Characteristic Of The Crime Of Mentally Ill Offenders For Criminal Responsibility Assessment And Their Disposition In Hunan In2011

Objective:The purposes of this study are:(1) To investigate the characteristics of the offenses committed by mentally ill offenders for criminal responsibility assessment in Hunan in2011.(2) To understand the risk factors of criminal responsibility of the mentally ill offenders for criminal responsibility assessment.(3) To investigate the outcome and the disposition of mentally ill offenders for criminal responsibility assessment in Hunan in2011.Methods:All mentally ill offenders are referred to7forensic psychiatric assessment centers for criminal responsibility assessing in Hunan in2011recruiting in the present study. A self-developed questionnaire of crime and the Diminished Criminal Responsibility Rating Scale (DCRRS) are used to investigate the above subjects. A telephone interview questionnaire was completed by the police who were responsible for the cases or the family members or other informants who were familiar with the mentally ill offenders after one year of the forensic psychiatric assessment. The researcher of the current study interviewed the mentally ill offenders admitted to the Hunan Ankang hospital during the study period.Results:1. The mentally ill offenders who referred to7forensic psychiatric assessment centers for criminal responsibility assessing in Hunan in2011most have the primary diagnosis of schizophrenia (59.9%), and their primary index offence was severe violent crime (57.8%, including murder and attempt murder). The estimated rate of crime in general population in Hunan in2011was32.8/(100,000per*year), and in schizophrenic patients was103.1/(100,000per*year). The estimated rate of severe violent crime in schizophrenic patients was68.0/(100,000per*year).2. For the mentally ill offenders for criminal responsibility assessment, the grouping variables (with or without criminal responsibility) were used as dependent variables and the17items of DCRRS which had statistically difference between two groups, were used as independent variables. Realistic motivation, criminal inducement, object selectivity of committing an offence, impairment of life ability, impairment of insight were chosen in the logistic regression equation by the backward stepwise regression. The predictive accuracy of this equation in the group without criminal responsibility was91.9%, and in the group with criminal responsibility was90.9%. The total predictive accuracy of this equation was91.4%.For schizophrenic offenders for criminal responsibility assessment, the grouping variables (with or without criminal responsibility) were used as dependent variables and the17items of DCRRS which had statistically difference between two groups, were used as independent variables. Realistic motivation and correct prediction of behavioral consequence were chosen in the logistic regression equation by the backward stepwise regression. The predictive accuracy of this equation in the group without criminal responsibility was91.8%, and in the group with criminal responsibility was98.6%. The total predictive accuracy of this equation was93.7%.3. The consistence rate between psychiatrists’decision of criminal responsibility and judges’ decision of guilty was87.7%. There were392mentally ill offenders had been followed up in the present study,205of them were assessed as no criminal responsibility by reason of mental disorder.245mentally ill offenders had been judged as not guilty,28.2%of cases had received compulsory treatment in Ankang hospital,33.9%of cases had received involuntary treatment in general psychiatric hospital or department of psychiatry in general hospital.20.4%of cases had received voluntary psychiatric treatment.5.7%of them discharged to their families without any psychiatric treatment.2.4%of them discharged to their families who were diagnosed as mental retardation without treatment.9.3%of them lost contact. Conclusions:1. The mentally ill offenders who referred to7forensic psychiatric assessment centers for criminal responsibility assessing in Hunan in2011most have the primary diagnosis of schizophrenia. The estimated rate of crime in schizophrenic patients was3.1times as compared with general population. We should pay more attentions to crime, especially severe violent crime (including homicide and injury) in schizophrenic patients.2. The motivation of committing crimes is till one of important risk factors in the assessment of responsibility for mentally ill offenders. It was not reasonable to ignore the role of cognitive and volitional capacity in the assessment of responsibility.3. The system of compulsory treatment for mentally ill offenders for criminal responsibility assessment in Hunan in2011improved a lot, but still need to be reformed. Some mentally ill offenders re-offended after being discharged who did not receive any further effective supervise and psychiatric treatment.The paper includes5figures,19tables,78references.