Assessment of healthcare and placement needs in an older forensic psychiatric population in comparison to a younger forensic psychiatric population.

The healthcare provision for the elderly with a history of offending is under-researched and suffers from a lack of adequate services. Although the number of offences committed by older patients is low, research suggests they are more likely to re-offend, and have significant legal and psychiatric histories (Tomar et al ., 2005). Older offenders also have complex medical problems such as neurological disease, including dementia, heart disease, stroke, and hypertension (Lewis et al ., 2006).