Major mental disorder and crime: An overview

Abstract

There is now compelling evidence of high rates of criminality and violence among both men and women who suffer from major mental disorders. This evidence comes from prospective follow-up studies of unselected birth cohorts, from follow-up studies of psychiatric patients discharged to the community, and from studies of mental disorders among convicted offenders. These investigations have been conducted in several different countries since policies of deinstitutionalizing the mentally disordered have been implemented. Different explanations of the criminality of subjects with major mental disorders are discussed and evaluated. It is proposed that there are two types of offenders with major mental disorders: the early starter displays a stable pattern of antisocial behaviour from a young age; the late starter begins offending only at about the time the symptoms of the major disorder become apparent. It is hypothesized that the major disorder is not related to the criminality of the early starters, while the symptoms of the disorder may be directly related to the illegal behaviours of the late starters.