He Yong, Gu Yan, Wang Shujian, Li Yan, Li Gangqin, Hu Zeqing
Department of Forensic Psychiatry, West China School of Basic Medical Sciences and Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Sichuan, China.
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, Key Lab of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice, Shanghai Forensic Service Platform, Academy of Forensic Science, Shanghai, China.
Front Psychiatry. 2022 May 6;13:869978. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.869978. eCollection 2022.
The association between mental health problems and crime in immigrants has attracted recent academic interest, with results suggesting that there were possible interactions between immigration, schizophrenia, and criminal behavior. However, very few studies have examined these interactions, especially in developing countries that have mass internal immigration. Therefore, this study sought to identify the associations between the sociodemographic, clinical, and criminal factors in migrants and non-migrants with schizophrenia who had been involved in criminal activities in China.
Forensic archives of suspects who had been referred for criminal responsibility assessments in the Sichuan West China Forensic Center from January 2015 to December 2019 were reviewed. The sociodemographic, and criminal activity information of the suspects were extracted, while the clinical and social function were measured by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and Social Disability Screening Schedule (SDSS) based on the archives. A Chi-squared test, a T-test, a Mann-Whitney U test, and Multinomial logistic regression were employed for the statistical analysis.
A total of 552 patients were reviewed and evaluated, 17.2% ( = 95) of which were migrants. The migrant patient group was younger than the non-migrant patient group. The BPRS and SDSS scores for the migrant patient group were lower than for the non-migrant patient group. The migrant patient group had more work experience and more had been employed at the time of the crime than the non-migrant patient group. The unemployed migrant patients were more likely to commit a property-related crime.
Compared to the non-migrant schizophrenia patient group, the migrant patient group had less severe psychiatric symptoms and less social function impairments. Employment was an important factor in preventing criminality in patients with schizophrenia, especially for migrant patients. Vocational rehabilitation focuses on developing appropriate employment that can significantly assist in schizophrenia patient recovery, which in turn could reduce their chances of committing crime. Besides, reducing other obstacles to stigma, housing and health insurance would also be beneficial to crime reduction.
移民中的心理健康问题与犯罪之间的关联最近引起了学术界的关注，研究结果表明移民、精神分裂症和犯罪行为之间可能存在相互作用。然而，很少有研究探讨这些相互作用，尤其是在有大量国内移民的发展中国家。因此，本研究旨在确定在中国参与过犯罪活动的精神分裂症移民和非移民的社会人口学、临床和犯罪因素之间的关联。
回顾了2015年1月至2019年12月在四川华西法医中心被转介进行刑事责任评估的嫌疑人的法医档案。提取了嫌疑人的社会人口学和犯罪活动信息，同时根据档案通过简明精神病评定量表（BPRS）和社会功能缺陷筛选量表（SDSS）测量临床和社会功能。采用卡方检验、t检验、曼-惠特尼U检验和多项逻辑回归进行统计分析。
共对552例患者进行了回顾和评估，其中17.2%（n = 95）为移民。移民患者组比非移民患者组年轻。移民患者组的BPRS和SDSS评分低于非移民患者组。与非移民患者组相比，移民患者组有更多的工作经历，且在犯罪时就业的人数更多。失业移民患者更有可能实施与财产相关的犯罪。
与非移民精神分裂症患者组相比，移民患者组的精神症状较轻，社会功能损害较小。就业是预防精神分裂症患者犯罪的一个重要因素，尤其是对移民患者。职业康复侧重于发展适当的就业，这可以显著帮助精神分裂症患者康复，进而降低他们犯罪的几率。此外，减少耻辱感、住房和医疗保险等其他障碍也将有利于减少犯罪。
