Prevalence of criminal thinking among state prison inmates with serious mental illness.

Abstract

To examine the prevalence of criminal thinking in mentally disordered offenders, incarcerated male (n = 265) and female (n = 149) offenders completed measures of psychiatric functioning and criminal thinking. Results indicated 92% of the participants were diagnosed with a serious mental illness, and mentally disordered offenders produced criminal thinking scores on the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) and Criminal Sentiments Scale-Modified (CSS-M) similar to that of non-mentally ill offenders. Collectively, results indicated the clinical presentation of mentally disordered offenders is similar to that of psychiatric patients and criminals. Implications are discussed with specific focus on the need for mental health professionals to treat co-occurring issues of mental illness and criminality in correctional mental health treatment programs.

Envisioning the next generation of behavioral health and criminal justice interventions

“…Two studies are noteworthy. Based on a sample of 416 inmates with SMI, Morgan and colleagues (2010) found that inmates demonstrated similar patterns of criminal thinking and antisocial attitudes, regardless of the presence of SMI. More specifically, inmates with SMI, like their counterparts without SMI, endorsed styles of thinking that supported a criminal lifestyle – i.e., they were “normal” in their criminal thinking compared to offenders without SMI.…”

“…One objective of this framework was to move our collective thinking away from the uncomplicated notion that mental illness is the sole cause of criminal behavior and towards a more open view that people with SMI share criminal risk factors with justice-involved people without SMI (Morgan, Fisher, Duan, Mandracchia, & Murray, 2010; Wolff et al, in press). Our model turns attention to the relative predictive effects across a set of “intervenable” risk factors.…”

Non-pharmacological interventions for reducing aggression and violence in serious mental illness: A systematic review and narrative synthesis

“…Such interventions are delivered in both healthcare and criminal justice settings on the assumption that MDOs share dynamic risk factors and procriminal thinking styles with the mentally healthy offender population [13] for whom a broader literature for violence rehabilitation exists.…”

A multi-site randomized controlled trial of a cognitive skills programme for male mentally disordered offenders: social–cognitive outcomes

“…Additionally, a recent meta-analysis reported a 14 % reduction in recidivism amongst R&R programme completers (Tong & Farrington, 2006). Like offenders without mental illness, MDOs demonstrate pro-criminal thinking styles (Morgan et al 2010) and social problem-solving deficits (McMurran et al 1999). Furthermore, many MDOs display a pattern of antisocial behaviour that onsets in childhood and remains relatively stable across the lifespan (Hodgins, 2008) ; their criminal histories are similar to offenders with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD ; Hodgins & Cote, 1993).…”