The Efficacy and Effectiveness of Community Treatment Programmes in Preventing Crime and Violence Among those with Severe Mental Illness in the Community

Preventing crime by people with schizophrenic disorders: the role of psychiatric services

“…General psychiatric services in most places would not have sufficient staff who are trained to conduct the type of assessments and implement the cognitive–behavioural programmes described, nor to provide the intense supervision required once patients are discharged to the community. Naturalistic follow-up studies indicate that court-ordered community treatment (Heilbrun & Peters, 2000; Swanson et al , 2000) and legal powers to admit patients for short periods, involuntarily if necessary, contribute to reducing recidivism and prolonging safe community tenure (Hodgins et al , 1999). Such legal powers are useless, however, if in-patient beds are unavailable when needed.…”

International Trends in Demand for Forensic Mental Health Services

“…For these individuals, forensic mental health services have advantages over general psychiatric services, including more comprehensive assessments, longer inpatient stays, and treatment that focuses not only on alleviating symptoms, but also on decreasing antisocial attitudes and behavior, aggression, and other criminogenic needs (see Hodgins, 2009 assist with the transition to the community. Forensic management can lead to reductions in crime, improvements in compliance with medication, and better outcomes than that of general psychiatry (Heilbrun & Peters, 2000;Hodgins et al, 2007).…”

Understanding the Relationship Between Mental Disorder and Violence: The Need for a Criminological Perspective.

“…In addition, the large number of offenders who have been incarcerated in the United States during the past two decades has led to a substantial increase in the number of mentally disordered offenders currently serving time in American prisons and jails, most of who will soon be released to the community. Thus, managing the violent behavior of people with mental disorder has become a major area of interest among policy makers in both the criminal justice and mental health systems (Hodgins, 2001; Heilbrun & Peters, 2000; Dvoskin & Steadman, 1994).…”