A comparison of risk factors for habitual violence in pre-trial subjects

Pre-trial referrals to the Valkenberg Hospital forensic unit over a 6-month period were studied. Habitually violent offenders were compared with those with no history of violence.

Risk factors known to be associated with violent behaviour were elicited, i.e. demographics, behaviour during index offence (such as impulsivity, identity of victim, use of weapon, accomplices, intoxication, psychotic symptoms), psychiatric and family histories, history of suicide attempts, past child abuse, head injury, criminal record, psychiatric diagnosis and presence of medical disorders. EEG's, Barratt's Impulsivity, Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking and Mini-Mental Scales were administered. Behaviour in the ward during the 30 days was also appraised. Logistic regression models were used to determine relative risks.

There were 155 subjects; 89.7% were male, 71.6% were single and 58.7% were unemployed. For 44.5% the index offence was violent, and 9.7% had committed sexual offences; 61.9% had histories of habitual violence. A psychotic disorder was diagnosed in 32.3% and a personality disorder in 48.4%. Habitually violent subjects were distin- guished by a history of issuing threats (OR=3.68; CI=3.19-4.16; P=0.000), delusions of persecution (OR=3.43; CI=2.67-4.17; P=0.001), history of conduct disorder (OR=1.95; CI=1.70-2.19; P=0.006), alcohol/substance abuse (OR=2.08; CI=1.53-2.61; P=0.008) and violent index offence (OR=1.66; CI=1.54-2.61; P=0.035).

This seems to confirm the relationship between threats, feeling threatened, psychosis, a history of antisocial behaviour and alcohol abuse.