NCJ Number
162313
Journal
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry Volume: 18 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1995) Pages: 221-230
Date Published
1995
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This report presents the psychiatric and criminal characteristics of Japanese offenders put on Preprosecution Psychiatric Justice (PPPJ) at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office during a recent 5-year period (1987-91), so as to determine the characteristics of crimes committed by mentally disordered persons.
Abstract
Generally, the offenders sent to PPPJ are those cases in which a public prosecutor finds it difficult to determine whether the offender has some mental disorder. A total of 1,245,352 criminal cases were recorded within the territory of Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office during the study period. Of these, 1,361 cases were sent to the division of psychiatric diagnosis to be put on PPPJ. The subjects considered in this report were these 1,361 criminal offenders. Of these cases, 1,243 were male and 118 were female; their average age was 38.3 years. Compared to offenses committed by all arrested persons, the subjects in this study were characterized by high rates of felonies, such as homicide and arson, and a low rate of larceny, although the latter crime is most often committed by offenders in general. The average number of previous criminal offenses that subjects had committed before the current one was 6.3, and 82.3 percent of the subjects had committed some criminal offense before the current one. Only 8.9 percent of the subjects with schizophrenic psychoses were prosecuted; whereas, 78.7 percent of the subjects with nonpsychotic disorders were prosecuted. 5 tables and 2 references