Changes of Characteristics of Mentally Ill Criminals: Between 1990 and 2000 / 대한법의학회지

The authors reviewed the medical records and additional data of 460 mentally ill criminals who had referred to National Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, from January 1990 to December 1990 (60 cases) and from January 2000 and December 2000 (394 cases). The demographic factors, characteristics of crime, psychiatric diagnoses and psychiatric opinions and legal opinions , and legal opinions were analyzed and the results are as follows. 1) The frequency of crimes by female, high education level and single status increased. 2) As to the psychiatric diagnosis, schizophrenia decreased whereas substance- use disorder, mood disorder and personality disorder were increased and kleptomania and anxiety disorder were added. 3) As to the types and feature of crime, homicide and violence increased, whereas arson decreased and larcency, violation of harzadous substance and violation of narcotic drug were added. 4) As to victims of crime, the frequency of crimes committed to strangers increased whereas that of the family members and their lelatives were decreased. 5) As to motivation of crime, the frequency of impulsivity increased but psychotic symptoms such as delusion and hallucination significantly decreased. 6) More that half of psychiatric tests were referred from the court, but the agreement rate between the judge 's opinions and psychiatric opinions was decreased. In Conclusion, the changes of charateristics of mentally ill criminal were attributed to sociocultural changes for mentally ill criminals and implimeted in Social Protection Law. As the judges do not completely agree to the psychiatric opinions, the close cooperation between the judges and the psychiatrist as legal adviser should be necessory for mentally ill criminals.

A Forensic Psychiatric Study for Substance-Related Offenders / 대한법의학회지

OBJECT: This study examined the demographic characteristics, abused substance types, comorbid psychiatric diagnosis and associated crimes of substance-related offenders. METHOD: We surveyed 205 offenders of substance-related crime from court. RESULT: Substance-related offenders were all men and most of them were unemployed, living alone in the major city and mean age was 27.9+/-5.77years. 78.5% frequently abused inhalants like adhesives and 17.1% abused the methamphetamine. They violated the 1 or more times and the classification of crimes was violence, rape and rape-injury, larceny, arson. Substance-related offenders had comorbid psychiatric disorder ; 26 of them had personality disorder, 23 had mood disorder and 13 had psychotic disorder. Mean hospital day was 14.8+/-6.55 months. CONCLUSION: Substance-related offenders were young single men without a job living major city. They had comorbid psychiatric disorder and high risk to commit crime.

A Forensic Psychiatric Study for Stalking Offenders / 대한법의학회지

OBJECT: This study was devised to examine the demographic characteristics, behaviors, psychopathology and associated crimes of stalking offenders. METHODS: It concerned 50 stalking offenders referred to the National Forensic Psychiatric Hospital for the forensic evaluation. RESULTS: Most of the stalking offenders were men(78.0%, N=39), and many were unemployed(74.0%, N=37),;70.0%(N=35) had lived alone and they committed the serious crime. Victims included the colleagues or acquaintances(48.0%, N=24), past intimate persons(22.0%, N=11), stars or celebrities(16.0%, N=8), and strangers(14.0%, N=7). The duration of stalking was from 2 month to 20 years (mean= 37.7 month). Three types of stalking offenders were: love obsessional type, delusional type and revenge type. Delusional disorder(40.0%, N=20) was the most frequent, and the next frequent was schizophrenia(22.0%, N=11). CONCLUSION: Most stalking offenders found single and socially isolated male, and tend to attack the victim directly or indirectly. Appropriate legal and therapeutic interventions are necessary in order to prevent such serious crime as stalking.