Common Offence Research Articles

Police-issued barring notices in Western Australia: An analysis of the type, seriousness and trajectory of associated offences.

Police-issued barring notices are currently used in Western Australia in response to alcohol-related disorderly and anti-social behaviour. This paper examines the type, severity and trajectory of the offending behaviours associated with served barring notices. WA Police Force de-identified the data for 3815 individuals who had received one or more police-imposed barring notice/s between 2011 and 2020. The offence category associated with each barring notice was examined to explore the overall breakdown and whether/how offending categories change for recipients of subsequent barring notices. For single and multiple barring notice recipients, the most common offence categories were fighting/physical violence and public order offences. Within a subset of the data, non-anti-social offences also spiked. Aggressive behaviours predominate for recipients in metropolitan areas, compared with public order offences in regional locations. For recipients of multiple barring notices, behaviours do not become more serious but neither do they moderate to any notable extent. The low number of repeat barring notices (5%) may suggest an overall beneficial effect on recipient behaviours but more analysis is needed to examine the potential confounding effects of factors, such as fly-in/fly-out workers, policing and locational differences.

The History of Violence in Scotland Reconsidered: The Culture, Filtering and Treatment of Assault in Police Courts, c. 1829–1900

While recent scholarly attention has focused on serious, indicatable violent crime in Scotland, this article considers the more common offence of lower-level assault that was dealt with summarily in police magistrate courts in the nineteenth century. It explores the role that police courts played in conceptualising, categorising and processing such violence, the role assault played in Scottish urban communities and the culture that surrounded it. The article also examines how magistrates dealt with assault and what this might suggest about the impact of the police and the courts on violent behavioural patterns. It argues that interpersonal violence had a more important, complex and nuanced role to play in Scottish urban communities than conclusions based on criminal indictments suggest. Assault was a disturbingly accepted facet of conflict resolution, a means of exerting authority and patriarchy in communities and households and an ever-present threat with which a sizeable percentage of the urban masses had to live. The article stresses that the boundaries between lower-level assault that was dealt with summarily and more serious (or ‘aggravated’) assault that was tried in a higher court on indictment were determined not just by the nature of violence wielded or the injury sustained, but by a raft of social, cultural and practical factors. Indeed, the rise of summary justice in the form of police courts helped to lower indictment rates for serious assault, as magistrates often dealt summarily with assaults that warranted a more serious charge. This is a point that historians need to bear in mind when considering what indictment rates for serious assault reveal about violence in Scotland more broadly.

Offence trajectories of young Australian novice drivers

This paper aims to add to the sparse research on patterns of traffic offending in young novice drivers by examining the trajectories of young Australian novices throughout the graduated driving licensing system (GDLS). Data on licensing, crashes and traffic offences for all persons aged under 25 years first licensed from July 2007 to June 2008 in New South Wales were supplied by transport authorities, with follow-up to January 2014. Eight hierarchical categories of offence were defined by seriousness. Total numbers of offences per month were plotted for one year after initial licensure while under supervision (L), after transitions to the first (P1) and second (P2) provisional licence phases and to unrestricted licensure (U). After excluding novices not transiting to P1, 75,470 novices (51.5 % male, 77.7 % 16 years old at L) remained. Of these 63,070 had a year of follow-up after P2 (52.5 % male, 82.3 % 16 years old at L) and 28,861 had a year of follow-up after U (55.5 % males, 91.7 % 16 years old at L), Offences were uncommon under at L but spiked after P1 and again after P2. Omitting GDLS offences there was a small increase after U. Patterns were broadly similar by age at L and time in L. Novices aged at least 18 years at L had the highest offence rates in the learner phase; those aged 17 years at L had the highest rates in P1 and P2. The longer novices spent in the supervised driving phase the lower their subsequent offence rates even allowing for age at P1. Urban or regional residence had little influence on offence rates but lower aggregate socio-economic status as measured by a census-derived index was associated with appreciably higher offence rates. Speeding was the most common offence type; dangerous/negligent driving was common immediately after P1, declining thereafter. These results are in broad agreement with previous research in noting the increase in offending as GDLS restrictions eased. They highlight the need for better understanding of the function of a GDLS in improving the safety of young drivers. They may also inform future enforcement and education policies for novice drivers. For example, rehabilitative interventions should occur coupled with enforcement soon after citation. Visible display of GDLS status would assist their identification.

Linkage of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) to Avon & Somerset Police regional police records.

This data note describes a new resource for crime-related research: the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) linked to regional police records. The police data were provided by Avon & Somerset Police (A&SP), whose area of responsibility contains the ALSPAC recruitment area. In total, ALSPAC had permission to link to crime records for 12,662 of the 'study children' (now adults, who were born in the early 1990s). The linkage took place in two stages: Stage 1 involved the ALSPAC Data Linkage Team establishing the linkage using personal identifiers common to both the ALSPAC participant database and A&SP records using deterministic and probabilistic methods. Stage 2 involved A&SP extracting attribute data on the matched individuals, removing personal identifiers and securely sharing the de-identified records with ALSPAC. The police data extraction took place in July 2021, when the participants were in their late 20s/early 30s. This data note contains details on the resulting linked police records available. In brief, electronic police records were available from 2007 onwards. In total, 1757 participants (14%) linked to at least one police record for a charge, offence 'taken into consideration', caution, or another out of court disposal. Linked participants had a total of 6413 records relating to 6283 offences. Almost three quarters of the linked participants were male. The most common offence types were violence against the person (22% of records), drug offences (19%), theft (17%) and public order offences (11%). This data note also details important issues that researchers using the local police data should be aware of, including the importance of defining an appropriate denominator, completeness, and biases affecting police records.

A 2-Year Audit Report of the Socio-Demographics and Clinical Profile of ‘One-Way’ Traffic Offenders Referred to the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Benin

Background: Wrong-way driving, sometimes referred to as ‘one-way’ driving, is a common offence, however, the role mental illness plays is unknown. This study aims to determine the socio-demographic and clinical profile, in addition to the prevalence of mental disorders, among arrested wrong-way traffic offenders in the Benin metropolis. Methods: Socio-demographic and clinical correlate data was obtained from the records of 18 one-way traffic offenders who were referred to the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria for evaluation within the last 24 months. Results: All offenders were males, with an age range of 23-63 years. None of the traffic offenders had a past psychiatric disorder, neither was there any significant finding in their mental state examination. Only three of the offenders tested positive for cannabinoids in a urine toxicology screen. Conclusion: Mental illness did not contribute remarkably to traffic offending in the sample of offenders sent for psychiatric evaluation. Rather than refer, appropriate punishment should be meted out on offenders to serve as deterrence.

Is arrest for prohibited drug use a prelude to more serious offending?

Although they constitute a significant fraction of the workload of most courts, very little research has been conducted on the criminal careers of those who commit minor offences. Such research is important for both theoretical and practical reasons. It is of theoretical importance because the criminal careers of those who commit minor offences may differ significantly from those who commit serious offences. It is of practical importance because the assumed rate of re-offending among minor offenders has a bearing on both the sentence imposed and the question of whether some offences should be decriminalised. Use or possession of a prohibited drug is a common minor offence – and one that many have argued should be decriminalised. Little is known, however, about the criminal careers of those convicted of this offence. We do not know what proportion are rearrested, what further offences (if any) they commit, or what factors affect the rate of offending among those who do have further contact with the criminal justice system. To answer these questions, we examined a cohort of 13,953 people whose first proven offence was for the use or possession of a prohibited drug and examined their criminal careers over an average period of 4.4 years (sd. = 3.4 years, range = 20.8 years). The majority (73%) had no further contact with the NSW criminal justice system. The most common offence among those who did re-offend was another drug possession offence. Significantly higher risks of re-offending were found among those living in areas in the lowest quartile of disadvantage and among those found in possession of cannabis. The implications of these findings are discussed.

From Unwritten to Written: Transformation of Jieeng Customary Law into Qanun Wanh-alel

This paper is a case-study on Qanun Wanh-alel ‒ a customary law of the Western Jieeng enacted in 1975 to regulate offences that occur commonly in their jurisdictions. These include homicide, which has become the most common offence in recent times, elopement and premarital impregnation. The overarching aim in enacting Qanun Wanh-alel was to have a codified Jieeng customary law, although it has not been applied uniformly. This is especially clear in the case of blood compensation for homicide which varies across these communities.

Распространённость мелкого взяточничества как принцип установления уголовно-правового запрета за его совершение

Numerous changes in the criminal law associated with the emergence of new norms providing for responsibility for criminal liability inevitably raise the question of the validity of criminalization. Its positive solution is possible only if the new criminal law prohibition is established in accordance with the principles of criminalization, one of which is the relative prevalence of the act. The article is devoted to the assessment of the prevalence of petty bribery in order to determine the correctness of the legislative decision to establish independent criminal liability for this crime (Article 2912 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The main method of research is a statistical method that allows us to establish the prevalence of bribery in the amount not exceeding 10 thousand rubles at the time of the adoption of this legislative decision, and also during the period of validity of article 2912 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the share of the analyzed crime in the structure of bribery and corruption offences. In addition, the author analyzed 120 sentences of courts for petty bribery. As a result of the research, the author concludes that petty bribery is a fairly common offence in the structure of both bribery and corruption crimes, which indicates its public danger and the validity for the criminal prohibition of its commission. It was established that the establishment of a separate norm on liability for petty bribery allowed law enforcement agencies focusing the efforts to counteract bribery in the amount of more than 10 thousand rubles.

Profile of juvenile offenders brought to a teaching hospital in Northeast India

Introduction: According to the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, a juvenile is a person whose age is below 18 years. The aim of this study is to study the profile of juvenile offenders brought to a teaching hospital in northeast India. Materials and Methods: Alleged juvenile offenders who were brought for examination during 2012 to 2016 in our centre were studied. A detailed background of the alleged juvenile offender, crimes committed by them, history given by the police, the statements of the alleged juvenile offenders and examination findings were taken into consideration. Results: In the present study, of all the medico legal cases (1,139) brought to our centre for examination during 2012 to 2016, 78 (6.84%) were alleged juvenile offenders. The examination of these alleged juvenile offenders revealed that 86.9% of them were between > 15 years to 18 years of age; however, the remaining offenders were above 18 years of age. Meiteis constituted 68.4% of these cases and the maximum number of offenders (62.8%) studied up to class VI to Class X. Most of the juvenile offenders were students (61.5%) followed by unemployed youths (24.4%). Interestingly, 5.1% of the juveniles were already married. Among all the crimes committed by the juveniles, 67.9% were alleged rape, 15.4% were involved in terrorist activities, 8.9% in theft and dacoity, 3.9 % in alleged rape and murder and 1.9% each in attempt to murder, murder and kidnapping. Conclusion: The rate of juvenile offenders with less and interrupted education was considerably high with alleged rape seen as the most common offence committed by juveniles. Good rehabilitation and correctional approach can help in curving juvenile offences and crimes. Keywords: Medicolegal cases, Juvenile, Offenders, Crime, Rape.

State patients who committed violent crimes and were admitted to Weskoppies Hospital from 2005 to 2014: Profiles and trends

Background: Most of the available literature focus on characteristics of violent offenders and trends of crime patterns in the general population. The crime trends in the population of those who may be mentally ill have not been well described.Aim: To describe the profiles and trends of mentally ill persons who committed violent crimes prior to admission as state patients.Setting: The study was conducted at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital.Method: A retrospective record review of state patients admitted between 2005 and 2014 was conducted to describe demographic, clinical, forensic and victim profiles of state patients admitted from 2005 to 2014. Trends over time were also assessed.Results: Hundred and seventy state patient files were reviewed. The majority were males (91.43%), with a history of substance use (55.0%) %), previous psychiatric treatment (46.4%), and diagnosed with a psychotic disorder (82.1%). The 10 year trend showed that murder was the leading charge during 2006 and 2007. It was surpassed by sexual assault crimes as the most common charge after 2007, except for 2009 when murder was again the most common. From 2010 onward, sexual assault remained the most common offence leading to admission as a state patient.Conclusion: This study found changes over time in crime patterns of state patients who committed murder and sexual assault. State patients may have different criminal patterns than the general public. This together with the high rates of substance use and previous psychiatric treatment can be important focus areas for future research.

State patients who committed violent crimes and were admitted to Weskoppies Hospital from 2005 to 2014: Profiles and trends.

BackgroundMost of the available literature focus on characteristics of violent offenders and trends of crime patterns in the general population. The crime trends in the population of those who may be mentally ill have not been well described.AimTo describe the profiles and trends of mentally ill persons who committed violent crimes prior to admission as state patients.SettingThe study was conducted at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital.MethodA retrospective record review of state patients admitted between 2005 and 2014 was conducted to describe demographic, clinical, forensic and victim profiles of state patients admitted from 2005 to 2014. Trends over time were also assessed.ResultsHundred and seventy state patient files were reviewed. The majority were males (91.43%), with a history of substance use (55.0%) %), previous psychiatric treatment (46.4%), and diagnosed with a psychotic disorder (82.1%). The 10 year trend showed that murder was the leading charge during 2006 and 2007. It was surpassed by sexual assault crimes as the most common charge after 2007, except for 2009 when murder was again the most common. From 2010 onward, sexual assault remained the most common offence leading to admission as a state patient.ConclusionThis study found changes over time in crime patterns of state patients who committed murder and sexual assault. State patients may have different criminal patterns than the general public. This together with the high rates of substance use and previous psychiatric treatment can be important focus areas for future research.

How may alternative drug policy settings influence criminal charges? A longitudinal study of cannabis patients and a general population sample

BackgroundThis study examines criminal charges amongst cannabis use disorder (CUD) patients and a matched sample in a setting of drug criminalization, and simulates the effect of policy changes on the proportion obtaining a criminal record and on the number of charges for those being charged. MethodsAll CUD patients entering specialist treatment in Norway in 2009–2010 (n=3,951) were included from the Norwegian Patient Registry and a random sample matched on age and gender drawn from the general population by Statistics Norway (n=7,902). Data were linked to the Norwegian Crime Registry (2009–2014).The nature and extent of all charges were examined. A static simulation exercise assessed the hypothetical effect on charges if a) all charges for use and possession of illicit drugs were eliminated (“decriminalization”) and b) in addition, all charges for cultivation, manufacturing, and sales were eliminated (“legalization”). ResultsTwo thirds (66%) of patients and 12% of matched sample were charged during the observation period. While the most common offence for patients was drug law violations (52%), relatively few (14%) had no other charges. Road traffic violations was the most common offence for the matched sample and 1.2% were charged with drug offences only. The mean number of charges were 9 for the patients and 3 for the matched sample.Simulations suggest that decriminalization may decrease the proportion being charged by 8% for patients and 4% for the matched sample under “decriminalization”, compared to 24% and 11%, respectively if all drugs were legalized. The number of charges for patients and non-patients would drop by 23% and 13% respectively, while legalization may decrease the number of charges by 46% and 25%, respectively. ConclusionThe simulations suggest that the impacts of decriminalisation and legalisation on the proportion being charged are relatively modest, while the policy changes are likely to lead to substantial reductions in the number of charges for both the patient and non-patient groups.

Psychiatric assessment of child victims of sexual abuse by Ham A and D Scale: A Descriptive Study

In today’s world man finds himself exposed to the temptations of (This entire sentence is not objective, scientific terminology) (These crimes are not limited to TODAY’s world, the perpetrator is not always a man, and evil is not a scientific subject to be included in a scholarly paper, it is subjective to individual beliefs and laws). A movement should have been augmented to fight against these (do not use dramatic subjective terms) societal crimes, which forms a sort of mental purge for those so inclined to take advantage of their positions of trust. Child abuse has historically been a common offence against children without sufficient social and legal sanctions throughout the world. To deal with child sexual abuse cases while treating the victims, it’s necessary to assess the patient’s psychiatric health. The victims were examined after obtaining informed consent from the child or from their guardian. Results The patient’s psychiatric health was determined by the Hamilton Scale for depression and anxiety. The total number of cases was 52. Of the 52 cases 33 patients (i.e. 63.5 % of the cases) consented to undergo medical examination. 19 victims (36.5%) did not give their consent for their medical examination. The mean Hamilton A score for anxiety was 19.39 and mean Hamilton D score for depression was 28.81. Conclusions When the accused is known to the victim most cases are associated with severe or very severe degree of depression; and moderate or severe anxiety. After completing a detail study of the violations of minor girls it is concluded that it would be beneficial for the global society to take initiatives to minimize the incidence of such acts.

The Impact of Counseling on the Improvement of Nutritional Knowledge and Physical Activities on Women Prisoners (A Study at Women Penitentiary Institution Class II A Semarang)

One of the factors that cause health problems is the lack of information about nutrition and physical activity. The study aims to determine the effect of counseling on changes in nutritional knowledge and physical activity on women prisoners in the Women Penitentiary Institution Class II A Semarang. This study used quasi-experimental with one group pre-test and post-test design. Intervention in the form of one-time counseling. Pre test and post test are done in one day. The sampling technique was using simple random sampling. The subjects were 50 women prisoners from common criminal offence cases. Data was analyzed by using Wilcoxson Signed Ranks Test. The results showed that most of the subjects had high school education level (80%). The mean of age, body weight, body height and body fat percentage were 34.5 ± 8.4 years old, 61.3 ± 9.0 kg, 154.4 ± 4.5 cm and 33.7 ± 47%. Body Mass Index of 44% subjects were type I obesity. Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) of 94% subjects were normal. The median of knowledge score before counseling were 19 (15–21) and knowledge score after counseling were 20 (15–25). There was an average difference of knowledge of the subjects before and after intervention (p = 0.003). There was a correlation between education and knowledge of the subjects (p = 0.017). It is recommended for the penitentiary administrators to give education about nutrition and physical activity for the prisoners to increase their knowledge.

Factors influencing the outcome of the Medical-Psychological Assessment of speed-affine drivers in Germany

In Germany, offenders with severe or repeated violations of traffic rules are required to pass a Medical-Psychological Assessment (MPA) to regain their driving licence. The most common offence is speeding. The present research analysed 104 MPA files from speeding offenders in order to determine whether delinquency-related variables or characteristics of the driver's behaviour change process predicts the MPA outcome (positive or negative relapse risk). The results show that characteristics of the offences themselves (e.g. the number of speed violations) do not serve as valid predictors. However, whether the offenders had voluntarily participated in a driver improvement program prior to the MPA did predict the MPA outcome. Moreover, the most suitable predictors were problem awareness and self-criticism demonstrated in the psychological assessment. Furthermore, the results underpin the suitability and utility of the MPA as a measure to evaluate relapse risks. Keywords: speeding; repeat offender; Medical-Psychological Assessment, MPA; relapse risk

From victim to perpetrator to survivor: The psycho-social context of South African women offenders

BackgroundThere is a paucity of research on women offenders in the South African context, particularly those referred for forensic psychiatric observation. Little is known about their life histories, the nature of their offences or the psycho-social contexts that enable, or are antecedents to, women’s criminal offending.AimThis research study, the largest of its kind in South Africa, examined the psycho-social contexts within which women offenders referred for psychiatric evaluation come to commit offences. The profiles of both offenders and victims, as well as reasons for referral and forensic mental health outcomes, were investigated.MethodsA retrospective record review of 573 cases, spanning a 12-year review period, from 6 different forensic psychiatric units in South Africa, was conducted.ResultsThe findings describe a population of women offenders who come from backgrounds of socio-demographic and socio-economic adversity, with relatively high pre-offence incidences of being victims of abuse themselves, with significant levels of mental illness and alcohol abuse permeating life histories. The majority of index offences which led to court-ordered forensic evaluations were for violent offences against the person, with murder being the single most common index offence in the sample. Most victims of violence were known to the accused. There were also relatively high rates of psychotic and mood-spectrum disorders present, with relatively low rates of personality disorders. The majority of women were deemed to be trial competent and criminally responsible in relation to their index offences.ConclusionIt is recommended that more standardised and gender-sensitive forensic mental health assessment approaches, documentation and reporting be employed throughout the country. Future research should compare male and female offending patterns and forensic mental health profiles.

Prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among prisoners attending OPD of Central Jail Hospital, Kathmandu

Introduction: Prisoners are one of the most vulnerable groups for having high prevalence of mental illness. There is a dearth of major studies conducted amongst prisoners in Nepal. The basic objective of this study is to study prevalence and nature of psychiatric morbidity in prisoners attending general OPD of Central jail Hospital, Kathmandu.
 Material and Method: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study carried out in prisoners attending OPD of central jail for a period of six months. Initial screening was done with self- reporting questionnaire (SRQ) and those having distress on SRQ were interviewed and diagnosis was made based on ICD-10 DCR and data analysis was done using SPSS version 16.
 Results: A total of 121 prisoners out of 300 prisoners attending OPD of central jail hospital during a period of six months had been diagnosed to suffer from psychiatric morbidity. Majority of cases were within age group 26-30 years (20.7%) with male preponderance (76.9%), married (69.4%), educated up to higher secondary level (38%), doing occupation as labor work (24%), Hindus (62.8%) with janajatis (32.2%), having low socioeconomic status (51.2%), belonging to joint family (50.4%) and were from rural areas (45.4%). Murder was the most common offence committed (33.9%) followed by drug trafficking (28.1%). Most common primary diagnosis belong to Neurotic, stress related and somatoform disorder (57%) followed by mood disorder (32.2%). Most common psychiatric morbidity among prisoners was generalized anxiety disorder (36.4%) followed by Moderate depressive episode (23.1%) and somatoform disorder (9.1%). The overall prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in prisoners attending OPD of central jail hospital was found to be 40.33%.
 Conclusion: A substantial burden of psychiatric morbidity exists in prison population of Nepal. Prompt recognition and treatment of mental illness in prison lead to decrease in functional disability and better quality of life.

Developing a Crime Harm Index for Western Australia: the WACHI

Research QuestionCan a reliable measure of precise harm levels for the 100 most harmful and frequently occurring offences be developed in Western Australia (WA) based on analysis of actual court penalties for first-time offenders?DataCriminal and traffic court sentences in 2.2 million records over 6.5 years were analysed to extract the number of days of imprisonment actually imposed in sentencing decisions for approximately 52,000 first-time offenders (see House 2017).MethodsSentences for all first offenders in a sample of the 102 most common offence categories were analysed to compute for the median number of days of imprisonment to which each first offender was sentenced in each of the categories. Monetary penalties and conditional community sentences were converted to equivalent ‘prison days’ and added to the computation of the median of days of imprisonment per offence category. The number of reported offences in WA in the study period for each of the 102 categories was then multiplied by the median prison days sentenced per category. The sum of the products of median prison days times offence count was then tallied across all offence categories to form a weighted index of crime harm, which we define as the Western Australian Crime Harm Index (WACHI). Applying a minimum requirement of at least five separate court cases for each crime category, a total of 88 offence categories survived the reliability threshold for inclusion in the index.FindingsThe 88 offence categories in the WACHI contain both high-harm and high-volume offences, permitting 95% of all offences reported for over 5 years to be assessed for WACHI scores. The counts for these offences moved in different directions from the WACHI total in two of the four year-to-year comparisons. Changes in WACHI were shown to have been highly sensitive to increased reporting of historical sex crimes, isolated in one district each of both Metropolitan Perth and one Regional centre.ConclusionsCarefully implemented use of the West Australian CHI could improve both public safety and policing by adding precision to resource allocation decisions, assessments of priorities and evaluations of policing initiatives. The WACHI would be even more reflective of the changing level of harm to victims if all crime trends were to be based on crimes that occurred in the year under analysis, with separate reporting of crimes that happened many years ago. With that key adjustment, police professionals, department of justice officials, citizens and local governments can use a WACHI to make better decisions about how to prioritise policing in a wide range of contexts.

Profile of forensic state patients at a psychiatric unit in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa: demographic, clinical and forensic factors

State patients are mentally ill offenders whose charges involved serious offences. Research on association between psychiatric morbidity and offences is important however data from Southern Africa is limited. To examine the demographic, clinical and forensic characteristics of state patients, and to evaluate the determinants of offending by an investigation of the association between mental illness and other variables (offence, comorbidity). Retrospective record review of state patients admitted to a forensic unit in KwaZulu-Natal from the 1 June 2013 to the 31 May 2016. Most patients were male (n = 90, 98.90%), single (n = 89, 97.8%), unemployed (n = 89, 97.80%) and had a diagnosis of intellectual disability (n = 33, 36.26%). Majority of participants had comorbid diagnoses (n = 70, 76.92%) and most of them (n = 52, 57.14%) had substance use disorder. Forty (43.96%) patients had past forensic history and 18 (72.5%) were non-adherent with treatment. Offences were predominantly against persons (n = 80, 87.91%), and rape was the most common offence (n = 50, 54.95%). Findings regarding diagnosis and offence were not consistent with the literature and suggest the need to explore the differences further. A better understanding of the association between mental health and crime in resource restrained settings may assist in developing appropriate prevention and rehabilitation programmes.

From trauma to incarceration: exploring the trajectory in a qualitative study in male prison inmates from north Queensland, Australia.

BackgroundThere were approximately 34,000 prisoners incarcerated in Australian correctional centres as of 2014. The most common offence type for these prisoners was ‘acts intended to cause injury’, comprising 18 % of the total offences. Of the various risk factors for violent offending and incarceration identified in international research, trauma - either single events or ongoing; and substance abuse - which is commonly associated with violent behaviour across many cultures, are major contributors.MethodThis paper analyses qualitative data from 11 in-depth interviews with inmates from a high security male correctional centre in QLD, Australia. The aim of the study was to explore risk factors for violence and incarceration for men from far north Queensland.ResultsA common trajectory to violent offending and incarceration was identified for these prisoners, including: childhood/adolescent trauma; a lack of support or treatment for trauma experiences; substance abuse to mask the pain; and a ‘brain snap’ precipitating a violent offence.ConclusionFurther research is required into factors leading to violent offending and incarceration generally. In particular early detection and intervention for trauma victims is imperative in order to reduce exposure to such a harmful trajectory from trauma to incarceration.