A comparison of criminal recidivism among schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic offenders

Abstract

The public’s perception of the criminally insane is that they are unpredictable and highly dangerous (Steadman, & Cocozza, 1978). There is also scientific controversy about the role of mental illness in the commission of criminal, especially violent, offenses. Reviewing the evidence available at that time, Monahan and Steadman (1983) concluded that the role of mental illness was unimportant and argued that the factors relevant to the prediction of criminal and violent behavior among the mentally disordered were the same as those in nonmentally disordered populations (e.g., age, gender, and previous crimes). However, others conclude that criminal and violent behavior among psychiatric patients (especially schizophrenics) is a function of their pathology (Craig, 1982; Taylor, 1985). Monahan (1992) now states that on the basis of recent evidence, he has changed his mind and that “Mental disorder may be a robust and significant risk factor for the occurrence of violence.” (p. 519) Among psychiatric patients, the relationships among diagnosis, crime, and violence are unclear. In many studies of the recidivism of mentally disordered offenders, a diagnosis of personality disorder has been found to be related to higher recidivism rates (Quinsey, Pruesse, & Fernley, 1975; Quinsey, Warneford, Pruesse, & Link, 1975). This finding is far from universal, however, as others have concluded that psychotic patients (Bieber, Pasewark, Bosten, & Steadman, 1988), especially paranoid schizophrenics (Krakowski, Volavka, & Brizer, 1986) are more dangerous upon release. Among inpatients, there is consistent evidence that schizophrenia is related to institutional violence (Rice, Harris, Varney, & Quinsey, 1989). One problem with the literature on the role of diagnosis in the prediction of criminal behavior is that diagnosis is confounded with past criminal behavior (Gunn, 1977), and past criminal behavior has proven to be the best single predictor of future criminal behavior. Specifically, the diagnosis of antisocial disorder depends, in large part, upon a prior history of delinquent and antiso-