Report of the Committee on Mentally Abnormal Offenders.

  • Great Britain. Committee on Mentally Abnormal Offenders.
Date:
1975
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Report of the Committee on Mentally Abnormal Offenders. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    311/352 (page 293)
    Expressed in different terms, the distribution of the diagnoses between the three hospitals was as follows: Diagnosis Percentage of the discharges within each group in relation to each hospital: Broadmoor Moss Side Rampton Menta! illness OS cashhakia 59:5 nil 14-6 Subnormality and _ severe subnormality ... 28; nil 50-0 34-2 Psychopathy AS) aa 40:5 50:0 51-2 Predictably the reconviction rate for mentally ill patients was the lowest, and for those suffering from subnormality the highest, viz: Diagnosis Not Reconvicted Total % re- reconvicted convicted* Mental illness we aah 23 5 28 17-9 Subnormality and _ severe subnormality ... a 4 14 21 66°7 Psychopathy ee eh 20 23 43 53°5 Totals ee 50 42 92 45-7 Sentencing court Having regard to the type of offender that one might expect to encounter in a Special Hospital, it was of interest that almost exactly a third of the patients studied had been admitted direct from a magistrates’ court. A few more came from courts of assize, and about a quarter from quarter sessions and crown courts (old terminology). Residence and family contacts Where the patient was not living with a relative at the time of interview, enquiry was made as to whether reasonable contact was maintained with members of the family. In only 14 instances (15:2 % of the total sample) was there no meaningful contact of this sort. Having regard to the fact that patients discharged from Special Hospitals suffer the dual disability of being labelled as “‘criminals’’ and “‘mentally disordered’’, the sample showed a surprising stability in respect of accommodation. 20 of the sample did not move during the 2 years following discharge, and 50 % did not move more than twice. At the other end of the scale 8 moved 9 or more times and 1 over 15 times. The reasons for changes of residence were not always easy to discover, particularly where they had been frequent and there was little or no contact with a supervising © officer. Only 12 landlords or landladies were interviewed, as in general patients were reluctant to give their consent to their being seen. The following table gives some indication of the reasons for change of residence: Moved house with landlord te ie, ais ue i Left to join family .. 3h 52s oe 20 Left because of better avéommnodatiert i, EMER. 76 Asked to leave because of record oh 3 wr, 4 Asked to leave because of behaviour... A oe area Total Sve LOD *For the figures in this column see Re-Conviction Statistics on page 292.