Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T04:52:49.605Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mental Disorders and Criminal Behaviour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jiri Modestin  and
Roland Ammann
Jiri Modestin*
Affiliation:
Psychiatric University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland
Roland Ammann
Affiliation:
Division of Internal Medicine, District Hospital, Burgdorf, Switzerland
*
Dr Modestin, Psychiatric University Hospital, Lenggstrasse 31, CH-8029 Zurich, Switzerland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Using improved methods, findings of higher criminality in a psychiatric population were tested.

Method

An unselected sample of 1265 Swiss in-patients and a matched control group drawn from the general population were studied. Detailed accounts of conviction records served as a measure of criminal behaviour.

Results

Apart from traffic law violations by men, and violent crimes and sexual offences by women, patients were more frequently registered in all crime categories. However, there were significant differences between the diagnostic groups. Alcoholics and drug users of both sexes had a significantly higher criminality rate. A higher rate was also found among female, but not male, patients suffering from schizophrenia or related disorders and other, mostly organic, disorders.

Conclusions

Alcoholism and drug abuse contribute significantly to criminal behaviour, independent of sociodemographic factors; however, with a few exceptions, mental disorders such as schizophrenia and affective disorders do not contribute to criminal behaviour.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 166 , Issue 5 , May 1995 , pp. 667 - 675
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1995 

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

Abram, K. M. & Teplin, L. A. (1991) Co-occurring disorders among mentally ill jail detainees. American Psychologist, 46, 1036–1045.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bland, R. C., Newman, S. C., Dyck, R. J., et al (1990) Prevalence of psychiatric disorders and suicide attempts in a prison population. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 35, 407–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borzecki, M. & Wormith, J. S. (1985) The criminalization of psychiatrically ill people: a review with a Canadian perspective. Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa, 10, 241–247.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, J. (1981) The myth of social class and criminality reconsidered. American Sociological Review, 46, 36–57.Google Scholar
Cocozza, J. J., Melick, M. E. & Steadman, H. J. (1978) Trends in violent crime among ex-mental patients. Criminology, 16, 317–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, L. H. & Freeman, H. (1945) How dangerous to the community are state hospital patients? Connecticut State Medical Journal, 9, 697–700.Google Scholar
Cook, D. A. G. (1983) A study of criminal behaviour in discharged male psychiatric patients. Medicine Science and Law, 23, 279–282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
C$te, G. & Hodgins, S. (1990) Co-occurring mental disorders among criminal offenders. Bulletin of American Academy of Psychiatry and Law, 18, 271–281.Google Scholar
Davis, S. (1992) Assessing the ‘criminalization$’ of the mentally ill in Canada. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 37, 532–538.Google Scholar
DeJong, J., Virkkunen, M. & Linnoila, M. (1992) Factors associated with recidivism in a criminal population. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 180, 543–550.Google Scholar
Dilling, H. & Weyerer, S. (1978) Epidemiologie psychischer Störungen und psychiatrischer Versorgung. München: Urban & Schwarzenberg.Google Scholar
Durbin, J. R., Pasewark, R. A. & Albers, D. (1977) Criminality and mental illness: a study of arrest rates in a rural state. American Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 80–83.Google Scholar
Faulk, M. (1976) A psychiatric study of men serving a sentence in Winchester prison. Medicine, Science and the Law, 16, 244–251.Google Scholar
Gelberg, L., Linn, L. S. & Leake, B. D. (1988) Mental health, alcohol and drug use, and criminal history among homeless adults. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 191–196.Google ScholarPubMed
Good, M. I. (1978) Primary affective disorder, aggression, and criminality. A review and clinical study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 954–960.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gunn, J., Maden, A. & Swinton, M. (1991) Treatment needs of prisoners with psychiatric disorders. British Medical Journal, 303, 338–341.Google Scholar
Guze, S. B. (1976) Criminality and Psychiatric Disorders. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Häfner, H. & Böker, W. (1982) Crimes of Violence by Mentally Abnormal Offenders. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hodgins, S. (1992) Mental disorder, intellectual deficiency, and crime. Evidence from a birth cohort. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 476–483.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, H. (1994) Age and other factors relevant for rehospitalization of schizophrenic outpatients. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 89, 205–210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Humphreys, M. S., Johnstone, E. C., MacMillan, J. F., et al (1992) Dangerous behaviour preceding first admission for schizophrenia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 501–505.Google Scholar
Johnstone, E. C., Leary, J., Frith, C. D., et al (1991) Disabilities and circumstances of schizophrenic patients – a follow-up study. VII. Police contact. British Journal of Psychiatry, 159 (suppl), 37–39.Google Scholar
Lagos, J. M., Perlmutter, K. & Saexinger, H. (1977) Fear of the mentally ill: empirical support for the common man's response. American Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 1134–1137.Google ScholarPubMed
Lightfoot, L. O. & Hodgins, D. (1988) A survey of alcohol and drug problems in incarcerated offenders. International Journal of Addictions, 23, 687–706.Google Scholar
Lindqvist, P. & Allebeck, P. (1990) Schizophrenia and crime. A longitudal follow-up of 644 schizophrenics in Stockholm. British Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 345–350.Google Scholar
Link, B. G., Andrews, H. & Cullen, F. T. (1992) The violent and illegal behavior of mental patients reconsidered. American Sociological Review, 57, 275–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynch, S. P. (1988) Criminality in the elderly and psychiatric disorder: a review of the literature. Medicine, Science and the Law, 28, 65–74.Google Scholar
McFarland, B. H., Faulkner, L. R., Bloom, J. D., et al (1989) Chronic mental illness and the criminal justice system. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 40, 718–723.Google ScholarPubMed
Melick, M. E., Steadman, H. J. & Cocozza, J. J. (1979) The medicalization of criminal behaviour among mental patients. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 20, 228–237.Google Scholar
Monahan, J. (1993) Mental disorder and violence: another look. In Mental Disorder and Crime (ed. Hodgins, S.), pp. 287–302. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Monahan, J. & Steadman, H. J. (1983) Crime and mental disorder: an epidemiological approach. In Crime and Justice. An Annual Review of Research (eds M. Tonry & N. Morris), pp. 145–189. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Moore, H. & Kleining, G. (1960) Das soziale Selbstbild der Gesellschaftsschichten in Deutschland. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychiatrie, 12, 86–119.Google Scholar
Pollock, H. M. (1938) Is the paroled patient a menace to the community? Psychiatric Quarterly, 12, 236–244.Google Scholar
Prins, H. (1990) Mental abnormality and criminality – an uncertain relationship. Medicine, Science and the Law, 30, 247–258.Google Scholar
Rabkin, J. G. (1979) Criminal behavior of discharged mental patients: a critical appraisal of the research. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, G. (1988) Arrest patterns among mentally disordered offenders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 313–316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosner, R., Wiederlight, M. & Schneider, M. (1985a) Geriatric felons examined at a forensic psychiatric clinic. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 30, 730–740.Google Scholar
Rosner, R., Wiederlight, M. & Wieczorek, R. R. (1985b) Forensic psychiatric evaluations of females accused of felonies: a three-year descriptive study. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 30, 721–729.Google Scholar
Sosowsky, L. (1978) Crime and violence among mental patients reconsidered in view of the new legal relationship between the state and the mentally ill. American Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 33–42.Google Scholar
Steadman, H. J. & Cocozza, J. J. (1978) Selective reporting and the public's misconceptions of the criminally insane. Public Opinion Quarterly, 41, 523–533.Google Scholar
Teplin, L. A. (1984) Criminalizing mental disorder. The comparative arrest rate of the mentally ill. American Psychologist, 39, 794–803.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wessely, S. & Taylor, P. J. (1991) Madness and crime: criminology versus psychiatry. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 1, 193–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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
Zitrin, A., Hardesty, A. S., Burdock, E. I., et al (1976) Crime and violence among mental patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 133, 142–149.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.