The Schizophrene and Criminal Behavior

Abstract

T NHIS PAPER proposes to report on one phase of a study' which has investigated the schizophrene as a social type. The problems of immediate concern are: (I) Do persons who have a schizophrenic breakdown show delinquent behavior patterns in their adolescent years? (2) Do such persons exhibit criminal behavior in their adult years? (3) Do schizophrenes who grow up in delinquency areas display delinquent or criminal behavior patterns? These problems concerning the relationship between crime and schizophrenia have not been touched by many investigators. The problem, rather, which has received most attention, is that of the significance of mental disorder as a causative factor in crime. However, the evidence on this point is contradictory in character and consequently has not succeeded in clarifying the relationship of crime and mental disorder. This lack of clarity is partly due to the fact that the inclusive label of mental disorder covers a multitude of clinical symptoms and different forms of behavior. No studies have been confined exclusively to the part which schizophrenia might play as a factor in crime causation. The most significant studies have been quantitative. Such studies range all the way from reporting fifty-nine percent of a sample of criminals as emotionally and mentally defective, to reporting only five percent so affected. Even when one examines the actual psychoses, the percentages range from 24.0 to I.5 percent. In addition to these quantitative studies, this problem has been investi-