NCJ Number
195620
Journal
Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Volume: 11 Issue: 3 Dated: 2001 Pages: 163-172
Date Published
2001
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study's goal was to determine the factors in a particular secure hospital population that linked offending and mental illness, particularly violent offending and psychosis.
Abstract
The study sample was selected from patients in the high-security hospital serving the Province of British Columbia in Canada. Those in the sample had been found either too ill to be tried ("unfit") or not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (NCRMD). The bulk of the sample belonged to the latter group. A total of 175 patients were included in the study. They consisted of all "unfit" and NCRMD patients in the hospital between December 1, 1998, and February 28, 1999. Information collected covered legal status, sex, ethnic origin, date of birth, diagnoses, index offense, year of first psychiatric contact, psychotic symptoms present at the time of the offense, and whether these were judged to have driven the offense. Most of the offenses committed involved violence, but 39 percent of the patients were not primarily violent offenders. Almost two-thirds (61 percent) had two or more diagnoses. A large majority of the patients were psychotic, with schizophrenia being the most common diagnosis. There was a significant association between psychosis and violence, but the strength of the association was not increased by the presence of imperative hallucinations or delusions. The sample was composed of various ethnic groups, with Native Americans being overrepresented; however, no association was found between violent offending and ethnicity, age, or years of illness. This study replicated previous findings regarding the link between violent offending and psychosis, but no specific link between violent offending and psychotic drive was found. A surprising finding was the absence of any association between violent offenses and drug abuse. 5 tables and 16 references