Peterson Jillian K, Skeem Jennifer, Kennealy Patrick, Bray Beth, Zvonkovic Andrea
Psychology Department, University of California.
Mental Health Law and Policy Department, University of South Florida.
Law Hum Behav. 2014 Oct;38(5):439-49. doi: 10.1037/lhb0000075. Epub 2014 Apr 14.
Although offenders with mental illness are overrepresented in the criminal justice system, psychiatric symptoms relate weakly to criminal behavior at the group level. In this study of 143 offenders with mental illness, we use data from intensive interviews and record reviews to examine how often and how consistently symptoms lead directly to criminal behavior. First, crimes rarely were directly motivated by symptoms, particularly when the definition of symptoms excluded externalizing features that are not unique to Axis I illness. Specifically, of the 429 crimes coded, 4% related directly to psychosis, 3% related directly to depression, and 10% related directly to bipolar disorder (including impulsivity). Second, within offenders, crimes varied in the degree to which they were directly motivated by symptoms. These findings suggest that programs will be most effective in reducing recidivism if they expand beyond psychiatric symptoms to address strong variable risk factors for crime like antisocial traits.
尽管患有精神疾病的罪犯在刑事司法系统中占比过高，但在群体层面，精神症状与犯罪行为之间的关联较弱。在这项针对143名患有精神疾病的罪犯的研究中，我们利用深入访谈和记录审查的数据，来探究症状直接导致犯罪行为的频率和一致性。首先，犯罪行为很少直接由症状引发，尤其是当症状的定义排除了不属于轴I疾病特有的外化特征时。具体而言，在编码的429起犯罪中，4%与精神病直接相关，3%与抑郁症直接相关，10%与双相情感障碍（包括冲动性）直接相关。其次，在罪犯群体中，犯罪行为受症状直接驱动的程度各不相同。这些发现表明，如果项目超越精神症状，转而解决诸如反社会特质等导致犯罪的强大可变风险因素，那么在减少累犯方面将最为有效。
