Introduction

Summary

Since the 1960s there has been a significant increase in documented criminality and violence among persons suffering from major mental disorders in Western industrialised societies. This criminality causes immeasurable suffering for the victims and their families, as well as for the perpetrators and their families. The mental disorders increase the risk of criminality and violence, even more among women than among men, and as many mentally ill women as men regularly assault others. However, the impact of the women's behaviours may be even more far reaching than that of the males, for many of these women carry children through pregnancy and then are responsible for their upbringing. A mother who is both mentally ill and antisocial or violent or both, may confer certain genetic predispositions on her child, affect the child's development with inappropriate behaviour during the pregnancy, and provide inadequate or inappropriate parenting. The measurable costs include not only this human suffering and damage to future generations, but also a considerable financial burden to the health and social services and criminal justice systems. These costs include psychological care and social services for the victims, the costs of police, lawyers, judges and expert witnesses, all necessary to process the perpetrator through the criminal justice system, and the further costs associated with psychiatric or custodial care, or both, for the perpetrator.