Results: 150

For: crime

Are you really at risk of attack by someone with schizophrenia?

Do not cross

By Rebecca Syed, King’s College London.  A violent attack by someone who is mentally ill quickly grabs the headlines. And it’s usually implied that mental illnesses are a preventable cause of violent crime. Tackle that and we can all sleep safer in our beds. But by pressuring mental health services to focus on the risk [read the full story…]

Info request re women with learning disabilities in criminal justice system especially community alternatives

There is sparse evidence for the efficacy and safety of antipsychotics in people with learning disabilities.

We have posted previously about people with learning disabilities in the criminal justice system and the work of the Prison Reform Trust in this area. Colleagues in the Prison Reform Trust are undertaking some research about provision specifically for women with learning disabilities in the criminal justice system. The researcher is carrying out a comparative [read the full story…]

Is a moral reasoning programme for offenders with intellectual disabilities effective?

Prisoner behind bars

Over recent years, media and research have highlighted the large number of offenders in prison who have an intellectual or developmental disability. The Prison Reform Trust (2007), estimated this to be 20-30% of all current offenders in prison (although todays numbers may be even higher!), and that this group of individuals are more likely to [read the full story…]

Systematic review finds that suicide risk for prisoners with bipolar disorder may be lower than other mental disorders

Prison wall

In prisons, suicide is the leading cause of mortality (estimated at 3-5 times the general population). Mental health disorders are known to increase the risk. Generally, suffering from a bipolar disorder increases the risk of attempted or completed suicide when compared to the general population. So it would be expected that prisoners with bipolar disorder [read the full story…]

Unclear definition, underreporting and lack of training see victims of disability hate crime let down by criminal justice system

Bully3

Last week, we featured a guest blog from our sister site the Mental Elf which looked at the findings of a study based on the British Crime Survey which found that people with disability are at increased risk of being victims of domestic and non-domestic violence and suggested the need for an urgent assessment national [read the full story…]

Improving health services for people living in secure accommodation

Prison gates

Introduction From April 2013, the NHS Commissioning Board will take on more responsibility to ensure that all patients receive better outcomes from the NHS. As part of this, they will be responsible for planning, securing and monitoring health services for victims of sexual assault, and people in prison and other secure settings, including children’s homes [read the full story…]

Comparison of juvenile offenders with and without learning disabilities shows differences in offence type

Place_Law_Court

Previous studies have suggested that people with mild learning disability show a higher rate of offending when compared with peers without learning disability and that this rate is especially high in those aged under 18. High rates of learning disability have also been found in studies of young offenders in custody. In the U.S., one [read the full story…]

People with disability are more likely to be victims of violence and to suffer mental illness as a result

Fight

In the UK over 10 million people live with a disability, many of whom suffer from violence (Department for Working Pensions, 2011). A recent World Report on Disability by WHO (2011) highlighted that people living with disabilities are at  risk from sexual and physical violence. Despite this, little is known about who is at risk [read the full story…]

New meta-review highlights the best approaches for preventing violence in young people

Young man with shot gun

The WISQARS Leading Causes of Death website is a mine of information for researchers and bloggers alike. I searched it to find out what the leading causes of death are for people (all races, both sexes) in the US aged 10-24 years. The top three in 2010 were: Unintentional injury (e.g. road traffic accidents, poisoning, [read the full story…]

New review confirms the strong association between criminal history and violence risk in psychosis

Net curtains

What’s the relationship between violence and psychosis? It’s an emotive debate that’s been running for years. On the one hand we have the net curtain-twitching, tabloid-reading brigade who picture axe-wielding psychopaths as soon as they read the word schizophrenia. On the other we have patients, carers, mental health charities and many clinicians who claim that [read the full story…]