@article{ref1,
title="Criminal recidivism and mortality among patients discharged from a forensic medium secure hospital",
journal="Nordic journal of psychiatry",
year="2012",
author="Bjork, Tabita and de Santi, Gm and Kjellin, Lars",
volume="66",
number="4",
pages="283-289",
abstract="Background: One of the goals in forensic psychiatric care is to reduce the risk of recidivism, but current knowledge about the general outcome of forensic psychiatric treatment is limited. Aims: To analyse the rate of criminal recidivism and mortality after discharge in a sample of patients sentenced to forensic psychiatric treatment in a Swedish county. Methods: All offenders in Örebro County, Sweden, sentenced to forensic psychiatric treatment and discharged during 1992-2007 were included: 80 males and eight females. Follow-up data was retrieved from the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, the National Cause-of-Death register and clinical files. Mean follow-up time was 9.4 years. Results: The mean age at discharge was 40 years. Schizophrenia, other psychoses and personality disorders were the most prevalent diagnoses. Thirty-eight percent of those still alive and still living in the country re-offended and were sentenced to a new period of forensic psychiatric treatment or incarceration during follow-up. Four male re-offenders committed serious violent crimes. Substance-related diagnosis was significantly associated with risk of recidivism and after adjustment for diagnoses, age and history of serious violent crime, the Hazard Ratio was 4.04 (95% CI 1.51-10.86, P = 0.006). Of all included patients, 23% had died at the end of follow-up (standardized mortality rate 10.4). Conclusions: Since repetition of serious violent crimes was unusual, results indicate a positive development subsequent to treatment for those alive at follow-up. Clinical implications: The high mortality rate suggests that more attention should be paid in evaluation of the patients' somatic and psychiatric health during and after care in order to prevent premature death.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0803-9488",
doi="10.3109/08039488.2011.644578",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/08039488.2011.644578"
}