Offenders With Substance Abuse Who Receive Mandatory Psychiatric Treatment

We examined the mandatory treatment referral rates before and after Taiwan9s Penal Code revision of 2006 and factors associated with the mandatory treatment in Taiwan of criminals who engage in substance abuse. The 3,467 offenders who underwent forensic psychiatric assessments, based on Taiwan9s court sentence dataset, included 3,163 offenders with substance-abuse–related crimes, but only 412 (13%) received mandatory treatment. There were no changes in mandatory treatment referral rates before and after the revision. The three main factors that determined whether an offender received mandatory psychiatric treatment were an agreement by the forensic psychiatrist and the presiding judge attesting to the lack of legal responsibility during the commission of the offense, the presence of substance-related psychosis, and location of the court in a rural area.