Turkson S N, Asante K
Department of Psychiatry, University of Ghana Medical School Accra Ghana.
West Afr J Med. 1997 May-Jun;16(2):88-92.
Details of personal data, criminal activity and the clinical diagnosis at the time of offence of one hundred and thirty (130) mentally ill offenders confirmed in the Accra Psychiatric Hospital were collected and analysed, to determine the common psychiatric disorders implicated in crime, and the vulnerable age group of such offender patients. Further, their current mental state was examined. The crime rate was found to be highest among late adolescents and young adults. The commonest psychiatric disorders implicated in various criminal acts were the psychotic states especially schizophrenia and drug induced psychotic state. Moreover there was a small group of offenders diagnosed as suffering from harmful drug use without associated psychoses. The duration of these mentally ill offenders was found to be very long although the majority showed no evidence of florid psychotic symptoms. The implications of the findings were discussed and suggestions made regarding the disposal of mentally ill offenders for future consideration.
收集并分析了在阿克拉精神病院确诊的130名精神病罪犯的个人数据详情、犯罪活动以及犯罪时的临床诊断，以确定与犯罪有关的常见精神疾病，以及此类罪犯患者的易患年龄组。此外，还检查了他们目前的精神状态。发现犯罪率在青少年晚期和青年中最高。与各种犯罪行为有关的最常见精神疾病是精神病状态，尤其是精神分裂症和药物引起的精神病状态。此外，有一小群罪犯被诊断为患有有害药物使用但无相关精神病。这些精神病罪犯的病程很长，尽管大多数人没有明显的精神病症状。讨论了研究结果的影响，并就精神病罪犯的处置提出了建议，以供未来参考。
