A systematic review and meta-analysis of premature mortality in offenders

Abstract Offenders outside secure settings form an under-researched and potentially vulnerable group. This study sought to meta-analytically establish whether community offenders, without mental illnesses, die prematurely compared to non-offender community and population comparison samples. Thirty-six studies met our inclusion criteria (N = 1,116,614). Premature mortality is a significant issue for community offenders in general (OR = 3.42), and for ex-prisoners in particular (OR = 4.51). Offenders were more likely to die from unnatural violent causes (OR = 3.97) and natural causes (OR = 2.06) than non-offenders, with a meta-regression revealing that age was not a significant factor (z = −0.01, p = 0.12). These results suggest that the rates of premature mortality previously found for offenders do not just reflect the impact of mental illness on these individuals, but rather that offending may have a significant physiological impact on the body.