Relationship between sexual offences and mental and developmental disorders: a review

Abstract

Background: Sexual violence is a serious public health problem that concerns and faces our society. The prevalence, magnitude and consequences of this problem have merited growing attention by health researchers and human rights scholars. Objective: To conduct a review of the literature regarding the relationship between mental disorders, sexual offences and those of development. Methods: A bibliographic research was performed in PubMed, Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and Lilacs, employing the terms "sexual crime", "sexual offence", "mental disorder", "mental retardation", "developmental disability" and its combinations. Results: The mental disorders and developmental disorders more frequently related to the perpetration of sexual offences were schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and mental retardation. Discussion: The detection and treatment of psychiatric morbidity among sexual offenders in health and criminal justice systems, which may contribute to a lower risk of recidivism of this sexual behaviour, is important.

Cessation of dangerousness status: an analysis of 224 reports from the Instituto de Perícias Heitor Carrilho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…Impulsive behavior and anger management issues, as well as a lack of social abilities, were also cited as important factors by Valenc¸a et al 22,33,34 This is in agreement with our findings, particularly in regard to the risk of new violent behavior, and might warrant the adoption of widespread strategies to reduce this risk factor. Social and environmental factors were also found to have a strong correlation, particularly drug addiction, a personal history of abuse, and lack of family support.…”

“…These data corroborate previous findings. [20][21][22]24,26,30,33,34 Mecler 1,2 found similar results in an analysis of dangerousness cessation examinations. As was the case in our study, that investigator found that important factors had been left out of a large number of dangerousness cessation reports, such as personal history and criminal background, as well as the nature of the offenses.…”

“…The severity of an offense, the criminal history, and the psychiatric history of a subject, all of which have been considered as criteria of great importance in studies over the past few years, [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] were quite undervalued in the dangerousness cessation reports we studied. The reports seem to have been made in a manner reminiscent of the model used by Loudet in the 1930s, emphasizing the medico-psychological and social indices as the most important elements in risk assessment.…”

“…2,5 Other criteria that were found to be lacking, shown as important by recent research, are historical variables (psychiatric and criminal) and the examination of subjects by forensic experts, specifically concerning the severity and typicality of the crimes. [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Several studies discuss that subject as regards the use of the HCR-20, worldwide 20,31 and specifically in Brazil. 32 To not take into account such information may reduce the quality of a report, inasmuch as factors that are apt to be associated with an increased risk of recidivism could be overlooked.…”

“…The items that stood out were clinical (lack of insight, negative attitudes, signs of active mental illness, and unresponsiveness to treatment), behavioral (impulsiveness, plans that lack feasibility), and social (exposure to destabilizing factors, lack of personal support, and presence of stress). Studies conducted by Valenc¸a et al 22,33,34 focused on the relationship between sets of factors and violent behavior. Their findings concur with ours in that there is an important relationship between clinical factors and violent behavior, especially the following: presence of productive symptoms, relapses, lack of insight, and cognitive distortions.…”