NCJ Number
190059
Journal
Criminal Behavior and Mental Health Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: 2001 Pages: 55-62
Date Published
2001
Length
8 pages
Annotation
For England and Wales, Section 17 of the Mental Health Act 1983 allows for compulsorily detained patients to have trial leave (TL) between hospitals or from hospital to community to allow a period of testing readiness for a change in residency and/or legal status; the aim of this study was to document the use of TL for the largest subgroup of such patients within two discharge cohorts from one high-security hospital and to test for correlates.
Abstract
Data were collected from the special hospital's case register for two Broadmoor Hospital discharge cohorts, 1984 and 1990-94, of offender patients with hospital orders under Home Office restrictions on discharge (Section 37/41). In 1984, only 2 of the 29 people leaving the special hospital did so under trial leave arrangements, but by 1990-94, 71 percent of restricted hospital order departures were under trial leave, a significant change in practice. Focusing on only the later cohort, women were disproportionately more likely to leave in this way. Trial leave was used more for patients with an index offense of homicide, similarly for violent offenses, but less so for sex offenses. The nature of the disorder did not have any bearing on the use of trial leave. Use of TL did not significantly shorten the length of stay in the special hospital. This study concluded that there was no apparent advantage for the patient in shortening the length of stay in high security; however, there was no way of knowing how long patients would have stayed had the option of TL not been available to them. Furthermore, no advantage for the public was found in the preferential use of TL for discharges to the community. 3 tables and 6 references