A comparison of voluntary with remanded schizophrenics.

In this study two groups of schizophrenic patients are compared on a number of clinical and demographic variables. The first group consists of 52 consecutive admissions to a forensic assessment unit of patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. The second is a consecutive series of schizophrenic patients admitted to two open admission units. Significant differences were found between the two groups. Specifically the forensic patients were more often male, single and antisocial as assessed by previous convictions and more often transient or living semi-independently in sheltered accommodation. They were less compliant with treatment. The two groups did not differ with respect to clinical features such as duration of illness and number of hospitalizations. It is concluded that individual patient characteristics may contribute to an outcome of legal involvement among schizophrenics. The implications of this for service delivery and future research on criminalization are discussed.