The Effect of Community Treatment Orders on Offending Rates

Community Treatment Orders (CTO), or involuntary outpatient treatment, refer to mandated community treatment. They are for those who suffer from serious mental disorder, who do not voluntarily take prescribed medications or for whom compliance is problematical and as a result are unable to maintain their own health and safety, or the protection of others. Under this mandate, CTO recipients should demonstrate a decrease in dangerousness including criminal offending. Research in this field is particularly pertinent as recent evidence indicates an association between serious mental disorder and offending, particularly violent offending. The aim of this research is to determine whether CTOs assist in reducing the incidence of offending and violent offending. In order to test the efficacy of the CTO, criminal records of all CTO recipients in South Australia in the interval January, 1995 to September, 1998 were compared one year prior to a CTO, one year during CTO and one year post-CTO. Although the majority of CTO recipients do not offend, results demonstrated a significant reduction in the rate of offending and violent offending between the periods pre-CTO and during CTO; and pre-CTO and post-CTO. This suggests that a CTO has significant benefits for the period of its implementation and for the following year. In conclusion, this research endorses the view that judicious use of the CTO may significantly reduce the rate of offending and violent offending in those with serious mental disorder, by enforcing adherence to prescribed treatment. This outcome is beneficial to both client and victim.