Department of Human Neurosciences, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Section of Criminology and Forensic Psychiatry, University of Bari, Department of Interdisciplinary Medicine, Bari, Italy.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2019 Sep-Oct;66:101503. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2019.101503. Epub 2019 Oct 18.
Despite the central role in criminal trials, there is little research on the decision-making processes of experts in forensic psychiatry. We aimed to investigate the role of sociodemographic, psychopathological, and criminological characteristics in forensic psychiatric decisions on criminal responsibility and social dangerousness in criminal trials. We analyzed 302 forensic psychiatric reports provided by 16 forensic psychiatrists from the North, Central and Southern Italy. Defendants' psychiatric symptom severity was evaluated through the 24-item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). Defendants judged not criminally responsible (Not-CRDs) presented with more severe psychiatric symptoms (positive symptoms, negative symptoms, manic excitement / disorganization), were more likely to be female, to be affected by a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, or bipolar spectrum disorder and to have had a higher number of previous psychiatric treatments and previous involuntary hospitalizations compared to their criminally responsible counterparts. Not-CRDs affected by a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, personality disorder, with severe psychiatric symptoms and with histories of criminal convictions and more victims were more likely to have received a judgment of social dangerousness. The forensic psychiatric evaluations were carried out on average of 770 days after the time of the crime, which in light of the other results, suggests an effect of the perceptions of the expert on the judgment of responsibility, raising the possibility of time bias on forensic judgments concerning defendants' mental responsibility.
尽管在刑事审判中起着核心作用，但对于法医精神病学专家的决策过程的研究却很少。我们旨在调查法医精神病学决定在刑事审判中对刑事责任和社会危险性的决策中，社会人口统计学、精神病理学和犯罪学特征的作用。我们分析了来自意大利北部、中部和南部的 16 位法医精神病学家提供的 302 份法医精神病学报告。通过 24 项简明精神病评定量表（BPRS）、临床总体印象量表（CGI）和总体功能评估量表（GAF）评估被告的精神症状严重程度。被判定无刑事责任能力（Not-CRD）的被告表现出更严重的精神症状（阳性症状、阴性症状、躁狂兴奋/混乱），更有可能是女性，受精神分裂症谱系障碍或双相情感障碍影响，并且有更多的先前的精神治疗和先前的非自愿住院治疗与他们有刑事责任能力的同行相比。受精神分裂症谱系障碍、人格障碍、严重精神症状、有犯罪记录和更多受害者影响的 Not-CRD 更有可能被判具有社会危险性。法医精神病学评估平均在犯罪发生后 770 天进行，鉴于其他结果，这表明专家的看法对责任判断的影响，从而有可能对涉及被告精神责任的法医判断产生时间偏见。
