A Profile of Mentally Ill Offenders and their Adjustment in the Community

Abstract

The research focuses on a little-studied group of mentally disordered offenders: inmates requiring psychiatric hospitalization during imprisonment. Information is provided on the pre-prison and prison histories of all male mentally ill offenders (MIOs) released during a 13-month period (N = 150) and followed for 18 months in the community. Results indicate that MIOs displayed a marginal existence prior to their incarceration, with the vast majority having had a prior criminal and/or psychiatric contact. Problems in both domains continued upon release into the community. By followup's end, 48% required at least one psychiatric commitment, and 64% experienced at least one rearrest. Multiple regression indicated that recidivism among MIOs was associated with standard criminological variables: age and prior criminal record. These findings are then compared with research on other mentally disordered offender groups.