Background: People with intellectual disability (ID) and forensic issues constitute a challenging clinical group that has been understudied in forensic settings.
Methods: We assessed the characteristics of patients with ID under the authority of the Ontario Review Board (ORB) in a large forensic program of a tertiary psychiatric hospital (excluding those with a cognitive disorder) and compared their characteristics with those of a non-ID control group.
Results: Among 510 adult ORB patients, 47 had an ID diagnosis. ID patients were of younger age at index offense, with a lower level of education, and were less likely to have been married or employed, more likely to have committed a sexual offense, more likely to have a diagnosis of paraphilia, less likely to be “not criminally responsible,” and more likely to be “unfit to stand trial.” They were also more likely to have committed their index offenses against care professionals and be treated in a secure unit.
Conclusion: Our findings have major implications for clinicians, clinical leaders, and policymakers about the specific needs of patients with ID presenting with forensic issues and differing needs in terms of treatment and risk management.
A 30-year-old woman with a diagnosis of schizophrenia presents to her family doctor. She was discharged from a psychiatric facility 2 weeks earlier after treatment for relapse of psychosis. She commenced treatment with paliperidone (a second-generation antipsychotic medication) 6 mg/d 6 weeks before discharge from the psychiatric facility, and she has responded well to the treatment. The psychosis is in remission; however, the patient is reluctant to continue with the treatment and requests that the medication be stopped.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.