Forensic Psychiatric-Psychological Examinations of Defendants Charged With Sexual Offences Against Children and Adolescents in Lithuania (1994-2010)

Abstract

The authors analyse sociopsychological characteristics, indicators of mental disorders and their impact on criminal sexual activities of defendants examined by Lithuanian National Forensic Psychiatric Service in 17 years. Irresponsibility was established only in 7% (of the total sample N =787), most of the cases diagnozed as schizophrenic. Much effort was given to the construction of a sociodemographical portrait of the examinees. It appeared to be a 20-30 year-old male with lower than secondary education, unmarried, unemployed, without former convictions, previous-ly at least once treated or examined at psychiatric facility due to mental retardation or personality and behavior disorder, confirmed by the forensic examination. Thorough investigation into motivation of the imputed offence revealed quite a few cases when sexual violence had a direct connection with satisfaction of defendant’s sexual needs (only 14% of those pleading themselves guilty). Comparison of personality traits, emotional peculiarities and sociodemographic characteristics of defendants with the diagnosis of paedophilia and other perpetrators of criminal activities of the same kind disclosed no substancial differences, except that paedophiles were more notable for independence and autonomy. Article in Lithuanian doi:10.5200/sm-hs.2012.020