Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T08:59:14.455Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Serious criminal offending and mental disorder

Case linkage study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

Cameron Wallace ,
Paul E. Mullen ,
Philip Burgess ,
Simon Palmer ,
David Ruschena  and
Chris Browne
Cameron Wallace*
Affiliation:
Victorian institute of Forensic Mental Health, Department of Psychological Medicine
Paul E. Mullen
Affiliation:
Victorian institute of Forensic Mental Health, Department of Psychological Medicine
Philip Burgess
Affiliation:
Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria
Simon Palmer
Affiliation:
Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria
David Ruschena
Affiliation:
Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health, Department of Psychological Medicine
Chris Browne
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology, Monash University
*
Professor P. E. Mullen, Department of Psychological Medicine, PO Box 266, Rosanna, Victoria 3084, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

A relationship exists between mental disorder and offending behaviours but the nature and extent of the association remains in doubt.

Method

Those convicted in the higher courts of Victoria between 1993 and 1995 had their pyschiatric history explored by case linkage to a register listing virtually all contacts with the public psychiatric services.

Results

Prior psychiatric contact was found in 25% of offenders, but the personality disorder and substance misuse accounted for much of this relationship. Schizophrenia and affective disorders were also over-represented, particularly those with coexisting substance misuse.

Conclusions

The increased offending in schizophrenia and affective illness is modest and may often be mediated by coexisting substance misuse. The risk of a serious crime being committed by someone with a major mental illness is small and does not justify subjecting them, as a group, to either increased institutional containment or greater coercion.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 172 , Issue 6 , June 1998 , pp. 477 - 484
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Armitage, P. & Berry, G. (1987) Statistical Methods in Medical Research. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Burgess, P. M. Joyce, C. M. Pattison, P. E. et al (1992) Social indicators and the prediction of psychiatric inpatient service utilization. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 27, 83–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eaton, W. W. Moretensen, P. B. Herrman, H. et al, (1992) Long term course of hospitalisation for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 18, 217–228.Google Scholar
Eronen, M. Tilhonen, J. & Hakola, P. (1994a) Schizophrenia and homicidal behaviour. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 22, 83–89.Google Scholar
Eronen, M. Hakola, P. & Tilhonen, J. (1996b) Mental disorders and homicidal behaviour in Finland. Archives of General Psychiatry, 53, 497–501.Google Scholar
Hafner, H. & Böker, W. (1992) Crimes of Violence by Mentally Abnormal Offenders. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hodgins, A. (ed.) (1993) Mental Disorder and Crime. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hodgins, S. (1992) Mental disorder, intellectual deficiency and crime: evidence from a birth cohort. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 476–483.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hodgins, S. Mednick, S. Brennar, P. A. et al (1996) Mental disorder and crime: Evidence from a Danish birth cohort. Archives of General Psychiatry, 53, 489–496.Google Scholar
Krupinski, J. Alexander, L. & Carson, N. (1982) Patterns of Psychiatric Care in Victoria. Special Publication No. 12. Melbourne: Health Commission of Victoria, Victorian Government Printer.Google Scholar
Lindqvist, P. & Allebeck, P. (1990) Schizophrenia and crime. A longitudinal follow-up of 644 schizophrenics in Stockholm. British Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 345–350.Google Scholar
Modestin, J. & Ammann, R. (1996) Criminal behaviour in males with affective dosorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 42, 29–38.Google Scholar
Modestin, J. Hug, A. & Ammann, R. (1997) Criminal behaviour in males with affective disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 42, 29–38.Google Scholar
Monahan, J. & Steadman, H. J. (eds) (1994) Violence and Mental Disorder. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mullen, P. E. (1997) A reassessment of the link between mental disorder and violent behaviour, and its implications for clinical practice. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 31, 3–11.Google Scholar
Robertson, G. (1988) Arrest patterns among mentally disordered offenders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 313–316.Google Scholar
Steadman, H. Mulvey, E. Monahan, J. et al (1998) Violence by people discharged from acute psychiatric inpatient facilities and by others in the same neighbourhood. Archives of General Psychiatry, in press.Google Scholar
Swanson, J. W. (1994) Mental disorder, substance abuse and community violence: An epidemiological approach. In Violence and Mental Disorder (ed. J. Monahan & H. J. Steadman), pp. 101–136. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, P. J. & Gunn, J. (1984) Violence and psychosis: I. The risk of violence among psychotic men. British Medical Journal, 288, 1945–1949.Google Scholar
Taylor, P. J. Mullen, P. E. & Wessely, S. (1993) Psychosis, violence and crime. In Forensic Psychiatry: Clinical Ethical and Legal Issues (eds. J. Gunn & P. Taylor), pp. 330–371. Oxford: Heinemann Butterworth.Google Scholar
Wessely, S. (1997) The epidemiology of crime, violence and schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 170, (suppl. 32), 8–11.Google Scholar
Wessely, S., Castle, D. & Douglas, A. (1994) The criminal careers of incident cases of schizophrenia. Psychological Medicine, 24, 483–502.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders: Glossary and Guide to their Classification in Accordance with the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD–9). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.