NCJ Number
72158
Journal
Zhurnal nevropatologii i psikhiatrii im s s, korsakova Volume: 74 Issue: 3 Dated: (1974) Pages: 429-433
Date Published
1974
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This Soviet study of patients with simple schizophrenia showed that the frequency of violent criminal acts committed by them and the severity and duration of the period during which those acts were committed depended on the progression of the disease, its particular stage, and such factors as alcoholism.
Abstract
A total of 100 patients under compulsory treatment who committed 182 criminal acts, 68.1 percent of which were violent, were divided according to the progression of the disease. The highest number of those acts (83.5 percent) were committed by those patients with slow progression of the disease. This was because the 'criminal period' which usually started betwen the 6th and the 10th year of the disease for all patients, continued longer for the patients with the slowest progression of the disease, and sometimes lasted for 12 or more years. However, for the 25 patients with a malignant course of the disease the criminal period was much shorter, and criminal acts were only committed during the first 7 years of the disease. Studies of the connection between a stage of the disease and frequency of violent criminal acts, showed that, in general, the highest number of criminal acts were committed during the developing stage (46.1 percent) and the defect stage (40.1 percent). However, patients with a malignant course of the disease committed as many as 32.2 percent of the criminal acts during the initial stage (as compared with 58.1 percent during the developed stage), while patients with slow progression committed 43.4 percent of the acts during the developed stage and 46.8 during the defect stage (as compared with only 9.8 percent for the initial stage). This study also showed that 56.6 percent of all the patients committed violent acts in a state of alcohol intoxication. References are included.