[Retrospective study of mental patients who have committed criminal acts]

The study presented here aims to gather descriptive information which would be useful to the development of research hypotheses, policies, and treatment programmes for persons suffering from mental illness who commit crimes. The project tracked a cohort of 225 persons for the seven to nine years after they had been judged unfit to stand trail or not guilty by reason of insanity. A comparison is made here between the cases treated in a maximum security hospital and those treated in other hospitals. The population studied is characterised principally by its misery. The majority are individuals who have been diagnosed as psychotic, who have few, if any, personal or social resources and who live on the edge of society. Thirty-six percent of these cases were treated in a security hospital. Of all the variables studied, only a few distinguished these cases: the place and type of crime of which they were initially accused, the length of out-patient treatment, the type of residence once released from hospital, and the occupation. Questions are raised with respect to appropriate treatments for such persons.