Violence ratings of special hospital patients

Abstract

Abstract The male population of a high security hospital is described in terms of the profile of patients' pre-admission violence (index offence and previous convictions), using a rating scale described by Robertson et al. (1987). The ratings show that Broadmoor Hospital patients exhibit a high level of violence both in terms of previous convictions and related to their index offence. Only one patient was admitted after a non-violent index offence. At Broadmoor 55 per cent of the population had previous convictions of violence before the index offence; 17 per cent had a previous history of unprosecuted violence before the present admission; 19 per cent were admitted to the hospital following a single severely violent index offence which resulted in the death or serious injury of the victim; 72 per cent of this last group have the clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia. In this study, the rating scale was noted as a useful screening instrument that can describe the violence profile of Special Hospital patients. It can help delineate different groups of violent mentally abnormal offenders for the investigation of the biological correlates of violent behaviour.