers of such persons admitted to State facilities and residing there on any given day of 1978. Most of the 52 jurisdictions surveyed (50 States plus the District of Columbia and the Federal system) did not keep even simple descriptive statistics on the admissions or census of mentally disordered offenders. Only 23 jurisdictions kept admission figures on IST's, 22 on NGRI's and 18 on transfers from prison to mental health facilities; census statistics were kept only by 21, 20, and 10 States on the respective patient categories. With respect to mentally disordered sex offenders, 13 of the 19 States with that legal designation had an admission and census enumeration. In all, there were 256 facilities identified as providing care to mentally disordered offenders, institutionalizing approximately 20,000 persons. The descriptive data presented here should help frame more refined analytic questions and point to the need for forensic management information systems at the State level. Tables and 22 references are given.