Abstract

In a 25-year Australian cohort of men and women found Not Guilty by reason of Mental Illness (NGMI forensic patients; N = 477), we aimed to: establish the sociodemographic, clinical and forensic characteristics of the sample, comparing men and women; to establish rates of post-release reoffending, including for men and women separately; and to test associations between individual characteristics and post-release re-offending in the full sample. Post-release re-offending was considered in terms of officially-recorded charges, proven offenses, violent offenses, and any offending within the first 12 months of release. Women (13.8%) were found to differ significantly from men on a number of key characteristics but, although women had a higher rate of proven offending in the early post-release period, sex was not a predictor of post-release offending overall. Post-release re-offending rates were low (6.3% committed proven offenses in the first 12 months following release) and the only independent predictor of re-offending was a clinically-recorded diagnosis of co-morbid personality disorder (i.e. co-morbid with a primary psychosis diagnosis). The differences identified between male and female NGMI forensic patients, including the differences in re-offending in the early post-release period, have implications for the development of forensic services and interventions, in both inpatient and community settings.

摘要

在25岁的澳大利亚男性和女性队列中，由于精神疾病而被判无罪（NGMI法医患者；N = 477），我们的目标是：通过比较男性和女性，建立样本的社会人口统计学，临床和法医特征；确定释放后的再犯罪率，包括分别针对男性和女性；并测试完整样本中各个特征与发布后重新冒犯之间的关联。根据正式记录的指控，经证明的犯罪，暴力犯罪以及在发行的前12个月内的任何犯罪，考虑了释放后的再犯罪。发现女性（13.8％）在许多关键特征上与男性有显着差异，但是，尽管女性在释放后的早期阶段有较高的确凿犯罪率，但总体而言，性别并不是释放后犯罪的预测指标。发布后的再犯罪率很低（6。3％的人在获释后的头12个月内犯了确凿的罪行，并且重新犯罪的唯一独立预测因素是临床记录的并存型人格障碍的诊断（即与原发性精神病并存的合并症）。NGMI男女法医患者之间发现的差异，包括释放后早期重新犯罪的差异，对住院和社区环境中法医服务和干预措施的发展都具有影响。