NCJ Number
99946
Journal
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry Volume: 6 Issue: 3/4 Dated: (1983) Pages: 399-411
Date Published
1983
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This article provides demographic, medical, offense, trial, and treatment data on 225 persons (196 men and 29 women) found incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity in Quebec, Canada, from January 1, 1973, thorugh December 31, 1975, and examines their criminal recidivism 7 to 9 years after the initial judgments.
Abstract
The cohort generally consisted of individuals with few personal and material resources who suffered from debilitating psychological disorders. All but 10 had been hospitalized. Of the total group, 44.4 percent (86) of the men and 51.9 percent (15) of the women were accused of violent crimes. Except for 81 men confined in a maximum-security psychiatric hospital, all subjects were treated in psychiatric hospitals or the psychiatric ward of a general hospital. Approximately 56 percent (126) of the subjects spent less than a year in the hospital and another 18.2 percent (41) spent between 1 and 2 years. Followup research shows that 30.6 percent (60) of the men and 10.4 percent (3) of the women were convicted of crimes in the 7 to 9 years following the initial judgment. Young men with a prior history of nonviolent criminal activity were most likely to recidivate by committing nonviolent crimes. There was a relationship between diagnosis at discharge and recidivism, with 26.3 percent diagnosed psychotic, 25 percent of the neurotic, and 43.5 percent of the mentally deficient recidivating. Tables and over 20 references.