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Association between Violent Crime and Psychosis in Men Serving Prison Terms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2017

Javier Saavedra ,
Marcelino López  and
M. Eva Trigo
Javier Saavedra*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Sevilla (Spain)
Marcelino López
Affiliation:
Fundación Pública Andaluza para la Integración de las Personas con Enfermedad Mental (Spain)
M. Eva Trigo
Affiliation:
Universidad de Sevilla (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Dr. Javier Saavedra. Departamento Psicología Experimental. Universidad de Sevilla. Sevilla (Spain). E-mail: fjsaavedra@us.es
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Abstract

Psychosis has been associated with committing violent crimes. However, it has been reported that the association is mediated by toxin consumption, personality disorders, and positive symptoms. This study will examine the relationship between different psychological disorders and sociodemographic variables, and violent crime perpetration in a sample of 472 men serving prison terms in Andalusia, Spain. A correlation-based, retrospective study was conducted and data were analyzed through logistic regression. The sample is representative of the Andalusian prison population, with a 95% level of confidence and .02% precision. Inmates were sampled and diagnosed by expert clinicians using the SCID-I and the IPDE-II. We computed bivariate correlations between the aforementioned variables and perpetration of violent crimes (murder, homicide, attempted murder, and injury) to later apply logistic regression and find adjusted odds ratios. We confirmed the association between diagnosis of functional psychoses and violent crime, with a significant adjusted odds ratio in the last model (OR = 3.71; p = .010). Other significant variables that acted like risk factors include suicide attempts (OR = 2.04; p = .046), having received care at a mental health facility in the year before imprisonment (OR = 3.83; p = .008), and more strongly than the psychosis diagnosis, low level of education (OR = 10.32; p = .029). Toxin consumption and personality disorders were not significant in the final model.

Keywords

prisonspsychological disorderspsychosisschizophreniaviolence
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 20 , 2017 , E30
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2017 

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Footnotes

This research was carried out in the frame of the research project funded by the Gobierno de España (PSI2016–80112–P) entitled “Challenges of the self: Identities reconstruction in situations of inequality and social exclusion”.

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