@article{ref1,
title="Preventing crime by people with schizophrenic disorders: the role of psychiatric services",
journal="British journal of psychiatry",
year="2004",
author="Hodgins, Sheilagh and Muller-Isberner, R.",
volume="185",
number="",
pages="245-250",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Knowledge of when and how to implement treatments to prevent criminal offending among people with schizophrenia is urgently needed. AIMS: To identify opportunities for interventions to prevent offending among men with schizophrenic disorders by tracking their histories of offending and admissions to hospital. METHOD: We examined 232 men with schizophrenic disorders discharged from forensic and general psychiatric hospitals. Data were collected from participants, family members and official records. RESULTS: More than three-quarters (77.8%) of the forensic patients had previously been admitted to general psychiatric services; 24.3% of the general psychiatric patients had a criminal record. Offences had been committed by 39.8% of the forensic patients and 10.8% of the general psychiatric patients before their first admission to general psychiatry, and after their first admission these 59 patients committed 195 non-violent and 59 violent offences. Subsequently, 49 of them committed serious violent offences that led to forensic hospital admission. The offenders were distinguished by a pervasive and stable pattern of antisocial behaviour evident from at least mid-adolescence. CONCLUSIONS: General psychiatry requires resources in order to prevent criminal offending among a subgroup of patients with schizophrenic disorders.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0007-1250",
doi="10.1192/bjp.185.3.245",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.185.3.245"
}