Serious Violent and Sexual Offenders with a Mental Disorder

• NCJ Number: 215017
• Author(s): C. H. de Kogel; M. H. Nagtegaal
• Date Published: 2006
• Length: 347 pages
• Sale Source: Boom Juridische Unitgevers (Royal Boom Publishers)
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Country: Netherlands
• Note: English summary.

Annotation

This report presents the results of a preliminary study comparing how England, Germany, Canada, Sweden, and Belgium deal with serious violent and sexual offenders who have serious mental disorders.

Abstract

Overall, the results indicate that all countries face similar problems in terms of serious violent and sexual offenders with mental disorders. Findings suggest a number of similarities and differences in the ways these countries handle serious violent and sexual offenders with mental disorders. All countries report using a segregated forensic psychiatric system that is separate from the prison system and all have sanctions in place to allow for the use of compulsory hospitalization in this forensic psychiatric system. Yet significant differences exist between countries in terms of the sanctions allowing long-term detention in forensic psychiatric settings. Differences also exist in the ways these countries handle the supervision of serious violent and sexual offenders once they are in the community, but all the countries had legislation providing for a risk assessment of all offenders considered to pose a continued hazard to the community. All countries have either imported or developed recidivism reduction programming for serious violent offenders with mental disorders and all countries support and call for research on effective methods of community supervision with serious violent and sexual offenders. Researchers convened between 10 and 20 meetings in each country with key stakeholders, including personnel from organizations responsible for public policy, scientists, personnel from regulatory bodies, and personnel from penal institutions, among others. The research literature on criminal justice processes with offenders with mental disorders was reviewed along with policy documents and legislative literature from each country. Descriptive analyses were undertaken; the results should be considered preliminary in the absence of more detailed research and analysis. Footnotes, tables, references, appendixes