2000 issue 2

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Volume 9, issue 2

Original article

Psychiatric-legal opinions following hospital observation of individuals with non-psychotic disorders. Part I: types of punishable acts

ELŻBIETA BOGDANOWICZ1, Danuta Hajdukiewicz1
1. Kliniki Psychiatrii Sądowej Instytutu Psychiatrii i Neurologii w Pruszkowie
Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii, 2000, 9, 111-126
Keywords: forensic psychiatry / non-psychotic disorders / psychiatric-legal opinions

Abstract

Out of the total of 936 psychiatric expert opinions issued after a period of inpatient observation by 19 psychiatric wards and mental hospitals in Poland, 428 were analysed. The opinions concerned offenders with diagnosed non-psychotic disorders, including: personality disorders (190), mental retardation (41), and organic mental disorders (197). They committed a total of 618 punishable acts. In all diagnostic categories offences against property were committed most frequently. As regards offenders with personality disorders, there was a high percentage of offences against life and health (including homicide), against the family, and against freedom (including sexual offences). In the group of the mentally handicapped the most frequent offences were those against life and health (including homicide ), and against freedom (including sexual offences) – frequency of the latter category was the highest in the sample studied, and twice as high as in the 1960s. Offences committed by those with organic mental disorders were against freedom (including sexual offences), against the family (the highest percent in the sample studied), and against life and health (including homicide). Homicide victims were usually distant relatives of perpetrators, their acquaintances, or strangers, while motivation included long-standing conflicts, strong affect, and alcohol intoxication. A comparison of these findings with results reported by Uszkiewiczowa (1960) indicates that the type and percentage of offences committed by perpetrators with such diagnoses remains similar, especially as regards acts against property, life and health, homicides, and sexual crimes (except for the mentally handicapped, among whom frequency of the latter offences has increased). As compared to the earlier study, we noted a somewhat higher percentage of arsons, as well as numerous offences against the family (maltreatment), that had not been committed previously.

Address for correspondence:
Dr Elżbieta Bogdanowicz, Klinika Psychiatrii Sądowej Instytutu Psychiatrii i Neurologii,
ul. Partyzantów 2/4, 05-802 Pruszków