ABSTRACT
Objective T o explore the characteristics of schizophrenia patients' hom icide behaviors and the influences of the assessm ents of crim inal capacity. Methods Indicators such as dem ographic and clinical data, characteristics of crim inal behaviors and crim inal capacity from the suspects w hom w ere diagnosed by forensic psychiatry as schizophrenia (n=110) and norm al m ental (n=70) w ith hom icide behavior, w ere collected by self-m ade investigation form and com pared. T he influences of the assessm ents of crim inal capacity on the suspects diagnosed as schizophrenia w ere also analyzed using logistic regression analysis. Results T here w ere no significant statistical differences betw een the schizophrenic group and the norm al m ental group concerning age, gender, education and m arital status (P>0.05). T here w ere significant sta-tistical differences betw een the tw o groups concerning thought disorder, em otion state and social function before crim e (P<0.05) and there w ere significant statistical differences in som e characteristics of the case such as aggressive history (P<0.05), cue, trigger, plan, crim inal incentives, object of crim e, circum stance cognition and self-protection ( P<0 .05 ) . M ultivariate logistic regression analysis suggested that thought disorder, em otion state, social function, crim inal incentives, plan and self-protection before crim e of the schizophrenic group w ere positively correlated w ith the crim inal capacity (P<0.05). Conclusion T he rele-vant influences of psychopathology and crim e characteristics should be considered com prehensively for im proving the accuracy of the crim inal capacity evaluation on the suspects diagnosed as schizophrenia w ith hom icide behavior.
ABSTRACT
Objective T o understand the assessm ent on the criminal responsibility of drug-induced m ental disorders and judicial experts’ opinions. Methods T he judicial experts from institutes of forensic psychi-atry in Shanghai were selected. T hey were asked to finish a self-m ade questionnaire of assessm ent on the criminal responsibility of drug-induced m ental disorders by letters and visits. Results Most of experts knewthe special regulation,“not suitable for evaluation” towards the criminal responsibility of drug-in-duced m ental disorders of the guideline prom ulgated by Ministry of Justice. B efore and after the guide-line was issued, no expert m ade a no-responsibility opinion in such cases. After the guideline was issued, som e experts m ade a full-responsibility or lim ited-responsibility opinion in such cases. T here was a little disagreem ent am ong the experts in the case that the crime was unrelated with m ental sym ptom s or the criminals used drugs even though he knewit could induced insanity. B ut there were still m any obvious disagreem ents am ong experts in the case that crime was related to such sym ptom s and person was no ability to debate. Most experts agreed to settle the disagreem ents with im proved legislative perfection. Conclusion Most experts are not strictly com plying with the assessm ent guidelines during their practice, and there is still an obvious disagreem ent towards the criminal responsibility of drug-induced m ental disorders.