The mentally handicapped criminal offender. A 10-year study of two hospitals

With mentally handicapped people now being moved into the community, information on mentally handicapped criminal offenders is valuable. A group of such offenders was examined by reviewing the case-notes of 92 patients referred on hospital order to two mental-handicap hospitals over 10 years. Compared with the general criminal population, these offenders' ages were higher, the ratio of male to female offenders was similar, and the proportion of married people was lower. The offences committed were for the most part serious, with a greater number of offences against property and public order in the subgroup whose intelligence were in the mentally handicapped range. Their tested intelligence fell almost entirely into the normal and mild mental-handicap range, suggesting that factors other than intelligence testing, such as social skills, were considered in their admission to the hospitals.