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Preventive detention exhumed – and enhanced

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Derek Chiswick
Derek Chiswick*
Affiliation:
Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Terrace, Edinburgh EH10 5HF Chiswick
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In 1997 there were 57 000 notifiable crimes of serious or sexual violence recorded by police in England and Wales (Home Office, 1998) – more than 1000 per week or approximately one every 10 minutes. On 15 February 1999 the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, announced new measures “better to protect the public from dangerous people in our society” (House of Commons, 1999). He said the measures were to target “those who are capable of committing acts of a serious sexual or violent nature”. Of the 57 000 potential targets, Mr Straw believes 1800 men are already detained in prisons and special hospitals; he intends to identify a further 500 or so men currently at liberty and lock them away indefinitely, in advance of their offending. His intention in respect of the other 54 700 violent or sexual offenders, responsible for 99% of serious violence, is not stated. Mr Straw believes that the 500 men in the community (and the 1800 in custody) share a common psychiatric condition and that this is what makes them dangerous. His policy for identifying the men, and what he intends to do with them and similar people, is contained in the recently published consultation paper on dangerous people with severe personality disorder (Home Office & Department of Health, 1999).

Type
Editorials
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 23 , Issue 12: The Journal of Trends in Psychiatric Practice , December 1999 , pp. 703 - 704
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

Fallon, P., Bluglass, R., Edwards, B., et al (1999) Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Personality Disorder Unit, Ashworth Special Hospital, Volume 1. Cm 4194–11. London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Home Office (1998) Criminal Statistics England and Wales 1997. Cm 4162. London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Home Office & Department of Health (1999) Managing Dangerous People with Severe Personality Disorder. London: Home Office & Department of Health.Google Scholar
House of Commons (1999) Hansard Debates for 15 February 1999. Columns 610–613. London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Maden, T. (1999) Treating offenders with personality disorder. Psychiatric Bulletin, 23, 707 710.Google Scholar
Singleton, N., Meltzer, H. & Gatward, R. (1998) Psychiatric Morbidity Among Prisoners in England and Wales. London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
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