Preventing crime by people with schizophrenic disorders: The role of psychiatric services

Abstract

Background: Knowledge of when and how to implement treatments to prevent criminal offending among people with schizophrenia is urgently needed. Aims: To identify opportunities for interventions to prevent offending among men with schizophrenic disorders by tracking their histories of offending and admissions to hospital. Method: We examined 232 men with schizophrenic disorders discharged from forensic and general psychiatric hospitals. Data were collected from participants, family members and official records. Results: More than three-quarters (77.8%) of the forensic patients had previously been admitted to general psychiatric services; 24.3% of the general psychiatric patients had a criminal record. Offences had been committed by 39.8% of the forensic patients and 10.8% of the general psychiatric patients before their first admission to general psychiatry and after their first admission these 59 patients committed 195 non-violent and 59 violent offences. Subsequently, 49 of them committed serious violent offences that led to forensic hospital admission.The offenders were distinguished by a pervasive and stable pattern of antisocial behaviour evident from at least mid-adolescence. Conclusions: General psychiatry requires resources in order to prevent criminal offending among a subgroup of patients with schizophrenic disorders.