Excessive violence and psychotic symptomatology among homicide offenders with schizophrenia

Laajasalo, Taina; Häkkänen, Helinä

doi:10.1002/cbm.635

Cited by 45 publications

(20 citation statements)

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“…Specifically, elevated paranoid symptoms associate with increased likelihood of criminal charges whereas depressive and apathyrelated symptoms associate with decreased likelihood of charges. At the same time, contextrelated and symptom variables did not associate with actual convictions or with violence, contradicting several reports in the literature, but confirming others (Laajasalo and Häkkänen 2006). What could account for this pattern of findings?…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 59%

Schizophrenia and Crime: How Predictable Are Charges, Convictions and Violence?

Heinrichs

Sam²

2010

Int J Ment Health Addiction

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The schizophrenia-crime relationship was studied in 151 research participants meeting DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and with histories positive or negative for criminal charges, convictions and offences involving violence. These crime-related variables were regressed on a block of nine predictors reflecting non-specific illness context (e.g. demographic, social) and a block of 14 predictors reflecting specific illness content (e.g. symptoms). Context variables predicted charges, with unique contributions from employment status, education and substance use. Further significant validity was provided by content-related predictors including symptoms (paranoia, depression, low energy), but not cognitive performance (verbal and non-verbal ability, working memory, processing speed, verbal memory, word fluency, inhibition, practical cognition). In contrast, neither convictions nor violence were predicted by illness context or content variables. These results suggest that specific contextual and intrinsic aspects of schizophrenic illness make interaction with law enforcement and therefore criminal charges more likely.Keywords Schizophrenia . Crime . Prediction . Symptoms Criminality, interpersonal conflict, violence and dangerousness are associated with schizophrenia in the public mind despite the low prevalence of these behaviors in people with the illness and despite evidence that they are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of crime (Ascher-Svanum et al. 2010). Nevertheless, recent reviews, meta-analyses and empirical reports have found small, but statistically significant associations between psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia, and both violent and non-violent criminal offences, arrest rates and police contacts (Douglas et al.The persistence and social salience, if not the magnitude, of the schizophrenia-criminality link may contribute to policy and service decisions adversely affecting marginalized people diagnosed with serious mental illness. This link may reinforce the stigma that impedes their quality of life and limits access to health and social services. Hence understanding the nature of the schizophrenia-criminality interface is important from both scientific and clinical perspectives.One explanation for the association between schizophrenia and crime-related behaviors is that variables embedded in the context of the illness experience, but not intrinsic to the disease process itself, increase the probability of these behaviors. For example, social disadvantage, income and educational inequality are predictors of crime in the general population and may be strongly represented in the schizophrenia population (Kelly 2000;Daly et al. 2001). Thus Brekke et al. (2001 found that although violence against other people was rare, almost half of community-dwelling individuals with schizophrenia had contact with police and almost a quarter were charged with offences. Younger age, frequent address changes and residential instability, as well as poor social functioning pred...

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 59%

Schizophrenia and Crime: How Predictable Are Charges, Convictions and Violence?

Heinrichs

Sam²

2010

Int J Ment Health Addiction

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“…Our study showed that there was a significant increase in the rate and number of male sex among schizophrenic patients with violence compared with those without violence, and male sex was associated with violence in these patients. This was in agreement with other studies [32,52,53]. In another study [40] that included a total of 49 schizophrenic patients who had committed homicide, 43 were men and six were women.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

The relationship of perceived family criticism and other risk factors to violence among patients with schizophrenia

Sehlo

Youssef

Hussein

et al. 2015

Middle East Current Psychiatry

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“…Three published accounts of homicide recidivism that met our definition of an earlier homicide by a homicide offender with schizophrenia were from Finland [7], Sweden [11] and the Chuvash Republic of the Russian Federation [12,29]. A study from Finland that used a sample of homicide offenders that overlapped with an earlier study [7] reported that 10 (8%) of 125 homicide offenders with schizophrenia had committed either a homicide or an attempted homicide [16]. Two German studies of offenders with schizophrenia who had committed a homicide or an attempted homicide reported that 11 (3.9%) of 284 [30] and 4 (13.8%) of 29 offenders had committed an earlier homicide [31].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, we contacted the authors the three studies that had reported homicide offences in schizophrenia defined more broadly by including attempted homicide [16,30,31]. One author was able to report that of none of the 17 offenders who had committed an actual homicide had committed an earlier homicide [31].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic review and meta-analysis of homicide recidivism and Schizophrenia

Голенков

Nielssen

2014

BMC Psychiatry

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BackgroundThe aim of this study was to estimate the proportion of homicide recidivists among population studies of homicide offenders with schizophrenia.MethodsSystematic review and meta-analysis of published studies of homicide associated with schizophrenia conducted in defined populations and indexed in Medline, PsychINFO, or Embase between January 1960 and November 2013. Published data was supplemented with unpublished data about recidivism obtained by personal communication from the authors of published studies of homicide and schizophrenia. Random effects meta-analysis was used to calculate a pooled estimate of the proportion of homicide recidivists.ResultsThree studies reported that 4.3%, 4.5%, and 10.7% of homicide offenders with schizophrenia had committed an earlier homicide. Unpublished data were obtained from the authors of 11 studies of homicide in schizophrenia published in English between 1980 and 2013. The authors of 2 studies reported a single case of homicide recidivism and the authors of 9 studies reported no cases. The rates of homicide recidivism between studies were highly heterogeneous (I-square = 79). The pooled estimate of the proportion of homicide offenders with schizophrenia who had committed an earlier homicide was 2.3% (95% CI (Confidence Interval) 0.07% to 7.2%), a figure that was not reported in any individual study. The pooled proportion of homicide recidivists from published reports was more than ten times greater (8.6%, 95% CI 5.7%-12.9%) than the pooled proportion of homicide recidivists estimated from data provided by personal communication (0.06%, 95% CI 0.02% to 1.8%).ConclusionsIn most jurisdictions, homicide recidivism by people with schizophrenia is less common than published reports have suggested. The reasons for the variation in the rates of homicide recidivism between studies are unclear, although in most jurisdictions long-term secure treatment and supervision after release appears to be effective in preventing homicide recidivism. A prospective study conducted in a large population or in multiple jurisdictions over a long period of time might result in a more accurate estimate the risk of a second homicide by a person with schizophrenia.

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Excessive violence and psychotic symptomatology among homicide offenders with schizophrenia

Cited by 45 publications

References 47 publications

Schizophrenia and Crime: How Predictable Are Charges, Convictions and Violence?

Schizophrenia and Crime: How Predictable Are Charges, Convictions and Violence?

The relationship of perceived family criticism and other risk factors to violence among patients with schizophrenia

Systematic review and meta-analysis of homicide recidivism and Schizophrenia

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