Recidivism of the criminally insane in France: a 22-year follow-up

Characteristics of 1096 recidivistic mentally ill criminal offenders admitted to a specialized hospital in France are described. All subjects were mentally ill and had been judged nonresponsible for an act of crime. Crimes against persons (murder or assault) accounted for 42% of the crimes for which these patients were admitted. The remaining causes of admission were crimes against property (theft) and "victimless" crimes. Subject files indicated a wide difference in cause of admission for violent acts among the different diagnostic categories. Although the frequency of readmission and violent acts at readmission did not change for the group as a whole, they did change between admissions for the different diagnostic groups. Results indicate that differences exist between diagnostic categories of mentally ill offenders in terms of not only the type of crime committed but also the likelihood of recidivism. Language: en