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Schizophrenia and Crime

A Longitudinal Follow-up of 644 Schizophrenics in Stockholm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Per Lindqvist  and
Peter Allebeck
Per Lindqvist*
Affiliation:
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University Hospital, Umeå, Sweden, and Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Umeå, Sweden
Peter Allebeck
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Section for Community Medicine, Karolinska Institute at Huddinge University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
*
∗Correspondence
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Extract

To compare the crime rate of schizophrenics with that of the general population, data from the Central Swedish Police Register on 790 schizophrenic patients discharged from hospitals in Stockholm in 1971 was analysed for the period 1972–86. Relative risk of criminal offence was assessed by comparing the observed number of offences committed with the expected number (estimated from official statistics). The crime rate among male schizophrenics was almost the same as that in the general male population, whereas among females it was twice that of the general female population. The rate of violent offences was, however, four times higher among the schizophrenics. The violence recorded was almost exclusively of minor severity.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 157 , Issue 3 , September 1990 , pp. 345 - 350
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990 

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