Practical Forensic Psychiatry

Practical
Forensic
Psychiatry
Edited by Tom Clark and
Dharjinder Singh Rooprai
CRC Press
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Contents
Contributors v
Preface vi
Abbreviations vii
1. The Development of Forensic Psychiatric Services 1

James Reed
2. Entry into Secure Care 12
Helen Whitworth
3. Treatment and Outcomes in Secure Care 25
Leela Sivaprasad
4. Challenging Issues in Secure Care 43
Rebekah Bourne
5. Leaving Secure Care and Community Follow-up 56
6. Risk of Violence Assessment 68
Tom Clark and Muthusamy Natarajan
7. Psychosis and Offending 82
Tom Clark and Muthusamy Natarajan
8. Mood Disorders, Neuroses and Offending 96
Clare Oakley
9. Personality Disorders and Offending 105
Clare Oakley
10. Learning Disability, Autistic Spectrum Disorders and Offending 117
11. Women in Secure Care 130
John Croft
12. Children and Adolescents in Secure Care 143
Leela Sivaprasad
13. Sex Offenders, Stalkers and Fire Setters 156
Rebekah Bourne
14. Crime and Criminology 170
Renarta Rowe
iii
Contents
15. The Criminal Law and Sentencing 183

James Reed
16. Psychiatry and the Police 197
Renarta Rowe
17. Psychiatry and the Criminal Justice System 211
Helen Whitworth
18. Prisons and Prisoners 227
Dharjinder Singh Rooprai and Tom Clark
19. Mental Health Care in Prisons 243
Tom Clark and Dharjinder Singh Rooprai
20. Psychiatric Issues in Criminal Courts 254
Tom Clark
21. Providing Expert Evidence to Criminal Courts 268
Tom Clark
iv
Contributors
Rebekah Bourne MBChB MRCPsych DipMedEd
specialty registrar in forensic psychiatry, Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS
Foundation Trust; honorary clinical teacher to the Birmingham MRCPsych Course
Tom Clark MBChB LLM MRCPsych
consultant forensic psychiatrist, Reaside Clinic, Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS
Trust; honorary senior clinical lecturer in forensic psychiatry, University of Birmingham
training programme director for forensic psychiatry, West Midlands School of Psychiatry;
visiting forensic psychiatrist, HMP Birmingham
John Croft MBChB MRCPysch
consultant forensic psychiatrist, Ardenleigh Womens Forensic Mental health Service,
Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust
Muthusamy Natarajan MBBS MRCPsych
consultant forensic psychiatrist, William Wake House, St Andrew’s Healthcare, Billing Road,
Northampton
Clare Oakley MBChB MRCPsych
clinical research worker, St Andrew’s Academic Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s
College London
James Reed MBChB BMedSci LLM MRCPsych
locum consultant forensic psychiatrist, Reaside Clinic, Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health
NHS Foundation Trust
Dharjinder Singh Rooprai MBBS LLM MRCPsych
consultant forensic psychiatrist (forensic LD, ASD and ABI), Fromeside, Avon and Wiltshire
Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, West of England Forensic Mental Health Service
Renarta Rowe MBChB MSc MRCPsych
Foundation Trust
Leela Sivaprasad MBBS DPM MRCPsych
Foundation Trust
Helen Whitworth MBChB MSc MRCPsych Cert MHS
clinical lecturer, Keele University, visiting lecturer, Coventry University; consultant forensic
psychiatrist, Hatherton Centre, South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS
Foundation Trust
v
Preface
We conceived this book with two broad aims in mind. Firstly, we wanted to present key fac-
tual information in a concise, readily retrievable format, with a relative absence of opinion
and debate. Of course the occasional opinion has crept in, and we think that the book is
more interesting and thought provoking for that, but it remains a densely factual book. Sec-
ondly, as a ‘jobbing’ consultant and, at the time, higher trainee respectively, we wanted to
provide practical guidance on the day-to-day tasks that a forensic psychiatrist is required to
deal with. This is particularly aimed at forensic trainees and psychiatrists working in other
fields, for whom forensic matters are so often relevant.
The book is unashamedly aimed at psychiatrists. While forensic psychiatric services are
necessarily multidisciplinary, we think that there is value in focusing on the role of the
psychiatrist, allowing a more pithy and direct approach, and enabling the role of the psy-
chiatrist to be set more clearly within its proper place as but one part of the team. At the
risk of appearing to try to eat our cake, we hope that those working in other disciplines and
in other types of mental health services will also find the information and clinical guidance
presented here useful. Most forensic patients used to be general psychiatric patients and
will be so again, and much of the interface between the criminal justice system and mental
health services is served by general rather than forensic psychiatry, and often by nurses
rather than doctors.
We are aware of gaps and areas of clinical practice that might have warranted more space
than we have been able to give. In particular we have not tried to cover the law in juris-
dictions other than England and Wales. More weighty and comprehensive textbooks are
available; our book is conceived more as a vade mecum. We have tried to point the reader
in the direction of further reading that might fill some of these gaps. Those references that
we consider to be particularly important are marked with an asterisk. Our view would be
that a higher trainee in forensic psychiatry should read all of these key references during the
course of their training, though it is by no means an exhaustive list.
Preparing a rather stylized yet multiple author book is a harder task than we imagined. We
are very grateful to our contributors, each chosen for their particular experience or know-
ledge in relation to some aspect or other of forensic clinical practice, for producing such val-
uable chapters while tolerating our editorial interference in the pursuit of a consistent style.
TC & DSR
vi
Abbreviations
AC approved clinician
ACCT assessment, care in custody and teamwork
ADOS Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule
AESOP Aetiology and Ethnicity of Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses
AMHP approved mental health professional
AOT assertive outreach team
ARA(I) actuarial risk assessment (instrument)
ASBO antisocial behaviour order
ASD autistic spectrum disorder
AUC area under the curve
AWOL absent without leave (from MHA detention) or absent without official leave
BCS British Crime Survey
BME black and minority ethnic
CAMHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
CAMCOG Cambridge Cognitive Exam
CANFOR Camberwell Assessment of Needs – forensic version
CARATS counselling assessment referral advice and throughcare Service
CATIE Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness
CBT cognitive–behavioural therapy
CCRC Criminal Cases Review Commission
CIS-R Clinical Interview Schedule – Revised
CJA 2003 Criminal Justice Act 2003
CJA 2009 Coroners and Justice Act 2009
CJCSA 2000 Criminal Justice and Court Service Act 2000
CJS criminal justice system
CLDT community learning disability team
CMHT community mental health team
CPS Crown Prosecution Service
CoP Code of Practice to the Mental Health Act 1983
CPA care programme approach
CPIA Criminal Procedure (Insanity) Act 1969
CPN community psychiatric nurse
CrimPR Criminal Procedure Rules
CSA childhood sexual abuse
CTO community treatment order
DCR discretionary conditional release
DH Department of Health
DHSS Department of Health and Society Security
DPP detention for public protection
vii
Abbreviations
DSH deliberate self-harm

DSM Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
DSPD dangerous and severe personality disorder
DTO Detention and Training Order
DVCVA 2004 Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004
ECA Epidemiological Catchment Area Survey
ECHR European Convention on Human Rights
ERASOR estimate of risk of adolescent sexual offence recidivism
FME forensic medical examiner
GDP gross domestic product
HCR-20 Historical Clinical Risk-20
HMIP Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons
HoNOS Health of the Nation Outcome Scales
ICD International Classification of Diseases
ICT iterative classification tree
IMB independent monitoring board
IMCA independent mental capacity advocate
IPDE international personality disorder examination
imprisonment for public protection or indeterminate sentence for public
IPP
protection
LD learning disability
LHRH luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone
LSC Legal Services Commission
MAPPA multi-agency public protection arrangement
MAPPP multi-agency public protection panel
MCA 2005 Mental Capacity Act 2005
MDT multidisciplinary team
MDO mentally disordered offender
MEAMS Middlesex Elderly Assessment of Mental State
MHA 1983 Mental Health Act 1983
MHA 2007 Mental Health Act 2007
MHU Mental Health Unit (of the MoJ)
MMSE Mini-Mental State Examination
MoJ Ministry of Justice
MSU medium secure unit
NGBROI not guilty by reason of insanity
NICE National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence
NOMS National Offender Management Service
OABH occasioning actual bodily harm
OASys Offender Assessment System
OBP offending behaviour programme
OCD obsessive–compulsive disorder
OGP OASys General reoffending Predictor
OGRS Offender Group Reconviction Scale
OM offender manager
OR odds ratio
OT occupational therapy
viii
Abbreviations
OVP OASys Violence Predictor

PACE 1984 Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
PANSS Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (for schizophrenia)
PAR population attributable risk
PCCA Powers of Criminal Courts Act 2000
PCL-R Psychopathy Checklist – Revised
PCL-SV Psychopathy Checklist – Screening Version
PCL-YV Psychopathy Checklist – Youth Version
PCT primary care trust
PD personality disorder
PED parole eligibility date
PICU psychiatric intensive care unit
PIPES psychologically informed planned environment
PPG penile plethysmography
PSR pre-sentence report
PTSD post-traumatic stress disorder
RC responsible clinician
RCP Royal College of Physicians
RCPsych Royal College of Psychiatrists
RM2000 Risk Matrix 2000
RMO responsible medical officer
RMP registered medical practitioner
ROC receiver operator characteristics
ROSH risk of serious harm (according to OASys)
RRASOR rapid risk assessment for sex offender recidivism
RSU regional secure unit
RSVP Risk of Sexual Violence Protocol
SAPROF Structured Assessment of Protective Factors for violence risk
SAVRY Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth
SCA structured clinical assessment
SCAN Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry
SCID-II Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV axis II diagnoses
SCMH Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
SCT supervised community treatment
SHA strategic health authority
SI statutory instrument
SMB strategic management board (for MAPPA)
SNASA Salford Needs Assessment Schedule for Adolescents
SOPO sex offender prevention order
SORAG sex offender risk appraisal guide
SOTP sex offender treatment programme
SPJ structured professional judgement
SSRI selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor
START short-term assessment of risk and treatability
TC therapeutic community
TCO threat control over-ride
ViSOR Violent and Sexual Offenders Register
ix
Abbreviations
VLU victim liaison unit

VORAS Violent Offender Risk Assessment Scale
VRAG Violence Risk Appraisal Guide
WAIS Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale
WHO World Health Organization
wte whole-time equivalent
YJB Youth Justice Board
YOI young offenders’ institution
YOT Youth Offending Team
x
1
The Development of
Forensic Psychiatric
Services
● Historical Background
Offenders with mental illness have always posed unique difficulties for the criminal justice
system and psychiatrists. Prior to the nineteenth century there were no specific facilities
for dealing with them, although in practice they were usually compulsorily committed to
hospital by the courts.
The need for secure hospitals

In 1800 James Hadfield tried to kill King George III and was found not guilty by reason of
insanity:
• He was transferred to Bethlem Hospital from prison, but escaped in 1802 before being recaptured
and sent back to prison.
• The ‘Report from the Select Committee Appointed to Enquire into the State of Lunatics’ criticized
the practice of admitting ‘criminal lunatics’ to ‘a common gaol’:
– inadequate security of asylums and uncertainties about funding were both cited as significant
problems
– recommended ‘separate confinement’ for ‘insane offenders’ funded by parishes.
• ‘Criminal wings’ were constructed at the Government’s expense at Bethlem Hospital in 1816:
– 60 beds (45 male, 15 female), extended in 1837 by 30 male beds.
• Patients with less serious offences were routinely detained in county asylums.
The development of criminal asylums

• Dundrum Central Criminal Asylum in Ireland opened in 1850 (120 beds)
• Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum in Berkshire opened in 1863 (500 beds):
– repeatedly extended due to overcrowding and demand
• Rampton Criminal Lunatic Asylum in Nottinghamshire opened in 1912
• Ashworth Hospital was created in 1989 by merging two adjacent high secure hospitals:
– Moss Side Hospital had opened in 1914
– Park Lane Hospital had opened in 1974.
1
The Development of Forensic Psychiatric Services
These were known collectively as ‘special hospitals’ and later ‘high secure services’. They
became part of the NHS in 1948 but remained geographically and professionally isolated
from general psychiatric services.
The birth of forensic psychiatry

A series of reports beginning in the early 1960s heralded the emergence of forensic psychia-
try and began to foresee possibilities for secure services on a more local footing. The large
special hospitals remained remote, and there were concerns about the numbers of beds and
the conditions within the hospitals.
The Emery Report (Ministry of Health, 1961)

• The Mental Health Act 1959 began a trend of reducing restrictive practices and security in general
psychiatric hospitals:
– led to a reduction in mentally disordered offenders admitted.
• A working party on special hospitals was set up to consider the role of special hospitals in managing
these patients.
• Proposed provision of secure beds by regional health bodies to relieve pressure on special hospitals.
• No resources were provided and there was little tangible result.
The Gwynne Report (Ministry of Health, 1964)

• Examined the state of medical services in prisons (then separate from the NHS).
• Recommended appointing ‘forensic psychiatrists’ jointly between prison medical services and the
NHS as a response to the clear lack of psychiatric expertise within prisons.
• Seven consultant posts founded between 1966 and 1975.
• Worked in prisons and with liaison and assessment, but had no secure hospital beds available.
The Glancy Report (DHSS, 1974)

• Lack of secure beds as proposed by Emery was causing great difficulties:
– ongoing problems of managing those with mental disorder within the prison system
– special hospitals overcrowded, although Park Lane Hospital in development at that time.
• Working party commissioned to revisit the issues raised by Emery, and consider existing security
provisions and make recommendations for future provision.
• Recommended that regional health authorities provide secure beds on a regional level:
– 1000 beds for England and Wales proposed.
The Butler Committee on mentally abnormal offenders

By the early 1970s there was serious overcrowding in the special hospitals, an increasing
awareness of the difficulties posed in attempting to manage the mentally ill in prison and a
general downgrading of the security provided in general psychiatric hospitals.
The Butler Committee was established in 1972 following the conviction of Graham
Young, who had poisoned a large number of people (killing three) after discharge from
Broadmoor Hospital (see Bowden, 1996, for a full account of the case).The committee was
charged with considering the criminal law relating to mentally disordered offenders, and
making recommendations about facilities and treatment provided.
An interim report was published (Home Office and DHSS, 1974) given the urgency of
the problem of a lack of secure beds:
• Set a framework for the development and expansion of forensic psychiatry:
2
Historical Background
– increasing numbers of consultant appointments

– all psychiatric trainees to have experience in the specialty.
• Recommended immediate construction of ‘regional secure units’ (RSUs):
– to be financed by direct allocation of Government money
– proposed initially 1000 beds, rising to 2000 over time
– not to be used for long-stay admissions – suggested indicative admissions of 18 months
– interim secure units (ISUs) to be opened while RSUs constructed.
The final report (DHSS, 1975) was presented to Parliament in October 1975 and made
numerous recommendations:
• Reiterated the need for secure accommodation and noted that little progress had yet been made.
The Butler Report set the agenda for forensic psychiatry to be provided outside of custodial
settings and in purpose-built hospitals. Contemporaneously, some (Scott, 1974) argued that
it would be better to develop facilities within the prison system, rather than invest in new
provision which would inevitably leave prison health care as a poor relation.
The development of regional secure units

Interim secure units were set up within general hospitals while regional health authorities
developed plans for constructing RSUs.
The RSU programme was subject to considerable delays (Snowden, 1985):
• Reluctance among health authorities to proceed, despite money being available.
• Concerns about the cost of staffing and running the units long term, after construction costs met.
• Had to combat significant opposition from unions, local residents, lobbyists, MPs, etc.:
– a review of reports into serious untoward incidents from four RSUs over 4 years found no
measurable effect on serious crime rates in the local community (Gradillas et al., 2007).
• Problems with staffing and running costs.
• Forensic psychiatrists were often not involved in construction or service development until late
stages.
• Ideas about models of care provision changed with experience, but often too late to change plans
that were already in the late stages of development.
The first RSU opened in Middlesbrough in 1980, followed by units in Devon, Trent and
Mersey in 1983:
• By 1990, 600 of the 1000 proposed had been opened.
Eventually RSUs became established, and regional forensic psychiatry services built up
around them, providing a broad range of services:
• Psychiatric input in prisons.
• Court liaison and diversion schemes.
• Providing management advice to general psychiatry.
• Community follow-up in some cases.
The Reed Review

The broad remit for the Reed Review was to examine the health and social services pro-
vided to mentally disordered offenders (MDOs) and those non-offenders with similar needs.
This was in the context of changes in the structure of the NHS, along with ongoing con-
cerns about the difficulties in dealing with such offenders.
3
The review proposed important guiding principles to underpin care of these patients:
• Patients should be cared for as far as possible in the community, rather than institutional settings.
• Conditions of security should be no greater than could be justified by the danger posed to
themselves or to others.
• Care should be provided as near as possible to the patient’s home or family.
The final report (Department of Health and Home Office, 1992) made nearly 300 recom-
mendations:
• Formal arrangements for cooperation between the various agencies involved (health, social care,
criminal justice) should be put in place.
• Specialized teams for dealing with mentally disordered offenders should be established, with a
broad multidisciplinary staff.
• The application of the care programme approach (CPA) to mentally disordered offenders, including
those released from prison and those returned to prison after hospital treatment.
• Effort should be made to address the over-representation of ethnic minorities among MDOs.
• A new national target of 1500 medium secure beds proposed, with expansion in training and
recruitment of forensic psychiatrists and related professions.
Impact of the Reed recommendations

• Raised awareness of the issue and Government-acknowledged need.
• Some court diversion schemes established at a local level.
• Increased funding for medium secure beds:
– Butler target of 1000 beds was met in 1996
– approximately 2000 beds by 1999, 500 of which were provided outside the NHS (Coid et al.,
2001).
● Principles of Security
The Reed Report described three domains of security:
• Physical security:
– aspects of environment and building design that support containment and safety
– includes the secure perimeter, design and management of the entry point, locking of doors,
window design, alarm systems, etc.
• Relational security:
– the quality of the relationship between patient and carers, enabling a detailed and in-depth
knowledge of patients, their history, their reason for admission and progress to date
– allows early detection of alterations in presentation which might herald increased risk
– security and treatment closely linked.
• Procedural security:
– ‘The methodology or systems by which patients are managed and safe security maintained’
(Exworthy and Gunn, 2003)
– policies and practices governing patient movement and observation, such as maintaining a list
of contraband items, restricting access to potential weapons (‘sharps’), screening and approving
visitors, searching patients before and after leave, routine searches of wards for contraband items
– also includes higher level clinical and professional governance arrangements, major incident
planning, investigation of serious incidents, communication of lessons learned, etc.
The distinction between levels of security is shown in Table 1.1 and discussed further in
Kennedy (2002) and Crichton (2009).
4
Principles of Security
Table 1.1 Security characteristics at different levels of security

Low Medium High
Physical National Standards Guidance Traditionally designed to be Equivalent to a category
gives considerable latitude ‘escape-retardant’; current B prison – designed to be
depending on the population expectations are to deter all escape-proof
served, but all security but the most determined
measures should be discreet escapers
Standard hospital perimeter, 5.2 m high perimeter – close- 6 m high wall
with enclosed garden mesh fence or connecting
buildings
Daily checks of the perimeter
Dedicated entry point, not Entry through an ‘air lock’, Entry through dedicated
through rest of hospital; controlled by reception gate lodge, including X-ray
airlock is recommended machine and metal detector
Clear lines of sight, and Staff electronic keys may allow CCTV covering entire site
appropriate space/door size monitoring of movement.
for physical interventions May have some CCTV
Solid-core, outward opening Doors secured with standard All doors secured with prison
doors, mostly lockable. locks or magnetic locking specification locks
Window opening restricted to device
less than 125 mm
Wall-mounted alarms and/or Individual personal alarms provided for all staff
personal alarms for staff
Procedural Dedicated security staff Some units have a dedicated Dedicated security team
unlikely security team supporting clinical teams
Rub down searching may take place on return from Routine use of rub-down
community leave, otherwise not used routinely searches
No routine monitoring of telephone calls and no Mental Routine monitoring of patient
Health Act (MHA) power to interfere with mail telephone calls and mail
Fewer restrictions on items Tight restrictions on items Tight restrictions on items
and those with a specific allowed in the hospital allowed within the secure
purpose in rehabilitation (potential weapons, com- perimeter
(e.g. access to computers munication devices, etc.). There
or mobile phones) may be may be some flexibility for
permitted staff and in non-clinical areas
Visiting controlled as in Visitors subject to approval Visiting restricted with careful
general hospital-locked wards process, but generally less vetting beforehand. Visits are
rigorous than high security. closely supervised by security
Visits supervised by nursing staff
staff
Depending on the nature Many patients will have Relatively few patients have
of the unit, patients may regular leave outside the leave outside the hospital
have considerable access to hospital, either escorted or perimeter except for essential
community unescorted visits (e.g. hospital
appointments)
Relational Lower nursing numbers than Increased nurse : patient ratio
medium and high security
Detailed documentation Relatively long admissions Dedicated security team
and regular meetings of all allow more detailed collects security-related data
clinical team members to knowledge of patients over and information
discuss cases time to be accrued Long admissions allow
The range of environment detailed knowledge of a
within medium security, from patient to be gathered,
acute or intensive care wards albeit only within a highly
to rehab wards with extensive controlled environment
community leave, provides a
particularly rich knowledge
5
The differential impact of ‘security creep’

The last 10 years has seen an incremental increase in the level of security provided in secure
hospitals, together with, for medium secure units, a reduction in the level of political/mana-
gerial tolerance for escapes and absconds. In particular:
• The Tilt Report (Tilt et al., 2000) made recommendations to increase the physical and procedural
security at the three high secure hospitals.
• The national specification for medium secure services (Department of Health, 2007) has increased
the physical security requirements for medium secure services.
This inexorable shift in the direction of increased security should be seen in the context of
the changing socio-political climate, with increased risk-aversion, more punitive sentenc-
ing, and the political drive to increase rates of MHA detention for those deemed dangerous.
Reports, inquiries and managers tend to give greater emphasis to physical and procedural
than to relational security measures. Physical and procedural security measures are:
• conceptually simpler and more tangible
• easier to articulate and therefore recommend
• easier to achieve
• easier to measure, audit and demonstrate.
Increasing physical and procedural security risks less effective relational security, because:
• the range of environments in which the patient is managed is more limited
• there are fewer opportunities for therapeutic risk taking and testing out
• an over-emphasis on demonstrating readily auditable physical and procedural security reduces the
attention given to relational security.
Consequently, medium secure care environments have become more restrictive and less like
the community. The gap that must be bridged by rehabilitation has become wider.
• Low secure units, originally conceived as providing primarily long-term care, have begun to seek to
fill that rehabilitative gap.
• This forensic version of functionalization in itself has important implications for continuity of care
and relational security.
● Current Secure Hospital Provision

Recent figures for the size of the forensic population/secure bed provision include:
• Forensic patient population increased from 2650 in 1997 to nearly 4000 in July 2007.
• In 2005, 2886 NHS beds and 1827 independent sector secure beds (Rutherford and Duggan, 2007).
• In 2007, 3022 NHS and 1913 independent sector secure beds (BBC, 2008).
• In 2009 there were a daily average of 3438 secure NHS beds available across all three levels
of security (figures available at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Statistics/
Performancedataandstatistics/Beds/DH_083781).
High secure services

The three high secure hospitals are:
• Ashworth Hospital, Maghull, Liverpool; approx 275 beds
• Rampton Hospital, Retford, Nottinghamshire; approx 370 beds:
– includes the national high secure services for women, learning disability and the deaf.
6
Current Secure Hospital Provision
• Broadmoor Hospital, Crowthorne, Berkshire; 260 beds.
Patients are admitted to high security when they are considered to pose a ‘grave and im-
mediate danger’ to the public. This decision may be based on:
• having been charged with or convicted of a grave offence, including those with sadistic or sexual
motive
• the immediacy of risk to others if they were at large
• evidence of a capacity to coordinate an organized escape attempt, or engage in subversion of
staff.
Cases with a high national profile are also likely to be admitted to high security, on the
basis that an ‘abscond from hospital would seriously undermine confidence in the criminal
justice system’.
In previous years the high secure hospitals were subjected to much criticism, the prob-
lems perhaps resulting in part from the nature of the patient group and the professional and
managerial isolation from other parts of the NHS. In particular, at Ashworth Hospital:
• The Blom-Cooper Report in 1992 (Blom-Cooper et al., 1992) was highly critical of the culture and
abusive practices that were uncovered. It found evidence of systematic mistreatment and abuse of
patients, and failures of management throughout the organization.
• The Fallon Inquiry report in 1994 (Department of Health, 1994) identified severe shortcomings
in the running of the personality disorder service. Patients were discovered to have been dealing
in drugs, alcohol and pornography and security had been compromised to a large extent. There
was also evidence of widespread corruption. The report again strongly criticized the management
of the service and the hospital and recommended its complete closure, although this did not take
place.
Since then, the management of each high secure hospital has been brought into that of the
local NHS provider; the high secure services are managed as one part of a range of secure
services in that region. There has also been significant retraction in services since 2000
(Abbott et al., 2005):
• due to projections of reduced need for high secure care as a result of increased provision in medium
security
• high secure beds reduced from 1276 in 2000 to 879 in 2009 (Hansard, 2010)
• movement of patients into regional services for long-term care
• rehabilitation of patients through medium and low secure services where appropriate.
Medium secure services

There are currently in the region of 3500 medium secure beds across NHS and independent
sector providers. Medium secure units provide the mainstay of forensic psychiatric inpatient
care, and are often the regional centres in which other forensic outreach, prison inreach and
liaison services are based.
The original expectation that admissions would be for 18 months to 2 years is no longer
valid:
• Long-term medium secure beds have been provided for those patients who require long-term care
in such conditions, including some previously housed in high security.
• For others the duration of admission has increased significantly beyond this.
The Department of Health has issued a formal specification for medium secure services
(Department of Health, 2007):
7
• Seven key domains – safety, clinical and cost-effectiveness, governance, patient focus, accessible
and responsive care, care environment and amenities, public health.
• For each domain a number of specific quality principles, with specified measures of performance
and evidence required.
• Used as a basis for the evaluation of quality of care provided in medium secure services.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists has established a ‘Quality Network for Foren-
sic Mental Health Services’ which provides a peer review process based on the Depart-
ment of Health standards (http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/quality/quality,accreditationaudit/
forensicmentalhealth.aspx)
Bed numbers have continued to increase and more specialized services developed:
• Provided by a mixture of NHS and independent sector providers.
• Specialized services for women, forensic CAMHS, older adults, autistic spectrum disorder (ASD),
etc.
Low secure services

In contrast to medium secure units, low secure provision has developed organically, without
any clear statement of need or policy, mostly over the last 10–15 years.
• There are no reliable data on numbers, and the services provided in low security are diverse.
National minimum standards for psychiatric intensive care units (PICUs) and low security
developed by the Department of Health (2002):
• Defined as services delivering ‘intensive, comprehensive and multidisciplinary treatment and care
by qualified staff for patients who demonstrate disturbed behaviour in the context of a serious
mental disorder and who require the provision of security’.
• Set standards for all aspects of the units including physical design and layout, service structure,
involvement of patients and carers, policies and procedures, clinical audit, etc.
• Envisioned to provide longer-term care (around 2 years) as compared with 8 weeks for PICUs.
Low secure services have evolved into a combination of active rehabilitation and long-term
facilities, providing
• a step-down from medium security into the community, allowing for extended community
rehabilitation
• long-term care for those in medium security who are unlikely to be successfully discharged into the
community due to the nature of their illness and ongoing risks
• a sideways move from PICUs for those who require longer-term care in such conditions.
Recent papers have suggested that a large expansion in low secure bed numbers is needed to
match the expansion in medium security and provide suitable pathways into the community
(Beer, 2008; O’Grady, 2008; Turner and Salter, 2008).
● Forensic Community Services

The Reed Report recommended the development of forensic community services but gener-
ally this lagged behind the RSU programme.
In contrast to general, psychiatric, functionalized community teams there are no agreed
standards for forensic community teams, and there is considerable variation in service
model between forensic services:
8
Commissioning Arrangements and the Independent Sector
• No community service, all inpatients passing from secure care to general psychiatric teams for
community follow-up, either with or without an intervening period of general psychiatric inpatient
care.
• Parallel model, in which a distinct forensic community team carries care programme approach
(CPA) responsibility for a defined case load of patients. This provides the clearest demarcation of
roles and responsibilities.
• Integrated model, in which the forensic community team works within general psychiatric
community teams, supporting them in managing their ‘forensic’ patients:
– may reduce stigma associated with being a forensic patient
– encourages development of skills in general psychiatric teams (Whittle and Scally, 1998).
• Consultation and liaison models. Most forensic services provide this service to general psychiatric
colleagues either on a traditional medical referral basis, or in the form of a distinct and specifically
commissioned forensic liaison service:
– the development of such services was given renewed impetus by the Bradley Report (Department
of Health, 2009).
● Commissioning Arrangements and the

Independent Sector
Commissioning is the process by which most services in the NHS are developed and funded:
• Defined by the Audit Commission as ‘the process of securing and monitoring services to meet
individuals’ needs at a strategic level’.
• ‘Purchasers’ are given control of money.
• Services for patients are purchased from ‘providers’ (usually NHS organizations, but also includes
independent sector).
Up until 2011, the purchasers for most services were primary care trusts (PCTs). However,
most secure services were classed as specialist services:
• Regional Specialized Commissioning Teams, based within strategic health authorities (SHAs),
negotiated with all the purchasers within the region to commission a regional service.
• This means that the provider does not have to negotiate with a series of different purchasers at
once.
• In most cases the ‘preferred provider’ is the NHS service, but where necessary due to capacity
issues or a particular clinical need, the commissioning teams also negotiate and agree contracts
with independent sector providers.
• The commissioning team has a responsibility to ensure that the services provided to the patients of
that region is of high quality.
Some particularly specialist services, were commissioned nationally due to the relatively
small demand and high complexity:
• The National Commissioning Group (NCG) was responsible for this (http://www.ncg.nhs.uk).
• Mostly complex medical and surgical problems (pancreas transplants, amyloidosis, etc.).
• Secure forensic mental health services for young people (otherwise known as forensic CAMHS) were
commissioned on this basis by the NCG.
Reorganizations are frequent, mostly varying the nature of the purchasers:

• The 2011 reforms (Department of Health, 2010) proposed abolition of PCTs, which had previously
commissioned most services, and SHAs which had commissioned specialist services such as secure
psychiatric care:
9
– establishment of GP consortia to take over as the main commissioners

– secure psychiatric care would continue to be commissioned regionally, through the central NHS
Commissioning Board.
The relationship between the NHS and independent sector

According to Murphy and Sugarman (2010) the independent sector now provides more
than half of the medium secure beds nationally:
• Mostly generic secure mental illness services, but also include services for personality disorder and
some other specialist needs.
The regional NHS service usually provides a ‘gate-keeping’ service to the commissioning
team, carrying out clinical assessments of the needs of patients referred for secure care.
Where the NHS service either lacks capacity, or cannot address some particular need, an
alternative independent provider is sought. Historically, independent sector placements
tended to be more expensive than the NHS, but this difference has declined in recent years.
NHS services continue, generally, to provide a more comprehensive service than inde-
pendent providers, who tend to concentrate just on inpatient care. For some, the establish-
ment of the independent sector as providing a major contribution to forensic psychiatric
services in the UK is a matter of political or economic concern. See Murphy and Sugarman
(2010) and Pollock (2010).
References
Abbott P, Davenport S, Davies S, Nimmagadda SR, O’Halloran A, Tattan T. (2005) Potential effects of
retractions of the high-security hospitals. Psychiatric Bulletin 29, 403–6
BBC. (2008) Today Program, ‘Mental Health Care Escapes “horrifying”’, 9 September 2008
Beer D. (2008) Psychiatric intensive care and low secure units: where are we now? Psychiatric Bulletin
32(12), 441–3
Blom-Cooper L, Brown M, Dolan R, Murphy E. (1992) Report of the Committee of Inquiry into com-
plaints about Ashworth Hospital. Cmnd 202. London: HMSO
Bowden P. (1996) Graham Young (1947–90); the St Albans poisoner: his life and times. Criminal
Behaviour and Mental Health 6, 17–24
Coid J, Nadji K, Gault S, Cook A, Jarman B. (2001) Medium secure forensic psychiatry services. Com-
parison of seven English health regions. British Journal of Psychiatry 178, 55–61
*Crichton JHM. (2009) Defining high, medium, and low security in forensic mental healthcare: the
development of the Matrix of Security in Scotland. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology
20(3), 333–53
Department of Health. (1994) Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Personality Disorder Unit,
Ashworth Special Hospital (The Fallon Inquiry). London: The Stationery Office
Department of Health. (2002) Mental Health Policy Implementation Guide. National Minimum
Standards for General Adult Services in Psychiatric Intensive Care Units (PICU) and Low Secure
Environments. London: Department of Health
*Department of Health. (2007) Best Practice Guidance: Specification for adult medium-secure serv-
ices. London: Department of Health
Department of Health. (2009) The Bradley Report: Lord Bradley’s review of people with mental
health problems or learning disabilities in the Criminal Justice System. London: Department of
Health
10
Commissioning Arrangements and the Independent Sector
Department of Health. (2010) Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS. London: The Stationery
Office
*Department of Health and the Home Office. (1992) Review of Health and Social Services for Men-
tally Disordered Offenders and Others Requiring Similar Services (The Reed Report). Cm 2088.
London: HMSO
Department of Health and Social Security. (1974) Revised Report of the Working Party of Security in
NHS Psychiatric Hospitals (Glancy Report). London: HMSO
Department of Health and Social Security. (1975) Report of the Committee of Mentally Abnormal
Offenders (Butler Report). London: HMSO
Exworthy T, Gunn J. (2003) Taking another tilt at high security hospitals. British Journal of Psychiatry
182, 469–71
Gradillas V, Williams A, Walsh E, Fahy T. (2007) Do forensic inpatient units pose a risk to local com-
munities? Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology 18(2), 261–5
Hansard. (2010) HC vol 505 col 1046W, 10 February 2010
Home Office and DHSS. (1974) Interim Report of the Committee on Mentally Abnormal Offenders
(Butler Report). London: HMSO
Kennedy HG. (2002) Therapeutic uses of security: mapping forensic mental health services by strati-
fying risk. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 8, 433–43
Ministry of Health. (1961) Special Hospitals: Report of a Working Party (Emery Report). London:
Ministry of Health.
Ministry of Health. (1964) Report of the Working Party on the Organisation of the Prison Medical
Service (Gwynne Report). London: Ministry of Health.
Murphy E, Sugarman P. (2010) Should mental health services fear the independent sector: no. British
Medical Journal 341, 5385
O’Grady J. (2008) Time to talk. Commentary on … forensic psychiatry and general psychiatry. Psy-
chiatric Bulletin 32(1), 6–7
Pollock A. (2010) Should mental health services fear the independent sector: yes. British Medical
Journal 341, c5382
Rutherford M, Duggan S. (2007) ‘Forensic Factfile 2007’: Forensic Mental Health Services: Facts and
figures on current provision. Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health. Available at: http://www.centre-
formentalhealth.org.uk/publications/forensic.aspx?ID=526
Scott P. (1974) Solutions to the problem of the dangerous offender. British Medical Journal 4(5495),
640–1
Snowden P. (1985) A survey of the Regional Secure Unit Programme. British Journal of Psychiatry
147, 499–507
Tilt R, Perry B, Martin C. (2000) Report of the Review of Security at the High Security Hospitals.
London: Department of Health.
Turner T, Salter M. (2008) Forensic psychiatry and general psychiatry: re-examining the relationship.
Psychiatric Bulletin 32(1), 2–6.
Whittle M, Scally M. (1998) Model of forensic community care. Psychiatric Bulletin 22, 748–50
11
2
Entry into
Secure Care
Mental health problems are common, and offending is common:
• In 2006, 15% of people (24% of males, 6% of females) between 10 and 52 years had at least
one conviction.
• Of males born in 1973, 29% had been convicted before the age of 30 (Ministry of Justice, 2010a).
Overlap is inevitable.
There is no agreed definition of a ‘forensic patient’, the specialty having developed prag-
matically, driven by clinicians and public policy, rather than from a cohesive body of research,
a treatment approach or a defining pathology. Movement between forensic and general psy-
chiatric services is fluid, and often dependent on local provision and organization:
• Assertive outreach team (AOT) patients have many criminogenic needs in terms of socio-economic
disadvantage, substance misuse and a history of offending (Priebe et al., 2003).
• In a small European study Hodgins et al. (2006) found no difference between discharged forensic
and general psychiatric patients on HCR-20 or PCL-R scores. A history of serious physical violence
towards others, including violent crimes and physical violence which had not resulted in legal
sanction, seemed to distinguish the forensic group.
● Sources of Referrals
Referrals to forensic services may be:
• for diversion from the criminal justice system (CJS) (prisons, courts, police stations)
• to consider movement between levels of security:
– up, usually from general psychiatric wards
– down, from high security or medium security, or
– sideways between services to address some specific need
• for ‘gate-keeping’ assessments for specialist services within or outside of the NHS
• for a second opinion on diagnosis/risk/management.
Admission rates to high and medium secure hospitals demonstrate a linear correlation with
levels of socio-economic deprivation in patients’ catchment areas of origin (Coid, 1998):
• So demands on urban forensic services will be higher.
Most patients entering secure care are diverted from a custodial setting:
• Coid and Kahtan (2001) described a sample of 2608 admissions to 7 regional secure units (RSUs)
between 1988 and 1994. The pre-admission locations were:
12
Diversion from CJS
– 39–65% from prison

– 11–26% from psychiatric hospitals
– 3–40% from community, including police stations
– 6–19% from high secure hospitals.
• It is likely that there has been some change in these patterns in the intervening years. Anecdotally,
the proportion of patients admitted to medium security from prison is higher now than it was then.
• Jamieson et al. (2000) looked at high secure admissions between 1986 and 1995. Women were
more likely than men to be admitted from other hospitals than as prison transfers:
Source of referral Male (%) Female (%)

Prison 41 21
Courts 35 37
Hospital 21 40
Table 2.1 Some factors relevant to deciding the appropriate level of security (adapted from
Department of Health, 2007; Kennedy, 2002)
High secure Medium secure Low secure/psychiatric intensive
care unit (PICU)
Grave offence, especially Serious offence or past failed History of non-violent offending
sadistic or sexual placements at lower level behaviour
Immediate danger to others if Danger to others would be less immediate
in community
Risk is predominantly to others Mix of risk to others/challenging
behaviour/deliberate self-harm
Significant capacity to Significant risk of escape or Low risk of absconding
coordinate outside help for an absconding, or
escape attempt or absconding Pre-sentence for serious charge
would undermine confidence
in the criminal justice system
Unpredictable relationship Recovery likely to be prolonged, Acute illness, likely to respond
between risk and mental state some risks remain even when well promptly to treatment
Previously unmanageable in Previously unmanageable in low Previously unmanageable on open
medium security security/PICU ward
● Diversion from CJS

The policy objective of diversion from custody encourages the removal of people with men-
tal disorders from the CJS to a suitable hospital or community placement where they can
receive treatment:
• This reflects a social consensus that sick people should be treated rather than punished (James et
al., 2002).
Contemporary diversion policy began with Home Office Circular 66/90:
• Set out the Government’s policy to divert mentally disordered persons from the CJS in cases where
the public interest did not require a prosecution.
• Non-penal disposals were encouraged where a prosecution was necessary.
Subsequently:
• The Reed Report (Department of Health and Home Office, 1992):
– recommended nationwide provision of court diversion schemes
– recommended alternative community provisions for mentally disordered offenders
– led to an increase in the number of prisoner transfers to hospital.
13
Entry into Secure Care
Box 2.1 Assessment of referrals for admission from a setting of

lower security or CJS
Before the assessment it is important to ensure that the funding stream is established and allocation of
the case is correct. Establishing the relevant commissioner is explained for prison transfers in Department
of Health (2007), and is based on, in order:
• the patient’s GP or their address if unregistered
• the area in which their offence occurred if they had no address/GP
• the area in which the prison is located if usually resident outside the UK.
Ensure that you know what the referrer wants:
• It is common for a referral letter to seek a general ‘forensic opinion’, without explicating what the refer-
ring team is really hoping for. This is especially likely to be true where a trainee has written the letter.
• Speak to the referring consultant, so that you know what the real issues are and understand the urgency
of the referral.
Consider:
• Whether there is additional information that needs to be supplied in advance of the assessment.
• Who should carry out the assessment and whether more than one discipline is required.
• The need for a collateral history and facilitate this if possible – for example, by asking the patient to
bring a carer to an outpatient appointment, or ensuring that their keyworker will be present when you
assess an inpatient.
Before seeing the patient:
• Review the case notes, noting in particular incidents and precipitants of violence/aggression, apparent
changes in mental state, periods of leave, use of drugs/alcohol, medication changes, level of engage-
ment in treatment, subversive behaviours.
• Discuss these areas of inquiry with nursing staff, and understand any dynamic issues with particular
staff, with other individual patients, or relating to the current mix of patients on the ward as a whole.
• Consider safety issues relating to interviewing this patient, and the interview room itself. Make any
adjustments that you consider necessary.
The interview needs to be flexible and adaptable according to the presentation/mental state of the
patient and the desired outcome:
• For assessments already in secure services, make use of existing detailed reports for background history
and concentrate on current clinical and dynamic factors important to your decision-making.
• Particularly concentrate on the level of insight and understanding of mental illness and offending, the
level of engagement in treatment and likely motivations, their aims for the future and their conceptual-
ization of a pathway to achieve these.
• Assessments of patients in the CJS are more likely to require a full background history from the patient
and other informants.
Always remember to make an entry in the case notes to record your assessment and ensure that any
immediate concerns , either related to mental state or risk, are effectively communicated to those with
ongoing responsibility for the patient’s care.
After the assessment take your time to assimilate all the information and discuss within the multi-
disciplinary team. You need to consider:
• The patient’s diagnosis, the likely effectiveness of treatment in the current setting and the impact that
this will have on risk behaviours.
• Risks of violence to others (see Chapter 6) but also to self, of absconding/escaping and perhaps other
idiosyncratic risks.
• What enhanced measures might be employed in the current setting to manage these risks.
• Whether they are manageable within the current setting until treatment is likely to have been effective.
• The likely effectiveness of treatment within the proposed setting.
• Any idiosyncratic treatment needs that would require specific planning or referral to a specialist service.
14
Diversion from CJS
Deciding on whether a patient (1) should be admitted and (2) if no to what level of security are complex
clinical judgements with no simple determining factors:
• therefore your opinion should be circumspect, open-minded and, where appropriate, should specify the
circumstances in which you would want to review the case.
Assessing a referral for transfer from higher security

This follows the same principles as described above and many of the same issues are relevant. In relation
to incidents of violence, other risk behaviours and subversion, you need to make a judgement about
whether an apparent decline or cessation is due to positive clinical change or simply due to the highly
restricted environment:
• A period of testing at lower security may still be appropriate if it seems to be the latter, but you are likely
to proceed more cautiously.
You need particularly to consider the likely cost of escape or absconding, which will become considerably
more possible with a move down to medium or low security:
• You must understand how much leave they have had and how restrictive this has been.
There should be adequate background history already available. Use your assessment to:
• clarify any gaps or queries in their background, or changes in how they see their history consequent to
therapy in hospital
• understand exactly what therapy they have engaged in, and what impact this has had
• understand their current clinical state, particularly their level of engagement and degree of insight into
their disorder and offending
• formulate any change in risk behaviours that is evident
• think about and specify outstanding rehabilitative needs.
• The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Prison Health (2006) concluded that ‘a fundamental shift in
thinking’ was required to decriminalize the mentally ill, transferring their care from the CJS to health.
• The Bradley Report (Department of Health, 2009) recommended nationwide provision of court
diversion schemes and the establishment of Criminal Justice Mental Health Teams (CJMHTs) to:
– ensure continuity of care for individuals in contact with CJS
– identify and divert mentally disordered offenders (MDOs) as early as possible.
• The policy drive of the 2010 Coalition Government to reduce overcrowding in prisons was often
justified by the need to divert the mentally disordered out of the CJS.
The evidence is that the ‘organizational embedding’ of diversion and liaison schemes is
often poor, leading to doubts about the sustainability of individual schemes (Pakes and
Winstone, 2010).
There has sometimes been a tendency to dichotomize the ill and the criminals, such
that psychiatric treatment and prosecution are seen as mutually exclusive. This is discussed
further in relation to prosecuting inpatient violence in Chapter 16.
• Always remember that diversion does not require the discontinuation of criminal proceedings.
• Very often both treatment and prosecution should proceed in parallel.
Diversion in practice
An MDO may be diverted from:
• the police station (at the point of arrest)
• the magistrates’ court
• prison.
15
Diversion from the police station is discussed in Chapter 16. Most such cases will not re-
quire secure care and will be admitted to PICUs or open wards.
Court diversion schemes

Magistrates’ courts are a good point for diversion because they are a filter through which all
charged cases must pass at an early stage (James, 1999):
• On the recommendation of the Reed Report a number of schemes were set up locally, but without
any central commissioning or framework.
• So nationwide coverage has not been achieved and services have developed in a piecemeal and
haphazard way (Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, 2009).
• The Bradley Report (Department of Health, 2009) provided a further impetus, again without
provision of funds.
Potential effects of a court diversion scheme include:
• reduced reoffending and improved mental health outcomes:
– savings of >£20 000 per case in reduced CJS costs and reduction in reoffending (Sainsbury
Centre for Mental Health, 2009)
• reduced delay in receiving treatment:
– identification at court reduced the mean time between arrest and admission from 50 days to 8
days (James and Hamilton, 1992)
• increased admissions to hospital from court (four-fold for James and Hamilton, 1992), leading to an
increased demand for beds.
According to Joseph (1994), psychiatric assessment at court has other advantages:
• More information is available to the psychiatrist.
• There is greater liaison with other professionals (e.g. solicitors and probation officers).
• There is the opportunity to discuss the possibility of discontinuance with the CPS where a seriously
mentally ill individual has been charged with a relatively minor offence.
Most patients diverted from court do not require a secure service. Kingham and Corfe (2005)
reported that the need for a secure bed led to an 8- to 12-week delay in hospitalization.
An early court diversion scheme in central London was described by Joseph and Potter
(1990, 1993). They reported that, of 201 psychiatric examinations:
• 75% had previously been detained in hospital
• 77% had a previous criminal record, more than half of whom had previously been imprisoned
• Schizophrenia was the most common diagnosis (39%)
• 34% were considered unfit to plead
• 65 patients were admitted to hospital, 1 to an RSU and the rest to unlocked wards, from where
46% absconded.
They concluded that:
• admissions should generally be to locked wards
• psychotic patients benefitted most from diversion.
Although they are often conflated, diversion should be distinguished from liaison:
• Diversion schemes require the active participation of at least one psychiatrist (and an approval
mental health professional [AMHP] for civil detention)
• Liaison schemes are often nurse-led and aim to:
– identify offenders who require diversion, and
– liaise with secondary mental health providers who will undertake diversion.
16
Diversion from CJS
Prison transfers
The provision of mental health care in prisons is discussed in Chapter 19. Despite the great
improvements in prison health care over the last 10 years, prisoners with severe mental ill-
ness generally require to be transferred out to a hospital setting.
• According to the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (2009) 97% of restricted transferred prisoners
are admitted to medium or high security.
• The increased frequency of transfers reported by Hotopf et al. (2000) may have been due to:
– increasing size of the prison population
– more psychiatrists visiting prisons
– limited availability making it is easier to coordinate admissions to secure beds from prison than
court (Birmingham, 2001).
As a result of these pressures, waiting times for admission have increased:
• 42 prisoners per quarter waited more than 3 months for transfer from prison to hospital in England
in 2006 (Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, 2009).
• A pilot study investigating the feasibility of a 14-day transfer standard (Royal College of
Psychiatrists, 2010) found:
– the mean waiting time for transfer was 29 days; the median was 18 days.
• An observational study at HMP Brixton (Forrester et al., 2009) found:
– mean wait of 102 days
– 20% were referred, assessed and transferred within a month.
The Bradley Report (Department of Health, 2009) recommended a minimum target of 14

days for the transfer of prisoners with severe mental illness.
Transfers late in sentence

It is common for professionals in prison to become concerned about a prisoner’s mental
health or risk close to the point at which they are to be released:
• The prospect of release sensitizes professionals to risk.

• Pre-release assessments may uncover a previously undetected problem.
• The prospect of release may be a stressor for some, leading to deterioration in mental health.
Clinically, detention close to expected release is undesirable, because it is likely negatively

to affect initial engagement with treatment.
Transfers to hospital should not be sought in order to prolong an individual’s time in
detention on risk grounds:
• In R (on the application of TF) v Secretary of State for Justice [2008] EWCA Civ 1457, the Court of
Appeal held, in relation to a young offender with personality disorder, that:
if the decision is being taken … right at the end of sentence … a decision to direct transfer
cannot simply be taken on the grounds that a convicted person will be a danger to the
public if released … but can only be taken on the grounds that his medical condition & its
treatability … justify the decision.
• In response to this judgment, the Mental Health Unit will turn down requests for transfers late in
sentence unless there is good evidence that hospital treatment will be of benefit to the prisoner and
there are good reasons why transfer could not have been achieved earlier in sentence (e.g. recent
deterioration in a patient’s condition or recent onset of serious mental illness).
17
• Such cases may be dealt with by detention under s2 or s3:

– the papers may be completed in advance of release from prison
– the prison authority is able to transfer to hospital.
● Admissions Under Part 3 of the Mental Health

Act 1983
Amendments introduced by the Mental Health Act 2007
Part 3 of the Act was not significantly amended itself, but some changes impact upon the
detention of those concerned in criminal proceedings or under sentence. In particular:
• A single definition of mental disorder replaces the previous four categories, and removes the
exclusion of sexual deviance.
• Mental disorder means ‘any disorder or disability of mind’, but:
– dependence on alcohol or drugs is not considered a mental disorder
– a learning-disabled person is not mentally disordered unless their disability is associated with
‘abnormally aggressive or seriously irresponsible conduct’.
• Abolition of the ‘treatability’ test:
– The introduction of the ‘appropriate medical treatment’ test, together with the broad definition
of medical treatment in ss3(4) and 145(4), which preserves existing case law, means that this
change is of limited impact.
• The responsible medical officer (RMO) is replaced by the responsible clinician (RC), who need no
longer be a registered medical practitioner (RMP).
Admissions by court order prior to sentencing

Section 35 – Remand to hospital for report
A defendant convicted of or awaiting trial for an offence punishable with imprisonment
(unless convicted of murder).
Magistrates’ or Crown court:
• is satisfied on the written or oral evidence of one s12(2) approved RMP that there is ‘reason to
suspect that the accused person is suffering from mental disorder’
• ‘It would be impracticable for a report … to be made … on bail’
• is satisfied on the evidence of the RC or representative of the managers of the hospital that the
patient will be admitted within 7 days
Duration of 28 days, renewable on the evidence of the RC, up to maximum of 12 weeks. Not
subject to consent to treatment, so there is no power to treat compulsorily.
Section 36 – Remand to hospital for treatment

A defendant in custody awaiting trial or sentencing for an offence punishable with impris-
onment (other than murder).
A Crown court is satisfied:
• on the written or oral evidence of two RMPs, one s12(2) approved:
– that ‘he is suffering from mental disorder of a nature or degree which makes it appropriate for
him to be detained in a hospital for medical treatment’, and
– appropriate medical treatment is available
• on the evidence of the RC or representative of the managers of the hospital that they will be
admitted within 7 days.
18
Admissions Under Part 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983
Duration of 28 days, renewable on the evidence of the RC, up to maximum of 12 weeks.

Subject to consent to treatment provisions of the Act.
Section 38 – interim hospital order

A defendant who has been convicted of an offence punishable with imprisonment (other
than murder).
A Crown court is satisfied:
• on the written or oral evidence of two RMPs, one s12(2) approved, one of whom is employed in the
admitting hospital:
– ‘that the offender is suffering from mental disorder’, and
– there is reason to suppose that it ‘is such that it may be appropriate for a hospital order to be
made’
• on the evidence of the RC or representative of the managers of the hospital that they will be
admitted within 28 days.
Maximum initial duration of 12 weeks, renewable for 28-day periods, on the evidence of the
RC, to maximum of 1 year. Subject to consent to treatment.
For ss35, 36 and 38:

• patients are not required to attend court for renewal hearings, so long as they are legally
represented
• the court may direct that the person be taken to a place of safety, pending admission within the
statutory period.
Section 44 – Committal to hospital under section 43 hospital order

Where a magistrates’ court refers a case to the Crown court for the purpose of making a
restriction order, and is satisfied that the criteria for a hospital order are in place, the court
may direct the offender to be admitted until the Crown court deals with the case.
The patient is treated as though detained under s37/41.
MHA sentences available to criminal courts

Section 37 – Hospital order
A defendant convicted of an offence punishable with imprisonment, other than murder:
• Note s37(3), which provides that a magistrates’ court may make such an order without convicting
him, if it is satisfied that he ‘did the act or made the omission charged’.
A magistrates’ or Crown court:

• is satisfied on the written or oral evidence of two RMPs, one s12(2) approved:
– ‘that the offender is suffering from mental disorder’
– ‘of a nature or degree which makes it appropriate for him to be detained in a hospital for medical
treatment, and
– appropriate medical treatment is available for him’
• ‘is of the opinion, having regard to all the circumstances including the nature of the offence and
the character and antecedents of the offender … that the most suitable method of disposing of
the case’ is a hospital order
• is satisfied on the evidence of the RC or representative of the managers of the hospital that he will
be admitted within 28 days.
19
A restriction order under s41 may or may not be added. Once it has been made, an unre-
stricted hospital order operates much as a section 3, except that there is no right of appeal to
the first tier tribunal in the first 6 months and the nearest relative has no power to discharge.
• It may be renewed for 6 months in the first instance, and then annually.
Section 45A – Hospital direction and limitation direction

A defendant convicted of an offence punishable with imprisonment, other than murder.
Where a Crown court ‘considers making a hospital order … before deciding to impose a
sentence of imprisonment’, and:
• is satisfied on the written or oral evidence of two RMPs, one s12(2) approved, and one of whom
gives oral evidence:
– ‘that the offender is suffering from mental disorder’
– ‘of a nature or degree which makes it appropriate for him to be detained in hospital for medical
treatment’ and
– appropriate treatment is available for him
• is satisfied on the evidence of the RC or representative of the managers of the hospital that they
will be admitted within 28 days.
A hospital direction cannot be given without a limitation direction, which has much the
same effect as a restriction order under s41.
For both s37 and s45A, if it appears not practicable for them to be admitted to the
specified hospital, the Secretary of State may vary the hospital to which they will be
admitted.
Transfers from custody by warrant

Sentenced prisoners, or remand prisoners who require hospital treatment urgently, may be
transferred by warrant of the Secretary of State for Justice.
Section 47 – Removal to hospital of a sentenced prisoner

If the Secretary of State:
• is satisfied by reports from two RMPs, one s12(2) approved:
– that the offender is suffering from mental disorder
treatment’, and
• they may issue a transfer direction, which expires after 14 days.
If a restriction direction is made, it ends automatically on the day that the patient would
have been entitled to be released from custody:
• If the patient remains detained under a ‘notional s37’, which operates in the same way as an s3,
the patient may still be liable to detention in hospital under s47 of the MHA. This is equivalent to
being detained under s37 of the Act and is known as a ‘notional s37 hospital order’.
Section 48 – Removal to hospital of an unsentenced prisoner

Applicable to prisoners on remand from magistrates’ or Crown courts, immigration detain-
ees, and civil prisoners.
If the Secretary of State:
20
Admissions Under Part 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983
• is satisfied by reports from two RMPs, one s12(2) approved:

– that the offender is suffering from mental disorder
treatment’
– he is in urgent need of such treatment
• they may issue a transfer direction, which expires after 14 days.
A restriction direction (s49) must be made in the case of a remand prisoner, and may be
made for civil or immigration detainees.
The transfer direction ends automatically when the case is disposed of by the court
• If there is concern that an s48 patient may be released by the court, they may be made subject to
an s3 concurrently and prophylactically.
For both ss47 and 48:

• warrants under ss47 and 48 each expire after 14 days – admission must be completed within that
time or a fresh warrant will be required
• if a restriction direction is made, the transfer direction can specify that the patient be admitted to a
particular unit of a hospital
• the Ministry of Justice requires that:
– the warrant is issued within 2 months of the date of the medical reports, and
– the reports are dated within 2 weeks of the examination of the patient.
Restriction orders and restriction directions

Section 41 – Restriction order
A Crown court may add a restriction order to a hospital order:
• where ‘It appears to the court … that it is necessary for the “protection of the public from serious
harm”’
• after hearing oral evidence from one of the RMPs who recommended the hospital order.
A magistrates’ court may not make a restriction order, but it may commit a case to Crown
court where it is of the opinion that a restriction order should be made (s43 of the MHA
1983). The criteria for making a restriction order are considered in Chapter 20, in the con-
text of providing oral evidence.
The effect of the restriction order is that:
• the Part 2 rules relating to duration, renewal and expiration of the authority to detain do not apply
• provisions relating to SCT do not apply
• there are no nearest relatives powers
• leave of absence, transfer or discharge may only be granted by the RC or the hospital managers
with the consent of the Secretary of State
• the RC must provide at least annual reports to the Secretary of State.
Section 49 – Restriction direction

This has the same effect as s41, and is attached to an s47 or s48.
Limitation direction
A limitation direction (under s45A) is different from a restriction order in three respects:
21
• It ends when the patient would have been entitled to be released from prison (the hospital
direction may continue).
• While a limitation direction is in force, the offender may be removed to prison (criteria as for
remission of s47/48 – see Chapter 5).
• While a limitation direction is in force, discharge by the tribunal requires the consent of the
Secretary of State.
● Mental Health Act Statistics

The NHS Information Centre (2009) reported on rates of admissions to NHS and inde-
pendent sector beds in England for 2008–9. There were 28 673 admissions under the MHA,
2138 of which were under Part 3:
Section s35 s36 s37 s37/41 s45A s47 s47/49 s48 s48/49
Number 119 19 392 565 3 74 433 4 341
Use of part 3 of the MHA has been increasing in recent years, as shown in Figures 2.1 and
2.2.
The rate of increase in the prevalence of detained restricted patients has been greater
than in new admissions, implying that restricted patients are staying in hospital for longer.
In the calendar year 2008:
• there were 1501 new restricted admissions to hospital, of which 110 (7%) were to high secure
hospital
• these included 442 under s47, 484 under s48, 343 under s37/41, 2 under s45A, and 190 recalled
patients.
On 31 December 2008 there were a total of 3937 restricted patients in hospital:

• 88% were male
• including 703 under s47, 234 under s48, 2678 under s37/41, and 13 under s45A
• 3% were under 21, 49% were 21–39, 40% were 40–59, 8% were 60 years and above.
600
s37 (no s41)
s37/41
500 s47
s48
Number of detentions
400
300
200
100
0
2003–4 2004–5 2005–6 2006–7 2007–8 2008–9
Figure 2.1 Numbers of detentions under part 3 per year (data from the NHS Information Centre,
2009)
22
Mental Health Act Statistics
4500
No. of restricted patients in hospital
4000
No. of new restricted admissions
3500
Number of patients
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Figure 2.2 Restricted patients detained in hospital (Ministry of Justice, 2010b)
References
All-Party Parliamentary Group on Prison Health. (2006) The Mental Health Problem in UK HM Pris-
ons. London: House of Commons. Available at: http://nacro.org.uk/data/files/nacro-2006110801-
352.pdf
Birmingham L. (2001) Diversion from custody. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 7,198–207
Coid JW. (1998) Socio-economic deprivation and admission rates to secure forensic services Psychi-
atric Bulletin 22, 294–7
Coid J, Kahtan N. (2001) Medium secure forensic psychiatry services; comparison of seven English
health regions. British Journal of Psychiatry 178, 55–61
*Department of Health. (2007) Procedure for Transferring Prisoners to and from Hospital under Sec-
tions 47 & 48 of the Mental Health Act (1983). Available at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_
dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_081262.pdf
health problems or learning disabilities in the Criminal Justice System. London: Department of
Health
Department of Health and the Home Office. (1992) Review of Health and Social Services for Men-
tally Disordered Offenders and Others Requiring Similar Services (Reed Report). London: HMSO
Forrester A, Henderson C, Wilson S, Cumming I, Spyrou M, Parrott J. (2009) A suitable waiting room?
Hospital transfer outcomes & delays from two London prisons. Psychiatric Bulletin B, 409–12
Hodgins S, Muller-Isberner R, Allaire J-F. (2006) Attempting to understand the increase in numbers of
forensic beds in Europe: a multi-site study of patients in forensic and general psychiatric services.
International Journal of Forensic Mental Health 5(2), 173–84
Hotopf M, Wall S, Buchanan A, Wessely S, Churchill R. (2000) Changing patterns in the use of the
Mental Health Act 1983 in England, 1984–1996. British Journal of Psychiatry 176, 479–84
James D. (1999) Court diversion at 10 years: can it work, does it work and has it a future? Journal of
Forensic Psychiatry 10, 507–24
James DV, Hamilton LW. (1992) Setting up psychiatric liaison schemes to magistrates’ courts: prob-
lems and practicalities. Medicine Science & the Law 32,167–76
23
James D, Farnham F, Moorey H, Lloyd H, Hill K, Blizard R, Barnes TRE. (2002) Outcomes of Psychiatric
Admissions through the Courts. Home Office RDS Occasional paper 79. London: Home Office
Jamieson E, Butwell M, Taylor P, Leese M. (2000) Trends in special (high secure) hospitals: referrals
and admissions. British Journal of Psychiatry, 176, 253–9
Joseph P. (1994) Psychiatric assessment at the magistrates’ court: early intervention is needed in the
remand process. British Journal of Psychiatry 164, 722–4
Joseph P, Potter M. (1990) Mentally disordered homeless offenders – diversion from custody. Health
Trends 22, 51–3
Joseph P, Potter M. (1993) Diversion from custody II: effect on hospital and prison resources. British
Journal of Psychiatry 162, 330–4
Kennedy HG. (2002) Therapeutic uses of security: mapping forensic mental health services by strati-
fying risk. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 8, 433–43
Kingham M, Corfe M. (2005) Experiences of a mixed court diversion and liaison scheme. Psychiatric
Bulletin 29, 137–40
Ministry of Justice. (2010a) Conviction Histories of Offenders between the Ages of 10 and 52. Avail-
able at: http://www.justice.gov.uk/criminal-histories-bulletin.pdf
Ministry of Justice. (2010b) Statistics of Mentally Disordered Offenders 2008 England and Wales.
Available at: http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/mentally-disordered-offenders.htm
NHS Information Centre. (2009) In-patients Formally Detained in Hospitals under the Mental Health
Act 1983 and Patients Subject to Supervised Community Treatment: 1998–99 to 2008–09. Avail-
able at: http://www.ic.nhs.uk
Pakes F, Winstone J. (2010) A site visit of 101 mental health liaison and diversion schemes in Eng-
land. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology 21(6), 873–86
Priebe S, Fakhoury W, Watts J, Bebbington P, Burns T, Johnson S, et al. (2003) Assertive outreach
teams in London: patient characteristics and outcomes. British Journal of Psychiatry 183, 148–54
Royal College of Psychiatrists. (2010) Briefing Note: Consultation on Clinicians’ Experiences of Prison
Transfers. London: RCPsych.
Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health. (2009) Diversion: a better way for criminal justice & mental
health. Available at: http://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/criminal_justice/a_better_way.
aspx
24
3
Treatment and
Outcomes in Secure Care
The principles of providing psychiatric treatment in secure hospitals are no different from
providing psychiatric treatment in general psychiatric services.
Differences in emphasis in forensic services include:
• the patients tend to have a multiplicity of interdependent needs
• a greater awareness of risk of harm to others
• a greater prominence of legal issues, with more external restrictions on the patient
• inpatient treatment tends to be longer term, including both acute treatment and prolonged
rehabilitation
• progress is made in small graduated steps, with testing out at each one
• an emphasis on continuity of care rather than functionalization of care
• greater availability of psychological treatment
• more prominent security, which has a complex relationship with therapy
• greater need to work with other agencies (particularly MAPPA agencies and the Ministry of Justice),
which demands an acute sensitivity to confidentiality and medical ethics
• staff may require different forms of support because of the complexities of:
– the patients
– combining both a therapeutic and a custodian role.
● The Needs and Characteristics of Patients in

Secure Settings
Secure settings have an overwhelmingly male population:
• overall 88% of patients in secure hospitals are male (Rutherford and Duggan, 2007)
• 88% of restricted patients in 2008 were male (Ministry of Justice, 2010).
BME populations are over-represented in secure services (Rutherford and Duggan, 2007):
Patients in forensic services (%) Prison General

s37 s47 s48 population (%) population (%)
Non-white British ethnic origin 33 29 56 25 7.9
Black or black British 18 12 20 15 2
Asian or Asian British 4 4 7 6 4
The distribution of legal classification among all restricted patients prior to the Mental
Health Act (MHA) 2007 was (Rutherford and Duggan, 2007):
25
Treatment and Outcomes in Secure Care
• mental illness 76%

• psychopathic disorder 12%
• mental impairment 5%
• unclassified/other 7%.
It is often argued that these figures underestimate the rate of personality disorder (PD),
because many of those detained for mental illness will have co-morbid PDs.
Structured and standardized assessments of need (or measures of outcome) sometimes
used in forensic services include:
• Camberwell Assessment of Needs – forensic version (CANFOR – Thomas et al., 2003):
– the forensic version of the Cambridge Assessment of Needs
– separate staff and patient ratings in 25 domains
• Health of the Nation Outcome Scores (HoNOS) secure:
– required as part of the minimum data set for services
– quick and easy to use, but uncertain validity and reliability (Dickens et al., 2007)
• Recovery-Star (see http://www.mhpf.org.uk):
– 10 domains are rated collaboratively by patient and a professional.
Surveys of patients in medium security

A survey of patients from one inner London health authority found that of 183 patients in
secure psychiatric care (Lelliot et al., 2001):
• 87% were men
• mean age 36 (range 17–64)
• 93% were unemployed prior to admission
• 93% had psychosis or bipolar affective disorder
• 10% had a primary or secondary diagnosis of PD
• half the patients had multiple previous admissions over many years.
In 2007, a similar picture was found in a cross-sectional survey of the inpatient population
at Reaside Clinic medium secure unit (MSU), Birmingham. Of 80 male patients:
• the mean age was 37 years (range 21–71)
• 65% were admitted from prison, 15% from community, 10% from another secure setting,
10% from a general psychiatric setting
• most were subject to MHA detention:
– 56% were detained under s37/41
– 14% under a civil section
– 4% s37
– 12.5% s47/49
– 6.3% s48/49
• index offences included:
– 25% homicide/attempted murder
– 29% wounding
– 20% assault
– 10% sexual offence
– 7.5% arson
• most suffered from a severe mental illness:
– 86% schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder
– 5% bipolar affective disorder
26
The Multidisciplinary Team
– 1% persistent delusional disorder

• 85% had a history of problematic use of alcohol or drugs:
– most commonly alcohol or cannabis
• the mean number of years since first psychiatric contact was 14:
– 56% had a history of disengagement from follow-up
– 70% had a history of non-adherence to pharmacological treatment.
There is a group of patients in medium security who require secure care for consider-
ably longer than the original expectation of up to 2 years (see Chapter 1). Jacques et al.
(2010) found that 21% of men in their medium secure service had been in hospital for
more than 5 years and separated them into two groups based on needs identified by the
CANFOR:
• Chronic challenging behaviour, treatment-resistant mental illness and considerable daily support
needs.
• A more able group who were dependent on the hospital.
Surveys of patients in high security

A survey of 1255 patients in high security found that 85% were men (Harty et al., 2004):
• The men had a mean age of 40 (range 19–84) and a mean duration of admission of 9.8 years
(range 0–54).
• The women were younger, with a mean age of 37.
• 57% were classified under the MHA category of mental illness, 25% under psychopathic disorder
and 10% were dually classified:
– 61% had schizophrenia
– 45% had a personality disorder
– 10% had learning disability.
• CANFOR needs domains that were commonly unmet included daytime activities, sexual offending
(especially among men), arson (especially among women), drugs and alcohol.
● The Multidisciplinary Team

For forensic services in particular, the multidisciplinary team (MDT) is the cornerstone on
which effective and safe clinical care is founded:
• Most clinical decisions will be made at the MDT clinical meeting.
The patient sits at the centre of a complex arrangement of multiple agencies (Figure 3.1):
• These agencies have differing agendas and approaches, which commonly overlap but occasionally
conflict.
• This is particularly important in forensic services because of the practical and ethical complexities of
the therapy/risk dynamic.
• The MDT as a whole, and the RC in particular, must be able to manage the interagency dynamics in
a properly balanced way, and bearing in mind issues of confidentiality.
The role of a forensic psychiatrist

While there may be occasional variation, in most services at present, leadership of the MDT
is provided by the responsible clinician (RC), who is usually a psychiatrist:
27
• For the patient, their detention and the associated parameters of restriction are often paramount.
So the patient tends to see the RC as being ‘in charge’.
• As yet there has not been a wholesale expansion of the RC role to other disciplines following the
MHA 2007. Forensic services tend to be relatively conservative, so, if this change happens, it is likely
to happen gradually.
Core roles of the forensic psychiatrist (variously delegated to juniors) in an inpatient setting
include:
• providing leadership to the MDT, and accepting responsibility for the governance of team
functioning
• holding overall responsibility for each patient’s detention, care and treatment
• assessing psychopathology, using appropriate medical investigations and arriving at diagnoses
• deciding on pharmacological and other medical interventions
• ensuring that the physical health needs of patients are addressed
• carrying out the statutory functions required by the MHA:
– renewal of detention
– consent to treatment
– providing evidence to courts or tribunals
– reporting to the MoJ on restricted patients.
Clinical MDT
Patient Ward
advocacy nursing
services staff
Voluntary The
sector
agencies
patient MoJ
CJS,
Statutory
probation,
agencies
Carers police
(e.g. LA)
&
families
Figure 3.1 Agencies working with patients in secure services (CJS = criminal justice system, LA = local
authority, MDT = multidisciplinary team, MoJ = Ministry of Justice)
28
The Multidisciplinary Team
Other key roles within forensic MDTs

Other key roles within forensic MDTs are described in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1 Key roles within forensic multidisciplinary teams (MDTs)
Psychologist Clinical and forensic psychologists have differing professional backgrounds, the former
tending to have trained in a health environment and the latter more likely to have
trained in a penal environment
Conducting psychometric assessments relating to intellectual function and personality
style
Delivering group and individual psychological interventions (see below)
Developing individual formulations of risk and mental disorder
Providing a psychologically informed perspective to MDT functioning
Nurses Manage the day-to-day care of the patient within the ward environment, and liaise
with the MDT when necessary
Includes both traditional therapeutic nursing roles and security roles such as searching
of patients, rooms and possessions, drug testing and maintaining ward security
Managing observations, leave, visits and other patient activities
Managing incidents of aggression and violence or of self-harm
Managing the ward environment, patient interactions, and observing for changes in
mental state, conduct and risk
Social workers Statutory functions relating to the Mental Health Act
Family and carer liaison
Liaison with local authority, may lead on child protection or adult safeguarding issues,
including child visitors
May lead on liaison with probation, victim liaison unit and multi-agency public
protection arrangement
Providing a sociological or situational perspective to the MDT
Occupational Providing assessments and interventions aimed at potentiating an individual’s
therapists occupational function
Standardized assessments such as the Model of Human Occupation Screening Tool
(Parkinson et al., 2005) provide consistency
Providing and encouraging participation in activities, to enable assessment and
foster ability to structure time
Assessing and developing independent living skills
Supporting and facilitating access to educational, vocational or leisure activities
Delivering cognitive–behavioural therapy-based interventions
Pharmacists Patients often have long histories of pharmacological treatment and complex
treatment-resistant illnesses
Compiling reviews of a patient’s medication history
Providing information to patients on their treatment
Conflict within teams

Individuals working in MDTs have loyalties both to the team and to their profession (Mason
and Vivian-Byrne, 2002).
• In an effective team these are balanced, bringing a creative tension to team discussions, in which
the eclectic richness of approach and practice is used productively.
• Where there is too great an identification with the team, that creative tension may be lost.
• Where there is too great an identification with profession, the intra-team conflict may become
obstructive.
It might be that, in forensic MDTs, conflict is heightened by:

• the complexities of the patient’s psychopathology, leading to conflicting formulations
• the particular psychopathology of some patients, especially those with damaged attachment
styles, leading to splitting within teams
29
Box 3.1 The psychiatrist, the patient and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ)
Traditionally, forensic services have tended to adopt a paternalistic approach, founded on a predominantly
medical model of treating illness and the authority of clinicians:
• In some cases this fosters dependence on the part of patients, and it is sometimes through a
dependent relationship that risk is effectively managed.
• Reducing offending was often a welcome consequence of establishing mental health, rather than an
end in its own right.
More recently risk reduction has come to occupy equal billing in the prioritized aims of forensic clinicians,
leading to a more explicit focus on criminogenic needs themselves.
• Interestingly criminal justice system (CJS) offending behaviour programmes (OBPs) have begun to
recognize and emphasize the importance of collaboration with the offender in risk reduction, adopting
engagement strategies from health.
The MoJ carries a yet more explicit authority than the clinicians, creating a complex triangle of care/control.
• For the clinician, it is sometimes useful to locate the controlling aspect of the therapeutic relationship in
the MoJ, enabling the development of a collaboration with the patient to satisfy the MoJ.
• The risk of this approach lies in disingenuously, or seemingly, denying the clinician’s custodian/public
protection/authoritarian role, leading to the patient feeling cheated or let down when it reappears.
In recent years, the patient advocacy movement and a trend in emphasis away from curing illness to
enhancing strengths, well-being and self-acceptance have begun to change the way in which forensic
services work with their patients.
• This improves the degree to which forensic services are patient-centred, and benefits are likely.
• There may be costs too, because some patients have done well with a traditional forensic approach.
• Mezey et al. (2010) describe some of the obstacles to embracing a recovery approach in forensic
services.
• the primacy of risk, requiring formulation, management and therapeutic risk taking.
While all clinical teams work differently, in principle effective team functioning can be
maintained by:
• regular multidisciplinary meetings and good communication within teams
• engaging in debate and discussion within the team, while presenting a coherent team approach to
patients and carers
• respecting individual team members’ roles
• involving the team in most decisions – few issues cannot wait until the next team meeting
• developing an agreed formulation of the patient’s engagement with the team
• ensuring effective intra-discipline support
• consciously acknowledging the challenges of MDT working in secure environments
• regular team awaydays/practice development days, perhaps with external facilitation
• acknowledging problems relating to particular patients and accessing psychotherapeutic
supervision or assessment to understand the psychopathology/dynamics further.
● The Patient Journey in Secure Care

The characteristics of treatment within secure services vary greatly among different levels
of security and different patient groups. In general terms, patients should move in the direc-
tion shown in Figure 3.2.
30
The Patient Journey in Secure Care
Uncontrolled mental disorder Stabilization of mental state
External controls on behaviour Internal behavioural controls
Treatment under coercion Collaboration in treatment
Lack of engagement in treatment Active engagement
Lack of self-awareness Capacity to introspect
Figure 3.2 General objectives of treatment in secure care
Admission to secure care

Prior to admission:
• the responsible clinician, clinical team and care coordinator should be identified
• an initial care plan and risk assessment with immediate and short-term plans and goals is agreed
• the patient’s room is searched and cleaned.
On admission, according to local policies and procedures:

• an effective handover from escorting staff to ward staff is essential
• the patient is greeted and searched:
– belongings are recorded on a property list
– the list of contraband items may vary among units and security levels
• detention papers are checked by medical records staff
• the patient is orientated to the ward and provided with:
– written and/or oral information about the ward routine, basic policies and procedures
(particularly meal times, smoking arrangements, visits, etc.)
– the patient is informed of their MHA rights
• an initial nursing assessment is followed by formal medical clerking
• nursing staff will complete a patient profile including:
– a physical description and perhaps a photograph
– individuals at risk and to be contacted in the event of the patient being absent without leave.
• the initial care plan will at least include:
– observation level
– mental and physical state
– keyworker sessions
– leave and visitors
– initial medication, both regular and as required sedative medication where necessary.
The acute phase of treatment

The key aims for the acute phase of treatment are:
• to carry out initial assessments and risk management
• to confirm the diagnoses
31
• to stabilize the mental state

• to decide on the initial care pathway and work through the criminal justice process.
At the ward level, this phase is characterized by:

• close observation levels ranging from constant observation by one or more staff to intermittent
observations at a frequency of between 5 minutes to an hour
• close observation of mental state, behaviour and interactions with other patients and staff
• regular physical observations including weight checks and drug testing
• regular and random searches of a patient’s personal and living environment
• facilitating and monitoring personal and professional visits
• gradually reducing restrictions, contingent on risk behaviours and mental state:
– reducing observation level
– increasing leave within the building
– access to kitchen (e.g. for hot drinks), use of sharps on the ward (e.g. for shaving) and other
freedoms according to local policies and practice.
At the team level:

• building a therapeutic relationship with the patient
• frequent mental state examination to document current psychopathology
• detailed history taking and collation of information from other sources
• engagement of carers and relatives
• establishment of initial pharmacological treatment
• specific standard initial assessments of, for example, problematic substance use, IQ, personality
style, occupational needs
• liaison with courts and solicitors over ongoing legal proceedings and provision of reports
• dealing with issues relating to previous accommodation, benefits and debts.
Rehabilitation in secure care

A patient may move to the rehabilitation phase once:
• there is some stability of their mental state
• there is a relatively sustained cessation of risk behaviours, indicating improved internal controls
• they are showing some positive engagement and collaboration in their care.
The key aims are:

• to maintain mental state stability, enabling psychosocial rehabilitation
• to provide further psychological assessment and treatment
• to develop a shared formulation of the mental disorder, risk behaviours and the relationship
between them, encompassing where relevant:
– problematic substance use
– interpersonal relationships
– situational factors
• to develop a shared relapse prevention plan
• systematic assessment of psychosocial needs, perhaps using a structured instrument, and tailored
interventions to meet them
• to reintroduce the patient to a community setting gradually, allowing assessment at each step.
This phase is characterized by:

• some relaxation of procedural security, though not relational security:
– generally reduced frequency of observations and searching
32
Treating Aggression
– more permitted possessions

– increased freedom to move around within the hospital
• ongoing assessment and treatment in more varied settings:
– including individual and group work, in the occupational therapy department and social activities
– progression to leave within the hospital grounds and then the community
• greater responsibility for treatment:
– self-medication regimes
• development of relationships with families, relatives, carers and friends
• increased emphasis on occupational and educational as well as leisure activity, developing the
patient’s ability to structure time
• ongoing formulation of mental disorder and risk, and development of a relapse prevention plan:
– sharing this with other agencies or carers as and when appropriate
• establishing accommodation needs and options
• preparation for a tribunal, or other discharge mechanism.
● Pharmacological Treatment in Secure Care

Pharmacological treatment for mental disorder is no different in forensic services from that
in other settings. The association of serious risk with mental ill-health brings an added
impetus to preventing relapse or detecting relapse early, thus enabling intervention.
For Patel and David (2005) long-acting injectable antipsychotics have advantages over
oral preparations in the treatment of schizophrenia.
• improved treatment adherence
• abolition of covert treatment non-adherence:
– probably the most important pragmatic advantage among high-risk patients
– non-adherence may be both a cause and a consequence of relapse
• improved global outcome and reduced rate of hospitalization (Robert and Geppert, 2004)
• more predictable and consistent pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics
• dose changes are more gradual, reducing risk of sudden relapse
• reduced risk of overdose.
They consider that many of the disadvantages of depots may be construed as perception
problems:
• stigmatizing and disempowering/coercive:
– there is no intrinsic reason why this should be so
• reduced patient acceptability:
– often an individual matter – some patients prefer depots; many do not
• potential for increased side effects:
– specific side effects may include pain and local inflammation at the injection site
– otherwise there is little evidence for greater side effects with depots, when comparing like drugs
– improved pharmacodynamics may lead to a better side-effect profile for depots
• dose changes are more gradual, reducing the ability to respond promptly to side effects or patient
choice.
● Treating Aggression
The literature on the pharmacological treatment of violence is small and the evidence is
conflicting. A Cochrane Review of the use of antiepileptics in treating aggression and asso-
ciated impulsivity (Huban et al., 2010) identified 14 studies involving 672 subjects:
33
• The subjects differed between studies, and there were both positive and negative findings.
• No firm conclusions could be drawn on effectiveness.
Recent structured reviews (Volavka and Citrome, 2008; Topiwala and Fazel, 2011) of the
available evidence for treating aggression in patients with schizophrenia have reached the
following conclusions:
• There is good evidence that clozapine reduces levels of aggression, and that this effect is
independent of impact on psychotic symptoms.
• Otherwise, there is no convincing evidence that any specific antipsychotic confers added benefit in
comparison to the others.
• The evidence on mood stabilizers is inconsistent:
– controlled studies do not support efficacy of valproate
– carbamazepine may reduce agitation, but little anti-aggression effect
– no evidence to support the use of lithium or lamotrigine.
• There is limited evidence for the use of adjunctive beta blockers, but they may not be well tolerated.
● Physical Health of Patients in Secure Care

The standardized mortality ratio is 1.5 for those with mental disorder generally, and 3–4 for
those with schizophrenia. Being an inpatient in secure care may be associated with:
• a generally sedentary lifestyle
• reduced opportunities for exercise
• effects of psychotropic medication
• boredom, leading to compensatory behaviours such as snacking and smoking cigarettes
• reduced motivation for self-care.
Psychiatrists must accept responsibility for the physical health of their patients, but the evi-
dence suggests that dedicated primary care services offer benefits within long-term inpatient
settings (Cormac et al., 2004). Practice, supported by policy, should address (Royal College
of Psychiatrists, 2009):
• schedules for physical monitoring, with reference to prescribed medication and other risk factors:
– including especially weight/body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), smoking status, lipids,
random/fasting glucose, electrocardiogram (ECG)
• health promotion and education
• encouragement of healthy exercise
• diet and nutrition
• weight management
• infectious diseases and sexual health
• addictions and alcohol use:
– including particularly tobacco use, secure units increasingly becoming smoke-free environments.
● Management of Disturbed/Violent Behaviour

The short-term management of disturbed/violent behaviour may be considered in three
stages (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, 2005):
• Prediction:
– including risk assessment and searching.
• Prevention:
– using de-escalation techniques and observations
34
Management of Disturbed/Violent Behaviour
– managing the environment to reduce stimulation, consider use of designated room for ‘time
out’; this should not routinely be the seclusion room
– discussing issues in calm manner, aiming to develop rapport while maintaining an awareness of
cues and body language.
• Interventions for continued management:
– rapid tranquillization (see National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, 2005, and local
policies)
– seclusion
– physical intervention.
There is little empirical evidence that seclusion or any other form of physical intervention
is more effective than the other. The relative use of different types of intervention varies
greatly internationally, due to cultural and historical practice issues rather than an evi-
dence base. Bowers et al. (2005) compared methods of containment of disturbed behaviour
between the UK, Greece and Italy, and showed more use of seclusion in the UK, and more
use of physical restraints on the Continent.
NICE guidelines (2005) recommend that teams should work with patients to prepare
advance directives of preferences for interventions in the event of violent or disturbed
behaviour. This practice is widely used in intensive care units in all levels of security.
Seclusion
There is no definitive international definition of seclusion. For example:
• the UK MHA CoP (Department of Health, 2008) defines seclusion as:
– ‘The supervised confinement of a patient in a room, which may be locked. Its sole aim is to
contain severely disturbed behaviour which is likely to cause harm to others’
• mental health legislation of the Australian State of Victoria uses:
– ‘sole confinement of a person at any hour of the day or night in a room of which the doors and
windows are locked from the outside’.
Seclusion areas should be specially built and designed to be a safe and secure, low-stimulus
environment. However, seclusion is not defined by the area in which it occurs. If a patient
is confined elsewhere, their bedroom, for example, this is still seclusion.
Each unit will have its own policies and procedures regarding the seclusion of patients.
Generally these will include the following factors:
• The decision to seclude a patient should be made by a senior clinician or the professional in charge
of the ward.
• There should be a regular review of the need for seclusion to continue, including regular
multidisciplinary review.
• There should be a suitably trained professional within sight of the seclusion room at all times.
Ching et al. (2010) discuss the negative aspects of seclusion, which should be seen as a meas-
ure of last resort. They describe a successful strategy to reduce the use of seclusion within a
forensic service.
Physical intervention
All physical interventions should be seen as a last resort, to be avoided if possible and de-
escalation techniques should be used continuously throughout a period of restraint. Such
interventions carry a risk of injury to patient and to staff.
35
Manual holding
• The most commonly used method in the UK.
• Requires specific training and uses a team approach, each individual having a particular
responsibility, one person having responsibility for protecting the patient’s head and neck.
There have been incidents of patient deaths occurring while in restraint, the most well-
known case being that of David Bennett, who was manually restrained for over half an hour
in the prone position. NICE guidelines state that during physical restraint at no time should
pressure be applied to the patient’s neck, thorax, back, abdomen or pelvic area. They also
recommend that cardiopulmonary resuscitation equipment be available within 3 minutes of
the setting where these interventions are being used.
Mechanical restraints
Restraints such as body belts, straps or straitjackets are rarely used in the UK but are more
widely used in other countries (including continental Europe and the USA). There are
some circumstances where mechanical restraints are used in this country:
• Handcuffs are used routinely by prisons, including when transferring prisoners to hospital. Use
of handcuffs has become more common in secure psychiatric hospitals in recent years, for
transporting high-risk patients to attend court or general hospitals.
– There is no clinical evidence base to support this, and handcuffs may be extremely stigmatizing,
particularly in a general health-care setting.
• The use of some mechanical restraints in high secure hospitals. This is generally for short periods, at
times of extremely disturbed behaviour when transferring patients from one care area to another.
• The use of mechanical restraints in prisons. Again these are used for short periods of time when
other interventions would not be appropriate.
● Psychological Treatment in Secure Care

Traditionally, forensic services tended to take an individualistic approach to treatment:
• An individual formulation was key.
• Interventions tended to be delivered on an individual basis to reflect this individual formulation,
the effects of psychosis in particular being seen as too idiosyncratic to allow a more programmatic
approach.
• Individual interventions adopted a variety of approaches, including both treatments based on
cognitive–behavioural therapy and more dynamically orientated approaches.
• Often the chosen approach was dependent primarily on the professional background of the
therapist.
In more recent years:

• psychological interventions have tended to become more programmatic and group-based
• forensic psychotherapy has begun to create a more defined role within mental illness-dominated
medium secure units (MSUs).
Individual assessment, formulation and treatment remain crucial for effective clinical care
and risk management because:
• group interventions cannot provide sufficient responsivity, to take account of the patient’s
individual needs, particularly the idiosyncratic effects of psychosis
• it is necessary to engage difficult-to-engage patients, and sometimes this is best done individually
36
Psychological Treatment in Secure Care
• relapse prevention plans and risk management plans are necessarily individual
• confidentiality issues may obstruct group work for some.
The approach used in individual treatment is flexible, and may be determined by both pro-
fessional and patient factors.
Group-based interventions may be:
• traditionally delivered psychoeducation or CBT-based interventions, targeting mental health needs,
such as:
– mental health awareness
– problematic substance use
– hearing voices
– recovering from psychosis
• interventions targeting criminogenic needs, often based on accredited offending behaviour
programmes, such as:
– reasoning and rehabilitation
– anger management
– fire setting groups
– sex offender treatment programmes.
Howells et al. (2004) discuss the application of the ‘What Works’ principles (Risk, Needs,
Responsivity) to psychiatric settings. The recently developing literature about group-based
interventions in forensic settings is nevertheless limited:
• It has not yet moved beyond parochial descriptions of individual interventions in single units.
• Such interventions generally have high face validity.
• Demonstrating positive outcomes consequent to a particular intervention that is delivered within
the context of a much wider care package in a secure setting is a considerable challenge (see, for
example, Swain et al., 2010).
In reporting the results of an audit of psychology provision in a forensic service, Gudjonsson

and Young (2007):
• draw attention to the tendency for direct treatment to be subordinated to assessment and indirect
patient care
• contrast risk management models with strength-based models
• describe the service model for psychological intervention that their service has adopted.
Forensic psychotherapy
Psychotherapy within secure settings and prisons has a long history, and is established in:
• high security, where treatment for PD is also established
• the small number of MSUs which specifically provide treatment for those with PD
• a few prisons, notably HMP Gendon (see Chapter 18)
• some outpatient services, notably the Portman Clinic, London.
Current provision within mental illness-focused MSUs is limited and variable. McGauley
and Humphrey (2003) describe the role of forensic psychotherapy in secure units:
• Direct clinical work:
– providing assessments to inform understanding of the patient
– providing treatment, individual or group.
• Supervisory work:
– either of other professionals doing direct clinical work, or
37
– regarding psychodynamic processes of an institution.

• Clinical meetings:
– case conferences, clinical team meetings and patient reviews.
• Consultation or institutional supervision:
– provided to an institution from outside.
Through reflective practice groups, supervisory work may particularly seek to improve staff’s
awareness of the unconscious dynamics among the triad of:
• the patient
• the staff
• the institution.
For further reading see Cordess and Cox (1998) and, particularly, Bartlett and McGauley
(2009).
● Leave for Restricted Patients

Restricted patients may only be given leave of absence (LOA) under s17 MHA with the
permission of the Secretary of State for Justice. Three standard types of LOA may be con-
sidered, a patient generally being expected to move through them sequentially prior to
discharge:
• escorted community leave (ECL)
• unescorted community leave (UCL)
• overnight leave (ONL):
– usually to a proposed discharge address.
Other types of leave include:

• compassionate leave:
– a leave required at short notice, usually due to serious illness or death in a close relative
– specific permission should be sought even where the patient has already been granted ECL or
UCL
• leave to attend hospital:
– MoJ permission is not required for escorted leave to attend hospital for medical examination or
other urgent treatment
– The MoJ should be informed in advance if possible for s48 patients, and immediately afterwards
for all others.
• leave to attend court:
– permission is not required for escorted leave to attend criminal court in relation to alleged offences.
For patients transferring between hospitals, leave status:

• does not usually transfer with a patient moving from high security
• may or may not transfer from medium to low security
• usually does transfer between hospitals of the same level of security.
Section 48 patients are not normally granted s17 leave. For s47 patients:
• UCL will usually only be considered within 2 years of their parole eligibility date (PED), or once they
have served half their custodial sentence, whichever is the later.
• ONL will be considered within 3 months of their PED.
• For life sentenced prisoners, ECL will be considered on its merits, and UCL may be considered within
3 years of the tariff date.
38
Outcomes of Treatment in Secure Care
Box 3.2 Liaising with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in relation to leave
Each type of leave requires a separate application:
• The responsible clinician (RC) must apply using a standardized form available on the MoJ website.
• The MoJ aims to respond to leave requests within 3 weeks.
Leave is usually granted at the discretion of the RC, with a report required after 3 months:
• The RC may decide upon the duration and destination of each leave.
• Occasionally restrictions will be added, relating to restriction zones, for example.
• It is usual for the next stage of leave not to be considered until such a report has been made.
A small naturalistic study suggested that clinical leave decisions are often based on implicit shared
knowledge which may not be voiced, and may be less focused on risk than on humanity (Lyall and Bartlett,
2010):
• The risk of absconding should be considered explicitly in terms of both likelihood and likely cost.
Remember that the presence of a nursing escort does not prevent a determined absconder. The escort
can only:
• try to dissuade the patient from absconding
• try to keep an absconding patient in sight
• raise the alarm promptly.
The MoJ should always be informed immediately if changes are made to leave status at a clinical level.
Where the RC has rescinded leave, the MoJ will inform the RC if further permission is required to reinstate
it.
● Outcomes of Treatment in Secure Care

Reconviction rates are the most commonly used outcome measure for research, probably
because reconviction may be detected reliably. But:
• official rates are likely to underestimate the true rate of offending, particularly among the mentally
disordered
• patients may be institutionalized for significant periods after discharge from secure care, limiting
the opportunity for offending
• reconviction rates may not be a good measure of mental health outcomes.
For restricted patients, rates of reoffending within 2 years of first discharge are (Ministry of
Justice, 2010):
• all offences 7%
• sexual or violent offence 2%
• grave offence 1%:
– homicide, serious wounding, rape, buggery, arson, robbery, aggravated burglary.
Reconviction following discharge from high security

Buchanan (1998) studied a cohort of 425 consecutive discharges from all UK high secure
hospitals in 1982–83, without accounting for post-discharge setting.
Prevalence of reoffending (%)

5½ years 10½ years
Violent offence 9 7.5
Sexual offence 5 15
Any offence 26 34
39
Jamieson and Taylor (2004) followed up 204 patients discharged from one high security
hospital in 1984 for 12 years, reporting an overall reconviction rate of 38%:
• 86% of reoffenders did so after having begun to live in the community
• reconviction was associated with MHA classification of psychopathic disorder and younger age
• those with mental impairment were as likely to be re-convicted as those with psychopathic disorder.
Reconviction following discharge from medium security

Maden et al. (2004) studied a national cohort of 959 discharges and gave a 2-year recon-
viction rate of 15%. Davies et al. (2007) (n = 550, from 1 MSU over 20 years, mean follow-up
9.4 years) reported 49% reconvicted with mean time to reconviction of 3 years. Reconvic-
tion rates are shown in Table 3.2.
Table 3.2 Reconviction rates from Davies et al. (2007)
2 years (%) 5 years (%)
Standard list 26 42
Grave offence 7 12
Coid et al. (2007) (n = 1344, from seven regions) reported differing reconviction rates
(mean 6.2 years follow-up) for men and women as shown in Table 3.3.
Table 3.3 Reconviction rates from Coid et al. (2007)
Men (%) Women (%)
Acquisitive offence 20 7
Violent offence 18 5
Sexual offence 2 –
Arson 1 4.5
Any offence 34 15
These studies suggest that factors associated with increased risk of reoffending are:
• male gender
• younger age
• early age of onset of offending
• number of previous convictions
• diagnosis of PD
• history of alcohol or drug problems
• history of sexual abuse
• having lost contact with services
• longer period of detention prior to discharge
• restriction order.
Davies et al. (2007) also reported:

• 10% of their sample had died
• 38% had been readmitted to secure care
• a six-fold increase in mortality compared with general population:
– the standard mortality rate was highest for suicide, followed by unnatural death, followed by
natural death.
40
Outcomes of Treatment in Secure Care
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and dangerous behaviour by patients on acute psychiatric wards in three European centres. Social
Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 40, 822–8
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Maden A, Scott F, Burnett R, Lewis G, Skapinakis P. (2004) Offending in psychiatric patients after
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42
4
Challenging Issues in
Secure Care
Working in a secure setting is particularly challenging because:
• the patient group has high levels of co-morbidity, particularly personality disorder (PD) and
substance misuse
• there is an increased risk of violence or assault
• professionals must reconcile conflicting roles of clinician and custodian
• legal issues, whether criminal, Mental Health Act (MHA), immigration or other, may incentivize
patients to modify their presentation.
This chapter highlights some of these challenges and outlines some of the ways forensic
services work to meet them.
● The Relationship Between Security and Therapy

The Code of Practice to the Mental Health Act 1983 (Department of Health, 2008), estab-
lishes the ‘least restriction principle’:
People taking action without a patient’s consent must attempt to keep to a minimum the
restrictions they impose on the patient’s liberty, having regard to the purpose to which the
restrictions are imposed.
Secure services seek a balance between:
• restrictions aimed at containment and prevention of harm, and
• the provision of an adequate environment and opportunities for effective rehabilitation.
Dual loyalties or symbiosis

For some, mental health professionals working in secure settings have conflicting ‘dual
loyalties’, to treatment in the patient’s interest and to security in the state’s interest (Wein-
stein, 2002):
• The distinction between these nursing and security roles varies among countries:
– In the UK a dual role model dominates, certain security procedures such as searches being the
responsibility of nursing staff.
– In North America it is more common for specific security personnel to undertake these tasks.
• A Swedish study of forensic nurses highlighted the conflict that many feel in their dual role in
providing therapy while also being a custodian (Rask and Halberg, 2000).
43
Challenging Issues in Secure Care
• This distinction between the European model (integrated care and toleration of dual roles) and the
American model (separation of care and security roles) is reflected in medico-legal expert witness
work (see Chapter 21).
For others, security and therapy have a closer, less conflicting and even symbiotic relation-
ship:
• Crichton (2009) has defined the purpose of security as:
– ‘to provide a safe and secure environment for patients, staff and visitors which facilitates
appropriate treatment for patients and appropriately protects the wider community’.
• For Gournay et al. (2008):
– care and control should not be viewed as two separate, competing entities, but as lying on one
continuum
– improved levels of care (intensity, quality and evidence base) in collaboration with the patient
actually lower the need for control using security measures.
So, for some patients, the enforced stability and restrictions inherent in secure care are
necessary to enable them to benefit from treatment.
● Escapes and Absconding

Exworthy and Wilson (2010) gave the following definitions:
• Escape involves a breach of the physical perimeter of the facility, be that prison or hospital. It can
be seen as a breach of both physical and procedural security measures.
• Absconding refers to breaking the conditions of leave of absence from the hospital or prison;
this may be while escorted or unescorted. This is a breach of relational and procedural security
measures.
Reports that 116 people had ‘escaped’ from medium and low secure units in 2007 (The
Times, 2008) reflected a society characterized by risk aversion and sensationalist media scru-
tiny. The consequent reduced tolerance of escape/absconding reflects contemporary politi-
cal managerialism and media sensitivity:
• The development of national minimum standards for security for both medium and low secure
units has tended to increase the level of security from previous standards.
• A political imperative that escape by a transferred prisoner from a medium secure hospital should
never occur (National Patient Safety Agency, 2010).
Although no reliable national figures are currently available, absconds are much more
common than escapes:
• Gradillas et al. (2007) found 178 incidents of absconding at four medium secure units over a period
of 5 years.
• The 2009 annual report of the National Confidential Inquiry (2009) gave the following figures in
relation to general psychiatric care:
– in the period 1997–2006 there were 469 suicides after inpatients had absconded (25% of in-
patient suicides); only 1% had absconded from a secure unit
– between 1997 and 2005 there were 21 homicides committed by psychiatric in-patients, 17 of
which occurred off the ward
– of the homicides committed off the ward 41% had absconded; none had absconded from a
secure unit.
44
Managing Substance Misuse
Box 4.1 Assessing and managing risk of escape and absconding

This is a task for the entire multidisciplinary team; there should be particular attention paid to the patient’s
history and any previous attempts. It is important to be aware of factors that may make the risk higher:
• immediately following admission
• remand prisoners
• around the time of tribunals or court appearances
• around significant dates (bereavements, date of index offence, etc.)
• when there has been a reduction in level of supervision/escort level during leave
• psychosocial stress/family issues
• when mental state has deteriorated
• high level of impulsivity
• poor collaboration in care and treatment.
The clinical team are all responsible for taking part in discussions about risk of escape or absconding. In
order to reduce the risk, the following measures are usually taken:
• Decisions made regarding changing leave or escort levels should be made by experienced staff who
know the patient well.
• Clinical teams should be aware of any dates significant to the patient.
• Each patient should have an established care plan to cover any need to leave the unit in an emergency,
such as for physical health treatment.
• Before any patient goes on agreed leave there is an assessment of mental state documented by nursing
staff.
• If patient going on unescorted leave, there is a record made of the clothing worn on leaving the unit.
Each unit will have its own procedures to follow in the event of a patient escaping or absconding. When
working in secure settings it is important to be familiar with these. General points will be:
• contacting the local police and providing appropriate information (see section on confidentiality)
• if the patient is restricted or a transferred prisoner contact the Ministry of Justice (there is a 24-hour
telephone number)
• informing the Care Quality Commission
• all on-call staff (including the community team) should be informed
• each patient should have a specific care plan addressing risks in the event of absconding, including
known likely risk behaviours, likely sanctuaries or destinations, specific potential victims, people who
should be informed.
● Managing Substance Misuse

The prevalence of problematic substance use among psychiatric patients is between 30 and
50% (Swartz et al., 2006; Weaver et al., 2003). In forensic psychiatric populations it is at the
upper end of this range at least (Isherwood and Brooke, 2001; Maden et al., 1999).
Substance misuse leads to offending (McMurran, 2002):
• by exacerbating dispositional impulsivity and aggression
• through a direct effect on reasoning and problem-solving skills
• by causing economic hardship
• by leading to an association with a criminal peer group
• by interfering with therapeutic interventions.
Substance misuse exacerbates schizophrenia by:

• a direct effect upon the illness in terms of earlier age of onset, increased frequency of episodes of
psychosis, increased symptom severity, higher rates of anxiety and depression
45
• association with poor adherence to pharmacological treatment and poor concordance with other
aspects of care
• causing additional disability through homelessness, lack of economic independence, impaired
occupational functioning, criminality, poorer relationships with family/carers
• adverse effects upon physical health.
Although patients with schizophrenia use substances for the same range of reasons as the
non-mentally disordered, patients:
• are more likely to use to alleviate dysphoria
• are relatively less likely to use for pleasure enhancement or social reasons.
There is little evidence to support the notion that patients use substances as ‘self-medica-
tion’ for psychosis. See Gregg et al. (2007) for further discussion of reasons for use.
Substance use within secure psychiatric hospitals

A review of NHS medium secure units in 2005 (Durand et al., 2006) found that:
• all units reported problems with substance misuse over the previous year
• all units had written policies about substance misuse or used a variety of security measures to limit
availability of drugs
• there was a dearth of comprehensive treatment programmes for inpatients with problematic
substance use.
Alcohol and drug use among inpatients:

• worsens symptoms of mental illness and reduces the efficacy of treatment
• may result in disinhibition, increased impulsivity and increased likelihood of risk behaviours
• undermines the procedural security of the unit:
– a history of substance misuse was the single factor that best distinguished rule breakers from
non-rule breakers in a medium secure unit (Main and Gudjonsson, 2006).
The distribution of contraband goods (including drugs and alcohol) is associated with bul-
lying and victimization.
Treatment of problematic substance use in secure

inpatient settings
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines (Kendall et
al., 2011) on treating psychosis and substance misuse are based exclusively on opinion and
low-quality evidence, and offer little guidance on treatment approaches.
In secure settings there may be an issue of culture:
• Health professionals generally hold negative stereotypical views about drug users, and nurses
working in forensic settings are particularly likely to hold such moralizing and stereotypical views
(Foster and Onyeukwu, 2003).
• Durand et al. (2006) found little consensus on the most appropriate treatment philosophy in terms
of:
– parallel, serial or integrated care
– abstinence or harm minimization.
The treatment approach should mirror that in the community and follow national guide-
lines (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, 2007a,b). Treatment should:
46
Managing Substance Misuse
• be integrated – that is delivered by the same staff who are treating the patient’s other mental
health needs
• be long term, seeing problematic substance use as a chronic, relapsing condition
• be appropriate to the patient’s motivational stage, building hope and readiness to change
• include relapse prevention to help patients manage high-risk situations.
The stages of treatment will include elements of (Luty, 2003):

• detection and assessment of use
• detoxification if necessary
• engagement in treatment programme, using techniques such as motivational interviewing
• pharmacological treatment (either replacement for opiates or to treat withdrawal symptoms)
• psychological interventions:
– motivational enhancement therapy
– cognitive–behavioural therapy and relapse prevention.
Treatment in secure settings must also take account of the stage that the patient is at in
their rehabilitation:
• Assessment, engagement and some motivational work may be done early in an admission.
• Relapse prevention work should be tied into further progression of rehabilitation and the increased
freedom that this entails.
Specialist advice or joint working with substance misuse services may be appropriate,
particularly for those with alcohol dependence, or problematic heroin or cocaine use.
However:
• this requires active engagement on the part of the patient, which may not be consistent for some
with severe mental illness who nevertheless require treatment
• there is limited assistance for those with problematic cannabis use, which is the most common
problem among those with schizophrenia.
There is some evidence, from a post-hoc analysis of data collected for another purpose
(Drake et al., 2000), that among patients with schizophrenia, treatment with clozapine may
be associated with greater improvement in substance use than other antipsychotics.
Limiting the availability of drugs within secure hospitals

It is very difficult for a unit that rehabilitates patients using community leave to maintain a
drug-free environment. Security techniques commonly used in secure hospitals to limit drug
availability, the extent varying among units, include:
• physical security, such as fences to prevent items being thrown or passed into the unit
• searches:
– of patients on return from leave
– of visitors, staff and their belongings
• staff observation of visits to prevent passing of illicit substances
• checking gifts or food sent into the unit
• the use of sniffer dogs to detect drugs
• effective relational security, to identify patients involved in drug distribution.
Although the availability of drugs must be limited as far as possible, the therapeutic oppor-
tunities offered by drug use and temptation to use must not be missed:
• All staff should be trained to recognize and use such opportunities.
47
Drug testing of inpatients

Testing patients for the presence of drugs is important both therapeutically and from a secu-
rity perspective. Testing may be point-of-care, or laboratory based.
The immediacy of point-of-care testing may be seen as an advantage, but it carries the
risk that too much weight will be placed on the outcome of a single test – nursing staff may
tend to manage the drug test result rather than the patient. Laboratory-based testing brings
greater reliability and quality assurance, as well as the promise of a mutually beneficial work-
ing relationship between a responsive laboratory and the clinical service.
There are three samples commonly used for testing:
• Urine testing is the most well established and commonly used. In secure settings the procedure for
collecting samples should be strictly prescribed to reduce the likelihood of fraudulent samples being
provided.
• Oral fluid testing is useful for cocaine and opiates, but cannabinoids are not released into saliva
from the blood. Oral fluid testing will therefore only detect cannabinoids left in the mouth during
smoking.
• Hair testing is used uncommonly and is currently relatively expensive. It offers a very different time
window of detection.
Detection periods (Table 4.1) show considerable variation depending on the test and indi-
vidual factors, particularly the amount used:
• In an inpatient setting, the time window for detection of cannabis in urine may be just a few hours,
because use is often intermittent and the amount taken small.
Table 4.1 Detection periods for drug testing after cessation of use
Urine Oral fluid Blood Hair
Casual cannabis use 1–2 days
18–24 hours 24–48 hours
Chronic cannabis use 1–28 days
Up to 90 days, depending
Amphetamines 1–2 days 12 hours 12 hours
on length of sample
Cocaine 1–3 days 24 hours 24 hours
Opiates 1–3 days 6 hours 6 hours
● Malingering
Neither ICD-10 nor DSM-IV categorizes malingering as a mental or behavioural disorder.
ICD-10 (World Health Organization, 1992) categorizes ‘persons feigning illness with obvi-
ous motivation’ under factors influencing health status and contact with health services. The
DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) definition describes malingering as:
… the intentional production of false or grossly exaggerated physical or psychological
problems, motivated by external incentives such as avoiding military duty, avoiding work,
obtaining financial compensation, evading criminal prosecution, or obtaining drugs.
This must be distinguished from:
• factitious disorders – the intentional production of symptoms without apparent external incentive
or gain, perhaps in order to assume a patient role
• conversion disorders – in which the symptoms are produced unconsciously, without deliberate intent.
There are two dimensions to consider:

• The degree to which the production of symptoms is conscious and deliberate.
• The degree to which the presented symptoms are an exaggeration of true symptoms.
48
Malingering
Relatively few cases fall at either extreme of either dimension:
• For example, 64% of US personal injury cases showed atypical performance on psychological
testing, suggesting exaggeration if not pure malingering (Heaton et al., 1978).
– Hay (1983) identified five patients who were diagnosed as malingering out of approximately
12 000 consecutive general psychiatric admissions in Manchester. Four of them went on to
develop schizophrenia.
• The number of successful feigners will never be known.
The motivations for malingering are complex, but may involve the wish:
• to mitigate offences and avoid punishment

• to avoid military conscription
• to seek financial gain either through benefits or through civil courts for psychological injury
• to obtain medication or to engineer transfer from prison to hospital
• to avoid repatriation.
In clinical practice the most common reason for exaggeration of symptoms is to gain
effective care and treatment. It is best to distinguish this from malingering for other
gains.
Resnick (1997) contrasted the typical presentations of malingering and conversion
disorder, as shown in Table 4.2.
Table 4.2 Differential diagnosis of malingering and conversion disorder following trauma (Resnick,
1997)
Malingering Conversion disorder
Suspicious, uncooperative and resentful Highly cooperative, clinging and dependent
Tries to avoid examination and investigation Eager for intervention and anxious to be cured
Likely to refuse adapted employment More likely to accept adapted employment
Likely to give detailed account of the accident and More likely to give an inaccurate account, with gaps
consequences and vague or generalized complaints
Clues to malingered insanity defence (Resnick, 2003) are:
• a non-psychotic, alternative rational motive for the crime

• suspicious or atypical hallucinations or delusions
• current crime fits an established pattern of prior criminal conduct
• absence of active or subtle signs of psychosis during evaluation
• presence of a partner in the crime
• double denial of responsibility (denying crime and also denying responsibility due to psychosis)
• alleged intellectual deficit coupled with alleged psychosis
• alleged illness inconsistent with documented level of functioning.
‘Compensation neurosis’ is:
• A term introduced to refer to the reported increase in reports of disability following railway
accidents in Germany after introduction of compensation laws in 1871.
A commonly quoted paper (Miller, 1961) reported that 48 of 50 patients who had been
diagnosed with ‘accident neurosis’ after head injury recovered without treatment within
2 years of settlement of claim. Many subsequent authors have disputed the implied pejora-
tive conclusion, and many follow-up studies fail to support the hypothesis that clinical
outcome is predicted by financial settlement (Resnick, 1997).
49
Box 4.2 Clinical assessment of the malingering patient

(adapted from Malone and Lange, 2007)
The initial suspicion of malingering is intuitive; clinicians are often reluctant to diagnose malingering, so
assessment should be thorough and well documented:
• The key is a very detailed history and mental state examination.
• Use as much collateral information as possible. Sources may include relatives and carers, witness
statements, observations of behaviour by nursing staff in hospital, or reports from health-care or
custodial staff in prison.
Document in detail an account of any psychopathology, including cognitive assessment if necessary. Use
open-ended questions and allow the patient to talk fluently without interruptions. Clarify outstanding
issues or details later:
• In malingering, approximate answers are more common, as are ‘I don’t know’ responses, or use of
phrases such as ‘probably’, ‘it may have been’, ‘I’m not sure’.
• The account of symptoms may be exaggerated, or internally inconsistent.
• Look for errors of omission (not having expected cardinal symptoms of the disorder) or errors
of commission (symptoms not usually seen in people with the diagnosed condition), or unusual
constellations of symptoms.
• Observed presentation or behaviour may not be consistent with the reported symptoms. For example, a
person who scores very badly on cognitive testing, but has no observed difficulties in daily activities.
• Look for inconsistencies in presentation over time, adoption of symptoms/signs that other patients
report/show and suggestibility of symptoms.
• Look for the source of the malingered symptoms – friend or relative with mental illness, copying of other
patient’s symptoms.
• Look for suggestibility, by suggesting unlikely symptoms.
Clinical assessment may be supported by structured psychometric tests such as:
• the validity scales of the Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2)
• Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS), which looks for rare symptoms and unusual clusters
of symptoms
• Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM), a test of memory that only appears to be difficult.
The overall aim of assessment should be to gather a detailed picture of the patient, exclude the genuine
diagnosis and attempt to ascertain the primary gain sought by the malingerer.
● Confidentiality and Disclosure

Maintaining the confidentiality of a patient’s personal information is a legal and ethical
duty of all health professionals. So, it seems, is sharing of information. According to the
General Medical Council (2009):
Without assurances of confidentiality patients may be reluctant to seek medical attention
or give doctors the information they need to provide good care. But appropriate informa-
tion sharing is essential to the efficient provision of safe and effective care, both for the
individual patient and the wider community of patients.
Disclosure of information without a patient’s consent is sometimes necessary:
• When there is a legal obligation to disclose the information.
• When a court orders that the information be shared.
• Disclosure to regulatory bodies (such as the General Medical Council, GMC), tribunals and inquiries.
• When disclosure is in the public interest.
50
Confidentiality and Disclosure
Disclosure in the public interest requires a professional judgement as to whether the

benefit or prevention of harm brought by the disclosure outweighs the duty to maintain con-
fidentiality (Box 4.3). Such circumstances include (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2006):
• where serious harm may come to a third party
• where a doctor believes the patient is a victim of neglect or emotional or physical abuse and
disclosure is in the best interests of the patient
• where a doctor is acting in the best interests of a child or young person who is their patient
• where without disclosure the prevention, detection or prosecution of a serious crime would be
prejudiced or delayed
• when the doctor’s patient is a health professional and they have concerns about fitness to practise
• where a doctor has concerns about a patient’s fitness to drive.
In all of the above circumstances there must also be a decision made as to how much infor-
mation to disclose and to whom. There should always be fully documented evidence of the
decision including the balancing exercise that has taken place. It is always best to seek legal
advice from your hospital, trust or medical defence organization when making such deci-
sions.
Box 4.3 Disclosure when working with the criminal justice system (CJS)
In working closely with the CJS, the forensic practitioner will regularly encounter situations where they are
requested to provide information that is confidential to the patient. These include:
• In court: when preparing a medico-legal report and giving evidence under oath, there is no
confidentiality of patient information. Therefore when seeing a defendant for a report this should be
clearly explained to them and documented (see Chapter 21).
Otherwise, including at MAPPPs, you must consider whether or not to disclose information in the usual way.
Consider the available professional guidance:
• Confidentiality Guidance for Doctors (General Medical Council, 2009)
• Confidentiality and Disclosure of Health Information (British Medical Association, 1999)
• Good Psychiatric Practice; Confidentiality and information sharing (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2010)
• Confidentiality: NHS Code of Practice (Department of Health, 2003).
When in doubt:
• discuss the case with colleagues
• seek legal advice from trust solicitor
• seek advice from your medical defence organization.
Disclosure of third party information

In the process of risk assessment, collateral information is often sought from carers and family members.
Such information can be essential for the assessment of the patient’s clinical condition and assessment of
risk.
As patients and their legal representatives will potentially have access to their notes and any reports
prepared, it is essential that any third party information is treated with confidentiality unless the party has
consented for it to be disclosed to the patient.
The disclosure of third party information to the patient may:
• put the third party at risk
• damage their relationship with the patient (especially in the case of family members)
• damage the engagement of carers and relatives with the clinical team
• prevent further disclosure of important information.
In all clinical notes and reports such information should be included in a separate section, clearly marked
‘third party not for disclosure to the patient’.
51
● Immigration and Asylum

Around the world migration between countries is growing. The control and social conse-
quences of migration are high on the political agenda in many countries. In England and
Wales there have been five major Acts of Parliament relating to immigration over the last
10 years (Bacon et al., 2010).
Definitions
Legal immigrants include:
• Refugee: a person who flees their country due to a well-founded belief that they would suffer
persecution and who is unwilling or unable to return, so seeks formal refugee status in another
country.
• Asylum seekers: someone who has left their country and is seeking formal refugee status, but this
has not yet been granted.
• Economic migrants: a person who enters a country for the purpose of employment, with the
permission of that country.
Illegal immigrants
• Those who have entered the country without permission.
• Those who breach the conditions under which they have been allowed to stay (such as working on
a student visa).
• Those who have committed a criminal offence which means that they no longer have a legal right
to remain in the country.
Mental health and the immigrant population

The rate of mental illness is higher among immigrant populations worldwide (Bhugra and
Jones, 2001), particularly of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sui-
cide and self-harm in refugees and asylum seekers. Porter and Haslam (2005) conducted
a meta-analysis of studies comparing refugee populations and control groups, finding that
there was an overall increase in psychopathology.
The adversities listed in Table 4.3 are associated with immigration and may be important
in leading to increased rates of mental illness (McColl et al., 2008).
Table 4.3 Adversities associated with immigration

Pre-migration adversities Post-migration adversities
War Discrimination
Imprisonment Detention
Genocide Dispersal destitution
Suffering or witnessing physical and sexual violence Denial of the right to work
Traumatic bereavement Denial of health care
Starvation and homelessness Delayed decisions on asylum applications
Lack of health care
Implications for forensic services

This population comes into contact with forensic services in the following ways (Bacon et
al., 2010):
52
Immigration and Asylum
• Section 86 repatriation:
– Under s86 of the Mental Health Act (‘Removal of alien patients’), patients who are detained
under either part 2 or 3 of the Act who do not have the right to remain in the UK are repatriated.
– This is granted by the Secretary of State and it must be deemed to be in the patient’s best
interests, with the agreement of a mental health tribunal.
• Restricted hospital order patients:
– Those detained under s37/41 may be liable to be deported once they have been granted a
conditional discharge.
– This is in line with Government policy to remove from the country those foreign nationals who
may ‘cause harm’ (whatever their legal status to remain is).
• Prisoners transferred under s48:
– When people detained (either in prison or detention centres) under immigration legislation
become mentally unwell, they may be transferred to a secure hospital under s48.
– Once recovered, they will be liable to be returned to the place of detention and deported. The
process of deportation is slow and health-care facilities in detention centres tend to be poor.
Challenges for forensic services

Assessing and treating patients whose first language is not English can be complicated and
prolonged, and requires the use of interpreters who may not be readily available.
Planning the rehabilitation and discharge for a patient whose future in this country is
uncertain is difficult. Many failed asylum seekers will have no right to housing or benefits,
making community resettlement virtually impossible.
Making the decision that discharge is appropriate with the knowledge of the stress that
they may face during the process of detention and deportation poses an ethical dilemma.
This means that many patients in this situation are in hospital for prolonged periods.
Liaison with the UK Borders Agency can be difficult. Decisions regarding deportation
may be made at the last minute, leaving both the patient and clinical team with uncertainty.
Arranging follow-up for patients who are being returned to their country of origin is
problematic. In many counties mental health care is not well structured and the availability
of certain drugs such as atypical antipsychotics cannot be assured.
References
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edn. Washington DC: APA
Bacon L, Bourne R, Oakley C, Humphreys M. (2010) Immigration policy: implications for mental
health services. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 16, 124–32
Bhugra D, Jones P. (2001) Migration and mental illness. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 7,
216–23
British Medical Association. (1999) Confidentiality & Disclosures of Health Information. London: Brit-
ish Medical Association
Crichton JHM. (2009) Defining high, medium, and low security in forensic mental healthcare: the
development of the Matrix of Security in Scotland. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology
3, 333–53
*Department of Health. (2003) Confidentiality: NHS Code of Practice. London: DH
Department of Health (2008) Code of Practice. Mental Health Act 1983. London: The Stationery
Office
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Drake RE, Xie H, McHugo GJ, Green AI. (2000) The effects of clozapine on alcohol and drug use dis-
orders among patients with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin 26(2), 441–9
Durand MA, Lelliott P, Coyle N. (2006) Availability of treatment for substance misuse in medium
secure psychiatric care in England. A national survey. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychol-
ogy 17(4), 611–25
Exworthy T, Wilson S. (2010) Escapes and absconding from secure psychiatric units. The Psychiatrist
34, 81–2
Foster JH, Onyeukwu C. (2003) The attitudes of forensic nurses to substance using service users.
Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 10, 578–84
*General Medical Council. (2009) Confidentiality. London: General Medical Council
Gournay K, Benson R, Rogers P. (2008) Inpatient care and management. In: Soothill K, Rogers P,
Dolan M (eds), Handbook of Forensic Mental Health. Cullompton: Willan Publishing
Gradillas V, Williams A, Walsh E, Fahy T. (2007) Do forensic psychiatric inpatient units pose a risk to
local communities? Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology 18(2), 261–5
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local forensic service. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry 12, 446–54
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compliance in a mediums secure unit. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology 17(2),
171–81
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Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry 35(1), 13–21
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in Psychiatric Treatment 14, 452–9
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gramme on Forensic Mental Health Research and Development
Miller H. (1961) Accident neurosis. British Medical Journal i, 919–25
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people with mental illness, Annual Report July 2009. Available at: http://www.medicine.manches-
ter.ac.uk/psychiatry/research/suicide/prevention/nci/inquiry_reports/
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ity and work content. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 7(2), 163–77
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55
5
Leaving Secure Care and
Community Follow-up
The care pathway for patients in secure care varies according to the clinical needs of the
patient and the local configuration of services:
• Patients in high security rarely move directly out of secure care.
• Patients in medium security often move directly into the community or to non-secure hospital
placements:
– some move into low security, and it may be that the proportion who do so will increase over the
coming years as commissioners increasingly focus on throughput, at the expense of continuity of
care.
• Patients in low security generally move directly into community placements.
● Who Can Discharge a Detained Patient?

There are five bodies that can discharge a detained patient, depending on the patient’s
status (Table 5.1):
• responsible clinician (RC)
• nearest relative (NR):
– defined by s26 of the Mental Health Act (MHA), but the MHA 2007 enables patients to apply to
the county court to specify who should act as NR
Table 5.1 Rights to discharge detained patients

Section Who can discharge?
Section 3 RC at any time, by order made in writing
NR must give 72 hours notice of intention to discharge. This is blocked if the RC
provides a report to the hospital managers certifying that if discharged the patient
‘would be likely to act in a manner dangerous to other persons or himself’ (s25)
An application to the tribunal or the hospital managers may be made by the patient or
the NR
Section 37 As section 3 except:
– the NR has no power to discharge
– the patient or the NR may apply to the tribunal, but not during the first period (6
months) of detention
Restricted The power to discharge, either conditionally or absolutely, lies with the Secretary of
patients State for Justice (SoSJ) or the tribunal
The SoSJ may also revoke a s41, leaving the patient detained under an unrestricted s37.
For transferred prisoners, discharge from detention under the MHA generally leads to
remission to prison (see Box 5.2 in relation to rehabilitation of indeterminate prisoners)
56
Who Can Discharge a Detained Patient?
Box 5.1 Returning a patient to prison

See http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/mentally-disordered-offenders.htm for guidance.
To satisfy s50 or s51 MHA, the RC (or a Tribunal) must notify the Secretary of State that:
• the patient ‘no longer requires treatment in hospital for mental disorder’, or
• ‘… no effective treatment for his disorder can be given in the hospital to which he has been removed’.
Under usual circumstances a transferred prisoner is returned to the same prison from which they came.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) requires:
• a s117 meeting to have been held with the prison mental health team, unless there are exceptional
circumstances, usually related to risk or serious management problems
• the name and contact details of someone in the prison who can confirm that the prison is prepared to
accept the patient.
In most cases remission to prison can be arranged in collaboration with the patient:
• This allows the patient to organize final visits and deal with those belongings that they will not be able
to take back to prison.
• Some patients may need greater support during this period, and there may be an increased risk of self-
harm, non-compliance with care and attempted escape.
• Occasionally, where these risks are very significant, it is necessary to arrange remission to prison without
informing the patient.
• hospital managers:
– the managers’ panel must consist of at least three individuals appointed by the board, none of
whom are employees or executives of the trust
• First Tier Tribunal (see below)
– the most common route for restricted patients
• Secretary of State for Justice (SoSJ).
In contrast to a tribunal, the RC or SoSJ have no statutory criteria to consider when dis-
charging a patient.
While the MoJ seeks to encourage applications for discharge of restricted patients, and
Box 5.2 Discharging an indeterminate sentenced prisoner to the community

Not infrequently it is decided that, because of an individual’s mental health needs, it is not appropriate for
them to return to prison:
• A patient serving a determinate sentence usually must wait until their parole eligibility date (PED),
when the restrictions will automatically end and they are detained under a ‘notional section 37’. Then
the RC may discharge them when clinically appropriate.
• For an indeterminate sentenced prisoner there is no equivalent date on which their restrictions end, so a
discharge by the tribunal would lead to remission to prison.
In these latter cases, the prisoner must first apply to the tribunal, and then if they are successful the Parole
Board will consider releasing them on licence:
• The tribunal decides whether the patient would be entitled to discharge if they were subject to a
restriction order (rather than a restriction direction) and notifies the SoSJ of this (see s74 MHA).
• The tribunal may recommend that if he is not discharged by the SoSJ, then he should remain in
hospital rather than be remitted to prison.
• On the strength of this, the prisoner may apply to the Parole Board to be released on life licence.
• Navigating the bureaucracies of first the tribunal and then the Parole Board tends to take many
months.
The patient is then supervised by the probation service on life licence, the MHA restrictions having ended
with the end of their prison sentence or hospital admission.
57
Leaving Secure Care and Community Follow-up
there has been some recent increase in discharges, the majority are still dealt with by the
tribunal. Data for 2008 showed that, of a total of 1255 discharges of restricted patients
(Ministry of Justice, 2010):
• 74 patients were conditionally discharged by the SoSJ
• 333 patients were conditionally discharged by the tribunal
• 14 patients were given an absolute discharge without first being conditionally discharged
• 357 s48 patients were disposed of by the court to prison (296) or the community (61)
• 186 remained in hospital without restrictions
• 233 were remitted to prison as sentenced (167) or unsentenced (66) prisoners
• 34 died.
The clinical process of discharging a patient to the community is no different from other
inpatient settings:
• S117 places a statutory duty on health agencies and social services authorities to provide aftercare
to all patients who have been detained under ss3, 37, 45A, 47 and 48.
● The First Tier Tribunal (Mental Health)

The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 abolished most existing tribunals, com-
bining them into a single generic First Tier Tribunal:
Box 5.3 Some issues to consider at a ‘section 117 meeting’

Clinical matters:
• Ensure that accommodation is secure, utilities are turned on, and necessary furniture and appliances
are present and functional.
• Ensure that benefits are in place.
• Clarify weekly structure of activities, social network and personal support.
• Supply of medication prescribed and/or dispensed.
• Ensure that patient has contact numbers for hospital or care team.
• Have they registered with a GP?
Future care:
• Ensure that risk assessment and management plan are up to date.
• Ensure that relapse prevention plan is agreed.
• Has the patient made an advance directive in relation to future treatment?
• Identify the hospital to which they should be recalled.
Care programme approach and legal matters:
• Identification of care coordinator.
• Identification of social supervisor and clinical supervisor for restricted patients.
• Dates of first appointments, and initial frequency of contact with each mental health professional.
• Clarification of the conditions of a conditional discharge or of supervised community treatment (SCT).
• Is there any requirement to register with the police (as a sex offender, for example)?
• Completion of clinical discharge paperwork.
Notification of other agencies:
• community care team
• GP
• Ministry of Justice
• probation or multi-agency public protection arrangement
• accommodation provider.
58
The First Tier Tribunal (Mental Health)
• The First Tier Tribunal is itself separated into six chambers.

• The First Tier Tribunal (Mental Health) sits within the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber.
• Appeals from the First Tier Tribunal are heard by the Upper Tribunal.
Procedure is governed by the Tribunal Procedure (First Tier Tribunal) (Health, Education
and Social Care Chamber) Rules 2008, SI2008/2699.
The First Tier Tribunal hears applications and referrals:
• An application is made by the detained patient, or sometimes by their nearest relative:
– in general, a patient may appeal once during each period of detention, but
– for both s37 and s37/41, there is no right of appeal in the first 6 months, so an application may
be made in the second 6 months, and then annually
– a conditionally discharged patient may make an application to the Tribunal (seeking an absolute
discharge) within 12 and 24 months after the conditional discharge, and then once in every 2
years.
• The hospital managers or the Secretary of State (depending on whether it is a restricted case) have
a duty to refer cases to the tribunal:
– every 3 years, if no application has otherwise been made
– as soon as possible after revocation of a community treatment order (CTO)
– within 1 month of a conditionally discharged patient being admitted to hospital consequent to
recall. The hearing must be held between 5 and 8 weeks after receipt of the referral.
The Tribunal has the power:

• to order the discharge of a detained patient or a patient subject to SCT
• to recommend:
– leave of absence
– transfer to another hospital
– that the RC considers SCT (in an unrestricted case), and if no order is made the tribunal may
reconvene and reconsider the case.
The First Tier Tribunal does not have the power to:
• vary the conditions of SCT.
Mohan et al. (1998) reported that 86% of tribunals considering a restricted patient detained
in medium security agreed with the recommendation of the registered medical officer (RMO).
Decisions may be appealed on a point of law. In the first instance the First Tier Tribunal
considers whether to review its own decision. It may:
• correct accidental errors
• amend reasons
• set the decision aside, and either re-decide it, or refer to the Upper Tribunal to decide
• if no action is taken and permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal is denied, then notification of
the right to apply for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal must be given.
Types of discharge and criteria for discharge by the tribunal

In all cases the tribunal has a discretionary power to discharge the patient, but in addition
it must discharge the patient if it is not satisfied as to the statutory criteria provided in s72:
• S72 sets out separate criteria for those detained under s2, those detained under other sections and
those subject to SCT.
For patients detained other than under s2, including restricted patients, the criteria are:
59
• that he is suffering from mental disorder of a nature or degree that makes it appropriate for him to
be liable to be detained in a hospital for medical treatment
• that it is necessary for the health or safety of the patient or for the protection of other persons that
he should receive such treatment
• that appropriate medical treatment is available for him.
A restricted patient must be absolutely discharged if the tribunal is:

• not satisfied on these criteria, and
• ‘satisfied that it is not appropriate for the patient to remain liable to recall to hospital for further
treatment’.
Otherwise the patient must be conditionally discharged:

• So the default position is that a restricted patient is conditionally rather than absolutely discharged
in the first instance.
The Tribunal cannot comment on the legitimacy of the original detention. The role is
limited to the review of the detention criteria at the time of the hearing.
The effect of a conditional discharge is that:
• the patient may be recalled to hospital by the SoSJ, then becoming detained again under s37/41
• the patient is required to comply with such conditions as are imposed, which may be varied by the
SoSJ at any time
• conditions commonly imposed include:
– to reside at a specified address or where instructed by their social supervisor or RC
– to allow access to, and/or attend appointments with, mental health professionals
– to comply with medication and other treatments offered
– to have no direct or indirect contact with named individuals
– to abide by a defined exclusion zone
– to comply with drug testing or not to take drugs.
For restricted patients a tribunal can defer a direction for conditional discharge ‘until
such arrangements as appear to be necessary to the Tribunal for that purpose have been
made’:
• In practice, a deferred conditional discharge enables the final pieces of the discharge care plan to
be put in place. Then the RC notifies the tribunal in writing, and the tribunal confirms the discharge
without any need for a further hearing.
• Deferment cannot be used as a strategy to allow further improvement in mental state or further
assessment, on leave, for example.
• If the patient’s mental health deteriorates or the necessary arrangements are not made within a
reasonable time frame then the tribunal can review or reopen the case.
Section 72(3) provides that a tribunal can delay a discharge to a specified future date, usu-
ally for the post-discharge care package to be organized.
The tribunal hearing

The tribunal panel consists of three individuals:
• Legal member:
– is Chair of the panel
– ensures proceedings are conducted fairly and clarifies any issues of law
– may be a solicitor or, in restricted cases, a judge.
60
The First Tier Tribunal (Mental Health)
Box 5.4 Writing a report for the First Tier Tribunal

Before completing your report ensure that you have discussed the case with the authors of the other
statutory reports. In most cases, given that you are working as a team, the reports should be in agreement.
If there are areas of disagreement it is best to realize these in advance.
A tribunal is a court-like body operating according to a legal paradigm. So, as with other reports for courts,
it is important to adopt a legalistic approach. It is also helpful to explain symptoms in normal English
words, though remember that the members of the tribunal generally have considerable experience of
mental health, particularly the medical member.
The report for the tribunal hearing should focus on the information that the tribunal requires in order
to decide whether or not the patient needs to remain in hospital. So, a good starting point is to use the
statutory criteria for discharge.
Mental disorder:
• Give the diagnosis/diagnoses and establish it by reference to the characteristic symptoms and signs.
• What investigations or observations support your diagnosis?
• How certain is the diagnosis? Are there any atypical features?
• Are there any differing opinions now, or in the past?
Nature [of mental disorder] ‘refers to the particular mental disorder … its chronicity, its prognosis and
the patient’s previous response to receiving treatment …’ (R v MHRT for the South Thames Region Ex p.
Smith [1999] C.O.D. 148):
• This is about the characteristics of the disorder: how long they have suffered from it, has it been
persistent or remitting and relapsing, what is the future course likely to be, what effect does it have on
the individual, what alleviating or exacerbating factors can be identified and what effect are they likely
to have?
Degree [of mental disorder] ‘refers to the current manifestations of the disorder’ (as above):
• The current symptoms, and their intensity and impact on the patient’s function. May include
consequent likelihood of risk behaviours – especially, but not only, self-harm and harm to others.
• The level of insight that the patient has into their current illness.
Appropriate for him to be liable to be detained in hospital for medical treatment:
• Detention must be proportionate to the risks involved
Treatment in hospital is necessary:
• Why is hospital treatment required? Why can’t the treatment be offered on an outpatient basis?
• Why would options other than detention not contain the risks?
• It may be appropriate to refer to past engagement with treatment in the community.
For the health or safety of the patient or for the protection of other persons:
• Consider previous risk behaviours, the impact of current treatment and the likelihood of future high-risk
situations.
Appropriate medical treatment is available:
• Defined as ‘medical treatment which is appropriate in his case, taking into account the nature and
degree of the mental disorder and all other circumstances of his case’ [s3(4) MHA].
• Medical treatment ‘includes nursing, psychological intervention and specialist mental health
habilitation, rehabilitation and care’ [s145 (1)]; ‘the purpose of which is to alleviate, or prevent a
worsening of, the disorder or … its symptoms or manifestations’ [s145(4)].
• These sections create a very broad definition, reflecting the approach always taken by the courts.
Particularly for restricted cases there may be a significant delay between preparing a report and the
hearing. If so, it is appropriate to prepare an addendum close to the date of the hearing.
• Ensure that this is submitted at least 3 weeks before the hearing, so the MoJ has an opportunity to
respond to is contents.
61
• Medical member:
– a consultant psychiatrist, who advises the Tribunal on medical matters
– required, in advance of the hearing, to ‘examine the patient … to form an opinion of the
patient’s mental condition’
– this leads to a problematic dual role, the medical member perhaps acting as both an expert
witness to the tribunal and also a decision-maker (Richardson and Machin, 2000a). The medical
member should keep an open mind about detention, and should not give an opinion to the panel
prior to the hearing (R v MHRT, ex p S [2002] EWHC 2522)
– however, the evidence is that, in practice, the medical member usually acts according to clinical
criteria, that they often give an opinion to the Tribunal in advance of the hearing, and that the
Tribunal’s decision usually follows the medical member’s opinion (Richardson and Machin, 2000a,b).
• Lay member:
– neither medically nor legally qualified
– often with experience in social care or welfare.
Tribunal hearings are usually held in private, unless the patient requests a public hearing and
the tribunal is satisfied that it would not be contrary to the patient’s interests. The victims of
those detained under the MHA have a statutory right to make representations to the Tribunal
about conditions that should be attached to a discharge (see Chapter 17 for further details).
There are no statutory time limits for holding a hearing, except for s2 (within 7 days of
the application) and for referrals following recall of a conditionally discharged patient:
• Adjournments and cancellations are common, adjournments on the day of the hearing having
increased from 1% in 2001 to 25% in 2005. Reasons were split equally between availability of
reports and attendance:
– Reports are now required within 21 days of the application.
Box 5.5 Giving oral evidence in the tribunal

Before the hearing:
• Make sure that you have discussed the report with the patient. It is important to assess the patient
close to the date of the tribunal – you are likely to be asked when you last saw the patient.
• Ensure that the patient is prepared for the proceedings and supported by nursing staff or advocate.
• Reread your report and the other reports, including any independent reports that have been submitted.
Particularly consider any disagreements and how these should be presented or resolved.
Tribunal hearings should have minimal formality, and there is no prescribed procedure, except that the
patient should have the last word. A common sequence is:
• for the medical member to summarize their findings on examination
• the evidence of the RC is often taken next, usually by way of being asked to bring the tribunal up to
date with the patient’s further progress since the written report was prepared
• then each member of the tribunal will have the opportunity to ask questions in turn, followed by the
patient (or their representative)
• expect to be asked how long you have known the patient and when you last saw them
• the Chair is likely to be writing notes, so as in other courts speak slowly and clearly and watch.
The social worker’s evidence tends to be taken second, followed by the nurse:
• Most often the medical member leads on questioning the RC and the lay member leads on questioning
the social worker.
Finally the patient’s solicitor takes evidence from the patient, before giving a closing argument setting out
exactly what the patient is asking of the tribunal and seeking to justify this. The witnesses and applicant
then leave the room to allow the panel to reach a decision.
The decision is usually delivered orally on the day, and must be given in writing within 7 days.
62
Forensic Psychiatric Care in the Community
● Forensic Psychiatric Care in the Community

Three service models are often described (Mohan et al., 2004)
• Parallel:
– Forensic services provide a complete service for forensic patients. On leaving secure care the
patient remains under the care of the forensic service, with no involvement from general
psychiatric services.
– In practice all parallel services must pass some patients back to general services before discharge,
at discharge or after a period in the community, to avoid becoming overcommitted.
• Integrated:
– Forensic mental health professionals work within general psychiatric teams, sharing the team
base and offering a single point of contact for referrals.
• Hybrid:
– Some parallel care is provided, but with opportunities for joint working in order to smooth the
transition for patients moving from one service to the other.
In practice, services have developed according to local need and preference, with little
central direction:
• Judge et al. (2004) identified 37 UK community forensic teams: 26 responded to their survey, of
which 20 operated a parallel service.
• It is likely that the picture has changed considerably in the years since then, a hybrid model
becoming increasingly common.
Advantages of parallel teams include (see also Mohan et al., 2004; Snowden et al., 1999):
• greater continuity of care
• detailed longitudinal knowledge of the patient
• development of expertise in managing forensic patients
• peer support and supervision tailored to managing high-risk patients
• better follow-up across geographical districts
• better links with the criminal justice system (CJS).
Advantages of integrated teams include:

• reduced stigmatization of the patient
• less duplication of services
• general teams that may develop some skills in managing high-risk cases
• easier passage of patient between services
• better access to local community resources.
What characterizes a forensic community service?

Forensic community teams should:
• provide flexibility and responsivity, as opposed to the intensity provided by assertive outreach
teams (AOTs)
• use a multidisciplinary teamworking approach
• have a pervasive sensitivity to risk and a detailed understanding of each patient’s risk formulation
• work closely with CJS agencies, and be comfortable within a CJS setting.
63
What are the characteristics of forensic community patients?

In the early days of regional forensic psychiatric services Higgins (1981) distinguished two
groups of forensic patient with different care pathways:
• Integrated patients:
– well known to general psychiatric service, admitted during an acute episode of psychosis, on a
civil or unrestricted section
– to be returned in due course to general psychiatric service.
• Parallel patients:
– had had fewer contacts with general psychiatric service, were admitted from prison or high
security and were usually restricted
– likely to remain under forensic community care.
An observational study of patients discharged from medium secure care (Coid et al., 2007)
reported the following:
• Compared with those discharged to general psychiatric care, forensic community patients were:
– older
– had more serious offences
– were more likely to have a diagnosis of personality disorder
– had fewer previous hospital admissions
– were more likely to be subject to restrictions and more likely to adhere to treatment during initial
period in community
– were less likely to die from natural causes (no difference in suicide rate).
• There was no difference in rate of reconviction or rate of rehospitalization, but those managed by
forensic services had a shorter time to re-conviction for a violent offence.
Any parallel or hybrid service must have a mechanism to hand patients back to general
psychiatric services. Otherwise the forensic caseload will simply continue to increase.
Dowsett (2005) reviewed a forensic community caseload, and considered that:
• some had been stable for a sustained period, and could be handed back to generic services
• others relapsed often but were manageable on a general acute ward
• a third group had paramount criminogenic needs; for Dowsett, this was the group that forensic
services should concentrate on.
Others (Turner and Salter, 2005) persuasively argue against attempting to treat criminality
as such and question whether there is any role for forensic community teams.
Patients should not be cast as, dispositionally as it were, ‘forensic’. Rather, some patients
need the particular service provided by a forensic community team at certain times. The
most crucial period is following discharge into the community:
• For many, continuity of care with a detailed knowledge of the patient’s illness and risk is the
essential medium through which risk is effectively managed.
In this context, it may be that Higgin’s typology has some value:

• Some patients, previously well known to a general psychiatric team, perhaps with a relatively less
serious offence, may be best passed back to general services.
• Patients without previous contact with general psychiatric services, and perhaps with the most
serious offences, may be best cared for by the forensic team in the first instance.
Sahota et al. (2009) compared patients discharged from medium secure care to general and
forensic community teams. They did not demonstrate significant differences in the clini-
64
cal and criminal characteristics of the two groups. Among those followed up by a forensic
service, they found:
• an increased (though statistically not significant) proportion were reconvicted
• a significant reduction in the time to reconviction.
Community follow-up of conditionally discharged patients

The community care of a conditionally discharged patient is overseen by the MoJ. The sole
concern of the Mental Health Unit (MHU) is to carry out the Secretary of State’s statutory
responsibilities:
• To authorize transfer from prison to hospital.
• To consider recommendations from RCs for leave, discharge and transfer of inpatients.
• To prepare the Secretary of State’s statements for tribunals.
• To monitor the progress of conditionally discharged patients and to consider:
– variation of the conditions
– recall
– absolute discharge.
The MHU produces guidance documents, all available from www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/

mentally-disordered-offenders.htm, in particular the Guidance for Clinical Supervisors.
The MHU maintains oversight primarily through periodic reports provided by clinical
and social supervisors at intervals determined by the MHU:
• The standard frequency is within 1 month of discharge, and then every 3 months.
• A clinical supervisor is not expected to submit a report without seeing the patient:
– so the clinical supervisor is expected to see the patient at least every 3 months.
• All reports should be copied to the social supervisor (and vice versa).
• At least an annual review by both supervisors is expected.
It is expected that the social supervisor has more frequent contact than the clinical super-
visor:
• Weekly for 1 month after discharge, reducing to a minimum of monthly as clinically appropriate.
The MoJ has no power to prevent a patient going abroad on holiday, but expects:
• the patient to discuss any such proposal with the clinical team and for it to be put to the MHU in
advance
• a careful risk assessment to have taken place.
Recall to hospital
Section 42(3) of the MHA 1983 provides that the Secretary of State ‘may at any time … in
respect of a patient who has been conditionally discharged … by warrant recall the patient
to such hospital as may be specified in the warrant’.
• There are no statutory criteria that must be satisfied.
• Breach of the conditions of a conditional discharge does not automatically trigger a recall:
– but should lead to a review and consideration of necessary action.
• A deterioration in mental state is not required:
– deprivation of liberty must be based on ‘objective medical evidence’ (Winterwerp v Netherlands
[1979] 2 EHRR 387) of mental disorder to avoid engaging Article 5(1), except in emergency cases
65
Box 5.6 Reviewing conditionally discharged patients

It is expected that the patient is seen, at least some of the time, in their own home:
• This provides a better, more naturalistic opportunity to evaluate mental state and functioning, and
develop an understanding of their lifestyle and social network.
• It is always helpful to carry out joint reviews with the social supervisor or community psychiatric nurse.
• You must be particularly aware of personal safety issues.
• Try to look around the accommodation.
• Try to gain collateral information from carers.
There is an important balance to be struck between maintaining a therapeutic relationship and policing
the patient in the interests of public protection. This is particularly difficult to manage within a patient’s
own home:
• Always be respectful of the patient’s home – ask where to sit, ask if they would be good enough to turn
off the television.
• Pay attention to the patient’s priorities, particularly social and financial issues.
• You must always adequately cover mental state, asking specifically about early warning signs and
idiosyncratic symptoms of mental illness.
• You must always ask about medication and assess their likely concordance/adherence.
• You must ensure that you deal with risk issues, asking about issues relevant to the case such as weapon
carrying, incidents of loss temper or frustration, problems in relationships and so on.
Anecdotally, many forensic psychiatrists have had cases of a community patient who has been stable for a
long time before committing another offence apparently out of the blue:
• Perhaps the team has started to relax a little.
• Perhaps the patient is always very inviting and hospitable on home visits, which become slightly too
comfortable and ‘social’.
• It might start to feel wrong to ask important risk questions and the balance between therapeutic
relationship and policing is lost.
Issues that must be reported to the Mental Health Unit:
• Withdrawal of cooperation with medication.
• Actual/potential risk to the public.
• Loss of contact or cooperation with supervision.
• Admission of the patient to hospital voluntarily or under a civil section.
• If a patient is accused, charged or convicted of a serious offence.
• If a patient’s relatives or carer expresses concern.
– however, the Secretary of State has to balance the rights of the patient along with the need to
protect the public (R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p K [1990] 3 All ER 562)
– therefore the MHU will always seek evidence from the clinical supervisor that the patient is
currently mentally disordered, but this is not an absolute requirement.
A conditionally discharged patient may:

• be admitted to hospital voluntarily:
– recall will usually follow if they are in hospital for ‘more than a few weeks’ (Ministry of Justice,
2009)
• be detained under a civil section:
– they will then be recalled.
A conditionally discharged patient who has committed an offence may be dealt with by
the CJS. If they are imprisoned, the MoJ usually waits until they are to be released before
considering whether to recall to hospital or not.
66
Box 5.7 Recalling a patient

The MHU runs an on-call system and can be contacted by telephone 24 hours a day to discuss urgent
matters such as recall. It is reasonable to discuss a case with the MHU if you are uncertain whether a recall
is necessary. The central issues that you will be asked about are whether there is:
• evidence of an increase in risk and
• evidence of a deterioration in mental state – is the patient currently mentally disordered?
A warrant can be issued immediately on the strength of a telephone conversation, which provides
sufficient authority for the patient to be detained and brought to hospital under s18 of the MHA:
• The warrant provides authority to the police to assist, though does not impose a duty on them to do so.
• Any such telephone discussion with the MoJ should be followed up in writing at your earliest
opportunity.
The patient can be recalled to a different hospital from the one from which they were discharged. It is
important always to be clear about which is the appropriate hospital for recall in a particular case.
References
Coid JW, Hickey N, Yang M. (2007) Comparison of outcomes following after-care from forensic and
general adult psychiatric services. British Journal of Psychiatry 190(6), 509–14
Dowsett J. (2005) Measurement of risk by a community forensic mental health team. Psychiatric
Bulletin 29(1), 9–12
Higgins J. (1981) ‘Four years’ experience of an interim secure unit. British Medical Journal 282,
889–93
Judge J, Harty MA, Fahy T. (2004) Survey of community forensic psychiatry services in England and
Wales. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology 15(2), 244–53
*Ministry of Justice. (2009) Guidance for Clinical Supervisors. Available at: http://www.justice.gov.uk/
guidance/docs/guidance-for-clinical-supervisors-0909.pdf
Ministry of Justice. (2010) Statistics of Mentally Disordered Offenders 2008 England & Wales. Avail-
able at: http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/mentally-disordered-offenders.htm
Mohan D, Murray K, Steed P, Mullee M. (1998) Mental Health Review Tribunal decisions in restricted
hospital order cases at one medium secure unit, 1992–1996. Criminal Behaviour and Mental
Health 8, 57–65
Mohan R, Slade M, Fahy T. (2004) Clinical characteristics of community forensic mental health serv-
ices. Psychiatric Services 55, 1294–8
Richardson G, Machin M. (2000a) Doctors on tribunals: a confusion of roles. British Journal of Psy-
chiatry 176, 110–15
Richardson G, Machin M. (2000b) Judicial review and tribunal decision making: a study of the Mental
Health Review Tribunal. Public Law Autumn, 494–514
Sahota S, Davies S, Duggan C, Clarke M. (2009) The fate of medium secure patients discharged to
generic or specialized services. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology 20(1), 74–84
Snowden P, McKenna J, Jasper A. (1999) Management of conditionally discharged patients and
others who represent similar risks in the community: integrated or parallel. Journal of Forensic
Psychiatry 10(3), 583–96
Turner T, Salter M. (2005) What is the role of a forensic community mental health team? Psychiatric
Bulletin 29(9), 352
67
6
Risk of Violence
Assessment
Although this chapter only considers risk of violence, the principles may be applied to
the risk of any other behaviour. Assessing risk among sex offenders is considered further in
Chapter 13, and among adolescents in Chapter 12.
The World Health Organization (1996) defines violence as:
… the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself,
another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likeli-
hood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation
It may be subdivided into:
• self-directed violence
• interpersonal violence
• collective violence (perpetrated by groups of people).
This chapter is concerned with interpersonal violence. Many typologies have been pro-
posed, which usually distinguish between violence that is, variously:
• premeditated, planned, instrumental or predatory, and
• impulsive, affective or reactive.
While this dichotomous classification has some heuristic value, it is often too simple to do
justice to clinical assessments.
● Approaches to Risk of Violence Assessment in

Clinical Practice
Maden (2007) describes three approaches to risk (of violence) assessment:
• unstructured clinical assessment (UCA)
• actuarial risk assessment (ARA)
• structured clinical assessment (SCA), sometimes known as structured professional judgement (SPJ).
SCA is described as providing the right balance between UCA and ARA. This is a some-
what false trichotomy because:
• UCA really exists only as the antithesis of ARA in the minds of those ideologically wedded to the
latter:
– no one ever maintained that a deliberate lack of structure was the best approach to risk
assessment.
68
Approaches to Risk of Violence Assessment
• The distinction between ARA and SCA is not absolute:

– actuarial risk assessment instruments (ARAIs) require clinical judgements about the presence of
some factors
– SCA instruments may be used to produce statistical probabilities (the HCR-20, for example).
• Both SCA and ARA depend on the identification of factors that are associated with, or which
predict, violence. The factors are the same for both.
Box 6.1 gives examples of violence risk assessment instruments.
Box 6.1 Examples of violence risk assessment instruments
HCR-20 (Webster et al., 1997)

This is the most commonly used risk assessment instrument in the UK. It provides a framework for a SCA
approach, based on 20 evidence-based risk factors. The risk factors are separated into 10 historical factors:
• previous violence
• young age at first violence
• relationship instability
• employment problems
• substance misuse
• major mental illness
• psychopathy
• early maladjustment
• personality disorder (PD)
• prior supervision failure
five clinical factors (relating to current functioning):
• lack of insight
• negative attitudes
• active symptoms of major mental illness
• impulsivity
• unresponsive to treatment
and five risk management items (relating to predictions about the future):
• plans lack feasibility
• exposure to destabilizers
• lack of personal support
• non-compliance with remediation attempts
• stress.
PCL-R (Hare, 2003)

The most widely researched instrument, originally developed in order to provide a reliable method of
ascertaining the presence of psychopathy to enable brain research. The PCL-R assesses the degree to
which an individual matches an archetypal construct based on the cases described by Cleckley (1976):
• glibness or superficial charm
• grandiose sense of self-worth
• proneness to boredom
• pathological lying
• conning or manipulative
• lack of remorse or guilt
• shallow affect
• callous/lack of empathy
• parasitic lifestyle
69
Risk of Violence Assessment
• poor behavioural controls

• promiscuous sexual behaviour
• early behavioural problems
• lack of realistic long-term goals
• impulsivity
• irresponsibility
• failure to accept responsibility
• many short-term relationships
• juvenile delinquency
• revocation of conditional release
• criminal responsibility.
Psychopathy, the PCL-R and the PCL-SV screening tool are discussed in more detail in Chapter 9.
VRAG (Quinsey et al., 1998)

This was validated on 600 male offenders discharged from a Canadian high security hospital. So,
only patients who had been judged fit for discharge were included. Twelve items are scored positively
or negatively, to assign individual into one of nine risk categories with an associated risk of violent
reoffending over 7 years.
In simple statistical terms, it is perhaps the most accurate instrument, and has been researched in various
populations, including UK psychiatric patients.
Positive association with violence:
• elementary school maladjustment
• history of alcohol abuse problems
• never married
• non-violent offence history
• failure on prior conditional release
• severity of victim injury
• personality disorder
• PCL-R score.
Negative association with violence:
• lived with parents to age 16
• older age at index offence
• female victim
• schizophrenia.
OASys
Developed by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) in the UK, and routinely used by
probation and prisons, both to inform sentencing and for sentence planning. It is discussed in more detail
in Chapter 17:
• offending history
• current offence
• accommodation
• education, training and employability
• financial management and income
• lifestyle and associates
• relationships
• drug and alcohol misuse
• thinking and behavior
• attitude towards offending
• emotional factors.
70
Actuarial Risk Assessment
OGRS-3 (Howard, 2009)

A strictly actuarial tool developed from the Offender Assessment System which uses a minimum number
of factors to produce a likelihood of reoffending for that group of offenders with a similar score. It requires
only:
• age
• gender
• current offence
• number of previous cautions/convictions
• time since first caution/conviction.
More recently adjunctive risk assessment tools that look at protective factors have been
developed, to be used as part of a SCA approach. These tools may offer more balance in
risk assessment, which may better promote collaborative risk assessment with the patient.
Examples include:
• Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START):
– a 20-item dynamic risk assessment tool designed to evaluate 7 clinical risk domains: violence to
others; suicide; self-harm; self-neglect; unauthorized absence; substance use; victimization.
• Structured Assessment of Protective Factors for violence risk (SAPROF):
– designed to be used in conjunction with, for example, the HCR-20.
● Actuarial Risk Assessment

The actuarial approach has been appropriated from the insurance industry, where it is used
to pool risk, in other words to replace the inevitable uncertainty of individual outcomes
with a relative certainty of group outcomes:
• In the group, individually unpredictable bad outcomes are balanced by individually unpredictable
good outcomes.
• At first sight this offers little benefit to a clinician seeking to manage individual patients.
In the psychiatric and psychological literature, actuarial has come to be used more loosely
(Buchanan, 1999), as a term for assigning a numerical risk:
• either to an individual patient (using correlation data based on regression analyses)
• or to a group to which an individual is assigned.
Actuarial risk assessment is deliberately atheoretical, being solely based on observed asso-
ciations with no attempt to understand cause:
• Proponents would argue that this is its strength, causal hypotheses of uncertain validity necessarily
sometimes leading to error.
• In contrast the idea of cause is key to clinical risk assessment.
Describing predictive accuracy of actuarial risk assessment

The predictive accuracy of ARA instruments (ARAIs) may be assessed using a variety of
statistics, all with their advantages and disadvantages. Singh and Fazel (2010) discuss these
further in a metareview.
Receiver operator characteristics (ROC) and the statistic of the area under the ROC
curve (AUC) are used most often because the AUC is relatively independent of the base
rate of the observed outcome:
71
• The AUC ranges from 0.5 (prediction at the level of chance) to 1.0 (perfect prediction) (Table 6.1):
– AUC > 0.63 represents a moderate effect size
– AUC > 0.71 represents a large effect size (Rice and Harris, 2005).
Table 6.1 AUCs of common actuarial risk assessment instruments (ARAIs)

ARAI AUC
Douglas et al. 188 non-mentally disordered male offenders released from HCR-20 0.82
(2005) Canadian prison to community supervision VRAG 0.79
Mean follow-up 7.7 years VORAS 0.61
PCL-R 0.76
PCL-SV 0.73
Monahan et al. 157 US acutely hospitalized patients, followed up for 20 ICT 0.63
(2005) weeks after discharge
Doyle and 112 UK forensic and non-forensic discharges, followed up PCL-SV 0.69
Dolan (2006) for 24 weeks VRAG 0.66
HCR-20 0.79
Snowden et al. 996 discharges from four UK medium secure units (MSUs) VRAG 0.75–0.86
(2007) Follow-up 6–60 months OGRS 0.72–0.78
Gray et al. 887 male discharges from UK MSUs HCR-20 0.70–0.76
(2008) 2-year follow-up H10 0.68–0.77
C5 0.54–0.61
R5 0.63–0.69
Coid et al. 1353 male UK prisoners PCL-SV 0.69
(2011) Mean follow-up 2 years VRAG 0.66
HCR-20 0.79
H10 0.66
C5 0.64
R5 0.59
Where a range of areas under the curve (AUCs) is given, this is dependent on length of follow-up and whether the
outcome was violent or general reoffending
See Abbreviations for ARAI’s name in full
It is interesting that AUCs seem to be within a similar range for all the commonly used
instruments, wherever they are studied and among those with and without mental disorder,
men or women and forensic or general psychiatric patients (Buchanan, 2008; Coid et al.,
2009):
• Kroner et al. (2005) randomly combined items from four established ARAIs including the PCL-R and
VRAG, and found that the ‘new instruments’ predicted as well as the originals.
• It may be that instruments like this cannot achieve a higher predictive accuracy and that they
measure a general construct of criminality rather than a specific risk of violence (Coid et al., 2011).
Buchanan (2008) sought to translate the AUC into a clinically meaningful number – the
number needed to detain in order to prevent an act of violence. He demonstrates that this
number increases as the base rate of the action to be prevented reduces:
• So for the CATIE trial outcome of assault with a weapon or causing serious injury, reported in
Swanson et al. (2006), use of the VRAG would require 15 people to be detained for 6 months to
prevent one incident in that period.
In a systematic review Singh et al. (2011) concluded that those instruments designed for use
in a highly defined population performed better than those with more general applicability:
• Thus the SAVRY (for adolescents) performed best, while the PCL-R (of general applicability)
performed poorly.
• This emphasizes the importance of ensuring that the tool used is appropriate for the case at hand.
72
Clinical Risk Assessment
ARAIs in clinical practice

ARAIs outperform clinical judgement in research studies (Aegisdottir et al., 2006). For
some, this means that they should supplant clinical assessments (Hilton et al., 2006),
but:
• This holds only where the relevant question is that which is answered by the ARAI. It must be in the
following form:
– In a group of individuals who share some characteristics with this individual, what is the risk of
one of them carrying out a violent act in the next unit time?
• You must be sure that the reference group used in developing the ARAI is applicable to the patient
whom you are assessing.
• You must be on the look-out for rare or idiosyncratic risk factors, which are not accounted for by the
ARAI.
• Be wary of the pitfalls associated with applying group data to individuals. These may be:
– statistical pitfalls; see Hart et al. (2007), Mossman and Sellke (2007), Harris et al. (2008); debate
available at http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/eletters/190/49/s60
– moral/ethical pitfalls relating to prejudice and stereotyping (see Maden, 2007, p75).
For the forensic psychiatrist carrying out risk assessments on patients with a history of vio-
lence, or patients whom a colleague has deemed sufficiently dangerous to warrant a foren-
sic opinion, there are other problems that seriously limit the value of a purely statistical
approach:
• All these patients are, by definition, relatively high risk. This may limit the ability of an ARAI to
distinguish between them.
• ARAIs tend to be dominated by static rather than dynamic factors. This makes them of little use
when the need is to moderate and manage risk rather than to state what it is.
• ARAIs do not address the questions that clinical risk assessment must address:
– when, where, why, how, how bad, to whom, and what to do about it.
• ARAIs do not help where there is cause for concern despite an actuarial categorization of low risk:
– understanding cause allows sensible predictions to be made even without group data and
historical information (Buchanan, 1999).
Maden (2007) suggests that ARA:

• is useful in providing a context or grounding for subsequent clinical assessment, and
• is more useful for those with PD than those with mental illness, because psychosis is too variable
and idiosyncratic for ARAIs to cope with.
● Clinical Risk Assessment

A clinical approach to risk assessment may be less reliable than ARA but is likely to be
more valid because:
• its flexibility allows account to be taken of idiosyncratic risk factors and risk factors external to the
individual
• the assessor may define the target behaviours, the questions to be answered and the associated
parameters:
– for example, different types of violence may be distinguished
• understanding cause allows risk reduction interventions, even where the likelihood is low
• it enables a dynamic assessment, identifying high- and low-risk situations in the future.
73
Box 6.2 Some risk aphorisms

The best predictor of future violence is past violence:
• the more often it has happened in the past the more likely it is to happen in the future.
Some patients under-report their risk and others over-report it. Very few report it accurately:
• Under-reporting may be motivated by a desire to avoid restrictive interventions.
• Over-reporting tends to serve an internal need, perhaps to be seen as important or powerful, or to
attract help and support.
• Always consider whether the patient you are seeing is over-reporting or under-reporting their risk and
why.
People who are at low risk of doing something will sometimes do it. The lower the base rate, the more false
positives you will get:
• While this is often seen as a problem for ARA, Maden (2007, p99) makes the point that it is just as true
for SCA.
Predicting that someone will do something is a safer bet than predicting that they will not:
• The latter cannot be proved wrong until the subject dies. That does not make the former a better
prediction.
Risk is always relative. Why and when is more important than whether.
False positives and false negatives are inevitable and qualitatively different:
• Defining the right balance between them is neither a mathematical nor a clinical decision.
Effective clinical practice involves taking risks:
• Deciding what risk to take and how to do it is never a statistical decision.
Sources of error
It is generally held that clinicians overestimate risk, as in the famous Baxstrom patients
(Steadman and Cocozza, 1974). For forensic psychiatrists, potential reasons include the
following:
• Risk of violence is, in part, what forensic psychiatrists are for, so they may tend to see it more than
others.
• Deciding that an individual is high risk is often a low anxiety judgement (Oakley et al., 2009),
because it justifies intervention and avoids an assessment of low risk being followed by a serious
violent episode.
• A risk-averse, blaming society is likely to promote a risk-averse approach to clinical management.
Otherwise, sources of error in risk assessment mostly result from:

• lack of information, or
• bias.
Information gaps are inevitable and risk assessments must be timely and pragmatic. So you
must:
• take reasonable steps to minimize them:
– collect as much information as reasonably possible in advance of the clinical assessment;
consider remaining gaps again afterwards
– ratify important information from more than one source where possible
– conduct multidisciplinary assessments, thereby adopting more than a single, potentially narrow
perspective
• account for any known gaps in drawing your conclusions, and:
– bear in mind the possibility of ‘unknown unknowns’
– consider whether any known gap is likely to lead to bias.
74
Be aware of the common biases in risk assessment:

• Halo effect:
– Forensic psychiatrists are asked to provide risk assessments on high-risk patients who often
have many features in common with the forensic psychiatrist’s own patients, all of whom have
probably committed serious violence.
– This will lead to a tendency to overestimate risk.
• Attributional bias:
– Particularly a tendency to attribute behaviour of others to internal or dispositional factors, and
one’s own behaviour to external factors.
– Where the assessor identifies to some degree with the assessed person (same gender, same
background, same culture, etc.), they may be more likely to attribute behaviour to external
factors, which is likely to lead to a judgement of lower risk.
• Confirmation bias:
– Weighing up qualitative information related to risk requires judgements about relative
importance of information.
– A prematurely formed opinion may affect these judgements.
• Observer-expectancy effect:
– A forensic psychiatrist deals with high-risk patients. If they expect their patients to be high risk,
they will probably see them as so.
• Illusory correlations:
– Particularly likely where events are unusual and memorable, violence in one’s patients being a
good example.
– Remember that correlation is not the same as causality.
See Moore (1996) for further discussion of error in clinical risk assessment.
Factors important in considering risk of violence

A full psychiatric history and examination is required. The focus of this will depend on the
case, but the factors shown in Table 6.2, loosely grouped into four categories, are especially
important areas to bear in mind:
• Using a structured risk assessment tool, such as the HCR-20, to guide your consideration of risk
factors, may be helpful.
• Most of the areas of enquiry are bipolar, constituting risk factors at one end and protective factors
at the other.
Considering previous violence

Previous episodes of violence provide the best indicators of the circumstances in which risk
of violence is likely to increase in the future:
• Future risk will increase the more future circumstances resemble those in which violence has
occurred before.
• It may be that there are a number of different circumstances in which violence, perhaps of different
types, is likely to occur.
Consider:
• The nature of the violence:
– The frequency of violence, and note any patterns (increasing, decreasing, gaps or spates).
– The severity of injuries.
– Have weapons been used?
75
Table 6.2 Factors in considering the risk of violence

Individual historical and dispositional factors
• Previous violence Previous violence is the most important factor to consider in
• Age detail (see text)
• Educational attainment Parenting style, consistency, involvement, loss/separation
• Psychopathic traits or other PD Sibling relationships, familial attitudes and patterns of conflict
• Childhood conduct disorder and resolution
• Childhood abusive experiences Presence of early maladjustment by way of age at onset
• Parental criminality of violence and conduct problems. Was conduct disorder
• Impulsiveness socialized or unsocialized?
Peer relationships, teacher relationships, sociability, teenage
hobbies. Compare school with home
Individual clinical factors
• Substance misuse Substance misuse is important but the relationship with
• Anger or irritability violence may be complex (see text)
• Justification of violence Are there reasons why they might be violent – grudges,
• Violent thoughts and fantasies feelings of resentment or humiliation – and do they justify
• Insight and understanding violence?
• Collaboration with clinical team Collaboration in treatment is an important dynamic
determinant of risk (see text)
Explanatory or motivational factors
• Persecutory delusions Important symptoms of psychosis are discussed in Chapter 7
• Auditory hallucinations Relate episodes of violence to episodes of illness; spend as
• Threat control over-ride (TCO) much time understanding periods of mental health stability as
symptoms episodes of illness and hospitalization
• Morbid jealousy Negative attitudes may be understood in terms of childhood
• Delusional misidentification experience or current subcultural influences
• Negative attitudes
Situational or environmental factors
• Recent victimization The social network, including family and carers, may be absent
• Social network and support or present, and it may be violence-promoting or violence-
• Availability/use of weapons inhibiting
• Availability of victims Who else should be involved in monitoring and care planning?
It is always important to ask about a history of weapon
carrying, but answers may be particularly unreliable
– Was the violence more extreme than was necessary to achieve the desired ends?
– Is there evidence of planning, strong emotion or impulsiveness?
• Situational triggers/precipitants and internal motivations:
– Think about emotions, places and people.
– Consider victim types and victim influences on the violence.
– Where the violence is apparently ‘unprovoked’ or overt triggers seem trivial, look for an earlier
less specific trigger leading to an intervening altered mental state which in turn led on to violence.
– Identify factors that are necessary for violence (i.e. violence does not occur in their absence), and
factors that are sufficient for violence (i.e. if the factor is present, violence will follow).
– How homogeneous are the circumstances in which violence has occurred?
– How likely is it that they will encounter similar situations in the future?
• Retrospective attitudes:
– To the violence.
– To actual victim(s), or to victim types.
Substance misuse
Where relevant, you need to take a full drug and alcohol history, considering the relation-
ship to episodes of violence.
76
Box 6.3 Tarasoff v Regents of the University of California (1976)551 P.2d 334
This famous Californian case placed a duty on health-care professionals to issue warnings in relation to
potentially dangerous patients:
• Prosenjit Prodder became obsessed with Tatiana Tarasoff and became a vengeful stalker. He disclosed
his violent feelings to his psychotherapist, who notified the relevant police force. But Prodder was not
detained and Ms Tarasoff was not informed. Prodder went on to kill her by stabbing, and her parents
brought a civil action.
• The majority judgment of the California Supreme Court established that a psychiatrist could be subject
to a duty to protect a third party (i.e. someone who was not their patient), Justice Tobriner stating that
‘the protective privilege [of confidentiality] ends where the public peril begins’.
Breaching confidentiality in such cases has always been permitted in the UK, but there has not been a
similar duty to do so:
• The duty of confidentiality within the doctor–patient relationship is not absolute, being subject to
various statutory exceptions and a common law ‘public interest’ exception.
• But in the latter case the doctor has a discretion, rather than a duty, to breach confidentiality.
See Gavaghan (2007) and Thomas (2009) for further discussion.
Substance use should not be seen as a unidimensional or dichotomous characteristic.

There are four possible relationships between substance use and risk of violence in those
with mental disorders, which vary according to the substance used:
• Intoxication with drugs leads directly to an increased risk of violence:
– Stimulant, particularly crack cocaine, and alcohol intoxication are associated with an increased
risk of violence.
– Among non-mentally disordered offenders, cannabis and opiate use are not associated with an
increased risk of violent offending.
• Substance use leads to more symptoms of mental illness, which leads to an increased risk of
violence:
– Cannabis and stimulants are clearly associated with greater illness severity on a range of indices,
including level of reported symptoms (Kuepper et al., 2011).
– Opiates and alcohol are less likely to cause deterioration in psychosis directly, but may do so
indirectly and over a longer timeframe through socio-economic or other stressful mediators.
• Drug use and violence are associated through other individual characteristics which are associated
with both:
– This may apply to any substance, particularly where the use is heavy and problematic.
– It is less likely for non-problematic use of those substances that are legally/culturally acceptable
(particularly alcohol and cannabis, depending on the culture to which the patient belongs).
• Use of drugs leads to involvement in a social environment where violence is relatively common:
– This may apply to any substance, particularly where the patient’s life is dominated by substance
use within a violent/criminal social milieu.
The role of drugs or alcohol in specific episodes of violence should be investigated. Consider
(after Moore, 1996):
• Has this violent behaviour occurred only when intoxicated?
• Does it occur every time the patient is intoxicated?
• If not, what are the other necessary conditions?
• Are drugs/alcohol used in order to be violent, or recklessly as to whether he’ll be violent?
• Are drugs/alcohol used as a reaction to being violent?
77
Insight and collaboration

Ongoing engagement in treatment is an especially important risk factor because it is
dynamic, modifiable and can generally be readily monitored.
Insight into mental illness should be distinguished from insight into risk of violence. Both
are important and they may or may not co-vary:
• Swartz et al. (2001) followed up 331 patients after discharge from detention in psychiatric hospital,
randomly assigning them to involuntary outpatient commitment or standard follow-up. Those
patients who regularly used services and adhered to medication had the lowest rates of violence.
• In the MacArthur study there was a service use effect for patients with PD, rates of violence being
lower among those who attended more appointments (Skeem et al., 2002)
Adherence to medication is established as an important factor in a variety of outcomes

in schizophrenia, including risk of violence (Ascher-Svanum et al., 2006). Crucial issues
include:
• What is the patient’s appraisal of the likelihood of future violence or future relapse of mental
disorder?
• How motivated are they to reduce these risks?
• What measures do they think are required?
• What is their attitude to ongoing pharmacological and other treatment, including support and
monitoring?
• How much commonality of understanding and purpose is there between the patient and the
clinical team?
• What is the quality of their relationship with the clinicians involved in their care?
Violent thoughts and fantasies

It is common for disclosure of violent thoughts or fantasies to precipitate a forensic referral.
But the relationship between fantasies and violence is not well researched. Violent fantasies
are sufficiently common in the normal population that it is difficult to conclude that they
predict violence in themselves:
• Up to two-thirds of undergraduates endorsed having had recent homicidal fantasies (Gellerman
and Suddath, 2005).
The fantasy must be considered in the context of a broad risk assessment:

• Consider the intensity, persistence and pervasiveness of the fantasy.
• Consider the attitude of the patient to the fantasy.
• Explore any preparatory actions.
• Think about the function that the fantasy is serving for the patient.
• Distinguish between fantasy and intention:
– Fantasy may include detailed and extreme plans but serves a function in itself – usually leading
to some sense of satisfaction.
– Intentions are more clearly aimed towards guiding action, and are more likely to be associated
with a subjective need or urge to act.
78
Box 6.4 Assessing a patient in a general psychiatric setting

to provide advice on risk and risk management
Before the assessment, make sure that you understand the task:
• to provide an independent second opinion on risk, or
• to provide peer support/back-covering for another psychiatric team.
Remember that it is easy to describe a patient as high risk and suggest accordingly restrictive interventions
(see discussion in Oakley et al., 2009). It is far better to:
• contextualize your opinion within the referring team’s own opinion
• comment on the plans already formulated by the referring team.
It is very common for these not to be detailed within the referral letter:
• a telephone conversation with the referrer is always helpful.
Consider who will carry out the assessment – is a single clinician sufficient? Consider what additional
obtainable information you require in advance of your assessment and access this. Then consider what gaps
remain and plan your interview, so you know what areas you want to concentrate on with the patient:
• While a full history is always required, there is little need to duplicate information that you already have.
• The time with the patient is precious, and should be used efficiently to gain information that cannot be
gleaned from existing sources.
Writing up a risk assessment

Most clinicians develop their own structure with experience, adapting those of others. The following is
suggested in that spirit.
Define the target behavior:
• In many cases it is not necessary to subcategorize the violence. Sometimes different types of violence
may need to be specified in terms of, for example, victim type, planning and precursors, impulsiveness
or method.
• You must consider the likely cost of the behaviour, because management will depend on both likelihood
and cost.
• The cost should be considered both to the victim and to the perpetrator.
Acknowledge the limitations of the assessment, in terms of lack of information and possible biases.
Describe previous episodes of violence:
• The frequency and characteristics of the episodes.
• In particular, are they only violent in specific situations that share many characteristics, or are they
violent in all sorts of different situations?
• What factors are necessary for violence to occur?
• Are there factors that in themselves are sufficient to cause violence?
Consider other relevant risk and protective factors from Table 6.2 (page 76) and any others that are
relevant to the case:
• Think about how they relate to past, and therefore future, violence.
• You should aim to outline an understanding of the causes of violence in terms of these risk factors.
Which factors are modifiable?
• Which ones are potentially susceptible to treatment/intervention?
• What interventions would you recommend? These must be pragmatic and realistic.
What is the residual risk and can it be tolerated in the proposed setting?
• If the modifiable factors are addressed what risk would remain?
• Are there reliably and readily detectable warning signs that would herald an increased risk?
• Could they be detected sufficiently early to allow intervention?
• Who might be involved in monitoring for these?
• What interventions should be considered if an increased risk were detected?
• Consider whether there is any need to disclose information to potential victims or to criminal justice
system agencies.
79
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7
Psychosis and
Offending
This chapter is concerned primarily with the association between psychosis and violence.
Arson and sex offending are considered in Chapter 13.
It is generally held that men with schizophrenia are convicted of criminal offences more
often than those without, though the evidence is inconsistent and the increased rate small:
• Lindqvist and Allebeck (1990) compared the inpatient register of a Swedish county with the central
criminal records database. Among 644 people with schizophrenia, they found no general increased
rate of offending among men with schizophrenia, but violent crime was about four times more
likely.
• Wessely et al. (1994), using a psychiatric case register in south London, concluded that those with
schizophrenia had no increased risk of criminal behaviour as a whole, but only a minor increased
risk of violent offending.
• Hodgins et al. (1996), using data from a large Danish birth cohort, found an increased rate of
criminal convictions among those who had been admitted to psychiatric hospital.
• Mullen et al. (2000) compared criminal records of Australian patients with schizophrenia with age-,
sex- and residence-matched controls, demonstrating a higher rate of conviction for all offence types
except sexual offending.
Much of any general association with offending may be explained by the secondary socio-
economic disability that accompanies severe mental illness, and perhaps by an increased
risk of being apprehended.
An individual formulation of an offence may draw either direct or indirect links between
psychosis and offending. For example:
• There may be a direct link when an individual:
– takes another’s property, delusionally believing it to be their own
– assaults someone who they delusionally believe has wronged them in some way
– sets a fire in response to persistent command auditory hallucinations.
• There may be an indirect link when as a result of psychosis:
– their economic circumstances have broken down and they steal in order to gain money
– they cannot cope with their poor social circumstances and, while drunk, they set a fire in their flat
as a cry for help
– they are using alcohol and drugs to improve their sense of well-being and become involved in a
fight while intoxicated.
Such individual formulations based on causal hypotheses are the basis of effective clinical
practice. This should be distinguished from the observational group data showing associa-
tions between offending and psychosis.
82
Are People with Schizophrenia More Likely to be Violent?
The research evidence relating to the association between psychosis and violence can
be difficult to interpret because of methodological heterogeneity, particularly in terms of:
• various diagnostic categories, such as:
– schizophrenia
– (probable) psychosis
– severe mental illness (which generally includes any affective or non-affective psychosis and
mania)
• various definitions of violence:
– often with no distinction between minor and more severe violence
• various ascertainment strategies for both of the above:
– self-report and/or criminal records for violence
– case registers, psychiatric interviews or lay interviews using screening tools for diagnosis.
● Are People with Schizophrenia More Likely to

be Violent than Those Without?
This question, at the heart of forensic psychiatry, has preoccupied opinion and research for
decades. Three phases can be seen:
• 1970–80s – a dearth of evidence led to a pre-eminence of expert opinion and a broad cross-
discipline consensus that the mentally ill were not intrinsically more likely to be violent, and any
apparent association was due to confounding co-factors.
– This consensus may have been maintained by a desire to reduce the stigma of mental illness
during deinstitutionalization and the development of community care.
• 1990–2000s – a wealth of research activity using various methodologies, in various settings,
produced a similarly broad consensus:
– That those with severe mental illness, or schizophrenia, had a moderately elevated level of risk of
violence compared with the general population (around four to six times greater for men).
– That this made a relatively small contribution to all the violence in society.
– That co-morbidities, notably substance use disorders and certain personality disorders,
substantially increased this otherwise small increased risk.
– See Arsenault et al. (2000), Brennan et al. (2000), Fazel and Grann (2006), Hodgins et al. (1996),
Stueve and Link (1997), Swanson et al. (1990), Tiihonen et al. (1997) and Wallace et al. (2004).
• Late 2000s – uncertainty over the generality of this consensus, with increasing emphasis on the
importance of other risk factors among the mentally disordered:
– In particular suggesting that schizophrenia may confer no increased risk in the absence of co-
morbid substance use.
– See Elbogen and Johnson (2009) and Fazel et al. (2009a,b).
– This has led to further thought about the heterogeneity of the relationships between severe
mental illness and violence, different subgroupings of violent mentally ill patients, and
mechanisms by which mental illness might be associated with violence.
Cross-sectional community prevalence surveys

Swanson et al. (1990) reanalysed data from the Epidemiological Catchment Area survey
(n = 10 059; DSM-III diagnoses):
• Violence was ascertained post hoc, from self-report diagnostic questions; no distinction between
serious and trivial violence.
• 368 respondents reported violence in preceding year – 55.5% had a psychiatric disorder, compared
with 19.6% of non-violent respondents.
83
Psychosis and Offending
• There was an increased risk of violence across all diagnostic categories, and co-morbidity was
common, making attribution difficult, but:
– among those with only a single diagnosis, the rate of violence for those with schizophrenia was
8%, compared with 2% for those with no diagnosis
– those with more than one diagnosis were more likely to have been violent.
Stueve and Link (1997) investigated a community sample in Israel, ascertaining violence by
self-reported fighting and weapon use over the previous 5 years:
• Using ‘psychosis or bipolar disorders’ as a diagnostic category, they gave adjusted odds ratios of
3.3 for fighting and 6.6 for weapon use.
• They found no increased risk of violence for non-psychotic depression, or anxiety disorders.
Elbogen and Johnson (2009) used data from a US national survey about alcohol use, in
which 34 653 subjects were interviewed twice, 2–3 years apart, relating data on severe
mental illness from the first interview to self-reported violence between the interviews.
Their multivariate analysis concluded that:
• severe mental illness (psychosis, major depression, bipolar disorder) alone did not predict violence
• various historical, clinical, dispositional and contextual factors were associated with violence, and
these were reported more frequently by those with severe mental illness.
Cohort studies based on case registers

These studies (Table 7.1) mostly use established registers of psychiatric diagnosis and crimi-
nality to investigate the relationships between the two:
• The advantage is that large numbers of subjects can be included, but
• There is likely to be selection bias related to likelihood of prosecution and need for hospitalization.
Table 7.1 Case register studies of severe mental illness and offending
Author and location No. of subjects Diagnostic grouping Outcome measures Odds ratio
(OR)
Tiihonen et al. (1997) 12 058 Schizophrenia Any conviction 3.0
Finland Violent conviction 7.2
Mood psychosis Any conviction 6.8
Violent conviction 10.4
Brennan et al. (2000) 358 180 Schizophrenia Violent arrest/conviction 4.6
Denmark
Arsenault et al. (2000) 961 Psychosis Conviction or self- 4.6
New Zealand reported violence
Wallace et al. (2004) 2861 patients Schizophrenia Any conviction 3.2
Australia 2861 controls Violent conviction 4.8
Fazel and Grann (2006) 98 082 Psychosis Violent conviction 3.8
Sweden
Fazel et al. (2009a) 8003 patients Schizophrenia: Violent conviction 2.0
Sweden 80 025 controls with substance use* 4.4
without substance use 1.2
* Among those with co-morbid schizophrenia and substance use, the risk increase was less when non-mentally ill siblings
were used as controls, implying that familial factors also contributed to these ORs.
In a meta-analysis of 20 surveys and cohort studies comparing risk of violence among those
with schizophrenia or other psychoses with the general population, Fazel et al. (2009b)
reported:
84
Homicide, Schizophrenia and the Effect of Deinstitutionalization
• Pooled ORs of
– 4.7 (range 1–7) (3.8 when adjusted for socio-economic factors) for men, and
– 8.2 (range 4–29) for women.
• Co-morbid substance use disorders considerably increased this risk.
• The risk among those with schizophrenia and substance use disorders was not different from the
risk among those with substance use disorders alone.
• The risk estimates did not vary according to method of ascertainment of violence, the specific
diagnosis used or the location of the study.
Discharge follow-up studies

Using data from the MacArthur study, Steadman et al. (1998) followed up 1136 people
discharged from psychiatric hospital in the USA for 1 year, and compared the rate of vio-
lence (ascertained by self-report, collateral informants and police records) with that for 519
controls matched for neighbourhood of residence:
• This study used a very broad diagnostic grouping of ‘major mental disorder’ which included
psychoses, but also depression, dysthymia, mania and cyclothymia.
• There was no significant difference between the prevalence of violence among patients without
substance use and the community controls.
• Substance use increased the rate of violence among all groups, and the rate of substance use was
greater among patients than controls.
• Among the patients, the overall rate of violence was 27.5%. The highest rate was in those with
‘other mental disorders’ (personality disorder/adjustment disorders/suicidality) and substance use:
Rate of violence (%)

Major mental disorder/no substance use 17.9
Major mental disorder/substance use 31.1
Other mental disorders/substance use 43.0
The grouping of ‘Other/no substance use’ was too small to be included in the analysis
● What is the Contribution of Schizophrenia to

Societal Violence?
The population attributable risk (PAR) is the percentage of violence in the population that
can be ascribed to schizophrenia:
• Walsh et al. (2002) calculated PARs of between 2 and 10% from a number of the primary studies
referred to above, while noting that co-morbidity with substance use may lead to the contribution
of schizophrenia being overestimated.
• Fazel and Grann (2006) gave a PAR of 5.2% for schizophrenia, noting that it would be higher for
women and would increase with increasing age.
• In the UK, Coid et al. (2006) found a lower PAR of 1.2% for ‘screening positive for psychosis’ in a
UK national household survey.
● Homicide, Schizophrenia and the Effect of

Deinstitutionalization
The rate of homicide by the severely mentally ill:
85
• Coid (1983) estimated that the incidence of homicide by the severely mentally ill was about
0.13 per 100 000 per year.
• Wallace et al. (1998) estimated that the annual rate of homicide was 1 in 3000 for men with
schizophrenia.
• Based on review of psychiatric reports in homicide cases in Finland, Eronen et al. (1996) gave ORs
for homicide in schizophrenia of 10.0 for men and 8.7 for women.
• Nielssen and Large (2010) conducted a meta-analysis to consider the relationship between
homicide and treatment of mental illness. They reported that:
– nearly 40% of the homicides committed by the severely mentally ill are committed before any
treatment is received
– about 1 in 629 people with psychosis commits a homicide before receiving treatment
– about 1 in 9090 psychotic patients who have received treatment will commit a homicide each
year.
Shaw et al. (2006) reported from a UK national survey of 1594 homicides over 3 years:
• 34% had a lifetime mental disorder based on diagnoses given in psychiatric court reports or by
current psychiatrist:
– 5–7% schizophrenia
– 7–10% affective disorder
– 9–11% had a personality disorder
– 7–10% had alcohol dependence
– 6–8% had drug dependence
• 5–6% were psychotic, and 6–9% were depressed at the time of the offence.
Of people with schizophrenia who committed homicide (Department of Health,

2001):
• 72% were known to services, 51% having been in contact with services within the past year
• mean age 31 years
• 78% not currently married
• 68% unemployed/long-term sick
• 25% living alone
• 37% history of alcohol misuse
• 51% history of drug misuse
• 32% history of violent convictions.
Among 3930 UK homicides, perpetrators with mental illness were more likely to use a
sharp instrument or strangulation than those without mental illness (Table 7.2; Rodway et
al., 2009).
Table 7.2 Comparison of homicide perpetrators with schizophrenia and affective disorder
Perpetrators with Perpetrators with affective
schizophrenia disorder
Method More likely to use a sharp More likely to use strangulation
instrument or suffocation/asphyxiation/
drowning
Symptomatic at the time of offence 81% 75%
Relationship of victim 22% spouse/ex-spouse 52% spouse/ex-spouse
23% family member 16% son/daughter
23% acquaintance
9% stranger
86
Psychotic Symptoms and Violence
Deinstitutionalization and serious violence

In some quarters it has been held that the process of deinstitutionalization of psychiatric
care which has taken place throughout much of the developed world has led to an increase
in the risk of serious violence committed by those with severe mental illness.
The evidence does not support this assertion:
• Wallace et al. (2004) demonstrated that in Australia there was no difference in the proportionate
increase in rate of offending during the relevant period, between those with and without mental
illness.
With regard to homicide, perhaps the most reliably determined violent crime:
• Shaw et al. (2004) reported an increase in the rate of stranger homicides between 1967 and 1997,
but found no increase in the numbers subsequently made subject to a hospital order. In comparison
with others, perpetrators of stranger homicides were less likely to:
– have a history of mental disorder or contact with psychiatric services
– have psychiatric symptoms at the time of the offence.
• Large et al. (2008) collated homicide data for England and Wales to illustrate that the UK homicide
rate has steadily increased since 1960, but the rate of mentally disordered homicides peaked in the
mid-1970s and has since declined:
– Mentally disordered homicides comprised infanticide, not guilty by reason of insanity (NGBROI)
or unfit to plead, and diminished responsibility.
● Psychotic Symptoms and Violence

The search for a relationship between particular psychotic symptoms and risk of violence
is driven by anecdotal clinical experience of individual patients who report that an act of
violence was caused/precipitated/motivated by a particular psychotic symptom.
This research is problematic because of:
• diagnostic heterogeneity, and the likely variety of confounding factors
• the difficulty of distinguishing psychopathology with sufficient accuracy in groups of patients
(delusions as opposed to overvalued ideas, for example)
• the transient nature of individual symptoms, such that demonstrating a causal link with an episode
of violence is difficult.
Evidence that risk of violence is associated with changes in

mental state
If individual psychotic symptoms lead to violence, then risk should vary according to pres-
ence or severity of symptoms.
Humphreys et al. (1992) analysed data from the Northwick Park study. Twenty per cent
of people presenting with first episode schizophrenia had acted violently and in about half
of these cases there was evidence that the violence was motivated by psychotic symptoms.
Link et al. (1992) carried out an analysis of data, previously collected for another purpose,
from a sample of psychiatric patients and a community sample:
• They found an increased rate of violence among those with a history of psychiatric treatment and
concluded that much of this association was attributable to the severity of psychotic symptoms
reported.
87
Mojtabi (2006) examined the association of ‘psychotic-like symptoms’ (in the absence of
psychotic mental disorder) with violence, using data from the US National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse:
• 5.1% of adults reported such symptoms and the OR for various forms of self-reported violence was
around 5.
• Tentatively, paranoid ideas and perceptual symptoms seemed to be associated most strongly.
Swanson et al. (2006) used data from the US CATIE project to examine violence among
people with schizophrenia living in the community:
• Both minor (simple assault with no injury or weapon use) and more severe violence were
significantly associated with PANSS +ve score, and severe violence was negatively associated with
PANSS –ve score:
– The PANSS symptoms that were associated with serious violence were hostility, suspiciousness
and persecutory symptoms, hallucinatory behaviour, grandiosity and excitement.
– Delusions in general and conceptual disorganization were not in themselves associated with
violence.
• Minor violence (simple assault with no injury or weapon use) was significantly associated with
younger age, female gender, more years in treatment, reduced vocational activity or functional
leisure impairment, housing problems, and not feeling listened to by family members.
• Serious violence was associated with younger age, childhood conduct problems, arrest history.
Delusions
It is common in clinical practice for a patient to report having acted violently as a result of
some delusional belief.
Taylor (1985) interviewed UK remand prisoners with psychosis and reported that more
than 90% had been psychotic at the time of their alleged offence and about half of them
attributed their offence to delusions.
As a whole, the MacArthur study did not find an association between delusions and risk
of violence (Appelbaum et al., 2000):
• However, the association was tested across all diagnostic groups and violence was more likely
among those with non-psychotic diagnoses.
• Therefore this is of little help to a clinician considering the risk of violence of an individual with a
psychotic mental illness.
• Among the 328 deluded subjects (Appelbaum et al., 1999), persecutory delusions were more likely
than other delusions to be accompanied by negative affect and acted upon.
A retrospective study of around 80 deluded admissions to a UK general psychiatric ward

reported that:
• 60% reported at least one ‘delusional action’ and this was particularly likely where the patient
reported persecutory delusions (Wessely et al., 1993).
• Acting on delusions was associated with (Buchanan et al., 1993):
– being aware of evidence that supported the delusional belief
– having actively sought out such evidence
– a tendency to reduce the conviction with which the belief was held when it was challenged
– unpleasant mood states consequent to the delusion.
Freeman et al. (2007) found that 96 of 100 deluded patients had used ‘safety behaviours’,
that is behaviours intended to avoid a perceived threat, in the previous month. A history of
violence and suicidal behavior was associated with greater use of such behaviours.
88
Psychotic Symptoms and Violence
Box 7.1 Assessing the risk of acting on delusions

Within the context of a general risk assessment, in relation to the delusions themselves you should
consider the following:
• The content of the delusion and its significance for the individual, particularly whether it represents a
significant threat, either physically or psychologically.
• Is the patient aware of evidence that supports their belief?
• Have they actively sought out such evidence?
• Is there evidence of acting on delusions in a non-dangerous way, or of using safety behaviours?
• What is their response when their belief is challenged? Is there evidence of any uncertainty or
ambivalence, and is this expressed with emotion?
• Do they describe a sense of shame, of being wronged or of being denied an entitlement, or is there
other evidence of unpleasant mood states?
Hallucinations
There is little evidence that auditory verbal hallucinations in general are associated with an
increased risk of violence. In a review article, Rudnick (1999) concluded that:
• there was no convincing evidence for a general association between command hallucinations and
dangerous behaviour
• there was evidence for an association between the familiarity and perceived benevolence of the
voices and compliance with the commands.
Junginger (1995) reported from a follow-up study of 93 psychiatric inpatients that being
able to assign an identity to the voice was associated with compliance with commands. A
more recent review (Barrowcliff and Haddock, 2006) reiterated that beliefs about the voices
are more important than content in determining compliance.
Junginger and McGuire (2004) suggest that violence is more likely where there are a
range of psychotic symptoms consistent with each other, providing a ‘a more consistent
distortion of reality in which compliance with command hallucinations is more likely to fit’.
Box 7.2 Assessing the risk of acting on auditory hallucinations

Within the context of a general risk assessment, you should consider (adapted from Barrowcliff and
Haddock, 2006) the following:
• A detailed account of the content of the hallucinations.
• Does the patient believe the voices to be powerful or of higher social status than the patient?
• Does the patient believe that the commands are justified or reasonable?
• Does the patient seek engagement with the voices, or want to please the voices?
• Do they report any subjective compulsion, urge or drive to comply?
• Can they identify the voices or do they identify with them? Are the voices perceived as benevolent or
malevolent?
• What does the patient believe will be the consequences of complying or not complying?
• Have they ever complied with the voices before, either in a dangerous or non-dangerous way?
Threat/control over-ride symptoms

The hypothesis is that psychotic symptoms are especially likely to lead to violence if they
lead an individual to think that other people pose a threat, or if they intrude so as to over-
ride internal violence-inhibiting controls:
89
• Link et al. (1998) used data from an epidemiological survey in Israel to demonstrate an association
between self-reported threat/control over-ride (TCO) symptoms and violence.
• Swanson et al. (1996) replicated this work, demonstrating that Epidemiological Catchment Area
(ECA) survey respondents who reported TCO symptoms were twice as likely to report violence as
those with other psychotic symptoms.
TCO symptoms are usually envisaged as a psychotic construct. But the questions from the
Psychiatric Epidemiology Interview Schedule used for ascertainment may not be sufficiently
specific for psychosis. Overvalued ideas and other non-psychotic beliefs may have a similar
content to psychotic TCO symptoms, and may have a similar relationship to risk of vio-
lence:
• The MacArthur study found no association between violence and TCO symptoms (Appelbaum et
al., 2000) across all the diagnostic categories.
• Skeem et al. (2006) similarly found no evidence for an association in a diagnostically
heterogeneous cohort (n = 132) of patients from an emergency room.
Stompe et al. (2004) compared the prevalence of psychotic TCO symptoms among vio-
lent and non-violent patients with schizophrenia. They reported no increased rate of TCO
symptoms in the offending patients, but did find an association between the rather non-
specific threat component of TCO and more severe violence.
Specific delusional content

There is a wealth of anecdotal evidence from case reports and small series of cases, though
little robust epidemiological evidence, that certain specific delusional content is associated
with violence:
• Group data is likely to be unreliable when it pertains to the relationship between psychopathology
that is uncommon and idiosyncratic (compared with the broad diagnostic grouping of
schizophrenia, for example), and behaviour (violence) that is also uncommon.
• The content usually cited would be expected sometimes to lead to extreme behaviour, because
of its profound emotional importance. This is irrespective of whether or not it is a pathological
delusional belief. For example:
– delusional jealousy is always said to be associated with a high risk of violence
– it is very common among non-mentally disordered men who have killed their spouse for the
offence to be precipitated by suspected infidelity.
Table 7.3 gives details of delusional content and violence; see Buchanan (1993) for further
discussion.
● Developmental Pathways to Violence in

Schizophrenia
Most of the studies referred to above take a deliberately broad overview, allowing broad
conclusions to be drawn:
• There is an increased rate of violence associated with mental disorder, and with schizophrenia in
particular.
• The size of this increase is modest and the contribution of schizophrenia to societal violence is small.
• A very large part of the increased risk is accounted for by substance use, which is more common
among people with schizophrenia.
90
Developmental Pathways to Violence in Schizophrenia
Table 7.3 Delusional content and violence

Delusional jealousy The association with a risk of violence to the spouse, and less often to
her perceived partner, is frequently described. Distinguishing between
delusions and overvalued ideas is often difficult in this group, unless the
ideas are clearly in the context of a broader psychosis
Erotomania or De Commonly leads to nuisance behaviours and stalking behaviours
Clerambault’s syndrome In a series of 29 cases, violence to the object was predicted by a history
of general antisocial behaviour and having multiple delusional objects
(Menzies et al., 1995)
Delusional Capgras’ syndrome is the most common such syndrome and the one
misidentification most commonly reported in association with violence. Among those who
syndromes killed, the victim was usually a close family member (Silva et al., 1996)
Delusions of passivity This is a difficult area of psychopathology to assess retrospectively
following violence
It is common for patients to report that they were not themselves or
not in control; this is also common in non-mentally disordered violent
offenders, when it is often best seen as a way of minimizing responsibility
Box 7.3 Morbid jealousy (aka Othello syndrome)

This is a heterogeneous category that includes both psychotic individuals with delusional beliefs and non-
psychotic individuals with overvalued ideas, about a spouse’s fidelity:
• In the latter group dissocial or paranoid personality disorder and alcoholism are particularly common.
• ‘Shakespearean diagnoses’ have no place in contemporary psychiatry or courts – clinical cases are
complex and generally share few of the features of Shakespeare’s tragedy.
• Therefore morbid jealousy/Othello syndrome is an unhelpful clinical construct, because it does not
correspond to consistency of psychopathology, treatment, prognosis or indeed risk.
• It is better to give a contemporary diagnosis of a mental illness or personality disorder, and then
consider the importance of the particular content of ideation in the case.
Particular aspects to be considered when assessing a patient with morbid jealousy include:
• the form of the jealous psychopathology
• previous episodes of (morbid) jealousy/longevity of this episode, number of previous jealous
relationships, and associated threats or risk behaviours
• general antisocial behaviour and criminal/violent history
• personal, familial or subcultural attitudes to infidelity and violence, particularly intramarital violence
• acting on the ideation by way of searching for evidence. This may include following the partner,
searching mobile phone, email or social networking sites, setting traps to catch her out, examining
clothing and underwear.
The therapeutically nihilistic maxim that separation be recommended is also unhelpful given the
heterogeneity of cases:
• In general the treatment depends on the underlying diagnosis; the prognosis may be relatively good in
schizophrenia, in contrast to personality disorder.
• It is clearly important to consider confidentiality and sharing of information. Discussing issues of
treatment, diagnosis, prognosis and risk carefully with the spouse, and possibly any perceived love-rival,
enables them to make informed decisions.
• Supporting the spouse may be an important aspect of a comprehensive treatment plan.
• Those factors that are associated with increased risk of violence, among the non-mentally
disordered, are also pertinent to those with mental disorders.
There is relatively little research looking at the relationship in more detail:

• Subgroups of patients with psychosis and violence.
91
• Longitudinal studies investigating pathways to offending in schizophrenia.

• The temporal relationship between psychotic symptoms and violence.
• The interdependence between particular psychotic symptoms and situational factors
In a records-based review of patients in high security, Taylor et al. (1998) perceived two
types of psychotic violent patient:
• Those with little previous criminal history whose index offence seemed to have been driven by
positive psychotic symptoms.
• Those with established conduct problems in adolescence, whose offence was less likely apparently
to be driven by their psychotic symptoms.
Among a cohort of men with schizophrenia and violence, Tengstrom et al. (2001) similarly
distinguished between early- and late-start offenders:
• The early starters showed:
– greater and more varied criminality
– earlier onset of substance use
– better psychosocial functioning.
Among patients with schizophrenia in the CATIE study, Swanson et al. (2008) reported
more evidence for this binary typology:
• Among those with childhood conduct problems, violence was associated with substance use at
levels that did not reach criteria for substance use disorders.
• Positive psychotic symptoms were associated with violence only in those without childhood conduct
problems.
Volavka and Citrome (2008) outline three types of violent behaviour in schizophrenia:
• Violence directly related to positive psychotic symptoms:
– accounts for about 20% of assaults committed by psychotic inpatients (Nolan et al., 2003).
• Impulsive aggression due to impaired response inhibition:
– often with a lack of planning and unclear motive
– may be associated with impaired frontal lobe function and psychotic disorganization symptoms.
• Aggression due to co-morbid psychopathic traits:
– traits that do not reach diagnostic criteria for disorder may increase the risk in patients who also
have schizophrenia.
They note that other subtypes are likely to exist, and emphasize the importance of substance
use and non-adherence to medication as contributing factors.
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94
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95
8
Mood Disorders,
Neuroses and Offending
Non-psychotic mental disorders have an uncertain place in forensic psychiatry. The research
effort and clinical service development, at least from the mid-1980s, concentrated on psy-
chosis (see Oakley et al., 2009 for further discussion). Perhaps psychosis is more easily recon-
ciled with the categorical legal approach (see Chapter 21, p268), with an apparently clearer
demarcation of the proper boundaries of expert psychiatric evidence, and an unequivocal
role for psychiatry in management.
The return of clinical interest in personality disorder since the turn of the century,
stimulated by the political driver of the dangerous and severe personality disorder (DSPD)
programme (see Chapter 9, p112), has given a new prominence to dispositional neurosis,
though not particularly to neurotic mental illness. Nevertheless, much violent offending is
driven by affect and emotion, and some non-psychotic mental disorders are partly defined
by offending behaviours.
● Mood Disorders and Violence

Mood disorders among violent populations
The prevalence of mood disorders among prisoners is higher than in the general population:
• Major depression is found in 10% of male prisoners and 12% of female prisoners (Fazel and
Danesh, 2002).
• Major depression is the most common mental illness among female prisoners.
• 1.2% of male remand prisoners had affective psychosis and all of these were convicted of violent
offences (Taylor and Gunn, 1984).
• Older prisoners have higher rates of depressive illness than either younger prisoners or older adults
in the community (Hunt et al., 2010).
Among patients of forensic psychiatric services:

• Rates of mood disorder vary considerably between studies (Table 8.1). These studies are all
naturalistic surveys relying on clinical diagnoses, and practice may vary between different services.
Table 8.1 Prevalence of mood disorder among forensic psychiatric patients

Coid et al. (2001) Survey of medium secure units (MSUs) in seven English 25–42%
regions
Thompson et al. (1997) State Hospital, Carstairs 3.3%
Gow et al. (2010) Scottish MSU 16.5%
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Mood Disorders and Violence
Violence among those with mood disorders

Although the association between schizophrenia and violence has received greater atten-
tion, mood disorders may also be associated with violence:
• Swanson et al.’s (1990) re-analysis of the Epidemiological Catchment Area (ECA) survey data found
an equally strong association between schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression and self-
reported violence.
• Table 8.2 gives the rates of violence in 1 year post-discharge from the MacArthur study (n = 1136;
multiple sources to ascertain violence; broad criteria for violence) (Monahan et al., 2001).
• In contrast, in the Dunedin birth cohort (Arsenault et al., 2000) the demonstrated associations
at age 21, between both mania and violence, and depression and violence, did not persist after
controlling for substance use. The numbers of manic patients were low.
• A study of former inpatients using a crime register found that 5.6% of those with manic disorder
and 1% of those with major depression committed violent crimes in the 7–12 years after their
discharge (Graz et al., 2009).
• Tiihonen et al. (1997) reported on a Finnish birth cohort unselected for offending or mental illness.
Among those who developed an affective psychosis, the odds ratios (OR) for any conviction (6.8)
and a violent conviction (10.4) were higher than the respective rates for those with schizophrenia
(3.0, 7.2).
Table 8.2 Rate of violence in 1 year post-discharge

Depression 28.5%
Bipolar affective disorder 22%
Schizophrenia 14.8%
In particular, manic patients are likely to show aggression and violence associated with
admission:
• Binder and McNeil (1988) reported similar rates of violence pre-admission among patients with
mania and those with schizophrenia. Aggression and violence may be determined by irritability,
dysphoria and poor impulse control. Manic patients were most likely to be assaultative during the
acute phase of an admission.
• The AESOP (Aetiology and Ethnicity of Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses) first episode psychosis
study found that nearly two-thirds of patients with mania were aggressive at first contact with
services (Dean et al., 2007). They were almost three times more likely to be aggressive at this time
than those with schizophrenia. In addition, manic symptoms in schizophrenia were associated with
aggression.
Mood disorder and homicide

Analyses of data from the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by
People with Mental Illness (Hunt et al., 2010; Shaw et al., 2006) shows:
• 7% of perpetrators of homicide have a lifetime diagnosis of mood disorder (5% have schizophrenia).
• Unlike those with psychotic symptoms at the time of the offence, those with depressive symptoms
were unlikely ever to have been in contact with mental health services.
• The proportion of homicide perpetrators with symptoms of mental illness at the time of the offence
increased with increasing age:
– In those over 65 years of age, half were depressed at the time of the offence and nearly half had
a past history of a mood disorder.
– The older homicide perpetrators were much less likely to have previous violent convictions than
the younger perpetrators.
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Mood Disorders, Neuroses and Offending
• The authors concluded that:

– there is a need for greater awareness of the potential risk to others posed by elderly patients with
mood disorders
– preventative strategies could include improved training of GPs in the early recognition and
management of late-life depression.
Homicide–suicide
Homicide–suicide is rare. It has been commonly associated with depression, one case series
finding that 75% of perpetrators were depressed at the time (Rosenbaum, 1990). National
Confidential Inquiry data show (Flynn et al., 2009):
• approximately 30 incidents of homicide followed by suicide occur in England and Wales a year
• most perpetrators are male
• men more often killed a partner, while women more commonly killed their children
• 10% had previous contact with mental health services
• the most common diagnoses were mood disorders and personality disorders.
Elderly homicide perpetrators are more likely than younger perpetrators to kill a female
partner as opposed to a stranger, and are also more likely to die by suicide after the offence
(Hunt et al., 2010). They are sometimes ‘mercy killings’ to end an ailing partner’s suffering.
Infanticide
Depressed mood is common in infanticide:
• Social factors also tend to be important and, overall, the degree of mental illness is perhaps less
than is required generally for a defence of diminished responsibility, particularly where the infant
was very young:
– See Chapter 11 (p132) for more details.
Identification of postnatal depression has been improved by midwives and health visitors
using tools such as the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale or specific screening questions.
● Neurosis and Offending

Forensic psychiatry tends to be concerned, in particular, with schizophrenia and psychosis,
on the one hand, and personality disorder, on the other, neurotic mental illness falling
between these two stools. But for many authors, neurosis is a generic category defined by the
exclusion of psychotic and organic pathology. Traditionally neurosis is not well demarcated
from personality disorder, Schneider (1923), for example, seeing them as indistinguishable.
It is unsurprising that, in forensic psychiatry particularly, the dividing line between neurotic
mental illness and dispositional neurosis is faint.
Issues for forensic psychiatry in relation to neurosis

Does neurosis constitute mental illness?
Some may argue that while neurotic mental illnesses are clearly defined as mental disorders,
in practice they do not mitigate and do not require treatment by virtue of an association
with offending in the individual:
• The Butler Committee defined severe mental illness (for medico-legal purposes) in terms aligned
closely to the ICD-9 description of psychosis. This was in the context of the future RSU programme
being designed primarily to treat those with psychosis:
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Neurosis and Offending
• Similarly criminal legal concepts related to mental disorder, while adopting a broad approach, also
tend to equate mental disorder with psychosis. For example:
– ‘The major mental diseases, which doctors call psychosis such as schizophrenia are clearly
diseases of the mind’ (Bratty v Attorney General for Northern Ireland [1963] AC 386).
Psychiatric determinism versus legal free will

• While criminal courts explicitly regard defendants as having free will, a psychiatric formulation
is to some degree deterministic, seeing behaviour as the product of inborn characteristics,
environmental influences and emotional conflict.
• In neurosis, this may be seen as a more finely balanced, nuanced explanation than when a patient
is frankly psychotic at the time of committing an offence.
Psychodynamic formulations of offending behaviour

The benefits of a psychodynamic approach are not limited to those with neurotic, as
opposed to psychotic, illness. The fundamental premise of a psychoanalytic approach is that
the offence itself has meaning, in the same way that symptoms have meaning for psycho-
analysts in other settings. The offending behaviour ‘represents an extension of the mind,
so that what is not consciously remembered is repeated in action …’ (Blumenthal, 2010).
Psychological defence mechanisms act as psychic buffers, helping to maintain self-
esteem, regulate affect and minimize conflict, thus compensating for poor practical coping
strategies. As a result of some stressor, these psychological buffers may become stretched to
breaking point, and in the absence of practical coping strategies, an individual may shift
from their habitual neurotic position to what may be termed a delinquent position, in which
offending occurs (Gallwey, 1990).
Bateman (1996) emphasizes, with respect to forensic patients:
• immature defence mechanisms of splitting, projection and projective identification
• reaction formation
• identification with the aggressor.
Early disruption of attachment processes is seen as especially important in offenders with

cluster B personality disorders (McGauley and Rubitel, 2006).
Themes of shame and humiliation, in early life and then in adulthood, are often impor-
tant in psychodynamic formulations:
• Unstable self-esteem, as opposed to high or low self-esteem, leads to vulnerability to feeling
threatened in the face of criticism, which in turn leads to shame and humiliation (Baumeister et al.,
2000).
Some have sought to explain aggression and violence as a unitary concept:

• Freud – aggression as acting out of an instinctual externalization of the death instinct.
• Object relations theorists – aggression as a reaction to threatened loss of an object.
• Gilligan (1996) – shame as a universal determinant of violence.
Others prefer to acknowledge the polythetic nature of aggression and violence and offer
categorizations such as:
• self-preservative violence and sadomasochistic violence (Glasser, 1998)
• affective violence and predatory violence (Meloy, 1992).
99
Rage-type murder
Assessment of individuals who have killed in the context of explosive rage or anger, but
who have little history of criminality or violence, is fertile ground for psychodynamic under-
standing rooted in neurotic functioning. Some have suggested that explosive violence is
cathartic, or that it represents the re-enactment of previous conflicts.
Cartwright (2002) offers a more dynamic model, rooted in a previously rigid defensive
structure which denies bad experience, thus maintaining a positive external world as a
reflection of an idealized self. Violence represents a psychologically defensive action, aimed
at preserving this idealized self; at the moment of violence, destruction of the victim is less
important than preservation of the self.
In assessment of risk of violence, Cartwright (2002, pp175–6) emphasizes the importance
of, among other factors:
• denial or minimization of an escalating conflict related to loss of an object
• an ‘entrapping dyadic situation’, excluding any third object
• poor representational capacity – an inability to form coherent internal representations of external
objects
• hypersensitivity to a sense of shame
• a lack of alternative sources of self-esteem
• limited flexibility in altering interpersonal functioning.
● Sex Offending in Association with Mood

Disorders
While there is no evidence from group data for an association between mood disorders and
sex offending, in an individual a mood disorder may lead to sex offending:
• Mania may be associated with sexual disinhibition, an increase in libido, and an enhanced sense of
confidence, entitlement and belief in personal attractiveness.
• Depression may present with sex offending, classically in middle-aged men. Often such cases may
be understood in terms of a breakdown of established psychological defences under the stressor of
an episode of depression.
• Clinically it is common to find indirect sex offending, such as downloading child pornography,
to be associated with changes in mood, often in the setting of an inadequate personality style.
Depression and alcohol may be seen as weakening internal controls. The behaviour may also be
seen as acting out a self-destructive depressive fantasy.
● Shoplifting and Kleptomania

Traditionally, it was held that shoplifting was associated with depression and neurosis:
• Shoplifting in middle-aged women is associated with depression and a range of anxiety symptoms,
particularly if it is their only conviction (Gibbens et al., 1971).
• GIbbens and Price (1962) described a typology of depressed shoplifter:
– isolated young adults under stress
– older people with chronic depression
– depression associated with acute loss
– personality disorder experiencing an aggressive swing.
More recently, shoplifting tends to be seen simply as criminal behaviour, which is strongly
associated with problematic drug use. In a US population survey (n = 43 093), the lifetime
100
Shoplifting and Kleptomania
Box 8.1 An illustrative example of depression

presenting with late-onset sex offending
A 47-year-old man is charged with sexual assault of his daughter’s friend, a 15-year-old girl. She had been
staying over one night, when she woke to find the man touching her intimately.
He has no previous convictions. He has no formal psychiatric history, although on close questioning he had
a difficult time for a couple of years after leaving university before establishing himself in employment;
he may have been depressed then. His subsequent life has been rather staid and uneventful. He has been
in the same middle management job for many years. His marriage is longstanding and stable up to now,
though on detailed questioning it has been almost sexless for some years. Recent cuts at work have led to
an increase in the pressure under which he has been working, he has started drinking more than he used to
and has been feeling increasingly sad, de-motivated and profoundly dissatisfied with himself and his life.
Important factors:
• The neurosis in early adult life followed by re-establishment of stable, albeit neurotic, psychological
defences and associated lifestyle.
• Underlying dissatisfaction with his home life.
• A breaking down of this neurotic defence in response to a stressor in the context of the development of
a depressive episode.
• No evidence of sex offending or other problems with impulse control when well.
prevalence for shoplifting was 11% (Blanco et al., 2008). The odds ratio (OR) for every psy-
chiatric disorder was increased, 89% of shoplifters having a lifetime psychiatric diagnosis:
Lifetime prevalence (%) OR (95%CI)

Antisocial personality disorder 21.97 11.98 (10.07–14.25)
Any substance use disorder 76.71 4.33 (3.93–4.77)
Any mood disorder 34.92 2.06 (1.89–2.25)
Any anxiety disorder 30.32 1.80 (1.50–2.16)
Psychotic disorder 0.83 2.93 (1.76–4.89)
Some reported examples of neurotic disorders leading to shoplifting

or theft
• Anxiety disorders may lead to distraction or a need to leave a shop quickly (without paying).
• Stealing of food has been reported in anorexia.
• Kleptomania and compulsive states.
• A manic patient may agree to purchase items that they cannot afford, or believe they already own
items they do not, or are entitled to take things that they are not.
Pathological stealing or kleptomania

ICD-10 describes this as ‘repeated failure to resist impulses to steal objects that are not
acquired for personal use or monetary gain’, with:
• anticipatory tension and subsequent relief/gratification
• theft usually committed alone
• the stolen items not desired in themselves. They may be discarded, given away or hoarded.
Kleptomania should be distinguished, in particular, from theft due to memory impairment

and depression, ICD-10 stating that ‘some depressed individuals steal, and may do so repeat-
edly as long as the depressive disorder persists’.
101
No robust epidemiology, but of 20 consecutive admissions to psychiatric hospital with

kleptomania (McElroy et al., 1991):
• 15 were women
• all had lifetime diagnoses of major mood disorders; 16 of anxiety disorders; 12 of eating disorders
• kleptomanic behaviour abated with resolution of mood disorder.
Clearly the distinction between kleptomania and stealing as a function of depressed mood
is not straightforward:
• Clinical descriptions tend to report that chronic neuroticism is common, often with longstanding
dispositional dysphoria, unhappy relationships and problems with sexual activity or intimacy.
• This is a good example of the complexity of assessing offending and neurotic disorder, regardless
of whether the neurosis is conceptualized as dispositional or an acute mental illnesses.
● Other Habit and Impulse Disorders

The phenomenology overlaps with that of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), tic dis-
orders and the dependence syndrome. The urges in habit and impulse disorder are said to
be ego-syntonic, in contrast to OCD. Clinically this distinction is not always so straight-
forward.
A survey of 204 consecutive admissions to US psychiatric hospitals gave the following
rates of lifetime diagnoses, with no associations with any particular primary psychiatric diag-
noses (Grant et al., 2005):
Lifetime prevalence (%) 95% confidence interval (%)

Pathological stealing 9.3 5.3–13.3
Pathological gambling 6.9 3.4–10.4
Pathological fire setting 5.9 2.6–9.1
Intermittent explosive disorder 6.8 3.4–10.4
Compulsive sexual behaviour 4.9 1.9–7.9
Trichotillomania 4.4 1.6–7.3
Pathological fire setting and disorders of sexual preference are dealt with in Chapter 13
(p163 for fire and p158 for sex).
Pathological gambling
The prevalence of problem gambling according to DSM-IV criteria in the UK is around
0.6% (Wardle et al., 2007). ICD-10 defines this in terms that are reminiscent of the depend-
ence syndrome. There should be:
• frequent gambling which dominates the individual’s life, and negatively affects their personal and
social functioning in various domains
• urge to gamble that is difficult to control
• preoccupation with gambling
• continued gambling despite adverse social consequences.
ICD-10 recognizes that such individuals may sometimes commit offences in order to obtain
money or evade debts.
Treatment approaches tend to borrow from the addiction research base, often using the
transtheoretical model of stages of behaviour change, motivational interviewing and cogni-
tive–behavioural therapy (CBT), or the 12-step programme as with Gamblers Anonymous.
102
Other Habit and Impulse Disorders
The natural history of the disorder is very variable. As one might expect, future chronic-
ity is predicted by duration and persistence of past symptoms. Generally, as with addictions,
courts are unlikely to consider a diagnosis of pathological gambling to provide significant
mitigation for acquisitive offending.
Intermittent explosive (behaviour) disorder

This is mentioned, but not defined, in ICD-10 under the heading ‘other habit and impulse
disorders’. There is no evidence base on which to support claims of nosological validity. The
reports of developmentally immature (increased slow wave activity) EEGs are non-specific.
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9
Personality Disorders
and Offending
● Diagnostic Issues
The International Classification of Diseases 10th revision (ICD-10) and the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual 4th edn (DSM-IV) define personality disorders with different phraseology
while maintaining similar core concepts:
A severe disturbance in the characterological condition and behavioural tendencies of the
individual, usually involving several areas of personality, and nearly always associated with
considerable personal and social disruption – ICD 10.
An enduring pattern of inner experience and behaviour that deviates markedly from the
expectations of the individual’s culture – DSM-IV.
Diagnosis of personality disorder (PD) is in two stages:
• First, the person should fulfil the general criteria for a PD.
• Second, the PD may be categorized into a specific diagnosis.
Reliability and validity of diagnosis

There is no ‘gold standard’ test for diagnosing PD:
• Structured clinical interviews have good inter-rater reliability.
• The level of agreement is better for diagnosing the presence of PD generally than for categorizing
the PD.
• Interview-based and self-report measures suffer with poor validity (convergent and/or discriminant).
Some have called for the conceptualization of PD to be re-examined along with improve-
ments in operationalization and instrumentation (Clark and Harrison, 2001).
Temporal stability
Several studies have indicated that PDs are not necessarily stable over time:
• Tyrer et al. (1993) distinguished mature PDs (anankastic, paranoid, schizoid, anxious) from
immature PDs (mainly antisocial and emotionally unstable), the latter tending to improve with
increasing age.
• Treatment seekers show steady improvement over time, but most patients with PDs in the
community are treatment resisters (Tyrer et al., 2007).
• Shea et al. (2002) found that fewer than 50% of subjects with borderline, avoidant, obsessive–
compulsive or schizotypal PDs persistently satisfied criteria over 1–2 years.
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Personality Disorders and Offending
The evidence suggests that, for cluster B PDs, the core symptoms tend to be relatively stable,
but secondary characteristics show more attenuation:
• For antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), callousness and lack of empathy are stable, but
impulsivity and behavioural controls improve.
• For borderline PD, emotional fluctuations persist, but the intensity and behavioural concomitants,
deliberate self-harm (DSH) for example, reduce.
The link with violence

Although it is tempting to assume that certain PDs cause violence, the relationship is com-
plex. Demonstrating causality is difficult because of:
• the variety of PDs involved
• the high co-morbidity
• the difficulty in establishing causative mechanisms (Duggan and Howard 2009).
Categories and dimensions

Diagnosing a disorder necessarily requires a categorical judgement of caseness. However the
categorical classifications described in ICD-10 and DSM-IV may be criticized for having:
• inadequate coverage – some people with a general PD not fitting into any specific PD
• excessive overlap between categories
• heterogeneity within diagnoses
• arbitrary and unstable diagnostic boundaries.
Dimensional classifications of personality provide a richer description of an individual’s

personality structure. Many investigators have sought to bridge this gap between the
categorical and dimensional (Livesley, 2007) and it seems likely that DSM-V will adopt a
pseudo-dimensional classification (see Widiger et al., 2006, for discussion).
Tyrer (2007) argues for a diathesis model of PD.
Prevalence of personality disorder

Community samples
Huang et al. (2009) reported on a cross-sectional community survey (n = 21 162) across
13 countries using the International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE) screening
instrument:
• More than half of those with PD also had an axis 1 disorder.
Coid HWDO. (2006) reported data from the British National Survey of Psychiatric Morbidity
(n = 626; SCID-II diagnoses), giving prevalence rates weighted to control for selection bias:
• Of those with PDs, 53.5% had one PD only, 21.6% had two, 11.4% had three and 14.0% had
between four and eight.
• All PDs, except schizotypal, were more common among men than women:
Huang et al. (2009) Coid et al. (2006)

Prevalence of any personality disorder 6.1% 4.4%
Cluster A 3.6% 1.6%
Cluster B 1.5% 1.2%
Cluster C 2.7% 2.6%
Unspecified personality disorder – 5.7%
106
Specific Personality Disorders Associated with Offending
Prison samples
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) prison survey (Singleton et al., 1998) suggested
that up to 78% of prisoners have a PD:
• ASPD most commonly, followed by paranoid (in men) and borderline (in women).
• See Chapter 18 (p232) for further details.
● Specific Personality Disorders Associated with

Offending
Although ICD-10 is widely used for classification of psychiatric disorders in the UK, it is
common for DSM-IV to be used for personality disorders and the literature refers to research
using DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. Therefore this chapter mostly refers to DSM-IV termin-
ology and criteria.
Antisocial personality disorder

Key characteristics in DSM-IV:
• Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviour
• Impulsivity or inability to plan ahead
• Irritability and aggressiveness
• Deceitfulness
• Reckless disregard for safety of self or others
• Consistent irresponsibility
• Lack of remorse.
DSM-IV diagnosis requires that the individual had conduct disorder with onset before the
age of 15.
Conduct disorder
Conduct disorder can be classified as either childhood onset (before the age of 10) or ado-
lescence onset.
• Aggression towards people or animals
• Destruction of property
• Deceitfulness or theft
• Serious violations of rules.
Callous–unemotional traits (Frick and Petitclerc, 2009):

• There is mounting evidence that an important distinction can be made within the childhood-onset
conduct disorder group, based on the presence of a callous and unemotional affective style.
• This is similar to the distinction made within samples of antisocial adults using psychopathy.
• These callous–unemotional traits can be reliably assessed in children as young as 3 and are
relatively stable across extended periods of development.
• Children with these traits show more severe aggression and it is more likely to be pre-meditated and
for instrumental gain.
• It is argued that these features have a strong genetic basis and are primarily neurobiological in
origin.
• They are associated with persistent antisocial behaviour into adulthood although there is some
evidence that the features are amenable to intervention.
107
The NICE guideline on ASPD (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2010)
emphasizes the importance of conduct disorder:
• The conversion rate from conduct disorder to ASPD is estimated to be between 40% and 70%.
• Recommendations for interventions for children and adolescents with conduct disorder to
potentially reduce the risk of later ASPD include:
– cognitive problem-solving skills on an individual basis for those aged 8 years and older
– if residual problems after cognitive problem-solving skills, consider anger control groups or social
problem-solving groups
– group-based parent-training/education programmes for the parents
– functional family therapy should be offered to families of older adolescents at risk of offending
behaviour.
Substance misuse
According to the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (2010):
• 90% of those with ASPD have a co-morbid disorder and the most common of these co-morbidities
is substance misuse.
• Men with ASPD are three to five times more likely to misuse alcohol and drugs.
• Although women have a significantly lower prevalence of ASPD than men, the women with ASPD
have an even higher prevalence of substance misuse when compared with men.
• Alcohol misuse is associated with increased violence in people with ASPD.
Relationship to offending
As those with ASPD are generally ‘treatment rejecting’ rather than ‘treatment seeking’
they often only come into contact with mental health services in the context of offending
behaviour:
• 47% of those with ASPD in the community have significant arrest records (National Collaborating
Centre for Mental Health, 2010).
• 50–60% of male prisoners have ASPD (Singleton et al., 1998).
• A relatively small number of life course persistent offenders commit 50–70% of all violent
crimes (Odgers, 2009). The life-course persistent pathway is characterized by social, familial and
neurodevelopmental deficits, with their onset in early childhood.
• Prisoners with ASPD (Roberts and Coid, 2010):
– exhibit more criminal versatility
– are 10–20 times more likely to commit homicide than the general population
– are significantly more likely to commit violent offences
– are also more likely to commit robbery, theft, burglary, blackmail, fraud and firearms offences.
Neurobiological basis of antisocial behaviour

• A rapidly growing body of research has considered genetic polymorphisms, neuroimaging and
various types of antisocial behaviour.
• There is evidence linking the following genes with violence (Ferguson and Beaver, 2009):
– dopamine transporter gene
– serotonin transporter gene
– monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) gene
– catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene.
• Antisocial individuals have:
– significantly reduced prefrontal structures (Yang and Raine, 2009)
– larger volumes in posterior brain areas (Tiihonen et al., 2008).
108
• Psychopathic individuals have:

– white matter abnormalities in the uncinate fasciculus, which links the amygdala and the
orbitofrontal cortex (Craig et al., 2009)
– significantly reduced volume in the amygdala and the reduced volume correlates with increased
affective and interpersonal facets of psychopathy (Yang et al., 2009).
Treatment of ASPD
There is very little evidence for efficacy of psychiatric treatment in ASPD. The NICE
guidelines (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, 2010) suggest the following:
• For those with a history of offending behaviour consider offering group-based cognitive and
behavioural interventions (i.e. accredited offending behaviour programmes, OBPs), in order to
address problems such as impulsivity, interpersonal difficulties and antisocial behaviour.
• It is appropriate to consider offering similar groups to non-offenders with ASPD.
• Assess the level of risk and adjust the duration and intensity of the treatment programme
accordingly.
• Medication should not be used routinely.
• Co-morbidity should be treated in line with the relevant guidance.
• Psychological interventions should be offered for alcohol and drug misuse.
• Those who meet criteria for psychopathy or dangerous and severe personality disorder (DSPD)
should have interventions adapted, for example by lengthening them, with continued follow-up and
close monitoring.
Psychopathy
A construct defined by the PCL-R:
• The PCL-R was developed from the clinical descriptions of cases by Hervey Cleckley in his 1941 book
The Mask of Sanity.
• Intended to provide reliability of diagnosis to allow biological research.
Psychopathy is:
• not the same as the term psychopathic disorder used in the Mental Health Act (MHA) 1983 before
the 2007 amendments
• not used in current classificatory systems.
The core characteristics of psychopathy are usually considered in three categories (Feeney,
2003):
• Interpersonal (superficially charming, grandiose, egocentric, manipulative)
• Affective (shallow labile emotions, lack of empathy, lack of guilt, little subjective distress)
• Behavioural (impulsive, irresponsible, prone to boredom, lack of long-term goals, prone to breaking
rules).
Relationship to antisocial personality disorder:

• Most, but not all, psychopaths have ASPD.
• Approximately 10% of patients with ASPD are psychopaths (National Collaborating Centre for
Mental Health, 2010).
The PCL-R is the standardized method for diagnosing psychopathy (Hare, 1991):
• 20 items (Table 9.1) are scored from interviewing the patient and reviewing their medical and
criminal records.
109
Table 9.1 The 20 items scored on the PCL-R

Glibness and superficial charm Promiscuous sexual behaviour
Grandiose sense of self-worth Early behaviour problems
Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom Lack of realistic long-term goals
Pathological lying Impulsivity
Conning and manipulative Irresponsibility
Lack of remorse or guilt Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
Shallow affect Many short-term marital relationships
Callous/lack of empathy Juvenile delinquency
Parasitic lifestyle Revocation of conditional release
Poor behavioural controls Criminal versatility
• The frequency, severity and duration of the behaviour over the lifetime should be considered.
• Each item is scored 0 (no), 1 (maybe/in some respects) or 2 (yes).
• A score of 30 or above is considered diagnostic of psychopathy in the USA, whereas a cut-off of 25
is generally used in the UK.
• There is also a shorter screening version (PCL-SV) with good validity as a screening tool.
Relationship to offending
• Approximately 5% of prisoners in England and Wales are psychopaths:
– compared with 1% of the general population.
• Many facets of psychopathy may lead to crime:
– A lack of guilt and empathy implies an absence of inhibitors to antisocial behaviour.
– The lack of remorse means that there is no emotional cost to violent behaviour.
– There is an over-focus on rewards and an under-focus on costs.
– There may be a desire to control, demean and humiliate.
– They are likely to engage in impulsive and risky behaviour.
– Conning others leads to fraud offences.
• Although psychopaths are at high risk of engaging in criminal behaviour not all succumb to that
risk. So not all psychopaths are criminals:
– It has been argued that those psychopaths who have a preponderance of the interpersonal and
affective traits, but few of the behavioural traits, may function well in corporate life (Babiak and
Hare, 2007).
• However, psychopathy is one of the most researched and most reliable risk factors for violent
recidivism among those with a violent history.
Borderline personality disorder

• Efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment
• Pattern of unstable and intense personal relationships
• Identity disturbance
• Impulsivity
• Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger
• Affective instability
• Chronic feelings of emptiness
• Recurrent suicidal attempts, gestures or threats, or self-mutilating behaviour.
Co-morbidity is particularly common (Leichsenring HWDO., 2011):

110
• 84.5% had a co-morbid axis 1 disorder (especially PTSD [39.2%] and other mood/anxiety
disorders) and 74% another axis 2 disorder.
Much less is known about the prevalence and characteristics of violence among those with
borderline PD than those with ASPD:
• This may be due to borderline PD being seen as a disorder of women, and violence being
underestimated among women.
• In clinical practice it is not uncommon for ‘difficult’ PD patients to be diagnosed as antisocial if
they are men and borderline if they are women, but a closer examination of the symptomatology
and diagnostic requirements may reveal traits of both disorders.
• Some estimates of the coexistence of borderline PD and ASPD are as high as 60% (Newhill et al.,
2009).
The literature that does exist concerning the relationship between offending and borderline
PD primarily considers women:
• Women who have been imprisoned for a major violent offence are four times more likely to have a
diagnosis of borderline PD than women whose index offence is one of more minor violence (Logan
and Blackburn, 2009).
Newhill HWDO. (2009) reported on a subanalysis of MacArthur study data (n = 220, male and
female, with borderline PD):
• 73% were violent during the 1-year period.
• Reported violence was mostly characterized by disputes with acquaintances or significant others.
• The majority of the incidents were relatively minor, not resulting in bodily injury.
• Those with borderline PD were found to be significantly more likely to commit seriously violent and
aggressive acts than those without borderline PD:
– This finding remained significant even after controlling for risk markers such as substance
abuse.
– Increased risk no longer statistically significant when co-morbid ASPD and psychopathy were
considered, but there was substantial shared variance among the constructs, suggesting that
borderline PD has significant overlap with ASPD and psychopathy.
– Those with co-morbid ASPD were 3.5 times more likely to be violent.
Treatment of borderline PD is primarily psychological, sometimes with adjunctive

psychotropic medication. This is discussed further in Chapter 11 (p139).
Paranoid personality disorder

• Extreme distrust of others
• Bear persistent grudges
• Reluctant to confide in others for fear of malicious use of information given
• Perceive neutral incidents or comments as threatening
• Preoccupied with suspicions that others want to harm or deceive them
• Believe that sexual partners are unfaithful.
Note that jealous overvalued ideas are a diagnostic criterion of paranoid PD, so it is not sur-
prising that paranoid PD commonly underlies morbid jealousy. This nosologically imprecise
syndrome is considered further in Chapter 7 (p91).
From Carroll (2009):
111
• The prevalence in psychiatric outpatient samples is 10% and would be higher in forensic samples.
• In more than half of cases there is a co-morbid PD, commonly ASPD in forensic populations.
• Paranoid thinking is self-perpetuating, self-defeating and very resistant to change.
• Paranoid PD is associated with an increased risk of violence:
– This risk is increased by co-morbid disorders such as psychosis and ASPD.
• Paranoid PD has also been associated with stalking, making threats, and excessive complaints and
litigation.
• Cognitive therapy is a useful management strategy.
• Antipsychotics can sometimes be helpful.
● Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder

DSPD is a ‘diagnosis’ invented by politicians and civil servants in 1999 (Maden, 2007). In
the following 10 years in excess of £200 million was spent on developing a new programme
of treatment for those deemed to have DSPD in England (Tyrer et al., 2010).
In 2010, the DSPD programme consisted of:
• 300 high secure places for men (Broadmoor and Rampton high secure hospitals and HMP
Frankland and HMP Whitemoor)
• 75 medium secure and community places
• 12 places for women at HMP Low Newton.
The cost of DSPD treatment in high-security hospitals is over £200 000 per patient per year
(Maden, 2007):
• Psychopathy is the key construct of the DSPD initiative.
• The underpinning philosophy of the DSPD programme is that public protection will be best served
by addressing the mental health needs of a previously neglected group.
• Treatment is based on a cognitive–behavioural model.
An individual can be admitted to the DSPD programme if they fulfil all three of the follow-
ing criteria (Department of Health, Ministry of Justice, HM Prison Service, 2008):
• They are more likely than not to commit an offence that might be expected to lead to serious
physical or psychological harm from which the victim would find it difficult or impossible to recover.
• They present with a severe disorder of personality (assessed by PCL-R and IPDE):
– They score 30 or above on the PCL-R, or
– They score 25–29 on the PCL-R with at least one DSM-IV PD apart from ASPD, or
– They have two or more DSM-IV PD diagnoses
• There is a link between the personality disorder and the offending.
Challenges in the implementation of the DSPD programme include (Howells HWDO., 2007):
• the reluctant patient
• maintaining staff morale and a positive therapeutic environment
• meaningful evaluation to demonstrate any effectiveness
• managing expectations of referring agencies and the broader community.
The end of DSPD?

By the end of 2010, the DSPD project was coming to an end. It was seen as not cost-effective
(Tyrer et al., 2010) and the Bradley Report (Department of Health, 2009) recommended a
112
Selecting Offenders with PD for Treatment
re-evaluation. The consequent review led to proposals for a new offender PD strategy, which
adopted a broader, more inclusive perspective, encompassing all those offenders with PD,
rather than the very small group with DSPD. It emphasized that:
• in the vast majority of cases, offenders with PD should be managed within the CJS rather than in
hospital
• management should include:
– accredited OBPs, delivered within psychologically informed planned environments (PIPEs)
– psychological treatment in prison for some, and in hospital for a very few.
Other important principles included:

• sharing of responsibility between National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and health care
• training and development of the workforce
• a coherent whole systems pathway.
● Selecting Offenders with PD for Treatment

Treatment for PD is available in prison, in hospital and in the community:
• Availability of treatment in each setting varies considerably geographically.
• There is little evidence of consistency of practice.
Prison therapeutic communities are described further in Chapter 18 (p236) and inpatient
management of borderline PD is considered further in Chapter 11 (p139).
Hospital-based PD units are available in high, medium and low security:
• There is little guidance available to assist with deciding on whether a hospital or prison setting is
most appropriate.
The prevalence of PD in prison and the limited available resources mean that only a small
proportion can be transferred out for treatment. Clinical decision-making is difficult, and a
transfer out is not necessarily a benign option:
• Non-completion of a treatment programme may be associated with an increased risk of recidivism
compared with offering no treatment at all (McMurran and Theodosi, 2007).
• Returning a patient to prison after unsuccessful treatment may be experienced as rejecting and
lead to considerable iatrogenic harm, especially increased deliberate self-harm (DSH).
High psychopathy scores predict a poor response to all aspects of treatment (Maden, 2007).
Of those admitted to a medium secure PD unit (McCarthy and Duggan, 2010):
• one-third completed the treatment programme
• one-third disengaged from treatment
• one-third were expelled from the treatment programme for rule breaking
• 60% reoffended in the 5 years following discharge, with no statistically significant difference
observed in those who had completed the treatment programme
• offenders who were less impulsive and had lower levels of psychopathy were more likely to complete
treatment programmes.
113
Box 9.1 Assessing a personality-disordered prisoner

for transfer to a hospital setting
The process of assessment:
• It is helpful to undertake a multidisciplinary assessment.
• You may need to assess the person on more than one occasion.
• It will be essential to obtain medical, prison and police records to undertake a thorough risk assessment.
• Discuss with prison health-care staff and with discipline officers – ideally their personal officer.
• Review assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) documents, noting timing, duration and
precipitants of periods on ACCT.
• Establish the length of sentence, and future supervision on licence. How long until they would become a
notional s37 patient?
Making a diagnosis of the personality disorder (PD):
• Remember that co-morbidity is very common. The best approach is often to establish that they have
a PD and then consider the dominant extreme traits, rather than squeeze the patient into a single ill-
fitting taxon.
• This process may be helped by the use of a semi-structured interview schedule such as the IPDE.
• Consider the PCL-R or PCL-SV where there is evidence of psychopathic traits.
• In general the best evidence is for the treatment of borderline PD, so emotional instability may be a
good target for treatment.
• Conversely there is little evidence to support the efficacy of treatment for paranoid or antisocial PD, so,
where these traits dominate, hospital treatment is less likely to be effective.
• In particular, high levels of psychopathy and high impulsivity are associated with poorer outcome.
Using multiple sources of information, establish the extent in prison of problematic behaviours, which may
transfer to a hospital setting and obstruct treatment:
• Incidents of violence to others.
• Incidents of deliberate self-harm or suicidal behaviour.
• Use of drugs within prison.
• Other subversive behaviour, or inciting peers to act out.
• Evidence of manipulative behaviour. This may be evident from health-care interactions and demands
for certain treatments, or may be observed by staff in their interactions with other prisoners. They may
bargain, make demands or make threats contingent upon some need or wish not being met.
• Consider the motivations for violent and self-harm behaviours. Are they associated with distress,
intended to relieve tension, impulsive or planned, or deliberately manipulative?
Is there evidence that they are psychologically minded?
• Are they very focused on medication as the answer to their problems?
• Are they able to frame their problems in psychological terms? Can they draw links between past
experiences and current functioning?
• Do they have any capacity for introspection, to consider the way in which they tend to think, or the way
in which they relate to other people?
• Do they reflect on why they have certain problems?
Are they able to form effective therapeutic relationships?
• Look for evidence of mature relationships with a variety of staff.
• Sometimes a prisoner with PD will form an intense dependent relationship with one member of staff to
the exclusion of others. This may be associated with a tendency to split therapeutic teams in hospital.
What are their motivations for treatment?
• Evidence that they are distressed by their psychological symptoms provides evidence of an internal
motivation.
• External motivations might come from family or children.
114
Selecting Offenders with PD for Treatment
• What are their longer-term aims and goals in life? Are they realistic? Can they articulate how their PD
obstructs realization of these?
• Have they engaged in OBPs or other activities in prison, to back up their claims that they will engage in
hospital?
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116
10
Learning Disability,
Autistic Spectrum
Disorders and Offending
● Learning Disability
Emerson et al. (2010) reported that in England in 2010, there were:
• 1 198 000 people with learning disability (LD), 900 000 of whom were adults.
• Of the adults:
– 58% were male
– 21% were known to LD services.
• There were 1246 NHS residential care beds for people with LD, down from 3703 in 2000–1.
• There were 3501 people in LD provider services, a drop of 21% from 4435 people identified in 2006.
Various terms are used relatively synonymously, which is particularly important when
reviewing the literature:
• learning disability
• intellectual disability
• mental retardation
• developmental disability.
‘Learning difficulty’ tends to be used to describe a broader group.
Identifying rates of LD among offender populations is problematic because ascertainment
of cases is difficult:
• The diagnosis of LD requires:
– significant intellectual impairment, and
– significant impairment in social functioning
– both being present from childhood.
• The validity and reliability of the WAIS (and other IQ assessment tools) may be affected by level of
education, culture, language barrier, co-morbid mental health problems and psychotropic medication.
• There is no definitive tool for assessing the presence of impairment of social functioning. LD
services often use their own ‘eligibility assessment’ tools, with uncertain reliability.
• Official rates of offending generally underestimate the true rate of offending, and this may be
particularly true among the learning-disabled population.
Holland et al. (2002) have reviewed prevalence studies of offending in learning-disabled
populations:
117
Learning Disability, ASDs and Offending
• Up to 5% of those attending day services or living in group homes had contact with the criminal
justice system (CJS).
• Of those awaiting interview in police stations:
– 9% had IQ ≤ 70
– 34% had IQ ≤ 75.
• There are no relevant studies of defendants in Crown or magistrates’ courts.
• A small survey of a probation sample found 6% with IQ < 70 and 11% <75.
Rates in prisons have varied greatly, depending on varying methodology. In a survey across
a local male prison, a women’s prison and a young offenders’ institution (YOI), Mottram
(2007) found a mean IQ of 86:
• 6.5% had IQ < 70
• 25% 70–79
• 29% 80–89
• 35% 90–109
• 4% ≥ 110.
According to the Prison Reform Trust (Talbot, 2008):

• 20–30% of offenders have learning disabilities or difficulties that interfere with their ability to cope
within the criminal justice system.
• 23% of prisoners under 18 years of age have an IQ of less than 70.
• 20% of the prison population has a ‘hidden disability’ that ‘will affect and undermine their
performance in both education and work settings’.
• dyslexia is three to four times more common among prisoners than among the general population.
Characteristics of learning-disabled offenders

In their review Holland et al. (2002) found the following factors to be common among
learning-disabled offenders (as they are among non-learning-disabled offenders as well):
• mostly young men
• borderline or mild (rather than more severe) LD
• background of psychosocial deprivation
• childhood behavioural problems
• co-morbid psychiatric disorders
• family history of offending
• low socio-economic status
• a history of behavioural problems or previous offending
• homelessness.
Wheeler et al. (2009) reviewed 237 referrals to a LD team because of antisocial or offending
behaviour in three geographical areas over 2 years:
• Those whose offending had led to contact with the CJS represented an estimated 0.8% of all
adults with LD in the relevant areas.
• 62% had mild, borderline or no LD.
• 44% had a co-morbid psychiatric condition.
• The range of behaviours included:
– physical (52%) and verbal (40%) aggression
– damage to property (24%)
– inappropriate sexual behaviour (18%)
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Learning Disability
Box 10.1 Assessment of individuals with LD

Before the assessment:
• An appointment letter should be in a larger font, written in simple English and include a pictorial list of
contraband items.
• A family member, carer or solicitor (for court reports) should also be informed so that they can remind
the person of the appointment.
• Always request the attendance of an informant who knows the person well, preferably from childhood.
• Check if the patient suffers from any sensory abnormalities and consider use of an interpreter, such as
in cases with hearing difficulties.
• Sometimes it may be more feasible to review the patient in a familiar non-domestic environment such
as their community learning disability team (CLDT) base, their GP surgery or their solicitor’s offices.
During the assessment
• Consider any sensory abnormality that may impede their participation in the interview process such as
hearing loss, speech impediment or poor eyesight.
• Use simple language, short phrases and short sentences. Be aware of the use of technical words or
jargon.
• Talk slowly and give the person time to process information. You may have to repeat or rephrase
questions.
• Check the understanding of the person as you go along. Certain gestures (e.g. nodding head) and
expressions (e.g. saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’) may be learnt social responses, and may not reflect the true
understanding of the questions being asked.
• It may be helpful to start the interview by asking the individual about innocuous subjects that they like
to talk about such as their hobbies or interest.
• Focus particularly on developmental history, early childhood, schooling and adaptive functioning.
• You may need to allow breaks in the interview, or conduct more than one assessment, depending on
the ability to concentrate and attend to the interview.
After the assessment collateral information from the family is particularly important:
• Pregnancy-related complications, prematurity, birth, birth weight.
• Postnatal complications and early development. Focus on attainment of developmental milestones.
• Details about play activities and interactions with peers and parents.
• Details about schooling and educational difficulties.
• Risk behaviours even though they may not have resulted in being charged by the police.
If they are available, school records and a copy of the special educational needs assessment are helpful.
– cruelty and neglect relating to children (11%), mostly involving women

– fire setting (1%).
Commissioning of secure services and care pathways

The provision of secure inpatient facilities for people with LD varies geographically:
• For services without secure inpatient facilities, out-of-area placements, often in the independent
sector, are used:
– this may lead to more difficult integration with local community learning disability teams
(CLDTs), and lack of suitable local step-down facilities
– potentially this may lead to increased lengths of stay.
• Active gate-keeping of new referrals, both at clinical assessment level and at commissioning level,
has the benefit of reducing unnecessary out-of-area placements, and active monitoring of cases
can help streamline care pathways, thereby reducing delayed discharges.
119
More recently some community forensic LD teams have been developed and tasked with
gate keeping and monitoring of cases requiring secure care.
There is limited data on outcome following admission to secure LD placements. Alex-
ander et al. (2006) reported on outcomes following discharge from a LD medium secure
service, with 12 years of follow-up:
• 11% of the sample were reconvicted:
– Risk factors for reconviction were personality disorder, a history of theft or burglary, and young
age.
– Contact with the police was less likely in those with schizophrenia.
• 58% showed offending-like behaviour that did not lead to police contact.
• 28% were currently detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act (MHA):
– Readmission to hospital was associated with the presence of offending-like behaviours, rather
than any specific diagnosis.
● Challenging Behaviour
The Royal College of Psychiatrists (2007) gives the following definition:
Behaviour can be described as challenging when it is of such an intensity, frequency or
duration as to threaten the quality of life and/or the physical safety of the individual or
others and is likely to lead to responses that are restrictive, aversive or result in exclusion.
Observed prevalence rates of challenging behaviour among learning-disabled popula-
tions (Tsiouris, 2010):
• tend to vary, from 10% to as much as 60%
• point prevalence rates have been reported at:
– 9.8% for aggressive behaviour towards others or objects
– 4.9% for self-injurious behaviour.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists emphasizes the following factors in assessing challenging
behaviours:
• Factors unique to the individual:
– degree and nature of learning disability
– communication difficulties
– sensory or motor disabilities
– co-morbid mental health problems
– physical health problems
– emotional needs and strength
– social competency
– insight
– strengths and coping strategies.
• Environmental factors:
– geographical location of the placement and its perceived importance for the patient
– physical structure of the placement, e.g. room sizes, communal areas, facilities available, open
spaces, time-out room or sensory room
– environmental adaptations to meet the needs of the person including their sensory needs or
physical health needs
– other patients in the placement.
• Staff, support and intervention:
– training and experience of staff
120
Challenging Behaviour
Box 10.2 Assessment of challenging behaviour
1. Collect information from all possible sources

• Patient
• Carers
• Nursing staff
• Psychiatric or psychological reports
• Speech and language therapy assessments
• OT reports.
2. Record the frequency, intensity and duration of behaviours

• These will serve as a baseline for ongoing evaluation.
The next step is to record the behaviour systematically:
• by breaking it down into antecedents, behaviours and consequences (ABC), or
• setting, triggers, action and response (STAR).
It is important to collect this data over a period of time to be able to identify any emerging patterns.
3. This information is collated into a formulation, which includes a causal

hypothesis for the challenging behaviour:
• The hypothesis is tested by modulating the identified problematic contributory factors, the outcome
being compared with the baseline data.
• If unsuccessful, review the formulation with the multidisciplinary team, and change other factors.
It is important to have small goals and realistic expectations, with adequate supervision and support for
staff.
– constancy of staff group and in particular the key or named worker

– procedural consistency meeting the needs of the individual
– opportunities for planned and regular constructive activities and sessions
– individualized care plans to meet the particular needs of the patients
– functional analysis of the challenging behaviour.
Management strategies
There is a limited evidence base for psychological and environmental strategies, which may
include:
• focusing on individual strengths and weaknesses
• CBT and behavioural modification
• environmental modification:
– creating capable and supportive environments with adequate organizational structures
– adequate number of well-trained staff members
– a supportive ethos with clear values
• specialist placements.
According to Tsiouris (2010):

• Antipsychotic medications are not anti-aggressive drugs so they should not be used unless
indicated for an underlying mental disorder.
• Patients with autism show improvement in irritability and aggressive behaviour on risperidone.
• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) led to improvement in aggressive behaviours in 50%
of cases with LD.
121
● Offending and LD
There is no convincing evidence that LD is, in itself, a risk factor for offending, though
those with borderline ability are over-represented in offender populations. Factors that may
mediate this relationship include:
• behaviours may be appropriate to the developmental stage but not the chronological age of the
individual
• reduced capacity to delay gratification or resist temptation
• reduced capacity to modify behaviour according to experience
• social naivety
• difficulty coping with socio-economic, interpersonal or other normal life stresses, leading to
frustration.
Sexual offending
Sexual offending is covered generally in Chapter 13. Earlier studies (Hayes, 1991) found
similar rates of sexual offending in learning-disabled and non-learning-disabled popula-
tions. A large meta-analysis (Cantor et al., 2005) of sex offenders, found that:
• overall adult males who commit sexual offences have a lower IQ than non-sexual offenders
• but if offenders against children are excluded, the difference was not statistically significant
• the association between low IQ and sexual offending is particularly strong for paedophilic offences.
Sexual offending is common among those admitted to secure LD care:

• Up to 40% (Day, 1988), compared with perhaps 10% for an adult mental illness secure service
(see Chapter 3).
Day (1997) proposed the following typology of learning-disabled sexual offenders:

• Developmental:
– shy and immature
– little or no sexual experience
– offence due to poor adaptation.
• Sociopathic:
– more serious and persistent sexual offender, perhaps with other offences as well
– lack of impulse control.
• Sexually deviant:
– exclusively paraphillic behaviour
– a small proportion.
The evidence base for interventions for learning-disabled sex offenders is weak:
• There are no randomized controlled trials of interventions for learning-disabled sex offenders
(Ashman and Duggan, 2008).
• Many studies were deemed methodologically flawed, with variation in inclusion criteria, no
standardized outcomes and small sample sizes (Courtney and Rose, 2004).
Psychological interventions:
• Depending on the need and ability of the patient, they may be offered individual or group CBT-
based programmes:
– These adapted sex offender treatment programmes (SOTPs) are altered from standard
programmes for non-learning-disabled offenders (see Chapter 13)
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Legal Issues
• May be accompanied by other interventions, such as social skills training, enhancing thinking skills
and problem solving.
Pharmacological treatment:
• Discussed in Chapter 13.
• Most of the evidence is from non-learning-disabled populations.
Published outcomes are focused heavily on recidivism rates:

• Huge variation is reported, depending on the sample size and the duration of the follow-up (up to
68% – Gibbens and Robertson, 1983).
• Some have argued that the reoffending rates following organized treatment were not any lower
than following a non-therapeutic prison sentence. However, learning-disabled patients may be
vulnerable in a prison setting. Learning-disabled sex offenders suffered abuse double the rate of
non-learning-disabled sex offenders; and mostly the abuse was sexual.
• At least 2 years in hospital and planned discharge have been associated with better outcomes.
Arson
See Chapter 13 for information on psychiatric diagnoses and arson generally:
• In his series of people charged with arson, Rix (1994) found that 11% had an LD.
Reasons for setting fires are similar in learning-disabled and non-learning-disabled arsonists.
In a small descriptive study, Devapriam et al. (2007) gave the following reasons among 15
learning-disabled arsonist patients:
• revenge – nine (60%)
• mental illness – one (6.6%)
• suggestibility – three (20%)
• pyromania – two (13.3%).
Management is primarily psychological, usually in a cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT)-

based group setting:
• Hall et al. (2005) described an example of a treatment programme consisting of three sections
of five sessions each, with a final session evaluating patient’s perspective, and evaluation and
maintenance sessions at 6 weeks and 6 months:
– Introduction to fires : the expectations of the group, general dangers of fire, good/bad fires,
media and fire setting, others’ view of fire.
– Personal fire setting: history and pattern, details of the index offence or the main fire set, focus on
ABC, develop personal fire focus.
– Alternative ways of coping: issue of risk, fire setting as a risky behaviour, identify individual risk
patterns, safe ingredients and alternative ways of coping, role plays.
● Legal Issues
Mental Health Act 1983 and LD
A learning disability is defined (s1(4)) as a ‘state of arrested or incomplete development of
the mind, which includes significant impairment of intelligence and social functioning’:
• This is broadly in line with contemporary classification systems.
123
A learning disability does not constitute a mental disorder for the purposes of the MHA
unless it is associated with ‘abnormally aggressive or seriously irresponsible conduct’:
• The behaviour should be understood within the social and cultural aspect.
• The nature, intensity and frequency of the behaviour should be observed.
• This should take into account the potential impact of the behaviour on the person and/or others.
LD in the police station

• The safeguards relating to mentally disordered people in police stations, particularly the role of the
appropriate adult, are covered in Chapter 16.
• LD may lead to greater suggestibility (Gudjonsson and Henry, 2003) and consequent unreliability
at interview:
– However, some suggest that LD tends to affect episodic memory less than semantic memory
(White and Willner, 2005), so scales assessing primarily semantic memory may be of limited
importance.
Fitness to plead and stand trial (role of the intermediary)

A low IQ does not determine unfitness to plead. In particular the courts can make reasonable
adjustments to help a defendant participate effectively in a trial (see Chapter 21 for further
details).
The role of an intermediary is particularly important for defendants with LD:
• Section 104 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 amends s33 of the Youth Justice and Criminal
Evidence Act 1999 to provide that:
– where the accused ‘suffers from a mental disorder … or otherwise has a significant impairment
of intelligence and social function and … is for that reason unable to participate effectively in the
proceedings as a witness giving oral evidence in court’
– the court may order that any examination is conducted through an intermediary, whose function
is to communicate and explain questions to the accused, and communicate their answers.
Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA)

The principles of the MCA (s1) are:
• A person is assumed to have capacity until it is established that they do not.
• All practicable steps to assist a person to make their own decision must be taken.
• Making an unwise decision should not be taken to imply lack of capacity.
• Those acting on behalf of an incapacitated person:
– must act in their best interests
– must act in the way that is least restrictive of the person’s rights and freedom.
Capacity must be assessed in relation to a particular decision and a particular time:

• a person may have the capacity to make some decisions but not others
• capacity may vary over time.
A two-stage test:
• Is there an impairment of, or disturbance in, the functioning of the person’s mind or brain?
• Is the impairment or disturbance sufficient to cause the person to be unable to make that particular
decision at the relevant time?
In considering best interests, all relevant circumstances must be taken into account,
including:
124
Autistic Spectrum Disorders
• if and when the person is likely to regain capacity

• the person’s past and present wishes, beliefs and values
• consultation with carers.
The test of capacity (s3) requires the ability to:

• understand the relevant information i.e. information about reasonably foreseeable consequences
of the decision
• retain the information related to the decision to be made even if only for a short period
• use or weigh that information as part of the process of making the decision
• communicate that decision by any means, including blinking an eye or squeezing a hand.
Deprivation of liberty safeguards (DOLS)

Introduced into the MCA by the MHA 2007, to provide a legal framework for those who are
deprived of their liberty which satisfies Article 5 of the European Convention on Human
Rights (ECHR) by providing:
• a procedure prescribed by law and
• access to a speedy review of the lawfulness of the detention by a court.
The safeguards were introduced following the judgement in the ‘Bournewood case’ (HL v
United Kingdom [2004] 40 EHRR 761):
• a man with autism and learning difficulties who lacked capacity to agree to informal admission
to hospital. His admission was challenged by his carers and was found by the European Court of
Human Rights to be in breach of his rights under Article 5 (1) and Article 5 (4) of the ECHR.
The person to be detained must be an adult with a mental disorder who lacks capacity to
consent to the arrangements made for their care or treatment:
• Receiving care and treatment in circumstances that amount to a deprivation of liberty must be:
– necessary to protect them from harm
– proportionate to the likelihood and seriousness of the harm
– in their best interests.
• There must be no less restrictive alternative available.
Deprivation of liberty has not been clearly defined. But:

• the difference between deprivation of and restriction of liberty is one of degree
• the deprivation of liberty has an objective element (which includes whether a person is free to
leave) as well as a subjective element (which takes into account whether the person has the
capacity or not).
● Autistic Spectrum Disorders

As with LD, several terms are in use, including autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs), autistic
spectrum conditions, autistic spectrum difference and neuro-diversity:
• The code of practice (CoP) to the MHA 1983 considers that ‘the Act’s definition of mental disorder
includes the full range’ of ASDs:
– but detention in the absence of an additional mental disorder ‘is likely to happen only very
rarely’.
125
The National Audit Office (2009) indicated that:

• there are 400 000 adults with ASD, with around half of them having LD
• the male to female ratio (M:F) is around 3–4:1.
Brugha et al. (2009) estimated:

• The overall prevalence of ASD, using the threshold of a score of 10 on the Autism Diagnostic
Observation Schedule (ADOS) to indicate a positive case, was 1% of the adult population in
England:
– M – 1.8%; F – 0.2%.
Dein and Woodbury-Smith (2010) describe the very inconsistent prevalence rates reported
in various secure mental health and custodial settings, concluding that:
• there probably is an increased rate of ASD in such settings, but
• this does not reflect a raised rate of offending in the community.
The Autism Act 2009 placed a duty on the Secretary of State for Health to introduce a
strategy for improving outcomes for adults with autism:
• The resultant strategy (Department of Health, 2010) emphasizes:
– increasing awareness and understanding of autism
– developing a clear, consistent pathway for diagnosis of autism
– improving access for adults with autism to the services and support that they need to live
independently within the community
– helping adults with autism into work
– enabling local partners to develop relevant services for adults with autism to meet identified
needs and priorities.
ASD and offending

Berney (2004) considers the relationship between ASD and offending. He
• suggests that the following offence types might indicate the presence of ASD:
– obsessive harassment or stalking
– inexplicable violence
– computer crime
– offences arising from misjudged social relationships
• cites the following as characteristics of ASD that are liable to lead to offending:
– lack of concern for or awareness of the likely outcome of actions
– lack of empathy
– apparently impulsive violence resulting from rapidly escalating anxiety
– social naivety leading to exploitation by others
– sexual offending may result from misinterpretation of social rules and norms and difficulty
judging others’ ages
– obsessive interests may lead to stalking or theft.
Management of ASD
The evidence base for specific therapies for ASD is weak. However, the following aspects
are important:
• Setting – mainstream secure units or specialist secure ASD units.
126
Box 10.3 Assessment of an individual with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD)

As with all psychiatric evaluations the diagnosis is based upon the account given by the person, their
presentation during the interview and information from other sources such as:
• an informant who knows the person well (preferably from childhood)
• school records
• past medical and psychiatric notes.
In some cases it may be important to see the individual for several sessions before a diagnosis can be
made reliably. The assessment should particularly focus on the autistic triad of symptom clusters.
Reciprocal social interactions:
• Ask about interactions with others at school, college and work. Try to evaluate the quality of their
interactions with others including what characteristics of other people they tend to like, dislike, ignore,
copy, idolize.
• Ask about friends (how many, how long for, best friend, how easy it was to make friends, reasons for
disagreements, etc.) and their understanding of friendship (what is a friend, differences between social
friends and boy-/girlfriends, what makes a good friend, etc.).
Communication:
• As part of developmental history focus on any delay in speech (when first words spoken, difficulties in
hearing as a child or requiring a speech therapist).
• Check for qualitative difficulties – literal thinking, difficulty in understanding implied meaning, jokes or
sarcasm, reciprocity of conversation.
• Ability to pick up how the other person talking to them may be feeling, use of non-verbal gestures, eye
contact, understanding of body language or non-verbal cues.
Restrictive and repetitive interests:
• Enquire about hobbies and interests (what, how long for, how much time spent, what others think of it,
exclusion of other pastimes, etc.).
• Ask about routines or rituals and response to enforced or unexpected changes.
Consider the use of structured assessment tools such as:
• The Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication Disorders (DISCO) – for children and adults.
The most commonly used instrument for diagnosing broad-spectrum ASD.
• Autism Diagnostic Interview, Revised (ADI-R) – children from > 2 years old, takes 1.5–2.5 hours. Focuses
mainly on core autistic features, leading to relatively restrictive diagnosis.
• ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule) – from toddlers to adults, takes 30–45 minutes.
• Adult Asperger’s Assessment – tool designed specifically for use in adults.
Howlin (2000) discusses the limitations of these assessment tools in terms of validity, reliability, specificity
and sensitivity.
• Psychological treatment:
– CBT, music or art therapy
– role playing
– mind reading
– social skills training
– specific interventions for the offending behaviour
– support for carers and family members.
• Pharmacological treatment:
– only indicated for treatment of co-morbid mental disorders.
• Environmental factors:
– reasonable adaptations to avoid sensory overload.
– sensory room
127
– predictable and consistent regimens

– structured daily programmes
– specifically trained staff.
• Following an inpatient episode:
– suitable placement (trained staff, gradual transition, ongoing support)
– employment
– adequate support structures for follow-up, monitoring and implementing contingency plans
(including re-admission and respite care).
References
Alexander RT, Crouch K, Halstead S, Piachaud J. (2006) Long-term outcome from a medium secure
service for people with intellectual disability. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 50(4),
305–15
Ashman LLM, Duggan L. (2008) Interventions for learning disabled sex offenders. Cochrane Data-
base of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 1. Art. No.: CD003682. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.
CD003682.pub2
*Berney T. (2004) Asperger syndrome from childhood into adulthood. Advances in Psychiatric Treat-
ment 10, 341–51
*Brugha T, McManus S, Meltzer H, Smith J, Scott FJ, Purdon S, et al. (2009). Autism Spectrum Disorders
in Adults living in Households throughout England. Report from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity
Survey 2007. Available from: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/mental-health/
mental-health-surveys
Cantor JM, Blanchard R, Robichaud LK, Christensen BK. (2005). Quantitative reanalysis of aggregate
data on IQ in sexual offenders. Psychological Bulletin 131, 555–68
Courtney J, Rose J. (2004) The effectiveness of treatment for male sex offenders with learning dis-
abilities: a review of the literature. Journal of Sexual Aggression 10(2), 215–36
Day K. (1988) A hospital based treatment programme for male mentally handicapped offenders
British Journal of Psychiatry 153, 635–44.
Day K. (1997). Sex offenders with learning disabilities. In: Read SG (ed.), Psychiatry in Learning Dis-
ability. London: WB Saunders Company Ltd
*Dein K, Woodbury-Smith M. (2010) Asperger syndrome and criminal behaviour. Advances in Psychi-
atric Treatment 16, 37–43
Department of Health. (2010) Fulfilling and Rewarding Lives. The strategy for adults with autism
in England. Available at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/Publica-
tionsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_113369
Devapriam J, Raju LB, Singh N, Collacott R, Bhaumik S. (2007) Arson: characteristics and predispos-
ing factors in offenders with intellectual disabilities. British Journal of Forensic Practice 9(4), 23–7
*Emerson E, Hatton C, Robertson J, Roberts H, Baines S, Glover G. (2010) People with Learning Dis-
abilities in England 2010. London: DH
Gibbens CN, Robertson G. (1983) A survey of the criminal careers of hospital order patients. British
Gudjonsson GH, Henry L. (2003) Child and adult witnesses with intellectual disability: the importance
of suggestibility. Legal and Criminological Psychology 8(2), 241–52
Hall I, Clayton P, Johnson P. (2005) Arson and learning disability. In: Riding T, Swann C, Swann B
(eds), The Handbook of Forensic Learning Disability. Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing
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Hayes S. (1991) Sexual offenders. Australia and New Zealand Journal of Developmental Disabilities
17(2), 221–7
*Holland T, Clare CH, Mukhopadhyay T. (2002) Prevalence of criminal offending by men and women
with intellectual disability and the characteristics of the offenders: implications for research and
service development. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 46(S1), 6–20
Howlin P. (2000) Assessment instruments for Asperger syndrome. Child and Adolescent Mental
Health 5(3), 120–9
Mottram PG. (2007) HMP Liverpool, Styal and Hindley Study Report. Liverpool: University of Liverpool
National Audit Office. (2009) Supporting People with Autism through Adulthood. London: The
Stationery Office
Rix K. (1994) A psychiatric study of adult arsonists. Medicine Science and the Law 4(1), 21–34
Royal College of Psychiatrists. (2007) Challenging Behaviour: A unified approach CR144. London:
Royal College of Psychiatrists
Talbot J. (2008) No One Knows: Experiences of the criminal justice system by prisoners with learning
disabilities and difficulties. London: Prison Reform Trust
*Tsiouris JA. (2010) Pharmacotherapy for aggressive behaviours in persons with intellectual disabili-
ties: treatment or mistreatment? Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 54(1), 1–16
Wheeler JR, Holland AJ, Bambrick M, Lindsay WR, Carson D, Steptoe L, et al. (2009) Community
services and people with intellectual disabilities who engage in anti-social or offending behaviour:
referral rates, characteristics, and care pathways. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology
20(5), 717–40
White R. Willner P. (2005) Suggestibility and salience in people with intellectual disabilities: an
experimental critique of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and
129
11
Women in Secure Care
● Female Offenders
There are significant differences in patterns of offending between genders:
• Women offend less often than men:
– in 2004–5 there were 1 120 200 (83%) men arrested for recorded criminal offences compared
with 233 600 (17%) women (Home Office, 2007).
• Female offenders are more likely to commit acquisitive offences and are less likely to commit violent
offences and sexual offences.
• Home Office (2006) conviction figures show that women commit only 6% of murders, 1.5% of
attempted murders, 16% of manslaughters and 7% of woundings.
The female prison population

In August 2010, women constituted 5% of the total prison population (Ministry of Justice,
2010):
• However, there was a disproportionate rise in the prison female population from the early 1990s,
reaching a peak in 2005.
• Women are more likely to be remanded in custody and to receive a custodial sentence than male
equivalents (Home Office, 2007).
• Women on remand are most likely to be charged with drug offences (26%) or acquisitive offences
(24%) (Singleton et al., 1998).
• One-third of female sentenced prisoners are serving a sentence for drug offences, 18% for violent
offences and 17% for theft.
• Women in prison are more likely to be from ethnic minorities or be foreign nationals compared with
the male prison population (Singleton et al., 1998).
Psychiatric morbidity among female prisoners

Data on the prevalence of mental disorder among female prisoners is given in Chapter 18:
• For all diagnostic groups the rates are higher than in the community.
• Among prisoners, women have higher rates of mental illness and lower rates of personality disorder
(PD) than men.
• Women have a lower rate of hazardous alcohol use but the same rate of drug dependence.
The rate of both deliberate self-harm (DSH) and parasuicidal behaviour among women is
higher than that of male prisoners:
• Up to half of women within prison have a lifetime history of DSH and 46% have attempted suicide.
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Women, Mental Disorder and Violence
• Self-harm and attempted suicide were more common among white women but the highest rate
was found in black/mixed race women with a history of substance dependence (Borrill et al., 2003).
• Although representing only 5% of the prison population, women represent half of all incidents of
DSH within prisons (Fossey and Black, 2010).
• Fazel and Benning (2009) reported a suicide rate among female prisoners of 163/100 000 between
1978 and 2004. This was just over 20 times the rate in the general population.
Women in prison suffering from severe borderline personality disorder (PD) present particu-
lar challenges to the prison service and those working within that setting. They sometimes
present with unusually severe DSH and parasuicidal behaviour.
• Fossey and Black (2010) highlight the limited provision within the prison service of treatment
compliant with the NICE guidelines.
● Women, Mental Disorder and Violence

The rate of violence among female psychiatric patients
Although the rate of violence in men is much higher within the normal population, these
differences are less clear among psychiatric populations, suggesting that the impact of
mental disorder on risk is greater among women:
• Lidz et al. (1993) in a study of patients discharged from short-term psychiatric facilities found no
significant difference in the rates of community violence by male and female patients.
The MacArthur study (Monahan et al., 2001) found, over 1-year follow-up post-discharge:
• Violence (battery leading to injury, sexual assault, threat/assault with weapon in hand) was more
common among men (29.7%) than women (24.6%).
• Aggressive acts (battery not resulting in physical injury) were more common among women
(37.0%) than men (30.1%).
• Women in the sample were more likely to have a diagnosis of depression and less likely to have a
diagnosis of or a co-occurring diagnosis of alcohol/drug dependence.
• In comparison to male violence, women’s violence:
– was more likely to occur in the home, and the victims were more likely to be family members
– was less likely to have been preceded by alcohol/drug use, or to be followed by arrest. The victims
were less likely to seek medical treatment.
Female homicide
Women are less likely to commit homicide than men:
• In 2006 there were 516 male perpetrators of homicide compared with 40 women (National
Confidential Inquiry, 2010).
Female perpetrators of homicide are more likely to kill someone with whom they are in a
close relationship. Of 55 women who committed homicides in Victoria, Australia between
1997 and 2005 (Bennett et al., 2010):
• 20 (36.4%) killed their partner
• 13 (23.6%) killed another relative (including their children)
• 20 (36.4%) killed an acquaintance or friend
• 2 killed a stranger (3.6%).
Psychiatric factors are more likely to be associated with female homicide:

131
• Between 1997 and 2006 14% of women convicted of homicide had been in contact with mental
health services during the previous year (compared with 10% overall).
• According to d’Orban (1990), between 1980 and 1987 the average annual number of murder
convictions for women was 6 (154 for men). Women accounted for:
– 4% of convicted murderers
– 12% of manslaughter convictions
– 20% of convictions for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
• In Bennett’s study, 20% had been diagnosed with a psychotic illness of whom:
– 16.4% had schizophrenia (compared with 7.9% of male perpetrators).
• Studies by Eronen (1995) and Schanda et al. (2004) have shown generally higher rates of mental
disorder among female perpetrators of homicide.
• In a review of 125 Finnish psychiatric reports in homicides, Putkonen (2001) reported that 27%
had a psychotic disorder and 70% a PD.
Box 11.1 Battered woman syndrome (Walker, 1999)

This term is sometimes applied to women in violent relationships who kill their abusive partner. It describes
a characteristic pattern of psychological and behavioural responses by a woman to severe abuse inflicted
upon her by her partner.
It has two stages:
• the ‘cycle of violence’ – the tension-building stage ➞ the acute battering incident ➞ kindness and
contrite loving behaviour stage
• ‘learned helplessness’, as an explanation for why the woman is unable to leave the relationship.
The concept has been criticized for stereotyping women and ignoring the other factors which might make
it difficult for women to leave a violent relationship.
It is neither a psychiatric diagnosis nor in itself a legal defence to a charge of murder:
• It has been used successfully to support a defence of provocation, to explain why women who kill their
abusers may not fit into the usual sudden loss of control of the old provocation defence.
• The new partial defence to murder of loss of control explicitly allows that the loss of control may not be
sudden (see Chapter 20), thus maintaining battered woman syndrome potentially within the defence.
• Women who are the victims of repeated violence within relationships experience depression, anxiety
and PTSD which may sometimes amount to abnormality of mind, and may allow a defence of
manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Filicide, infanticide and neonaticide

Parental child killing is described throughout history and across cultures:
• Filicide is the killing of a child by his or her parent.
• Infanticide means the killing of a child soon after birth. The legal definition is contained in s1(1)
Infanticide Act 1938:
Where a woman by any wilful act or omission causes the death of her child being a child
under the age of twelve months, but at the time of the act or omission the balance of her
mind was disturbed by reason of her not having fully recovered from the effect of giving
birth to the child or by reason of the effect of lactation consequent upon the birth of the
child, then, if the circumstances were such that but for this Act the offence would have
amounted to murder or manslaughter, she shall be guilty of felony, to wit of infanticide,
and may for such offence be dealt with and punished as if she had been guilty of the
offence of manslaughter of the child.
• Neonaticide is the killing of a child within 24 hours of birth (Resnick, 1970).
132
Women, Mental Disorder and Violence
On average there are 32 cases of filicide per year in England and Wales, approximately half
of all child homicides (National Confidential Inquiry, 2009):
• These figures may be an underestimate due to the difficulties in recording and determining cause
of death, for example in cases of sudden infant death syndrome.
• Children under the age of 1 year are at greatest risk (Friedman et al., 2005) representing
approximately 55% of all cases of filicides.
• Men are more likely to commit filicide than women, who represent about one-third of all cases.
Parental filicide is associated with suicide:

• Stack (1997) reported that filicide constituted 2% of all homicides, but that they represented 7.6%
of homicide followed by suicide.
• Friedman et al. (2005) showed between 16% and 29% of maternal filicides died by suicide and
between 40% and 60% of fathers took their own life.
• Over an 8-year period, 17% of perpetrators who committed filicide subsequently took their own life
(National Confidential Inquiry, 2009).
Women who have killed their children have the following characteristics:
• They are usually between the ages of 20 and 40.

• There are no clear associations with marital status in case series of filicide overall, but women
committing neonaticide are more often single.
• There is a strong association with poverty and a fifth of offenders are from a minority ethnic
group.
• They often have depressed mood:
– however, in infanticide, the degree of psychological disturbance is generally less than is required
for a defence of diminished responsibility
– Friedman and Resnick (2009) reported that neonaticide was most often committed by poor,
young, single women who lacked prenatal care.
In a sample of 254 filicides (National Confidential Inquiry, 2009):
• affective disorder was the most common diagnosis (38, 23%) followed by
• PD (27, 16%) and schizophrenia (21, 13%).
Over a third were mentally ill at the time of offence (54, 35%), including 19 (13%) who
were psychotic.
Attempts to classify filicide according to motive tend to founder in the complexity
of relevant factors. Resnick (1969), Scott (1973) and d’Orban (1979) all used a similar
typology in their studies:
• Altruistic/mercy killing:
– to relieve the suffering of a sick child or filicide, or
– suicide where the motive is not to abandon the child.
• Unwanted children:
– death may be caused by passive neglect or active aggression
– neonaticide is common.
• Accidental:
– impulsive acts leading to the death of the child, e.g. within the context of child abuse.
• Retaliation or spousal revenge:
– occurring usually within the context of a relationship breakdown where the child becomes the
object of retaliation.
• Mental illness.
133
D’Orban (1979) surveyed 89 consecutive female remands charged with killing or attempted
killing of their infants, 44% of whom were less than 12 months old:
• The most common group was a killing resulting from loss of temper and consequent child battering;
depression was common among them.
• In the second group a more severe depressive or psychotic illness directly caused the killing.
• A verdict of infanticide was more likely the younger the victim.
Munchhausen syndrome by proxy

A form of child abuse in which parents (usually mothers) fabricate or induce illness in their
children. This may take the form of:
• giving false accounts of symptoms
• fabricating symptoms
• inducing symptoms of illness.
It is associated with harm through:

• iatrogenic procedures
• the psychological harm caused to the child.
According to McClure et al. (1996) the combined annual incidence of fabricated or induced
illness, non-accidental poisoning and non-accidental suffocation in the UK and Ireland in
children under 16 years of age was 0.5 per 100 000.
There is no clear relationship with any specific mental disorder, although, as with all
forms of child abuse, perpetrators are more likely to have a diagnosis of PD. According to
Bools et al. (1994) in a study of 47 individuals who had fabricated illness in children:
• 72% had somatoform disorders
• 55% self-harmed
• 21% misused alcohol and/or drugs
• 89% had a PD.
Diagnosis relies on paediatric assessment and investigation rather than psychiatric exami-
nation:
• Psychiatrists should resist requests to provide opinions where the diagnosis is merely suspected as
there is no established association with maternal mental disorder.
● The Characteristics of Women Detained in

Secure Mental Health Services
Women detained in secure mental health services are often described as having complex
mental health-care needs. They often have more than one mental disorder, a history of
severe prolonged abuse and significant experience of separation and loss, including that of
their children. They have disturbed attachments and present with parasuicidal behaviour,
pervasive anger, depression, mood instability, dissociation and/or anxiety.
Legal characteristics
Women represent the minority of patients detained under the Mental Health Act (MHA):
134
Characteristics of Women Detained in Secure Mental Health Services
• Men and women are detained in roughly equal numbers under Part 2 of the Act, but women tend
to be detained for shorter periods.
• Fewer women than men are detained within secure mental health services across the three levels of
security. According to the Healthcare Commission (2008), there were:
– 47 women detained in high security (compared with 686 men)
– 643 detained in medium security (2611 men)
– 1007 detained in low security (2787 men).
Correspondingly, women represent the minority of patients detained in hospital under

restriction orders (Ministry of Justice, 2007):
• Women represent between 11 and 13% of restricted patients.
• In 2007 there were 458 female restricted patients in hospital (compared with 3448 men).
• Female restricted patients are less likely to be detained on the grounds of mental illness and more
likely to be detained on the grounds of PD:
– 56% detained under the then legal category of mental illness (compared with 69% men)
– 20% under the then legal category of psychopathic disorder (compared with 12% men).
Clinical characteristics
Women detained in secure mental health services are more likely than men:
• to have been transferred from other NHS facilities
• to have a history of fire setting or criminal damage, but less likely to have committed a violent or
sexual offence
• to have a history of abuse and/or self-harm – estimates suggest that at least 70% of women in
high secure care may have histories of child sexual abuse and over 90% self-harm
• to have physical ill-health
• to be admitted after behaviours for which they were not charged or convicted and be detained
under civil sections of the MHA
• to have a diagnosis of PD, particularly borderline PD.
Coid et al. (2000) reported on the characteristics of 471 women admitted to high and
medium secure mental health services over a 7-year period. Cluster analysis identified seven
subgroups according to primary diagnosis (Table 11.1).
Of 781 patients in low and medium secure care in London (Bartlett et al., 2007):
• 9.6% were women, 25% of whom were not offenders
• women were more likely than men to be admitted with a diagnosis of PD
• one-third of the women had committed serious violence (homicide, attempted murder and
grievous bodily harm) but they were less likely to have killed than the men.
• 13% had committed arson.
Long et al. (2010) described a series of 65 consecutive admissions to an independent sector

women’s medium secure service between 2002 and 2008:
• 45% detained under s37, 23% civil sections, 20% sentenced prisoners, 12% pre-sentence
prisoners
• 39% were admitted from other medium secure units (MSUs), 26% from prison, 22% from high
security, 19% from low or non-secure hospital
• mean age at admission was 31 years
• 92% were white, 2% black, 6% of mixed heritage
• 79% were single, 25% were in some contact with their children
• 85% reported a history of emotional, physical or sexual abuse
135
Table 11.1 Seven groups of women in secure psychiatric services by primary diagnosis (Coid et al.,
2000)
Primary diagnosis No. in Other features
group
Antisocial personality 51 A substantial number had co-morbid borderline personality and a
disorder (ASPD) smaller number co-morbid psychotic disorder
Usually young, UK-born, white women, with a history of substance
misuse
Usually admitted as a result of criminal behaviour; many had an index
offence of arson and had more extensive offending histories (including
violence) than the other groups
Borderline PD 98 A subgroup of these had a co-morbid psychotic illness
Younger than other groups except ASPD
Three-quarters admitted due to criminal behaviour, some from less
secure inpatient settings due to behavioural disturbance
Extensive criminal histories, but less than ASPD group
Manic/hypomanic 48 15% had co-morbid borderline PD
Relatively likely to be admitted due to violence within a less secure
setting
Schizophrenia/ paranoid 160 More likely to be non-UK-born or non-white
psychosis More likely to have been admitted following serious acts of violence
Generally older than the other groups with previous admissions under
Part 2 of the MHA
Other PDs 37 A subgroup having co-morbid ASPD and a quarter co-morbid psychotic
disorders
Depression 53 Approximately half had co-morbid borderline PD and a quarter co-
morbid psychosis
Organic brain syndrome 24 Many had co-morbid psychotic illness or PD
• 89% were diagnosed with a PD as either a primary or secondary diagnosis, with borderline PD
being most common
• 88% had a history of alcohol or drug misuse, and 15% were diagnosed with dependence or
harmful use
• 60% had a violent index offence, 22% arson
• 94% had previous convictions, 60% serious offence against the person, 35% arson
• 97% had histories of DSH.
● Secure Mental Health Services for Women

A number of Department of Health policy documents have focused on the needs of women
requiring secure mental health services, notably:
• Secure Futures For Women: Making a difference (Department of Health, 1999)
• Women’s Mental Health into the Mainstream (Department of Health, 2002)
These highlighted that:

• women were unnecessarily detained in high security
• women’s treatment needs were different from those of men
• women required more relational security and less physical security.
Consequently, during the past decade there has been a major reconfiguration of women’s
secure services (Parry-Crooke and Stafford, 2009):
136
Secure Mental Health Services for Women
• The closure of the female beds in two of the three high secure hospital sites with Rampton Hospital
providing the National High Secure Hospital Service for Women with approximately 50 beds.
• An increase in the number of female medium and low secure beds both within the NHS and the
independent sector.
• Secure services are now gender-specific, with women’s services either in separate hospitals or in
specific units within existing secure services.
• A national pilot project has produced three enhanced medium secure units which provide higher
levels of relational and procedural security than standard MSUs. These are at:
– the Orchard Clinic in London
– Arnold Lodge in Leicester
– Edenfield Centre in Manchester
In January 2009 there were

• 29 women-only MSUs comprising 543 beds:
– 9 provided by the independent sector (261 beds)
– 17 services within the NHS (282 beds).
Characteristics of women’s secure mental health services:

• Have a philosophy and model of care that takes into account the impact of life trauma and abuse
on women’s mental health.
• Ward sizes should be generally smaller with higher staff to patient ratios.
• The physical environment should be designed in a way that minimizes the risk of parasuicidal
behaviour. Some services are designed to enable ‘zonal’ nursing observation to minimize the use of
continuous one-to-one (or greater) observation, which sometimes reinforces patterns of DSH.
• The use of crisis suites or extra care areas as alternatives to the use of seclusion.
• An appropriate gender mix of staff working within services (70:30% female to male).
• Clinical staff should receive gender-specific training.
• Gender-specific therapeutic interventions to reflect the high rate of:
– parasuicidal behaviour
– PD diagnosis
– histories of trauma/abuse
– differing offending patterns.
• Availability of female-only therapeutic areas.
• Availability of gender-specific occupational and leisure activities.
• Availability of primary care services to meet the specific needs of women.
Assessment processes
As in other secure services, referrals may be to consider a patient’s suitability for inpatient
treatment or to provide advice to other services on risk management. Patients being con-
sidered for admission:
• Are usually assessed by a psychiatrist, a senior nurse and, in those patients identified as having
significant axis 2 psychopathology, a clinical psychologist.
• In addition to risk of violence, emphasis is placed on assessment of risk to self, including DSH and
suicide.
Deciding to admit a patient is dependent on:

• the individual treatment needs of the patients, and
• the context of the existing patient group in the service, including, for example:
– the ability of the service to manage high numbers of patients on constant observations
137
– particular vulnerabilities of the assessed patient or patients already on the ward, in relation to
each other.
Generally, decisions about admission are more straightforward for those with mental illness
than those with PD:
• A proportion of women with severe borderline PD within prison require diversion to secure mental
health services. However, there are considerable challenges in selecting the most appropriate cases
from a population where the prevalence of PD is very high.
• Admission for a trial of treatment is often useful in cases of PD, under s38, s47 or perhaps s45A,
though the last is rarely used in practice.
Box 11.2 Assessing a female patient with borderline personality

disorder (PD) for transfer from prison to hospital
There are no standardized assessment criteria. The decision is made following a careful and considered
multidisciplinary assessment. See Box 9.1.
Factors of particular importance among women which might favour admission include the following:
• High risk of suicide or extreme deliberate self-harm, which cannot be managed within a custodial
setting.
• An index offence that can be formulated within the context of the patient’s PD, e.g. arson within the
context of a suicide attempt in a woman with borderline PD.
• The patient has characteristics that may suggest a good response to treatment, e.g. evidence of
motivation and ability to engage in psychological treatment.
• Absence of co-morbid disorders which suggests a poor response to treatment, e.g. ASPD.
• Specific treatment is available within the hospital that is not available within the prison setting.
Risk assessment in women

The principles of risk assessment are the same among women as men. However, there is
debate about the use of violence risk assessment tools in women:
• There are no gender-specific risk assessment tools.
• The evidence base for available tools is mostly derived from men.
Nevertheless, the PCL-R and HCR-20 are routinely used in women’s secure services.
De Vogel and de Ruiter (2005) compared the predictive validity for violent recidivism
post-discharge of the HCR-20 and the PCL-R, in 42 women and a matched sample of men,
from a Dutch forensic psychiatric service:
• The base rate for inpatient violence in male (29%) and female (30%) patients was the same, but
the rate of violent recidivism was greater among male (43%) than female patients (13%).
• The areas under the curve (AUCs) (see Chapter 6) in relation to predicting a violent outcome were:
– HCR-20 total score – 0.59 for women and 0.88 for men
– HCR-20 final risk judgement – 0.86 for women and 0.91 for men
– PCL-R total score – 0.34 for women and 0.74 for men.
The appropriateness of applying the concept of psychopathy to women is considered in

Nicholls et al. (2005). They advised cautious use of the PCL-R.
Treatment issues
Seeman (2004) reviewed gender differences relevant to prescribing antipsychotic drugs,
highlighting that the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antipsychotic drugs
differ in women and men:
138
• Women need lower doses than men.

• Prolactin levels are higher in women and have gender-specific side effects, e.g. abnormalities of
menstrual cycle, fertility, lactation and gynaecomastia.
• Obesity is particularly common, leading to greater risk of the metabolic syndrome.
• Women require additional investigations, e.g. mammograms and bone density scans (in addition to
cardiovascular and metabolic monitoring).
• Dose needs to be modulated in ageing women.
Medication regimes need to take into account the possibility of pregnancy following dis-
charge. Kohen (2004) has provided a useful review of psychotropic prescribing in pregnancy.
Treatment for women with borderline PD

The high rate of borderline PD within secure women’s services necessitates specific thera-
peutic interventions:
• NICE (2009) recommends considering a comprehensive dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT)
programme for women with borderline PD for whom reducing recurrent self-harm is a priority:
– This is usually a 12-month programme of weekly individual therapy and weekly group skills training.
– Although much of the original evidence base for DBT is based on non-forensic and outpatient
populations’ modified inpatient programmes exist in women’s forensic settings. Swenson et al.
(2007) describe the successful adaption of DBT within inpatient settings.
In a recent review, Leichsenring et al. (2011) acknowledge the lack of empirical evidence
but suggest that three clusters of symptoms may be targeted by adjunctive pharmacotherapy:
• Cognitive–perceptual symptoms by antipsychotics
• Affective symptoms by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
• Impulsive–behavioural dyscontrol by SSRIs or low-dose antipsychotics.
Patients with borderline PD suffer transient psychotic symptoms, which are sometimes
described as dissociative psychotic symptoms. The nosology is complicated further because
a proportion also goes on to develop schizophrenia:
• There is considerable clinical experience in the use of clozapine within these patient groups in
women’s forensic services although published data is limited to small case series or single case
studies. Frankenburg and Zanarini (1993), Chengappa et al. (1999), Swinton (2001) and Parker
(2002) all describe the use of clozapine in severe borderline PD.
Outcomes
Mezey et al. (2005) compared the experiences of women in single and mixed-sex medium
secure units. The women in single sex units:
• did not feel safer from physical violence than women in mixed-sex settings
• did feel less vulnerable, in relation to actual or threatened sexual assault and harassment
• complained of bullying, intimidation and aggressive behaviour by other women patients.
Maden et al. (2004) examined reoffending over one year in 959 individuals (116 women)
discharged between 1997 and 1998, 116 of whom were women:
• The rate of conviction in women, at 9%, was lower than in men, at 16%.
Coid et al. (2007) studied reoffending rates of 1344 patients discharged from 7 of 14 MSUs
in England and Wales over a follow-up period of 6.2 years. Outcome data was obtained from
the offender’s index, hospital case-files and the central register of deaths:
139
• 1 in 7 women committed a criminal offence (compared with one-third of men).

• 1in 16 women committed a grave offence (compared with 1 in 8 men).
• Women with previous convictions for arson and a history of substance misuse were more likely to be
convicted of arson.
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142
12
Children and
Adolescents in
Secure Care
● Setting the Context
Legal context
The age of criminal responsibility varies considerably among jurisdictions worldwide, gen-
erally from 7 years to around 15 years. In England and Wakes it is 10; in Scotland it is 12.
Currently, children and adolescents constitute 25% of the total UK population. The
Offending, Crime and Justice Survey investigates offending among 10–25 year olds. The
2006 survey (Roe and Ashe, 2008) showed that:
• the peak age of offending was 14–17 years; males were more likely to have offended than females
• 22% reported committing at least 1 of 20 core offences in previous 12 months
• 10% had committed at least one serious offence (serious offenders)
• 6% had committed an offence six or more times in the past 12 months (frequent offenders)
• 4% were both frequent and serious offenders.
There are three statutory routes through which a young person can be deprived of their
liberty:
• criminal justice system (CJS) – remanded or sentenced following criminal charge or conviction
• health – detention under the Mental Health Act (MHA)
• local authority (LA) – placement via Secure Accommodation Order.
Custodial Settings (the Secure Estate) for young people consists of:
• local authority secure units/children’s homes (LASUs or LASCHs) – provisions are for 12- to 14-year-
old boys and girls up to 16; support is tailored to individual needs
• secure training centres (STCs) – four purpose-built centres for up to 17 year olds; focus is on
education and rehabilitation
• young offender institutions (YOIs) – provisions are for 15- to 17-year-old boys and girls over 16;
deemed inappropriate for vulnerable or high-risk groups.
In June 2009 there were (Berman, 2009):
• 2102 juveniles (15–17 year olds) in prison:
– 353 of whom were awaiting trial and 163 awaiting sentence
• 258 12–15 year olds in privately run STCs and 175 in LASCHs.
143
Children and Adolescents in Secure Care
Mental health context

Office for National Statistics (ONS) surveys of the mental health of children and young
people (Green et al., 2005; Meltzer et al., 2000) showed that:
• 10% of 5–16 year olds had a ‘clinically diagnosed mental disorder’:
– 4% emotional disorder
– 6% conduct disorder
– 2% hyperkinetic disorder
– 2% had ‘more than one type of disorder’.
• Boys had a higher prevalence of mental disorders than girls (10–13% compared with 5–10%)
• Higher rates of mental disorder were found in those:
– from single parent, reconstituted families and low-income families
– with parents who were unemployed and had little or no education
– who lived in ‘deprived’ areas.
Rates of mental health problems among young offenders are higher:

• According to the Mental Health Foundation (Leon, 2002):
– prevalence rates for mental health problems in young offenders are significantly higher (at least
three times) compared with the general population
– figures range from 25% to 81%, with highest rates reported for those in custodial settings
– the most common disorders are emotional disorders, conduct disorders and attentional disorders,
although substance misuse is also a significant issue in this group.
• Harrington and Bailey (2005) found that:
– over 50% of young offenders appeared to have borderline or mild learning difficulties
– 33% ‘had a mental health need’ which included depression (20%), self-harm (10%), anxiety
and post-traumatic stress symptoms (10%), hyperactivity (7%) and psychotic-like symptoms
(5%)
– female offenders had more mental health needs than male.
• Chitsabesan et al. (2006) highlighted the additional unmet needs of young offenders, particularly:
– education/work (36%)
– social relationships (48%).
The higher rates of mental health problems in young offenders are thought to be due to:
• pre-existing factors related to parents and parenting, the child (hyperactivity, learning difficulties)
and the psychosocial environment
• offending related factors such as negative lifestyle choices and stress
• stressful interactions with the CJS and environments such as custody.
It is argued that, in the absence of appropriate services and help, young offenders are likely
to demonstrate:
• continuation or escalation of offending behaviour and mental health problems,
• increased vulnerability to psychosocial stresses
• worsening in social circumstances
• propensity to engage in self-harm/suicidal behaviour and behaviours likely to result in harm to
others.
● Youth Justice System

The rules and procedures for dealing with juvenile offenders began to become distinguished
from those for adults in the nineteenth century.
144
Youth Justice System
The Criminal Justice Act 1998 reviewed the whole youth justice system, creating the
Youth Justice Board (YJB) and Youth Offending Teams (YOTs):
• The YJB was an independent body tasked to oversee youth justice in England and Wales and to be
responsible for secure facilities.
• The YJB was abolished in 2011, its functions to be subsumed within the Ministry of Justice.
Youth Offending Teams

Each LA in England and Wales has a YOT, which is a multidisciplinary team including
representatives from police, probation service, social services, health, education, substance
misuse services and housing. YOTs:
• conduct assessments of all young offenders using Asset – a standardized structured tool focusing
on criminogenic needs
• provide appropriate adults for police interviews
• provide pre-sentence reports (PSRs) for court
• implement court diversion schemes and community sentences
• provide bail supervision, and supervision after release from custody
• work with local authorities to impose acceptable behaviour contracts and ASBOs for young people
engaging in low-level antisocial behaviour.
Young people in the police station

The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 provides guidance on dealing with young
people who have been arrested and detained in a police station, including:
• considering whether the matter can be dealt with by police via:
– a reprimand – a formal verbal warning for first offence, or a
– final warning – a formal verbal warning for further offence(s)
• considering whether the young person suffers with any mental health problems
• considering alternatives to being held in a cell
• the need to inform parent(s) as soon as possible
• the requirement for an appropriate adult for all those under 17, and for over 17 year olds if they are
mentally disordered
• assessment of a young person’s fitness to be interviewed.
There are similarities with adults in relation to:

• being issued with a caution on arrest
• the right to silence until a solicitor has been consulted
• adverse inferences (negative inferences drawn from silence or refusal/failure to explain evidence).
Bail or remand into custody or to a secure unit?

The criteria for considering remand into custody or to a secure unit for a young person are
(Nacro, 2008):
• Has young person been charged with violent or sexual offence(s) punishable with imprisonment for
14 years or more in adults?
• Does the young person have a recent history of absconding?
• Is such a course of action needed to protect the public from harm and to prevent further offences?
145
Although a young offenders institution (YOI) may be suitable for the older age group,
remand in a secure unit is considered for boys aged 12–14 years, ‘vulnerable’ boys up to 15
or 16 years and girls up to 16 years.
Youth or Crown court?

The youth court is a section of the magistrates’ court:
• that deals with the majority of offenders under the age of 18, unless they have been charged with
an adult, or the offence is particularly serious
• where proceedings are less formal and more open, but there is no public access and rules for press
reporting are more stringent
• where judges have specialist training on dealing with young people
• that upholds young people’s right to legal representation and right to a fair trial but not to a
litigation friend (an individual to represent and instruct in a civil case on behalf of someone who is
unable to do so).
The Crown court hears:

• cases sent from the youth court due to the seriousness of the offence
• cases sent for sentencing due to insufficient powers of the youth court
• appeals against sentences given in the youth court.
Box 12.1 Crown court proceedings involving juveniles

James Patrick Bulger (born 16 March 1990) was abducted, tortured and murdered in February 1993 by
two 10-year-old boys, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. They were arrested and charged with murder
on 20 February, appeared at South Sefton Youth Court on 22 February and subsequently remanded in a
secure setting to await trial.
The trial at Preston Crown Court was conducted in the same manner as an adult trial with the accused in
the dock away from their parents, and Judge and court officials in legal regalia. Each boy sat in view of the
court on raised chairs during the proceedings.
Venables and Thompson were found guilty on 24 November 1993 and sentenced to Detention at Her
Majesty’s pleasure. At the close of the trial, the judge ruled that their details should be released to the
public.
In T and V v UK (2000) 30 EHRR 121 the European Court of Human Rights held that the trial process had
led to a breach of the defendants’ right to a fair trial (Article 6.1) because, given their immaturity and the
tense public scrutiny of the court, they would have been unable freely to consult with their lawyers.
In response to this judgment a practice direction was issued by the Lord Chief Justice:
• A young defendant should usually be tried separately from their adult co-defendant, unless the court
decides that this would not be prejudicial to their welfare.
• The young defendant may visit the courtroom out of hours to familiarize themselves with it.
• The police should protect a high-profile young defendant from ‘intimidation, vilification or abuse’.
• If possible all participants in the trial should be at the same level.
• The young defendant should be free to sit with their family so as to allow informal communication with
their lawyers.
• The trial should be conducted in language that the young defendant can understand.
• Frequent and regular breaks should be taken to allow for reduced ability to concentrate.
• Gowns and wigs should not be worn and police/custody staff should not be in uniform.
• The court may seek to restrict access by the public and press to the courtroom.
146
Youth Justice System
Fitness to plead and stand trial

This is dealt with in the same way and using the same criteria as for adults (see Chapter 20).
However, assessments should take into account:
• the young person’s age
• the overall emotional and intellectual development
• the previous contact with the CJS.
Disposal options available for juvenile offenders

Fines and absolute and conditional discharges operate in the same way as for adults (see
Chapter 15).
Community sentences:
• Reparation order:
– reparation may be direct to the victim or indirect to the community
– wide range of potential actions (writing a letter of apology, cleaning up graffiti, clearing litter,
etc.)
– available only where the victim agrees
• Referral order:
– for most juvenile offenders on their first time in court
– requires attendance at a youth offender panel, which draws up a contract (3–12 months’ long)
aiming to repair the damage caused by the offence and address causes of offending
– conviction is spent once contract successfully completed
• Youth rehabilitation order:
– the juvenile equivalent of the community order, with a similar list of potential additional
requirements, including a mental health treatment requirement
– maximum duration of 3 years.
Custodial sentences:
• Detention and Training Order (DTO):
– For 12–17 year olds
– 4–24 months’ duration, with automatic release under supervision at halfway point
• Section 90 (Powers of Criminal Courts Act [PCCA] 2000):
– Following conviction for murder, a mandatory life sentence applies as for adults
– For juveniles, this is termed ‘detention at Her Majesty’s pleasure’
• Section 91 (PCCA):
– following conviction for an offence which for an adult would carry a maximum sentence of 14
years imprisonment or more
– may include custody for life (for those aged 18–21), or detention for life (for those under 18)
– the sentence is imposed and managed in the same way as for adults
• extended sentences and indeterminate sentences are available for ‘dangerous offenders’ under 18
in much the same way as for adults (see Chapter 20):
– the sentence of imprisonment for public protection is termed ‘detention for public protection’ for
those under 21 years
– the qualifying criterion of a previous schedule 15A conviction is not applicable for those under 18.
MHA disposals are available for those under the age of 18 where appropriate.
147
● Social Care System

The Children Act 1989
The Children Act 1989 provides the basis of the law relating to the care of and provision
of services for children:
• It brings together legislation concerning care and upbringing of children in private and public law.
• The main principles are:
– children’s welfare is the paramount consideration
– children are best brought up within their own families wherever possible
– unwarranted interference in family life should be avoided.
• It is addressed mainly to local authority social services departments and courts but also has
important implications for the NHS.
• It refers to partnership among children, parents and local authorities.
• It stipulates that local authorities (LAs) should provide services for ‘Children (and families) in Need’
and ‘Looked After Children’.
• It serves to protect rights of parents with children who are looked after by an LA.
• It aims to ensure that children looked after by an LA or living away from home are provided with a
good standard of care.
• It improves the way in which courts deal with children and families.
• It stipulates that family court proceedings, presided by judges who are specialists in family law,
should avoid delays, be more flexible, have a friendlier atmosphere and make an order only if it is
best for the child.
• It requires that children are kept informed of the proceedings and are allowed to participate, and
that parents have the right to appear in court, access available information, have their views heard,
appeal against court decisions and access automatic legal aid.
Parental responsibility:
• is defined at s3(1) as ‘all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a
parent has in relation to a child and his property’
• the mother automatically has parental responsibility, as does the father if they were married at the
time of birth:
– otherwise, the father may acquire it, by being registered as the child’s father, by making a formal
agreement with the mother, or by court order
• in most cases, someone with parental responsibility does not lose it, even if another individual or
body also gains it.
The Children Act expects health authorities and their professionals to:
• have knowledge of the Children Act and its provisions
• be aware of issues relating to the use of the Children Act and the MHA:
– e.g. stigma, social/family issues or mental disorder, need for compulsory treatment and available
safeguards
• collaborate with social services departments in providing services to children and families
• liaise with social services departments in relation to risk (child abuse/protection), and meeting a
child’s and family’s needs
• provide expert opinions on cases in court if deemed suitably qualified and appropriate
• inform if a child has been an inpatient in hospital for over 3 months
• consider applying Children Act 1989/Children Regulations 1991 if liberty of a child or young person
is being restricted other than under the MHA.
148
Mental Health System
The 1989 Act has been amended by the Children Act 2004, which established a Chil-
dren’s Commissioner and various new powers and duties on agencies relating to the well-
being of children.
Private law
This refers to private disputes between parents, usually after separation, about the child’s
care, particularly where the child should live and how often parents should see the child.
The Children Act 1989 provides:
• Section 8 Orders:
– Residence Orders
– Contact Orders, requiring the person with whom the child lives to allow contact with another
– Prohibited Steps Orders, requiring the permission of the court to take specified steps in relation to
the child
– Specific Issue Orders, relating to any aspect of parental responsibility
• Additional Orders:
– Parental Responsibility Order, to give a father parental responsibility
– Family Assistance Orders, to provide support to families struggling to reach agreement over
arrangements for their children.
Public law
Sometimes, attempts to help children in their own families may not be enough to protect
their welfare. Under such circumstances, local authorities can apply to the court for permis-
sion for further action. The Orders used are:
• Supervision Orders, including:
– Education Supervision Orders, to support a child in education
– Child Assessment Orders, where there is concern that a child may be at risk of significant harm
• Care Orders:
– the LA is required to receive the child into care for the duration of the order and has parental
responsibility
• Emergency Protection Orders
• Secure Accommodation Orders.
Children and young people may be placed in secure accommodation through the CJS, or
for welfare reasons:
• Section 25 of the Children Act 1989 allows an LA to apply for an order to keep a ‘Looked After
Child’ in secure accommodation if the child or young person:
– is aged 13–17 years on admission (if it is being considered for a 10–13 year old, it requires
approval from Secretary of State)
– has a history of absconding and is likely to abscond from any other type of accommodation
– should they abscond, is likely to suffer significant harm
– if kept in any other type of accommodation, is likely to injure themselves or others.
• Secure Accommodation Orders initially last for 3 months but can be renewed every 6 months.
● Mental Health System

The causes of mental health problems in young people include:
149
• genetic and temperamental factors such as impulsivity and intelligence

• adverse childhood experiences such as neglect and abuse
• disrupted and unhappy family relationships due to abandonment, institutional care, loss of caring
adults
• negative family and peer influences including substance misuse and offending behaviour
• social and community disadvantages such as poverty and marginalization
• drug and alcohol use
• ongoing stressful situations and interactions.
Box 12.2 Assessment framework for children and young people

It is particularly important to collate information from a variety of sources, including:
• parents and other adults involved with the child
• school records
• records from social services and from the criminal justice system
• medical records from the GP.
Clinical assessment must include:
• developmental assessment taking into account motor, language, emotional, cognitive and intellectual,
physical, behavioural and moral aspects
• upbringing and family history
• personal history including education, temperament, peer relationships and interactions, substance
misuse, antisocial behaviour
• past behavioural problems, particularly hyperactivity, impulsivity
• index offence and past offending behaviour (level, frequency, variety, triggers/protective factors,
cruelty/empathy)
• past medical and psychiatric history
• presenting complaint
• mental state examination.
Also consider the use of structured/standardized assessments:
• Checklists – Child Behaviour Checklist (Achenbach and Edelbrock, 1983) and Strength and Difficulties
Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997).
• Rating scales – Conner’s parents and teachers versions for hyperactivity.
• Structured interviews – Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC; Costello et al., 1985).
Risk assessment in young people

The principles are the same as in adults, but there is a lack of validated actuarial risk assess-
ment instruments (ARAIs) available for young people.
The Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY; Borum et al., 2003) is the
most commonly used structured clinical approach. It is:
• useful for male or female adolescents between 12 and 18 years
• composed of 24 risk factors in three risk domains scored as low, moderate or high
– historical factors
– social/contextual factors
– individual/clinical factors
• and six protective factors rated as either present or absent.
Sheldrick (2004) proposes an alternative structure composed of:

• predisposing factors in the form of genetics, problems before, during or after birth or during early
development
150
Mental Health System
• ‘upbringing’, particularly parenting style, experiences of abuse, exposure to deviant behaviour

• past behavioural problems, especially cruelty, violence, fire setting
• details of index offence, particularly use of threats, violence and weapons
• specifics of past offending such as age of onset, number and variety of offences
• clinical factors, including symptoms of mental illness, substance use, ‘interests/fantasies’ involving
violence or sex
• compliance, ability to learn from experience and motivation to change
• availability of treatment
• protective factors such as supportive relationships, achievements, non-deviant peers.
Other tools may be applicable for particular subgroups, for example:

• Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offense Recidivism (ERASOR; Worling and Curwen, 2001)
• Psychopathy Checklist – Youth Version (PCL-YV; Forth et al., 1996)
Needs assessment
This is best completed with young person and parent/carer, using an assessment tool such
as the Salford Needs Assessment Schedule for Adolescents (SNASA; Kroll et al., 1999):
• It covers 21 areas including physical and mental health, psychological and behavioural aspects,
personal, family and social issues, daily living skills and constructive daytime activities.
Mental disorders in adolescence

Particular disorders to consider in young people include:
• specific and pervasive disorders of psychological development:
– particularly autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) (see Chapter 10)
• behavioural and emotional disorders of childhood:
– hyperkinetic and conduct disorders
– emotional disorders
– disorders of social functioning
– tic disorders.
Conduct disorder is described in the ICD-10 (World Health Organization, 1992) as a repeti-
tive and persistent (more than 6 months) pattern of dissocial, aggressive or defiant conduct,
including the following sorts of behaviours:
• excessive fighting or bullying
• cruelty to animals or people
• fire setting
• stealing
• repeated lying
• truancy and running away from home
• frequent or severe temper tantrums or uncontrolled rages.
Conduct disorder is discussed further in relation to adult antisocial personality disorder in

Chapter 9. Hyperkinetic disorder is commonly associated with behavioural problems and
may lead to conduct disorder either:
• as a direct manifestation of hyperactivity and attentional problems, or
• as a secondary disability.
151
Depression and conduct disorder may coexist, the nosological relationship between them
being complex and possibly heterogeneous (see Dubicka and Harrington, 2004, for fur-
ther discussion). In adolescence the depressive syndrome generally resembles the adult syn-
drome, but:
• the young person may appear irritable rather than sad
• subjective complaint may be of boredom rather than sadness
• academic performance may decline due to poor concentration
• increased misbehaviour at school, fighting or other conduct problems may dominate the
presentation.
● Child and Adolescent Forensic Mental Health

Services
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services consist of four ‘tiers’:
• Tier 1 – any professional with knowledge of and training in children’s issues but who is not a
specialist CAMHS practitioner (e.g. social worker, GP).
• Tier 2 – a specialist individual practitioner working with children and their families who may be
attached to a CAMHS or non-CAMHS team or network (e.g. professional working within a YOT).
• Tier 3 – specialist CAMHS practitioners working in a multidisciplinary team (e.g. any member of a
community CAMHS team).
• Tier 4 – specialist CAMHS operating on an outpatient and inpatient basis (e.g. inpatient CAMHS,
inpatient or outpatient Child and Adolescent Forensic Services).
Specialist Child and Adolescent Forensic Mental Health Services

Currently provided in England as part of a national framework, services are based in:
• Manchester (Gardener unit)
• Newcastle (Roycroft unit)
• Birmingham (Ardenleigh unit)
• London (Bill Yule and Wells units)
• Southampton (Bluebird unit).
The multidisciplinary teams working within these services are similar to those in adult
forensic services, but with the addition of teaching staff and a greater educational and devel-
opmental perspective.
Each of these units provides most if not all of the following:
• Consultation/liaison to Tier 3 CAMHS and other agencies such as local YOTs and social care teams.
• Outpatient services largely providing specialist needs and risk assessments.
• In-reach mental health services to LASUs/STCs/YOIs.
• Medium secure inpatient care for young people who are:
– under 18 years of age
– detainable under the MHA, excluding detention solely for learning disability
– present a risk of harm to others through direct violence, including homicide, seriously sexually
aggressive behaviour, destructive/life-threatening use of fire.
Recently, a similar nationally commissioned provision for young people in need of Forensic
Learning Disability Services was developed, to provide for an estimated need of 36 referrals
a year. Beds became available in mid-2007 in Newcastle and Northampton-based units.
152
Child and Adolescent Forensic Mental Health Services
Treatment issues and approaches

Pharmacological treatment in young people encompasses most of the medications that are
available for treating illness in adults, with a few exceptions such as paroxetine:
• Additional treatments include:
– stimulants for hyperkinetic disorder
– clonidine for tic disorders
– desmopressin for enuresis.
• Baseline height, weight and vital parameters are especially important, together with, when
necessary, blood tests and ECG.
• Most drugs are prescribed off-licence and off-label.
• Side effects and reactions may be different in young people.
• Electroconvulsive treatment is rarely used in this age-group.
• Antipsychotic prescribing in children and adolescents is considered in detail by James (2010).
Psychological treatment (Dogra et al., 2002) includes:

• individual treatments:
– behavioural therapies for anxiety disorders, behaviour and conduct disorders, and behavioural
aspects of psychotic disorders
– cognitive therapies for aggression, anxiety disorders and depression, especially in adolescents
– solution-focused therapy and motivational interviewing for substance misuse and other problems
– other talking therapies such as interpersonal and psychodynamic therapy
– non-talking therapies such as play, music, dance, art and drama therapies (see Aulich, 2004, for
discussion of these)
• group interventions:
– psychoeducation, social skills, anger management, conflict resolution, dealing with voices/
psychosis
• family therapy.
Legislation related to mental health

The MHA 1983 has no lower age limit so it generally applies to children and young
people. Note:
• Before making a community treatment order (CTO), the responsible clinician (RC) should involve
the patient’s parent to ensure that they are ready and able to provide assistance and support.
• A guardianship application may only be made in respect of a person aged 16 or over.
The MCA 2005:

• does not generally apply to people under the age of 16, except:
– the Court of Protection may make financial or property decisions where the child lacks capacity
and is likely still to lack capacity by the age of 18
– offences of ill-treatment or wilful neglect of a person who lacks capacity do apply to young
victims
• does generally apply to those between 16 and 18, except:
– in relation to making a lasting power of attorney or advance decisions about medical treatment
– the Court of Protection may not make a statutory will.
Otherwise, capacity and best interest assessments apply to children and young people just as
to adults, while bearing in mind developmental issues and parent/carer involvement.
153
References
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Behaviour Profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont
Aulich LP. (2004) Arts therapies. In: Bailey S, Dolan M (eds), Adolescent Forensic Psychiatry. Arnold:
London
Berman, G. (2009) Prison Population Statistics updated 22nd December 2010. House of Commons
Library. Available at: http://www.parliament.uk/briefingpapers/commons/lib/research/briefings/
snsg-04334.pdf
Borum R, Bartel P, Forth A. (2003) Manual for the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth
(SAVRY). Tampa: University of South Florida
Chitsabesan P, Kroll L, Bailey S, Kenning C, Sneider S, MacDonald W, Theodosiou L. (2006) Mental
health needs of young offenders in custody and in the community. The British Journal of Psychia-
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Costello E J, Edelbrook C, Costello AJ. (1985) Validity of the NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule for
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Mental Health for Front-line Professionals. London: Jessica Kingsley
*Dubicka B, Harrington R (2004) Affective conduct disorder. In: Bailey S, Dolan M (Eds) Adolescent
Forensic Psychiatry. London: Arnold
Forth AE, Kossen DS, Hare RD. (1996) The Hare Psychopathy Checklist – Youth Version (PCL-YV). New
York: Multi-Health Systems Inc.
Goodman R. (1997) The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: a research note. Journal of Child
Psychology and Psychiatry 38, 581–6
Green H, McGinnity A, Meltzer H, Ford T, Goodman R. (2005) Mental Health of Children and Young
People in Great Britain, 2004. London: HMSO
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ers in Custody and in the Community. Youth Justice Board for England and Wales. Available at:
http://www.yjb.gov.uk/publications/Resources/Downloads/MentalHealthNeedsfull.pdf
James AC. (2010) Antipsychotic prescribing for children and adolescents. Advances in Psychiatric
Kroll L, Woodham A, Rothwell J, Bailey S, Tobias C, Harrington R, Marshall M. (1999) Reliability of the
Salford Needs Assessment Schedule for Adolescents. Psychological Medicine 29, 891–902
Leon L. (2002) The Mental Health Needs of Young Offenders. Updates 3 (18). The Mental Health
Foundation. Available at: http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/mental-health-needs-
young-offenders/
Meltzer H, Gatward R, Goodman R, Ford T. (2000) The Mental Health of Children and Adolescents in
Great Britain. London: Office for National Statistics
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Survey. London: Home Office
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155
13
Sex Offenders, Stalkers
and Fire Setters
● Sex Offenders
Rules, traditions and norms relating to sexual behaviour vary among cultures, and this
impacts on a society’s attitude to sexual offences and offenders (Grubin, 1992).
Soothill (2003) described societal changes in England and Wales over the last 60 years:
• 1950s: focused on the visibility of prostitution in society
• 1960s: saw the decriminalization of homosexuality
• 1970s: the feminist movement highlighted issues relating to the rape of women
• 1980s: increasing publicity of the extent of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) within families
• 1990s: public attention focused on the length of sentences given to those convicted of rape
• 2000s: saw public attention shift to the risk posed to children by sex offenders living in the
community and the risks posed by ‘strangers’.
The 2000s have also seen the advent of Internet-based offending, including downloading
of child pornography and grooming, together with consequent changes in legislation and
police operation.
There have been several major political turning points:
• Sexual Offenders Act 1997: introduced the Sex Offenders Register, requiring all convicted or
cautioned sex offenders to notify police of their address and any changes in it.
• In 2003 the Sexual Offences Act expanded the offences that could be prosecuted. It also changed
the Sex Offender Register to the Violent and Sexual Offenders Register (ViSOR) and allows police,
prison and probation services access to information on registered offenders.
• In response to public pressure in August 2010 the Government announced that a pilot scheme,
allowing parents to request a police check on anyone (such as a new partner) who has unsupervised
access to their children, would be rolled out across England and Wales (The Independent, 2010).
Classification of sexual offending

A general definition of a sexual offence was given by O’Connell et al. (1990):
A criminal offence involving sexual behaviour occurs when one party does not give, or is
incapable of giving, fully informed consent or where the difference in power between two
parties is such that one is not in a position to make a truly free choice.
The police recording system for sexual offences divides such offences into two categories
(Home Office, 2010):
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Sex Offenders
• serious sexual offences: including rapes, sexual assaults and sexual activity with children
• other sexual offences: including soliciting, exploitation of prostitution and other unlawful sexual
activity between two consenting adults.
The legal classification of sexual offences is considered in Chapter 15.

Indecent images of children are classified by severity (Sentencing Guidelines Council,
2010):
• Level 1 – images of erotic posing, with no sexual activity.
• Level 2 – non-penetrative sexual activities between children, or solo masturbation by a child.
• Level 3 – non-penetrative sexual activity between adults and children.
• Level 4 – penetrative sexual activity involving a child or children, or both children and adults.
• Level 5 – sadism or penetration of, or by, an animal.
Frequency of sexual offending

Of a random sample of 2019 adults, 12% of females and 8% of males reported having had
unwanted sexual contact before the age of 16 (Baker and Duncan, 1985). Perhaps only 11%
of all victims of serious sexual assault told the police about the incident (Povey et al., 2009).
The British Crime Survey 2009–10 (Home Office, 2010) reported that 2% of women and
less than 1% of men aged 16–59 had experienced a sexual assault within the last 12 months.
Recorded offences in the year 2009–10 (Home Office, 2010) showed:
• There were 54 509 sexual offences recorded by the police, a 6% increase on the previous year:
– 43 579 were serious sexual offences (7% increase on previous year)
– 10 930 other sexual offences (2% increase on previous year).
These apparent increases in sexual offending may be due to police efforts to improve rates
of reporting of sexual offences: national crime statistics underestimate the extent of sexual
offending particularly. Under-reporting may be due to:
• shame and fear of the criminal justice system (CJS) process
• the fact that most victims are known to the offender.
Home Office research (Feist et al., 2007) showed that of a sample (n = 676) of alleged rapes
in 2003–4:
• 8% were shown to be a false allegation
• 70% were not charged, mostly due to either:
– withdrawal of the complaint, or
– insufficient evidence
• 13% led to a conviction (not necessarily for rape)
• the figure most commonly quoted is that 6% of rape allegations lead to a conviction for rape.
Types of sex offender

There are no convincing typologies of sex offender. Sexual offenders are a widely hetero-
geneous group (Lockmuller et al., 2008):
• It is unhelpful to categorize and make judgements about sexual offenders based on offence type.
• It is far more useful to consider individual circumstances and motivations for offending.
Female sexual offenders

• Eldridge (2000) estimated that 3% of convicted sexual offenders are women:
157
Sex Offenders, Stalkers and Fire Setters
• This is probably an underestimation due to under-reporting and a differential response of the CJS
and other professionals to women who offend sexually.
• These factors, compounded by societal attitudes to women as caregivers and views on women
as being sexually submissive, have contributed to the paucity of research in this area. See Denov
(2004) for further discussion of these issues.
Sexual offending and mental disorder

Risk assessment tools for sexual offending, in contrast to those for violence, tend not to
cite mental illness as a risk factor. Personality disorder, learning disability and organic brain
disease may be important.
A comparison of rates of hospitalization in Sweden between 1988 and 2000 (Fazel et al.,
2007) showed that, compared with matched population controls, sexual offenders had odds
ratios (ORs) of:
• 6.3 for psychiatric hospitalization
• 4.8 for schizophrenia
• 5.2 for other psychoses
• 3.4 for bipolar affective disorder.
A typology of sexual offenders with schizophrenia is given by Drake and Pathe (2004):
• Those with a pre-existing paraphilia.
• Those whose deviant sexuality arises in the context of illness and/or its treatment.
• Those whose deviant sexuality is one manifestation of more generalized antisocial behaviour.
• Factors other than the above (including degenerative organic conditions and substance misuse).
Mood disorders occasionally lead to sex offending (see Chapter 8). Depending on the rela-
tionship between a mental illness and sex offending in the individual, effective psychiatric
treatment may reduce the risk, increase the risk or have little effect on the risk of sexual
offending.
Disorders of sexual preference in ICD-10 (paraphilias)

Paraphilias refer to recurrent, intense, sexually arousing fantasies, urges or behaviours (Table
13.1). The subject engages in the paraphilic activity repetitively, either instead of or as well
Table 13.1 Paraphilias

Fetishism Reliance on an inanimate object for sexual arousal or gratification
Fetishistic transvestism Wearing of clothes in order to create the appearance of the opposite gender,
for the purposes of sexual arousal. In contrast to transsexual transvestism, the
clothes are removed with decline of sexual arousal
Exhibitionism Recurrent tendency to expose genitalia to strangers in public places, without
a desire for contact. Sexual excitement at the time is usual, and masturbation
commonly follows
Voyeurism Recurrent tendency to watch unsuspecting people engaging in sexual or
intimate activity. Usually associated with masturbation
Paedophilia A persistent sexual preference for pre-pubertal or early pubertal children. About
20% are gender non-specific, and they tend to be attracted to younger (less
physically differentiated) children
Sadomasochism A preference for sexual activity involving the infliction of pain or humiliation
either on the subject (masochism), on the subject’s partner (sadism), or both
Other paraphilias Includes frotteurism, necrophilia, zoophilia, coprophilia, urophilia; many others
have been described
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Sex Offenders
as engaging in ‘normal’ sexual activity. The stimulus is culturally considered to be outside

the range of ‘normal’ sexual practices.
Problems such as hypersexuality, compulsive masturbation, excessive promiscuity and
reliance on pornography are not paraphilias, because the arousing stimulus in itself is not
abnormal. They may nevertheless lead to relationship problems, distress and, occasionally,
offending.
The assessment of sex offenders

Thornton (2002) proposes four domains of psychological problem to consider:
• Sexual interests:
– deviant sexual interests (e.g. children or violence)
– a high sexual drive or preoccupation with sexual thoughts.
• Distorted attitudes:
– cognitive distortions are commonly used to minimize the impact of their offending, and resolve
feelings of guilt or shame
– implicit theories are the beliefs that underlie the cognitive distortions (e.g. children as sexual
beings or a sense of entitlement that men should be able to have sex with women when they
want).
• Problems with socio-affective management:
– problems with adult intimacy and difficulty regulating emotions
– self-esteem.
• Problems with self-management:
– poor impulse control
– difficulty coping with stress
– poor problem solving.
Risk assessment in sex offending follows the same principles as discussed in Chapter 6.
Commonly used acturial risk assessment instruments (ARAIs) (see Craig and Beech, 2009,
for a more detailed account) include the following:
• Static-2002 (14 items) adds to and modifies items used in the previous Static-99; predicts risk of
sexual, violent and other recidivism.
• Risk Matrix 2000, used by prison, probation and police services nationally. Has separate sections
for sexual offending (RM2000-S) and violent offending (RM2000-V), or they can be combined
(RM2000-C). Has been shown to have good predictive accuracy.
• The Sex Offender Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG) using 14 items was developed in Canada, but
validated for use in the UK.
• Rapid Risk Assessment for Sex Offender Recidivism (RRASOR) uses four factors with demonstrated
predictive accuracy (Hanson and Harris, 1997):
– sexual offending history
– age less than 25
– unrelated to victim
– gender of victim.
Hanson (2004) categorizes dynamic risk factors as stable or acute:

• Stable risk factors have the potential to change, but typically endure for months or years (e.g.
personality disorder).
• Acute risk factors may exist for minutes to days and can signal the timing of offences (e.g. negative
mood state, intoxication).
159
The most commonly used dynamic risk assessment tool is the Risk of Sexual Violence Pro-
tocol (RSVP) (Hart et al., 2003):
• An updated version of the Sexual Violence Risk-20 (SVR-20).
• 22-item measure assessing items in five domains: sexual violence history, psychological adjustment,
mental disorder, social adjustment and manageability.
• Items are coded as to their presence and relevance to the offender’s risk.
• Risk formulation and scenarios allow for hypothesizing about future offending; these inform future
management plans.
Box 13.1 The psychiatric assessment of sexual offenders

Common issues for a psychiatrist:
• Is the person suffering from a mental illness and what is the impact of this on their offending?
• What is the risk of reoffending and who is potentially at risk?
• What types of treatment or intervention are available?
• How effective have previous interventions been?
Assessment is often complicated by the level of denial displayed by many offenders. Use a non-
judgemental style, while not colluding, and use collateral information (witness statements and police
records) when exploring their accounts of past and recent offences.
In addition to the normal history and mental state assessment a comprehensive assessment of a sexual
offender should include the following:
• Family background and early developmental experiences. Consider sexual boundaries within the family
and behaviour or attitudes learned from parents or others.
• A detailed psychosexual history including sexual experiences and intimate relationships. It is also
important to explore sexual fantasies and use of pornography.
• A more general assessment of interpersonal relationships, social skills and self-image.
• Psychiatric history.
• An analysis of patterns of offending behaviour, including precipitants and victim types. Look for
evidence of escalation in offending.
• Criminal history, particularly frequency and range of sex offending, as well as current attitudes to past
offences and victims.
• An alcohol and drug history. Consider whether offending has occurred as a result of being intoxicated,
or whether they get intoxicated in order to offend.
The aim of the assessment is to provide an individualized formulation of the sexual offending, considering:
• early life experiences that may have predisposed to sexual offending
• factors that precipitate offending
• underlying beliefs that may impact on offending
• the relationship between any mental illness and offending
• key cognitive distortions, particularly relating to victim empathy and degree of denial
• other (particularly dynamic) risk factors.
The role of penile plethysmography (PPG) and polygraphy in the assessment and manage-
ment of sex offenders is not established in mainstream UK practice. See Gordon and Grubin
(2004) and Grubin and Madsen (2006) respectively for further discussion.
Psychological treatment
The aim is to reduce risk by identifying and modifying dynamic risk factors. The principles
of therapy (after Abel and Osborn, 2003) are as follows:
160
Sex Offenders
• The offender should accept personal responsibility for offending. Denial, rationalization or
minimization will obstruct treatment.
• The aim is not to cure, but to teach the offender better control of their sex offending behaviour.
The time frame is life-long.
• Treatment should be offender-specific.
• Multiple factors may lead to sex offending; it is not just related to sexual gratification.
Most therapy is carried out by psychologists, prison and probation officers within the CJS.
Sex offender treatment programme (SOTP)

• A standardized treatment programme, introduced in the prison service in England and Wales in
1991 (Spencer, 2000), and also delivered in the community by probation.
• All prisoners convicted of a sexual offence and serving a sentence of 1 year or more should be
offered SOTP as part of their sentence plan.
• Usually delivered in groups, but the same interventions can be delivered individually.
• Delivered in four stages (diagram developed using information from Spencer, 2000), as shown in
Figure 13.1.
The adapted-SOTP is designed for offenders with an IQ of 65–80. It has less emphasis on
victim empathy; more emphasis on sexual knowledge, modified belief patterns and avoid-
ance of risk factors (Henson, 2008). The evidence about efficacy is conflicting. Conclusions
from the Sex Offender Treatment Evaluation Project (Friendship et al., 2003) are:
• reconviction rates were reduced for SOTP completers, but not significantly
• SOTP seemed more effective for offenders classified as medium risk, than those classified as high
risk
• interventions need to be intensive and long term both in prisons and in the community.
• Four semi-structured interviews

• Assessment of psychopathy (PCL-R) and psychometric testing
Assessment • Some have PPG
• Is essential for all participants; aims to increase sense of responsibility for offence and empathy for
the victim
Core • Increases motivation and skills to avoid re-offending
programme • Can be supplemented with the thinking skills programme aimed at improving decision-making and
coping strategies
• A group of shorter, related treatment programmes

• Anger and stress management
Extended • Relationship skills
programme • Behavioural therapy (to address fantasies); this work is done on an individual basis
• Attended during the year before release

• Revision of the core programme
Booster
programme
• Produce strategies for relapse prevention
Figure 13.1 Sex offender treatment programmes (SOTP): delivered in four stages (PPG = penile
plethysmography, PCL-R = psychopathy checklist – revised) (diagram developed using information
from Spencer, 2000)
Pharmacological treatment
Pharmacological treatment should be used only as part of a comprehensive treatment and
monitoring package. The aim is to suppress deviant sexual fantasies, urges, drive and behav-
iour. There are three classes of treatment:
161
• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are first line, used to suppress sexual fantasies and
urges, particularly those with an obsessional or compulsive quality. The effect on general sexual
drive is minor, and normal sexual activity may continue.
• Antiandrogens lead to suppression of fantasies and urges and a greater, dose-dependent reduction
in sexual drive. Cyproterone acetate (blocks testosterone receptors) is mostly used in Canada and
Europe. Medroxyprogesterone acetate (induces metabolism of testosterone) is used more often in
the USA.
• Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists (e.g. goserelin) are less well established. They may
have a place in patients resistant to antiandrogens. Effects on available androgens are very similar
to those resulting from surgical castration (Bradford and Harris, 2003).
Reconviction rates
A meta-analysis of 61 follow-up studies of sexual offenders (n = 28 972) (Hanson and Bus-
siere, 1998) showed that the overall recidivism rate was 13.4% with an average follow-up
period of 4–5 years.
Of 192 sex offenders (60% had offended against children) released from determinate
prison sentences in the UK, followed up for 4–6 years (Hood et al., 2002):
• 8.5% were convicted of a sexual offence
• 18.1% were imprisoned for any offence type
• reconviction rates were lower for:
– those who had offended against a child in their own family (0%) rather than outside the family
(26.3%)
– those who had offended against adults (7.5%).
● Stalkers
Stalking may be defined as repeated intrusions involving unwanted contacts and/or com-
munications (Mullen et al., 2001). Epidemiology is subject to poor criterion reliability and
sampling bias, but 15% lifetime prevalence of being stalked among women has been sug-
gested in Australia (Mullen et al., 2000).
Stalking (rather like violence) is a behavioural end point that stems from very diverse
motivations and underlying issues. An individual formulation is required. Mullen et al.
(2000) have offered the typology given in Table 13.2 while Mohandie et al. (2006) cat-
egorize by relationship with the victim, although their rates for each group may be affected
Table 13.2 Mullen et al.’s (2000) typology

Rejected An angry, dependent man pursuing an ex-partner. Unable to accept rejection,
stalking maintains a semblance of a relationship
Intimacy seekers Socially incompetent fantasist seeking a relationship with somebody with whom
they are in love, or they believe to be in love with them. Delusional erotomania
forms a subgroup
Incompetent suitor Pursue intimate relationships inappropriately due to poor social skills and/or
a sense of entitlement. May occur in learning disability or autistic spectrum
disorder (ASD). May be easy to persuade them to stop stalking one victim, but
the behaviour may well recur with someone else
Resentful Motivated by revenge for some slight or insult, so well aware of distress or fear
of the victim. Likely to threaten, but relatively less likely to carry out violence.
Paranoid personality disorder common
Predatory Stalking is preparatory to a sexual assault
162
Fire Setters
Table 13.3 Mohandie et al.’s (2006) typology

Ex-intimate 50% of their sample
Considered to present the greatest risk. Threats, drug abuse and criminality are
common
Acquaintance 13% of the sample; 21% of this group were women
Public figure 27% of the sample. The least likely to threaten violence, but where it occurs violence
may be serious
Private stranger 10% of their sample, with a greater prevalence of mental illness than the other
groups
by selection bias (Table 13.3). Based on a sample of 211 stalkers referred to a forensic psy-
chiatric service in Australia, McEwan et al. (2009) reported that risk factors for violence
particularly included previous violence, and threats by ex-intimate stalkers.
● Fire Setters
In 2008–9 (Fire Statistics Monitor, 2010):
• Fire and rescue services responded to 722 000 fires or false alarms:
– a total of 326 000 fires
– 52 000 were deliberate primary fires (fires in buildings, cars or structures, any involving casualties)
– 148 000 deliberate secondary fires (fires outdoors and in derelict buildings).
• There were 322 fire fatalities.
Legal aspects of the criminal offence of arson are discussed in Chapter 15. Figure 13.2 shows
the frequency of arson offences in England and Wales.
Frequency of arson correlates with (Arson Control Forum, 2009):
• levels of antisocial behaviour in a community
• economic stability
• fire safety interventions.
70 000
60 000
50 000
Number of offences
40 000
30 000
20 000
10 000
0
97
99
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
19
19
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
8–
9–
0–
1–
2–
3–
4–
5–
6–
7–
8–
9–
9
0
19
19
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
Figure 13.2 Frequency of offences of arson recorded in the Crime in England and Wales Report
2009–10 (Home Office, 2010)
163
In the year 2009–10 (Home Office, 2010):

• arson offences accounted for 4% of all police recorded criminal damage offences, a fall of 6% on
the previous year:
– life was endangered in 11% of the 32 579 cases
• only 28% of the incidents of arson endangering life and 7% of arson not endangering life were
‘cleared up by the police’ (including charging or cautioning).
Fire setting and mental disorder

Psychiatric studies tend to find high levels of mental disorder in those convicted of arson.
Rix (1994) assessed 153 arsonists referred for pre-trial reports in Yorkshire (Table 13.4).
Table 13.4 Mental disorders in arsonists

Diagnosis (some had more than one) Percentage
Personality disorder 54
Learning disability 11
Psychosis 8
Alcohol misuse 8
Depressive disorder 5
Substance misuse 3
Conduct disorder 1
Not known 1
No diagnosis 13
• Jayaraman and Frazer (2006) found a similar pattern; Dickens et al. (2007) found higher levels of
mental disorder in female fire setters.
• Fire setting is considered to be particularly associated with learning disability. Observed prevalence
rates vary according to study setting:
– Hogue et al. (2006) found rates of 2.8% in the community and 21.4% in medium/low secure
settings.
• The most common diagnosis in children and adolescents is conduct disorder (Kolko and Kazdin, 1991).
• Using Swedish national registers for convictions and hospital discharge diagnoses, Anwar et al.
(2011) demonstrated odds ratios after correction for socio-demographic factors:
Men Women
Schizophrenia 22.6 (14.8–34.4) 38.7 (20.4–73.5)
Other psychosis 17.4 (11.1–27.5) 30.8 (18.8–50.6)
Motivations for fire setting

A curiosity about fires and some fire play is normal during childhood development. Persist-
ence into a more deviant pattern of behaviour is associated with (Glancy et al., 2003):
• male gender
• young age
• dysfunctional family background
• stressful life events
• low socio-economic status
• academic or vocational difficulties.
Motivations for fire setting may be thought of as either criminal or psychopathological

(Table 13.5):
164
Fire Setters
Table 13.5 Motivations for fire setting

Criminal motivations Psychopathological motivations
For financial compensation or to earn money To commit suicide
To hide or destroy evidence of something Psychosis
Politically motivated (animal rights, for example) A way of communicating distress or seeking support
As part of a wider pattern of vandalism or other To boost self-esteem perhaps by saving a pet or
antisocial behaviour property (may coexist with pyromania)
Emotionally driven, through anger or jealousy, or for Pyromania
revenge, whether planned or impulsive
• Rix (1994) found that revenge was the most common motivation.
• Jayaraman and Fraser (2006) found anger compounded by substance misuse to be more common.
• Despite the earlier psychodynamic association of fire with sexual imagery, it is rare for arsonists to
show sexual arousal in association with fire setting.
Pyromania or pathological fire setting

Repetitive fire setting without external motivation
• Classified as a habit and impulse disorder in ICD-10 (World Health Organization, 1992; see
Chapter 8).
• The interest is in the fire itself and associated things. The subject is likely to watch the fire burn, call
the fire brigade and watch the fire service intervention.
• There is a compulsive quality, with anticipatory subjective tension, followed by excitement after
setting the fire. Subjects may describe an irresistible impulse or urge to set a fire.
• More common in men, particularly in those with:
– learning disability
– inadequate personality, for whom fire setting tends to relieve deep-seated despondency, perhaps
leading to compensatory feelings of increased self-importance and potency.
Treatment
There is a dearth of evidence about potentially modifiable dynamic risk factors for adult
arsonsists. Palmer et al. (2007) reviewed available interventions for arsonists and young fire
setters, in the community, CJS and forensic mental health units:
• There were two broad approaches used: educational and psychological.
• Most interventions for children and adolescents were provided by fire and rescue services, often in
conjunction with youth offending services.
• Some forensic mental health services provided interventions for arsonists, but little available in
either prison or probation services.
Educational approaches
Educational approaches are typically used with children, and provide teaching on fire safety
skills and information on risks and consequences:
• For example: the FACE UP (Fire Awareness Child Education UP) programme developed in 1991 by
the Mersyside Fire and Rescue service for young offenders. Palmer et al. (2007) reported that this
has been adapted for use in the adult prison population in HMP Liverpool in 1998.
Psychological interventions
Psychiatric units use mostly CBT-based group interventions. They are more common in
learning disability services:
165
Box 13.2 Psychiatric assessment of fire setters

The aim is to:
• diagnose mental disorder
• understand the relationship between mental disorder and the fire setting
• formulate the motivation for fire setting
• set out dynamic risk factors associated with fire setting
• suggest interventions that may impact upon those risk factors.
Unlike violent and sexual offending there are no specifically designed risk assessment tools to assess risk
in those who set fires; however, some tools such as the HCR-20 specify that arson can be included within
their risk assessment schedules (Gannon, 2010).
Fire setters, particularly those with predominantly psychopathological motivations, often give poor
histories, and struggle to recognize or acknowledge their motivations. Adopting a sensitive interviewing
style is most likely to be fruitful, but ensure that all available collateral information is used. Seek an
informant history to ascertain, in particular:
• childhood fireplay
• previous acts of fire setting (including undetected)
• previous threats or targets
• types of fires set (use of accelerants, single or multiple seats)
• motivations for previous acts.
A careful functional assessment of the index incident should concentrate on:
• recent psychosocial stressors
• affect and circumstances surrounding event
• intoxication or other disinhibiting factors
• acts of planning and preparation
• fascination/preoccupation with fire and associated items
• feelings immediately before and after the act.
Motivations may be complex, such that more than one of the motivational categories may be important.
In particular pyromania and a desire to be a hero may coexist.
• Swaffer et al. (2001) described an arson intervention group at Rampton High Secure Hospital used
with a mixed gender group. It comprises four modules of both group and individual work:
– danger of fire – assessing and developing insight (12 sessions)
– skills development – coping without fire setting (social skills, problems solving, conflict resolution)
(24 sessions)
– insight and self-awareness – assessing and developing (12 sessions)
– relapse prevention – practical strategies to help break offence cycles (14 sessions).
• Taylor et al. (2006) described the Fire Setter Treatment Programme (FSTP) designed for those with
learning disabilities:
– preparatory work: establishing the group, group cohesion exercises, family and related issues (9
sessions)
– review of offence cycle (12 sessions)
– education, skills acquisition and development including anger management and self-esteem
work (15 sessions)
– relapse prevention: personalized risk assessment and relapse prevention plan (4 sessions).
There is little good evidence to support the efficacy of these programmes, except for face
validity and acceptability to participants.
166
Fire Setters
Reoffending
Brett (2004) reviewed the available literature (24 studies) on re-offending among fire setters
in various environments:
• Reoffending rates varied from 4% to 60%, depending on the populations studied.
• There is no empirical support for the assumption that arsonists are inherently dangerous.
• There is a clear need for more research in specific groups.
Dickens et al. (2007) suggested that the following factors were associated with recidivism:
• youth
• single
• developmental history of family violence or substance misuse
• early onset of criminal convictions
• lengthier prison stays
• relationship problems
• more previous convictions for property offences.
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169
14
Crime and Criminology
Criminology is the observational study of crime:
• A crime may be defined either by statute (an increasing proportion of offences) or by common law
(e.g. murder, perverting the course of justice):
– Many other jurisdictions have an exhaustive criminal code defining all offences in statute.
• An action is described as a crime according to socio-cultural norms and expectations, which vary
with time:
– Previously tolerated behaviours may become unacceptable (e.g. domestic violence, smoking).
– Previously proscribed behaviours become accepted (homosexuality, swearing and suicide).
– New criminal activity develops (Internet crime).
– Different societies have different norms (e.g. age of consent for sexual intercourse).
• There are two criminological aspects:
– Criminal behaviour, including who does what and why, patterns and trends of crime, victims and
causes of crime.
– Society’s response to crime, encompassing societal expectations and morality and the criminal
justice system.
Criminological theory has developed over several hundred years and continues to develop:
• There are many theories of crime; no single theory is adequate to explain all crime or all offenders.
• Theories often overlap and are sometimes contradictory.
• Academic thinking has been variously influenced by sociology, psychology, law, social anthropology,
economics and psychiatry.
• Some theories are more influenced by psychology and psychiatry than others (e.g biological and
psychological positivism).
● Criminological Theories
Some of the major theories are considered here. See Maguire et al. (2007) or Newburn
(2007) for a more complete and detailed account.
Classicism (1700s to early 1800s)

Key figures:
• Cesare Bonesana, Marchese of Boccaria (known as Boccaria); Jeremy Bentham.
Each individual acts according to choice, as a ‘rational actor’, and weighs up the benefits
and consequences of their actions. So they choose to commit crime:
170
Criminological Theories
• Previously punishment had been cruel and inconsistent. Now it was proposed that punishment
should be proportional, certain and rapid, so individuals would know the consequences of criminal
behaviour. Then they would be more likely to make a rational decision not to do it.
• Includes the introduction of imprisonment as punishment, rather than corporal or capital
punishment.
Positivism (late 1800s to modern times)

Key figures
• Cesare Lombroso; Enrico Ferri; Raffaele Garafalo.
Observed that not all people are ‘rational actors’:

• The mentally ill, young people, individuals under the influence of drugs or alcohol, for example.
Posited that a criminal is born a criminal, qualitatively different from other people:
• Focused on attributes of ‘the criminal’, offering a scientific approach to crime, including the
development of hypotheses and collection of data.
• The original theory was of its time, when scientific enquiry was de rigueur – Darwinism, for example.
• The corollary of positivism is that the consequence of crime should be treatment rather than
punishment.
Two approaches may be distinguished:

• Biological positivism:
– Facial features, phrenology (shape and contours of head), somatyping (shape of body), more
recently neurotransmitters, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and (molecular) genetics.
• Psychological positivism:
– Social learning theories, application of Freud’s theories of instinctual drives, Bowlby’s attachment
theory, Eysenck’s model of personality, Piaget’s cognitive development and Kohlberg’s stages of
moral development.
Anomie (late 1800s to 1930s)

Key figures:
• Emile Durkheim (a French sociologist rather than criminologist, in the late 1800s)
• Robert K. Merton (1930s).
Anomie refers to a lack of common social or ethical standards in an individual or a group.

Durkheim’s sociological theory of anomie states that the pace of societal change, originally
from pre- to post-Industrial Revolution society, is too quick:
• Previously society was homogeneous, most people leading similar lifestyles and having similar views
about morality and deviance. This resulted in strong social cohesion and control.
• A more sophisticated society developed after the Industrial Revolution, with greater differentiation
between individuals in terms of division of labour and consequent rewards, but also morality.
• Consequently societal moral restraints became less effective at limiting individual desires; a state of
anomie developed.
• Durkheim particularly related suicide to anomie.
Crime is seen as normal in society and adaptive, in that it introduces new ideas, demon-
strates boundaries of acceptable behaviour, and can portray the nature of society in terms of
what is considered acceptable.
171
Chicago School (early 1900s to 1940s)

Key figures:
• Frederic Thrasher; Edwin Sutherland; Walter Reckless; Robert Ezra Park; Erving Goffman; Clifford
Shaw; Henry McKay.
Between the wars:

• Chicago saw rapid social change due to industrial development, high immigration and high crime
rates.
• Chicago University had the first academic department of sociology.
Strongly influenced by Durkheim and theories of social organization, focused on crime in

relation to space – where it occurred and why, using ethnographic research to determine
two major findings:
• Neighbourhoods tend to be stable over decades in terms of crime rates.
• Areas of high socio-economic status have low crime rates and vice versa.
Therefore crime is linked to factors that also lead to poverty, social deprivation, delin-
quency, ill-health, poor environment (i.e. social disorganization), and can be considered a
social problem.
Some key theories:
• Zonal hypothesis:
– An urban area has distinct zones, including the central business district, a ‘zone in transition’
(area of greatest social change, immigration and social differentiation and weakest social
control) and outer residential zones.
– The ‘zone in transition’ was consistently found to have higher rates of crime, delinquency, mental
illness and poverty.
• Cultural transmission (Shaw and McKay):
– Behaviour is passed from generation to generation, including delinquent behaviour.
– Considered an explanation for the observed regional stability of crime rates and contributed to
young people being unable to change behavioural patterns.
• Differential association (Sutherland) and differential reinforcement (Akers):
– Criminal behaviour is learned, and such behaviour is influenced by ‘associations’ (factors) that
lead to either conforming to the law, or breaking the law.
– This behaviour can be positively or negatively reinforced, leading either to further delinquent
behaviour or to more conforming behaviour (differential reinforcement).
Strain theory (1930s to 1960s)

Key figures:
• Albert Cohen; Richard Cloward; Lloyd Ohlin.
• Robert Agnew (1990s).
A development of Merton’s theory of anomie, which seemed not to explain juvenile delin-
quency:
• Hypothesized that there is competition for success in a society, but an inequality in opportunities.
This leads to frustration among young people, resulting in ‘strain’, which leads to collaboration with
others feeling the same. A delinquent subculture results.
172
In the 1990s Agnew revitalized this theory, suggesting that ‘strain’ was due to a loss of some-
thing valued (relationships, opportunities) or the presence of ‘noxious’ stimuli, e.g. abuse:
• This is exacerbated by a feeling of injustice, a large degree of strain, low levels of social control and
chronic strain.
• Repeated exposure to strain leads to a greater probability of crime.
Subculture theories (post-1940s)

Key figures:
• Albert Cohen; Richard Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin; David Matza; David Downes.
Proposes that delinquency develops within groups that young people form in response to
social disorganization and strain:
• People who cannot progress to a respectable status, due to socio-economic or family factors,
develop a ‘status frustration’ and hostility to traditional values. Subcultures provide status and
belonging.
• Also encompasses learning theory, as delinquent behaviour can be imitated or learnt, as a means to
cope with frustrations, or to gain money, status or power.
Research especially looked at young, white, working-class males. Initially developed in

American cities, in relation to urban gangs, but translated to the UK in studies of ‘mods and
rockers’, ‘punks’, ‘hippies’, ‘skinheads’ and more recently acid house subculture.
Subculture theories have been criticized for minimizing the role of individual choice, and
for being largely inapplicable to female criminality. Also tends to:
• overestimate delinquency in deprived urban areas as not all young people in these situations
engage in such behaviour
• underestimate crime in other parts of society.
Control theories (1960s to 1970s)

Key figures:
• Walter Reckless; David Matza and Graham Sykes; Travis Hirschi.
A collection of related theories that consider why more people do not commit crime more
often, and what controls influence individuals to conform to society rules:
• Containment theory (Reckless) proposes factors that provide resistance to crime:
– inner containment includes having realistic goals, positive self-concept
– outer containment relates to external positive factors, such as positive relationships.
• Social bond theory (Hirschi): the likelihood of deviant behaviour is inversely related to the strength
of social bonds:
– attachments, to family, for example
– commitment to conforming activities such as education
– involvement in non-deviant activities
– belief in conventional values.
• General theory of crime (Gottfredson and Hirschi):
– held to apply to all forms of crime
– low self-control leads to an inability to avoid behaviours, including criminality, drug-taking,
promiscuity, etc.
– low self-control is due to poor parenting techniques in childhood.
173
Radical criminology
Key figures:
• Willem Bonger; Ian Taylor; Paul Walton; Jock Young.
A socio-political perspective rooted in Marxism, emphasizing differences in power and

money between groups in society, and seeing crime as a social problem:
• In capitalist society laws protect the ruling classes, and crime stems from the working class’s
resistance to the ruling class’s laws.
• A society without class differences would eventually have no crime as laws would be universally
protective.
Struggles to explain white collar crime or low crime rates in some capitalist societies.
Labelling theory (1970s to 1980s)

Key figures:
• George Mead; Frank Tannenbaum; Howard Becker; Edwin Lemert; John Braithwaite.
Considers why certain people are considered to be deviant, and the reasons for social reac-
tions to deviant behaviour:
• Rules are made by society, and applied to people; if individuals break the rules, they are considered
deviant. This can result in a person becoming more deviant, as they try to live up to their name (a
self-fulfilling prophesy).
• The more that a behaviour is deemed to be immoral, the more individuals are likely to behave in
that way, leading to more crime.
• Associated with stigma, ‘folk devils’ and ‘moral panics’.
John Braithwaite (1979) considered the importance of shaming, which underpins restora-
tive justice today:
• Shaming may be disintegrative (offered in a stigmatizing or rejecting way and tending to exclude
the offender from law-abiding society) or reintegrative.
• If an individual feels shame or remorse, and they can be reintegrated into the community, this will
help to reduce reoffending.
• If a culture has intrinsically high expectations of its citizens, which are openly expressed, then
crime control methods will be more effective than methods used by a society wanting only to give
negative consequences to ‘bad apples’.
Left realism (mid-1980s to 1990s)

Key figures:
• Jock Young; Roger Matthews; John Lea; Elliott Currie.
Developed in the UK and the USA in the context of a change in the political environment,
which became more right wing and critical of welfare culture, had stronger views of punish-
ment and favoured a ‘free market economy’:
• Traditional left-wing views tended to minimize crime, to treat offenders as ‘victims’.
• Other theories excluded crime against women, such as domestic violence or sexual violence.
174
Young developed these ideas as a politically pragmatic criminology, seeking greater influ-
ence on policy makers than criminological theory had tended to have before:
• Crime is best seen as a function of four interdependent factors, in the so-called ‘square of crime’
(Young, 1997):
– the victim
– the offender
– the actions (crime)
– the reactions (of society, the criminal justice system, CJS).
• Crime control requires a comprehensive balance of interventions addressing all of these factors.
• Included a greater use of empirical evidence such as local crime surveys, leading to greater
influence over local criminal justice policy development, particularly for the New Labour government
of 1997 (Hopkins-Burke, 2005, pp224–7).
Feminist criminology (from the 1960s)

Key figures:
• Freda Adler; Rita Simon; Carol Smart; Pat Carlen; Frances Heidensohn.
The preceding theories are generally male-orientated, in terms of both the offenders studied
and the criminologists involved:
• Female offenders and victims tended to be stereotyped (as prostitutes, for example).
• Early theories (such as biological positivism) did include women, but on the premise that women
were ‘more primitive’ and ‘less developed’ than men.
Female criminologists became active in the late 1960s, and discovered that the proposed
factors relating to ‘male crime’ (such as unemployment, antisocial behaviour, gang culture
and peer group influence) were often less applicable to ‘female crime’. New theories were
required:
• Liberal feminist theory:
– As women have changed their social and economic position following emancipation, they have
become more like men and their propensity for crime has changed accordingly.
• Control theory in relation to women:
– Women are often controlled, by men (through violence or other negative methods), by society
expectations and in the home (historically responsible for running the house, childcare and
increasingly employed in the workplace as well).
– This means that they are less likely to commit crime.
• The proposal of ‘double jeopardy’:
– When a woman commits a crime she is stigmatized both as a criminal and for behaving in a non-
feminine way.
– This leads to being dealt with paternalistically by the CJS.
Feminist criminology has also emphasized victim issues, leading to a much greater study of
victims and their role within the CJS.
Contemporary classicism (1970s to current)

Key figures:
• Ron Clarke; Derek Cornish; Marcus Felson.
175
The rational actor model of criminality was reinvigorated, in the context of the rise of
populist conservatism, and the ‘nothing works’ philosophy of the Home Office, which
recognized that there was little evidence for the effectiveness of CJS rehabilitative inter-
ventions.
Rational choice theory (Clarke and Cornish)

• The offender is a rational actor, making individualistic choices in their self-interest, based on an
appraisal of the rewards and costs of the action.
• However, they will act with ‘bounded rationality’, working within limits of knowledge, situation or
opportunities. They will not necessarily obtain and weigh up all the facts necessary for a sensible
decision.
Routine activity theory (Felson)

• Most offending is minor, acquisitive and inevitable.
• There are three key ingredients:
– motivated individuals – mostly young men
– appropriate targets – whether a person or property, and
– absence of a ‘capable guardian’.
• Contemporary lifestyles provide more opportunities for crime – portable computers, mobile phones
and other possessions; placing people away from home.
Importantly, for both of these variants, crime prevention strategies focus on situational
manipulation (locking doors, street lighting, using tokens for utility meters, etc.) rather
than offenders.
A political and psychiatric context

Society has always tended to take a harsh approach to criminal justice, polls suggesting that
a majority of the UK public favour reintroduction of the death penalty, for example. Unsur-
prisingly the utilitarian approaches of contemporary classicism have found more favour with
policy makers than the sociologically based theories that went before (Reiner, 2006). This
promotes:
• normalization of criminal activity, reducing the need to understand it, and legitimizing situational
crime prevention measures, and
• punishment (as opposed to treatment) of the offender who is seen as having deliberately
(rationally) chosen to be criminal.
In the consequent ‘culture of control’ (Garland, 2001), offenders are seen as qualitatively
different from law-abiding citizens, and they may legitimately be punished harshly. Welfarist
approaches to crime are subordinated to the management of risk and the identification of
risky individuals:
• This may resonate with contemporary forensic psychiatry, in which an individual therapeutic
approach is sometimes threatened by a managerial approach to risk management systems and
group data.
• Those with mental disorder may be in an invidious position. The widespread prejudice that the
mentally disordered are dangerous is well known, which may lead to their being categorically
identified as criminal and consequently subject to the increasingly common civil powers of control
that are politically justified by the contemporary criminologies.
176
Recording of Crime
● Recording of Crime
There are three approaches to recording crime:
• police recording of crime
• victim surveys
• offender surveys.
Police-recorded crime significantly underestimates actual crime:

• Victims do not always report crimes to the police:
– victims do not always report incidents, due to fear or embarrassment, believing it not to be
worthwhile (e.g. minor theft), having sympathy for offender or not trusting police
– there is no victim (e.g. action between two consenting adults, such as a drugs transaction)
– the crime is not detected, e.g. identity fraud
– victim was involved in the offence (for example, both parties assaulted each other).
• Reported crime may not be recorded:
– there is a lack of evidence
– the victim does not press charges
– the police do not pursue the matter.
The difference between actual crime and recorded crime is known as hidden crime. Victim
and offender surveys may be used to estimate this. The best known example in the UK is
the British Crime Survey (BCS).
Police-recorded crime
This covers all notifiable offences (i.e. notifiable to the Home Office), which are collec-
tively known as recorded crime (Table 14.1):
• It excludes most summary offences.
• There are over 100 notifiable offences in nine categories:
– theft and handling stolen goods
– burglary
– criminal damage
– violence against the person (assault, dangerous driving, affray, attempted murder, murder)
– sexual offences (indecent assault, rape, incest, bigamy)
– robbery
– fraud and forgery
– drug offences
– other.
British Crime Survey

The BCS is a face-to-face victimization survey carried out for the first time in 1982 which
has run continuously, reporting annually, since 2001:
• Based on more than 45 000 respondents, resident in households in England and Wales, who are
asked about their experience of crime in the previous 12 months.
• Since January 2009 includes a sample of 16–24 year olds and 11–15 year olds.
• Response rate is around 75%.
177
Table 14.1 Police recorded crime for 2009/10 available at

http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/recordedcrime1.html
No. of recorded Change since Percentage of
offences 2009–10 previous year total recorded
(%) crime
Violence against the person with injury 401 743 –5 9.3
Homicide 615
Attempted murder 588
Driving offences leading to death 504
Wounding with intent 22 798
Malicious wounding 16 730
Assault–occasional actual bodily harm 359 950
Violence against the person without injury 469 969 –3 10.8
Threats/conspiracy to murder 44
Threats to kill 9 566
Possession of a weapon 24 380
Public order offences 205 219
Assault without injury 223 328
Sexual offences 54 509 +6 1.3
Rape of adult female 9 102
Rape of adult male 372
Rape of underage female 4 889
Rape of underage male 802
Sexual assault of female 19 873
Sexual assault of male 2 270
Robbery 75 101 –6 1.7
Burglary 540 655 –7 12.5
Offences against vehicles 494 978 –16 11.4
Other theft, fraud and forgery 1 189 829 –5 27.4
Criminal damage 806 720 –14 18.6
Arson endangering life 3 625
Arson not endangering life 28 954
Drugs offences 234 998 –4 5.4
Miscellaneous 70 102 –2 1.6
Total recorded crime 4 338 604 –8
Note: within categories, only selected offences are included, so the totals do not add up to the total for that category
Data from the BCS since 1982 shows that crime rose to a peak in 1995 and has declined
since. The reported level in 2009–10 was about 50% of the level in 1995:
• This reduction in crime is mirrored in many western societies – proposed explanations for this
uniform change have varied greatly among societies.
In many respects, the BCS and police-recorded crimes complement each other, and
collectively offer a good coverage of criminal activity:
• Police-recorded crime has wider coverage of offences, but the BCS includes unreported/unrecorded
crime.
Both methods are deficient in relation to:
• new forms of offending such as credit card fraud (credit card companies report much higher rates)
• drugs offences (where both victim and perpetrator may be involved in criminal activity).
178
Recording of Crime
Table 14.2 summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of the BCS.
Table 14.2 The British Crime Survey: advantages and disadvantages

Advantages Disadvantages
Includes crimes not reported to or recorded by the Based on recall and opinion, so potentially subject
police to bias
Explores victims’ impressions of and fear of crime Excludes the homeless, and those living in
Identifies information about victims institutions at present
May reassure public about true rate of crime Excludes businesses so may not cover white collar
Enables development of local crime reduction policy crime, or crimes regulated by authorities such as
environmental health
Does not include murder and may not be reliable
for domestic violence, pornographic or paedophilic
crimes due to reduced disclosure rates
Respondents may be concerned about
confidentiality in relation to reporting more
serious crimes
Some findings from 2009–10 BCS report

(http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds)
The risk of victimization varies by gender and neighbourhood:
• Young men are at greater risk of stranger violence, women at greater risk of domestic violence.
• Risk is greater in urban than rural areas, particularly in high population density areas:
– 62% of robberies were recorded by Greater Manchester, West Midlands and Metropolitan police
forces, an area containing 24% of the population.
Some 66% of respondents believed that crime had risen in recent years, though only 10%
believed that they lived in a high crime area:
• This may be interpreted as suggesting that the perception of increasing crime is due to
indirect knowledge derived from media reporting or politicking, rather than personal experience
of crime.
Table 14.3 gives selected data from the BCS.
Table 14.3 Estimated crime in England and Wales from 2009–10 BCS
Estimated number Change since 2001–2
of crimes (%)
All violence 2 087 000 –24
Wounding 501 000 –23
Assault with minor injury 428 000 –40
Assault without injury 823 000 –19
Robbery 335 000 –6
All acquisitive crime 5 427 000 –29
Vandalism 2 408 000 –8
Burglary 659 000 –32
Vehicle-related theft 1 229 000 –51
Other household theft 1 163 000 –19
Theft from the person 5 25 000 –13
All BCS crime 9 587 000 –24
Within categories, only selected offences are included, so the totals do not add up to the total for that category
179
● Reoffending Rates
Reoffending is often taken as an outcome measure of criminal justice penalties, such that
low reoffending rates imply successful penalties, but the situation is often more complex
than this:
• In particular, reoffending is not the same as reconviction, which is the usual proxy measure.
There are two approaches:

• Examining the reoffending of individuals over time, to examine when individuals start and stop
offending, and why.
• Examining trends among groups of offenders through official statistics, according to offence,
sentence given or socio-demographic factors.
Since 2007–8, adult reoffending statistics are collated in quarterly reports giving results for
each justice area:
• Available at http://www.cjp.org.uk/publications/government
• Includes convictions and police cautions for those offenders under probation supervision (either
community orders or under licence):
– therefore excludes those over 22 years released after a short sentence, and all whose period of
supervision has ceased.
The rate of reoffending for this group has remained constant since 2007. In 2009–10 the
rate was
• 9.71% overall:
– 10.07% for those on community orders
– 8.15% for those under licence.
● Correlates of Crime and Criminal Careers

The epidemiological research should be interpreted with some caution:
• Often focused on adolescent delinquency, which may be different from offending in other groups.
• Longitudinal self-report studies tend to look at less serious offending, and certain types of offence/
offender may not be included.
Key studies include:

• Graham and Bowling (1995) conducted a Home Office research study investigating self-reported
offending and its correlates among 14–25 year olds in England and Wales.
• The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development is a prospective survey of 411 males from the
London area from age 8, starting in 1961 (Farrington, 1995).
• The Pittsburgh Youth Study is a longitudinal study starting in 1987, of 1517 inner city boys in the
USA, in which an antisocial cohort is compared with a random sample. See http://www.wpic.pitt.
edu/research/famhist/pys.htm.
It is of note that a typical offender (late teens, male, low socio-economic group) is also a
typical victim.
Farrington et al. (2006) reported that in the Cambridge study:
• 41% were convicted of an offence (motoring convictions excluded) by age 50, and the average
criminal career lasted from 19 to 28, consisting of five convictions.
• Those who began offending at a younger age gained more convictions and offended for longer.
180
Correlates of Crime and Criminal Careers
Table 14.4 shows risk factors for offending or associated with offending.
Table 14.4 Factors associated with a general risk of offending

Risk factors for offending Other factors associated with offending
Male gender Large family size
Late adolescent age Poor parental supervision
Number of previous convictions Childhood physical abuse and neglect
Social class* Parental conflict/loss/disturbance
Low intelligence or poor educational attainment† Single marital status
Parental criminality Excessive alcohol use
Impulsivity‡ Unemployment
*Evidence is mixed, depending on offence type. Antisocial crime (e.g. car theft) is more associated with lower social class
†Associated with reduced empathy, difficulty in considering consequences, low self-esteem
‡Reported by teachers, parents or by self-report
Criminal careers and typologies of offender

Longitudinal studies and recorded crime surveys consistently show a steep rise in rate of
offending, peaking at mid-adolescence, falling rapidly to the mid-20s and then continuing
to decline at a slower pace. This pattern is consistent across countries, across time and in
different groups (men and women, for example) (Smith, 2007):
• This transient adolescent peak is due to more people engaging in criminal activity, rather than to
the same people engaging in more criminal activity.
Moffit (1993) distinguishes between:

• Adolescent-limited antisocial behaviour:
– Common and may be seen as normative and adjustive. Subjects usually have reasonable
interpersonal relationships, and have developed empathy.
– Tend to start offending later but may start with quite serious antisocial behaviour.
• Life-course persistent antisocial behaviour:
– Antisocial behaviour starts earlier, with minor aggression, lying, hurting animals at a very young
age.
– More likely to have neurological problems and poor peer relationships, and go on to develop
adult personality disorder and persistent offending.
A third group of offenders only starts offending in adulthood:

• Adult-onset offenders tend to be more neurotic and emotionally unstable than non-offenders. They
are more like non-offenders at age 21, but more like adolescent-onset offenders at age 32 (Zara
and Farrington, 2010).
Loeber et al. (1998) distinguished three developmental pathways to delinquency:

• Authority conflict:
– Stubbornness at a young age develops into defiance (refusal and disobedience) and then into
avoidance of authority (truanting, running away).
– This pathway starts earliest, from preschool, but older boys may enter it at a late stage with
staying out at night and truancy.
• Covert:
– Lying leads on to shoplifting, property damage and then more serious property crime such as
burglary.
• Overt:
– Minor aggression and bullying develops into fighting and then violent offending.
181
Recently, criminal career research has increasingly focused on how protective factors
interact with risk factors in determining criminality. See Piquero et al. (2003) for a detailed
review.
References
Braithwaite J. (1979) Crime, Shame and Reintegration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Farrington DP. (1995) The development of offending and antisocial behaviour from childhood: key
findings from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development. Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, 36, 929–64
Farrington DP, Coid JW, Harnett LM, Jolliffe D, Soteriou N, Turner RE, West DJ. (2006) Criminal Careers
up to age 50 and Life Success up to Age 48: New findings from the Cambridge study in delinquent
development. Home Office Research Study No. 299. London: Home Office
*Garland D. (2001) The Culture of Control. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Graham J, Bowling B. (1995). Young People and Crime. Home Office Research Study No. 145. London:
Home Office.
Hopkins-Burke R. (2005) An Introduction to Criminological Theory, 2nd edn. Cullompton: Willan
Loeber R, Farrington DP, Stouthamer-Loeber M, Moffit T, Caspi A. (1998) The development of male
offending: key findings from the first decade of the Pittsburgh Youth Study. Studies in Crime and
Crime Prevention 7,141–72
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Oxford University Press.
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182
15
The Criminal Law
and Sentencing
● What is the Law?
The law differs from everyday social rules and conventions because:
• it is created by institutions empowered to do so by society, that is Parliament or the courts
• there is an associated power of enforcement.
England and Wales follows the ‘Common Law’ legal tradition:

• There is no complete written statement of the law, which constantly evolves, usually on the basis of
decisions made in the courts.
• By contrast, most European countries have the so-called ‘civil’ legal tradition in which there is to
some extent an authoritative written statement of the law.
Sources of law
Acts of Parliament
• The primary source of law.
• Cannot be directly overturned by a UK court:
– though could be challenged in certain circumstances, such as if Parliament is accused of itself
acting illegally or if there is a conflict with European or human rights law.
• Described by subject and date, e.g. the Offences Against the Person Act 1861:
– usually divided into numbered parts, sections and subsections, appendices called schedules
– for example, the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) has 10 parts, 149 sections and 6 schedules.
Statutory instruments (SI)

• Published by Government ministers and their departments under powers delegated by Parliament.
• Provide detailed rules for applying an Act of Parliament.
• For example, the rules governing the authorization of approved mental health professionals
(AMHPs) under the MHA are set out in an SI.
• Quicker and easier to publish and amend than Acts of Parliament.
Informal rules
• Created by Government departments to provide guidance for application of the law.
• They do not require formal drafting or publication and are not binding, but they should not be
deviated from without very good justification.
• The MHA Code of Practice (CoP) is an example.
183
The Criminal Law and Sentencing
Courts in England and Wales

A court may deal with civil or criminal matters, and may be a trial court or an appellate
court.
• Civil courts deal with law concerning the various relationships between individuals and corporations,
and impose financial penalties and/or order some other remedy.
• Criminal courts deal with crimes defined by law, enforced by statutory agencies, prosecuted by the
state and leading to punishment of offenders.
• Trial courts hear cases ‘at first instance’ and make rulings on matters of fact and law.
• Appellate courts consider the application of legal principles to a case that has already been heard
at a lower court.
Judges preside over courts, and interpret the law in order to apply it to each case, taking
into account:
• statute law, as laid down by Parliament and
• case law – previous interpretations by the courts in similar cases. The principle of legal precedent is
that a court must follow an applicable ruling made by a higher court.
Box 15.1 Working with the law

It is not enough just to know the statute. You also need to know the relevant case law, SIs or rules. Take the
Mental Health Act 1983:
• The statute has been amended many times, particularly by the Mental Health Act 2007.
• The Reference Guide to the Mental Health Act explains the main provisions of the MHA and associated
and secondary legislation (Department of Health, 2008a).
• The Code of Practice (Department of Health, 2008b) provides detailed guidance on aspects of practice.
• The associated case law is summarized in the Mental Health Act Manual (Jones, 2010), running to over
1000 pages.
The text of all UK Acts of Parliament and Statutory Instruments, in both their original form and with any
subsequent amendments, is available at http://www.legislation.gov.uk.
Judgments of the Court of Appeal are available from http://www.bailii.org. Judgments of the House of
Lords and the Supreme Court are available from http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/judgments.htm.
There are various web-based searchable databases of case law that require subscription. These are helpful
if you have an institutional subscription.
● The Criminal Court Structure

Criminal courts are adversarial, such that the prosecution and the defence put forward
opposing arguments and the jury is required to choose one over the other. This differs
from the inquisitorial approach taken in criminal courts in some other jurisdictions, and in
some English courts (for example, coroners’ courts, or first tier tribunals). The inquisitorial
approach seeks to investigate from a neutral position and determine the truth. Some might
argue that in an adversarial system the jury is asked to decide between two arguments, nei-
ther of which is quite true.
The required standard of proof for the prosecution in criminal courts is beyond reasonable
doubt. There are some matters where the burden of proof falls on the defence (for example,
diminished responsibility, or when the defence raises the insanity defence), in which case
the required standard is generally on the balance of probabilities.
184
The Criminal Court Structure
Magistrates’ court
The court sits as a ‘bench’ of three magistrates or sometimes one district judge sitting alone:
• Solely a trial court of first instance with no appellate function.
• Mostly a criminal court:
– all criminal cases are first heard by the magistrates’ court
– some limited responsibility for civil issues (e.g. liquor licensing).
• Deal with summary offences and some either way offences.
• Available sentences include:
– absolute or conditional discharges
– community sentences
– compensation orders of up to £5000 per offence, and fines
– imprisonment of up to 6 months per offence, maximum 12 months overall.
• Cases may be referred to the Crown court either for trial or for sentencing:
– defendant may elect to have their case heard in the Crown court.
Magistrates are known as Justices of the Peace:

• Mostly lay people without legal training, who are advised by a legally qualified Justice Clerk.
• A minority are full-time legally qualified magistrates, now known as district judges (previously
stipendiaries):
– In 2010 there were 28 607 magistrates sitting in 330 courts. In 2008, 184 000 trials were heard
in magistrates’ courts. Figure 15.1 gives an overview of the court structure.
Crown court
Crown courts are the only courts regularly sitting with a judge and jury:
• The judge decides and advises the jury on matters of law.
• The jury is the only arbiter of fact.
A Crown court is mostly a court of first instance, but also deals with appeals from the mag-
istrates’ court:
• work from 77 centres across England and Wales:
– dealt with 97 700 trials in 2009 (Ministry of Justice, 2010).
Court of Appeal, criminal division

The Court of Appeal hears appeals from Crown courts against conviction or against sentence.
It sits as a minimum of two, usually three and occasionally a ‘full court’ of five senior judges.
The Court may overturn convictions or alter sentences. If the Court of Appeal does not
allow the appeal (i.e. agrees with the decision of the original court) the person convicted is
not generally allowed to bring a further appeal.
The Court of Appeal may also receive references from the Criminal Cases Review Com-
mission (CCRC):
• which is an independent body established in 1997 by the Criminal Appeal Act 1995
• with the purpose of reviewing possible miscarriages of justice, and where appropriate referring a
case back to the Court of Appeal.
Anyone may ask the CCRC to review their case although referral back to the Court of
Appeal is not guaranteed.
185
Supreme Court
Justices of the Supreme Court
Court of Appeal
Lords Justices of Appeal (Lord/Lady Justice Smith; Smith LJ)
Two divisions:
Criminal division Civil division
High Court
Puisne Judges (Mr Justice Smith; Smith J)
Three divisions:
Queen’s Chancery Family
Bench (QB)
Common law, Property, Matrimonial and
contracts and tort corporate law and adoption of
tax children
The divisional courts of each division carry out the
appellate function. The QB divisional court is now known
as the Administrative Court
Crown court Upper tribunal

Puisne judges and Four chambers:
recorders HESC appeals are within the
County court
Trial court and appellate jurisdiction of the Administrative Court
Circuit and district judges
Deals with same issues
as High Court, but in less
complex cases with lower
Magistrates’ court monetary value First tier tribunal
Justices of the Peace Seven chambers:
Purely a court of first Mental health tribunals are in the
instance jurisdiction of the Health, Education
and Social Care Chamber
An occasional route for appeals on matters of
law to the Administrative Court ‘by way of case
stated’
Figure 15.1 The court structure in England and Wales, the arrows representing the major lines of
appeal.
The Supreme Court

The Supreme Court was created by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 to replace the
House of Lords as the final appellate court, in order further to separate the judicial and
executive powers of the House of Lords:
• began operating in October 2009
• will hear only the most significant or important cases, or cases concerning points of law of general
public importance.
For a more detailed account of the English legal system see Holland and Webb (2010).
186
Criminal Offences
● Criminal Offences
Classification of crimes
For procedural purposes, crimes may be classified as follows:
• Offences triable summarily only:
– summary offences are more minor statutory offences, which may be tried by magistrates without
a jury.
• Offences triable only on indictment:
– offences, the seriousness of which necessarily requires a Crown court trial with a jury.
• Offences triable either way:
– the court has discretion, considering the specific features of the case, to decide which procedure
is most appropriate.
Elements of a crime – actus reus, mens rea and automatism

To be considered guilty of a crime, an individual must do an act and be to some extent
responsible for their actions in terms of their state of mind. The act, or actus reus (literally
‘guilty act’), is one of three types:
• Acts of omission:
– a failure to engage in an action, with the result that harm is caused
– e.g. failing to rescue a drowning child from a shallow pool.
• Acts of commission:
– engaging in an action that directly results in harm being caused
– e.g. punching someone in the face.
• Acts of possession:
– although not an action as such, possession of certain items is deemed a criminal act
– e.g. possession of firearms, illicit drugs or certain pornographic images (e.g. of children).
State of mind or mens rea (literally ‘guilty mind’) does not necessarily imply a direct motive
for the crime. There are three forms of mens rea:
• Intention:
– the individual does an act with a knowledge and understanding of the consequences, and a wish
that they take place
– e.g. repeatedly stabbing someone with the intention of killing them.
• Recklessness:
– taking unjustifiable risks, by acting in the knowledge that there may be a particular consequence
but not caring whether it happens or not
– e.g. setting fire to a bin in close proximity to a row of houses.
• Negligence:
– not acting in a way in which a reasonable person would have done
– e.g. failing to feed and care for a child.
Some offences are partly defined by the degree of intent. There are two groups:
• Offences of basic intent:
– the required mens rea is simply an intention to bring about the actus reus, with no need to
establish any foreknowledge or intention of the eventual outcome
– e.g. to be convicted of possession of a prohibited item (such as illicit drugs or a firearm) it is only
necessary to show that the individual possessed the item and knew that they did so.
187
• Offences of specific intent (Allen, 2007, p73):

– the mens rea must be shown to be an intention to bring about something going beyond the actus reus
– to be convicted of possession of illegal drugs with intent to supply, it is necessary to prove not
only that the drugs were possessed (the actus reus) but that this was with the intention to go on
to supply them to others.
In a small group of offences (known as ‘offences of strict liability’) there is no need to estab-
lish mens rea and it is sufficient only to establish the actus reus. An example is driving while
over the alcohol limit. These offences often relate to acts that jeopardize public safety so the
public interest demands that offenders should be liable to punishment even if they were not
aware of their wrongdoing or intended any harm.
Situations in which mens rea may be absent

• Intoxication with alcohol or illicit substances:
– The basic principle that voluntary intoxication is not a defence is well established.
– So intoxication may only be used as a defence to a crime of specific intent, reducing it to the
corresponding crime of basic intent (s18 to s20 wounding, for example).
• Automatism:
– A complex legal concept, meaning that an individual acts in an entirely involuntary manner and
in doing so commits an offence.
– Classic examples quoted include a van driver losing control of their vehicle when attacked by a
swarm of bees (per Lord Goddard CJ, Hill v Baxter [1958] QBD).
– To have access to a complete defence of automatism (which would result in an acquittal) it is
necessary to establish that some external factor (such as the bees) has acted on the individual to
cause them to act in that manner. This is a so-called ‘non-insane automatism’.
– If it is established that there was an involuntary action which was the consequence of an internal
factor (including physical illness such as epilepsy) then bizarrely (and as a result of a convoluted
series of legal decisions) the only defence available would be that of ‘not guilty by reason of
insanity’, giving rise to the term ‘insane automatism’.
– Such an arbitrary division between internal and external has led to all kinds of problems, including a
man with hyperglycaemia caused by non-administration of insulin only having recourse to the insanity
defence (R v Hennessy [1989] 2 All ER 9), whereas another man who had become hypoglycaemic
through insulin administration (thereby introducing an ‘external factor’) was allowed access to the
complete defence of ‘non-insane automatism’ (R v Quick [1973] QB 910 [1973] 3 All ER 347).
– Although the difficulties have been identified numerous times there has been no effort made to
resolve them with legislation. The defence is used rarely and there remain broad variations in the
approaches taken by courts.
Violent offences
Violent offences are mostly defined by common law or by the Offences Against the Person
Act 1861. They are described in Table 15.1, where section numbers refer to this Act, unless
otherwise specified.
Sexual offences
The current framework is mostly defined by a series of Sexual Offences Acts, most recently
the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Table 15.2 describes the various types of sexual offence.
There are many other offences, relating to, for example, intercourse with a corpse or
animal, exposure and voyeurism, offences relating to children (either under 13 or under 16),
incest, prostitution, soliciting, and trafficking, grooming and pornography.
188
Criminal Offences
Table 15.1 Violent offences

Offence Description Maximum sentence
Murder Where a person of sound mind unlawfully kills with intent to Mandatory life
kill or cause grievous bodily harm (‘malice aforethought’) imprisonment
Manslaughter At common law, this refers to any unlawful homicide which is Life imprisonment
not murder
Voluntary manslaughter is where all elements for murder are
present but there is mitigation by way of:
– diminished responsibility
– loss of control
– killing by the survivor of a suicide pact
Involuntary manslaughter is an unlawful killing without intent
to kill or cause grievous bodily harm; may be by an unlawful
act or by gross negligence or breach of duty
Infanticide Where a mother causes the death of her own child, who is less Life imprisonment
than 1-year-old, and (s1(1) Infanticide Act 1938) ‘the balance but custodial
of her mind was disturbed by reason of her not having fully sentences are unusual
recovered from the effect of giving birth to the child or by
reason of the effect of lactation consequent upon the birth of
the child’
Wounding or Wounding means breaking the continuity of the skin. S18 life imprisonment
causing grievous GBH implies serious harm rather than minor. Includes broken S20 5 years’
bodily harm bones and probably could include psychiatric injury imprisonment
(GBH) Section 18 wounding requires a specific intent to cause GBH
Section 20 wounding is the corresponding offence of basic
intent
Assault Actual bodily harm has its normal English language meaning, 5 years’ imprisonment
occasioning but includes psychiatric injury. Psychiatric injury, not being
actual bodily within the ordinary experience of a jury, requires expert
harm evidence to be established
Common assault The nomenclature of common assault and battery is 6 months’
confusing, their roots being in the common law imprisonment
An assault involves causing another person to apprehend
unlawful personal physical contact or injury
Battery Intentional touching of another person without consent or 6 months’
lawful excuse imprisonment
Robbery Taking another’s property without consent and with force Life imprisonment
or the fear of force. The element of violence distinguishes
robbery from theft
Table 15.2 Sexual offences

Offence Description Maximum sentence
Rape Penetration of vagina, anus or mouth by penis where the victim Life imprisonment
at the time does not consent, and the perpetrator knows they
do not consent or is reckless as to whether they consent
An offence of basic intent
Assault by Intentional penetration of vagina or anus with a part of body or Life imprisonment
penetration anything else, without consent
Sexual assault Intentional sexual touching of another person without consent. 10 years’
Covers a wide range of behaviours and circumstances imprisonment
Accordingly it is triable either way
Causing sexual Intentionally causing another to act in a sexual way without Life imprisonment if
activity without consent, for example forced masturbation, a woman forcing penetration involved,
consent a man to penetrate her or forcing sexual activity with a third otherwise 10 years
party
189
Damage to property and arson

The offence of destroying or damaging property is defined in section (1) of the Criminal
Damage Act 1971, and section (3) specifies that, where the damage is caused by fire, it shall
be charged as arson. The maximum penalties are life imprisonment for arson, and 10 years
otherwise.
Arson is separated into three offences:
• simple arson
• arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered
• arson with intent to endanger life.
Often reckless arson and arson with intent will both appear on the indictment, enabling a
jury to choose between them.
Arson is considered often to be associated with psychiatric issues:
• Psychiatric reports should be obtained before sentencing (R v Calladine The Times, December 3,
1975).
• At least for reckless arson, immediate imprisonment is warranted except in exceptional
circumstances such as ‘mental trouble or any recommendation for medical treatment’ (AG
Reference no 1 of 1997 [1998] 1 Cr App R (S.) 54).
For further information on the criminal law see a standard textbook such as Ormerod
(2008).
● Sentencing
The powers of courts in relation to sentencing are currently mostly provided by the Crimi-
nal Justice Act 2003 (CJA 2003). References to sections are to this Act unless otherwise
specified. The policy background and aims include:
• reduced judicial discretion and greater political prescription of sentencing, and
• fitting sentences to the offender, rather than the offence:
– the principle of proportionality was now to be applied to the totality of the offenders offending,
rather than the instant offence
– a prescribed menu of requirements, to be applied to the particular offender.
The purposes of sentencing are specified in s142, but there is no guidance as to how these
disparate aims should be weighed up:
• the punishment of offenders
• the reduction of crime, including by deterrence
• reform and rehabilitation of offenders
• protection of the public
• the making of reparation by offenders to those affected by their offences.
Assessment of the seriousness of an offence (s143) is dependent on:

• the degree of culpability, and
• the amount of harm caused, or intended, or that was reasonably foreseeable.
Aggravating factors include:

• each previous conviction
• offences committed on bail
• offences with racial, religious, disability or sexual orientation characteristics.
190
Community Orders and Suspended Sentences
The Sentencing Council was established following the Coroners and Justice Act 2009
(replacing the Sentencing Guidelines Council) to provide guidance for sentencing courts
based on statutory and case law.
• Guidelines are available from http://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk
• The Council is required to provide ranges of sentence for offences, in effect providing normal
minimum sentences as well as maximum.
Statistics on sentencing are published annually and available on the Ministry of Justice
(MoJ) website at http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/sentencingannual.htm.
Pre-sentence reports (PSRs)

The CJA 2003 requires that, unless a sentencing court considers it unnecessary, it must
obtain and consider:
• a probation PSR (s156)
• with respect to imposing a discretionary custodial sentence on a defendant who is or appears to
be mentally disordered, a medical report by a section 12 approved registered medical practitioner
(RMP) (s157).
Probation PSRs should be based on a direct interview and an offender assessment system
(OASys) assessment of offending behaviour, risk of harm and risk reduction interventions.
The conclusion should:
• evaluate an offender’s motivation and ability to change
• state whether or not an offender is suitable for a community sentence
• make a proposal for a sentence designed to protect the public and reduce reoffending, which may
include a custodial element
• recommend which requirements might be added to a community order where a non-custodial
sentence is proposed
• outline the level of supervision envisaged.
Psychiatric reports for sentencing are discussed in Chapter 21.
Available sentences
Table 15.3 outlines the sentences available.
Maximum sentences are prescribed for most offences, courts otherwise having wide dis-
cretion, although they must follow precedent and the authoritative guidelines. The obvious
exception is murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence. In recent years minimum
sentences have started to appear on the statute book, for certain drugs trafficking offences
and firearms offences.
● Community Orders and Suspended Sentences

A community order may be made for up to 3 years and includes one or more requirements,
from a list of 12 defined in Chapter 4 of CJA 2003 (Table 15.4).
Mental health treatment requirement

Provided by s207 of the CJA 2003:
191
Table 15.3 Available sentences

No punishment Absolute discharge Conviction is recorded, no further sanction
Conditional No punishment, but if a further offence is committed
discharge within a defined period (up to 3 years) they may be
sentenced for both offences
Hospital order Under s37 MHA – see Chapter 2
Financial penalty An order to pay a Usually payable in instalments according to the offender’s
fine and/or costs ability to pay
Community Community order Previously known as probation orders, community
sentences with rehabilitation orders and community punishment orders.
requirements See below for further detail
tailored to Suspended A term of imprisonment of up to 51 weeks, which is
offending needs sentence suspended contingent upon offender’s behaviour and
compliance with the requirements that are imposed.
The possible requirements are the same as for community
orders (see below)
There are two specified time periods:
• The Supervision Period during which the custodial
sentence may be triggered by failure to comply with
requirements
• A longer Operational Period of up to 2 years, in which
the custodial sentence is triggered by a further offence
Sentences of Determinate A prisoner is automatically released halfway through a
imprisonment sentences determinate sentence of more than 12 months, or after
expiry of the custody term set by the sentencing court for
sentences of less than 12 months. They remain on licence
and subject to recall to prison until the end of the
sentence
Extended sentences are determinate sentences
Indeterminate Includes mandatory life sentences for murder,
sentences discretionary life sentences for other serious offences,
and sentences of imprisonment for public protection for
dangerous offenders
The sentencing court sets a minimum term, after which
the offender is eligible for the Parole Board to release them
on life licence. See below for further detail
• The ‘offender must submit, during a period specified in the order, to treatment by or under the
direction of a registered medical practitioner, or a chartered psychologist, or both, with a view to
improvement of the offender’s mental condition’.
• Mental condition is not defined, but presumably is not necessarily the same as mental disorder in
the MHA.
Treatment must be one of three types:

• as a resident patient, but not in high security
• as a non-resident patient, or
• under direction of a specified registered medical practitioner (RMP) or chartered psychologist.
Otherwise the nature of treatment may not be specified in the order.

The court requires:
• evidence from one s12-approved RMP that ‘the mental condition (i) is such as requires and may be
susceptible to treatment, and (ii) is not such as to warrant a hospital order or guardianship order’
• that arrangements have been or can be made for the treatment specified
• that the offender has expressed a willingness to comply with such a requirement.
192
Custodial Sentences
Table 15.4 Community orders and suspended sentences

1. Unpaid work Between 4 and 300 hours
Designed to make amends to the community, and help the offender develop new
work-related skills
2. Activity May include reparation
3. Programme Participate in an accredited offender behaviour programme (see Chapter 17)
4. Prohibited activity A ban on taking part in specified activities, either for a period of time or on
specified days
5. Curfew Requiring the offender to remain at a specified place for between 2 and 12 hours
in any day. Maximum duration of 6 months. The court must include electronic
monitoring unless it is considered inappropriate to do so
6. Exclusion Prohibiting the offender from entering a defined area for not more than 2 years
7. Residence Requiring the offender to live at a certain address, which may be approved
premises
8. Mental health See below for details
treatment
9. Drug rehabilitation Where the court, based on evidence from the probation officer, is ‘satisfied that
the offender is dependent upon or has a propensity to misuse drugs, and that
this requires and may be susceptible to treatment’ (s209(2))
Resident or non-resident, for at least 6 months
Specific power for the court to review the offender’s progress and the order itself
10. Alcohol treatment Where the court is satisfied that they are dependent on alcohol
Treatment may be resident, non-resident or under the direction of ‘such person
having the necessary qualification or experience’ (s 212(5))
11. Supervision Must attend appointments with their probation officer in order to ‘promote the
offender’s rehabilitation’ (s213(2))
12. Attendance For offenders under 25 years. Provides structured group-based activities in a
centre designated centre
Mental Health Treatment Requirements are used relatively infrequently. See Clark et al.
(2002) for discussion of the merits of and problems associated with such sentences.
Breach and revocation of community orders

If an offender fails to comply with the requirements of their order, then the order is breached,
and the offender supervisor returns the case to the Crown or magistrates’ court depending
on where the order was made. The court may:
• amend the order to include more onerous requirements, or
• re-sentence for the original offence, including imprisonment even if the original offence was not
punishable by imprisonment.
A court may revoke a community order if it considers this to be in the interests of justice.
The court may then re-sentence for the original offence.
● Custodial Sentences
Imprisonable offences carry a maximum sentence length, and occasionally a minimum sen-
tence length:
• Minimum sentences have become more common over the last decade, as parliament has
increasingly sought to limit judicial discretion and prescribe sentences.
193
• It is useful to look at the relevant sentencing guidelines to understand how a sentencer arrives at a
sentence length.
Custodial sentences may be determinate or indeterminate:

• All custodial sentences are designed to consist of an initial period of detention in custody, followed
by a period of supervision in the community.
Determinate sentences
The majority of sentences are determinate, resulting in ‘fixed term prisoners’. Magistrates’
courts may give sentences of up to 6 months for a single offence. If a longer sentence is
thought to be warranted then the case must be referred to the Crown court for sentencing.
Extended sentences
The current version of the extended sentence is provided by ss227 and 228. It is a deter-
minate custodial sentence with an extended licence period. It may be available where a
court has decided that an offender is a dangerous offender (s229) (see below).
The total sentence must not exceed the maximum for the offence, and is made up of:
• the appropriate custodial term (if a normal determinate sentence were made)
• an extension period during which the offender is to be subject to licence in order to protect the
public from serious harm resulting from further specified offences:
– maximum of 5 years for a specified violent offence
– maximum of 8 years for a specified sexual offence.
The law relating to sentencing dangerous offenders is discussed with reference to psychiatric
evidence in Chapter 20.
Release on licence and recall

The CJA 2003 made parole automatic at the halfway point. Previously the Parole Board had
discretion to release on licence, or not. The number of ‘discretionary conditional release’
(DCR) prisoners, i.e. those sentenced to more than 4 years pre-CJA 2003, is steadily reduc-
ing.
Section 244 provides that the Secretary of State must release a prisoner as soon as the
requisite custodial period has elapsed:
• the period specified by the sentencing court (between 2 and 13 weeks for a single offence) for
those serving less than 12 months
• one-half of the sentence for those serving 12 months or more
• one-half of the appropriate custodial term for extended sentence prisoners.
While on licence, a prisoner is liable to revocation of their licence and recall to prison by
the Secretary of State (s254).
On recalling an offender to prison, the Secretary of State must consider whether they
should be automatically released after 28 days, according to the risk to the public. If they are
not automatically released, they must apply to the Parole Board for re-release. Automatic
release does not apply to those who have been convicted of a specified offence in the mean-
ing of Schedule 15 (see Chapter 20).
Indeterminate sentences
There are two forms of indeterminate sentence, which are almost identical in operation:
194
Custodial Sentences
• Life sentence:
– mandatory for murder
– available for other very serious offences (discretionary life sentence).
• Imprisonment for public protection:
– may be available where the court has decided that the offender is a dangerous offender according
to the assessment set out in s229 (discussed in relation to psychiatric evidence in Chapter 20).
As with other custodial sentences, an indeterminate sentence consists of:

• a custodial term of imprisonment
– the sentencing court is required to set a minimum term (or tariff), which is the amount of time
the offender must spend in custody before becoming eligible to have their case considered by
the Parole Board
• a subsequent period of conditional release on licence, with liability to recall to prison:
– this is indefinite – so-called life licence
– imprisonment for public protection (IPP) prisoners may apply to the Parole Board for revocation
of life licence annually, starting from 10 years after release from custody.
Determining minimum terms

The procedure is described in s82A Powers of Criminal Courts Act 2000, and schedule 21
of the CJA 2003:
• Section 82A(4) provides discretion for the court not to fix a minimum term for the most serious of
all offences – in other words a whole life tariff. Such an order may not be made with respect to an
IPP prisoner.
The minimum term should reflect the seriousness of the offence, with the following starting
points:
• Whole life for offences of exceptional seriousness:
– e.g. murder of more than one person or a child, with planning and premeditation, abduction,
sexual or sadistic conduct, to advance some cause, or by someone with a previous murder
conviction.
• 30 years for offences of high seriousness:
– e.g. killing a police or prison officer in the course of duty, using firearms or explosive, killing for
gain or to obstruct justice, sexual or sadistic conduct, aggravated by racial, religious or sexual
orientation issues.
• 15 years otherwise.
Then the court is required to moderate this starting point with reference to aggravating and
mitigating factors, examples of which are provided in the statute.
Sentencing dangerous offenders

The powers are provided by chapter 5 (ss224–236) of the CJA 2003. Three sentences are
available (but none is necessarily required) where the court decides that the offender is a
dangerous offender:
• extended sentence
• imprisonment for public protection
• discretionary life sentence.
The dangerous offender provisions of the CJA 2003 are considered in Chapter 20, and in
Clark (2011).
195
References
Allen MJ. (2007) Textbook on Criminal Law, 9th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Clark T. (2011) Sentencing dangerous offenders following the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act
2008, and the place of psychiatric evidence. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology 22(1),
138–55
Clark T, Kenney-Herbert J, Humphreys M. (2002) Community rehabilitation orders with additional
requirements of psychiatric treatment. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 8, 281–90
*Department of Health (2008a) Reference Guide to the Mental Health Act 1983. London: The
Stationery Office. Available at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/
PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_088162
Department of Health (2008b) Code of Practice: Mental Health Act 1983. London: The
Stationery Office. Available at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/
PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_084597
Holland J, Webb J. (2010) Learning Legal Rules. Oxford: Oxford University Press
*Jones R. (2010) Mental Health Act Manual, 13th edn. London: Sweet & Maxwell
Ministry of Justice (2010) Judicial and Court Statistics 2009. Available at http://www.justice.gov.uk/
publications/docs/jcs-stats-2009-211010.pdf
*Ormerod D. (2008) Smith and Hogan Criminal Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press
196
16
Psychiatry and
the Police
● Pathways into Police Detention
Mentally disordered individuals may enter police detention due to:
• arrest on suspicion of committing a criminal offence
• detention under the MHA – ss18, 135, 136.
Section 135 – warrant to search for and remove patients

The warrant is issued by a magistrate:
• s135(1) – on application by an approved medical health practitioner (AMHP) where it appears that
a person with mental disorder, within the jurisdiction of the magistrate:
– has been or is being ill-treated, neglected or kept otherwise than under proper control, or
– being unable to care for himself is living alone
• s135(2) – with respect to a patient who is AWOL from detention in hospital, on application by
anyone who is authorized to re-take the patient.
The warrant authorizes a police officer to enter the premises specified in the warrant and
remove the person to a place of safety:
• Under subsection 1, the police officer must be accompanied by an AMHP and a registered medical
practitioner (RMP). This is not required under subsection 2.
The maximum duration of detention is 72 hours, in order to make an application for deten-
tion under Part 2 of the Mental Health Act (MHA) or ‘other arrangements for his treat-
ment or care’.
The MHA 2007 introduced a power to transfer the detainee from one place of safety to
another. Place of safety is defined in s135(6) as:
... residential accommodation provided by a local social services authority, ... a hospital, an
independent hospital or care home for mentally disordered persons or any other suitable
place the occupier of which is willing temporarily to receive the patient ...
• The CoP (Department of Health, 2008) and the Royal College of Psychiatrists (2008) state that this
is a matter for local agreement between the relevant agencies but a police station should be used
‘only on an exceptional basis’.
197
Psychiatry and the Police
Section 136 – mentally disordered persons found in public places

This provides a power to a police constable to remove mentally disordered persons found in
public places to a place of safety. No warrant is required:
• A subjective test of presence of mental disorder – ‘appears to the constable to be suffering from
mental disorder and in immediate need of care or control’
• Detention must be necessary ‘in the interests of that person or for the protection of others’
• A public place has been held to include the communal area of a block of flats (Carter v MPC [1975]
1 WLR 507).
The maximum duration of detention is 72 hours, but the detention is ‘for the purpose of
enabling him to be examined by an RMP and AMHP’:
• So there is no ongoing power to detain once this has taken place.
There are no statutory forms for recording s135 or s136, so statistics on use are not readily
available. However, estimated figures for England and Wales in 2005–6 are:
• 11 517 people in police detention (Docking et al., 2008), with evidence of considerable regional
variation
• 5900 people in hospital as a place of safety (Department of Health, 2007).
● Police Detention and PACE

Figure 16.1 shows the process of police detention and charging.
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984

PACE provides and regulates the majority (though not all) of police powers in relation to
the investigation of crime. There are eight codes of practice (Home Office, 2005):
• Code A: stop and search powers
• Code B: searching of premises, to seize and retain property
• Code C: detention, treatment and questioning of suspects not related to terrorism:
– this is the most important for psychiatric practice
• Code D: methods used by police to identify people in investigations, and related documentation
procedures
• Code E: audio recording of interviews
• Code F: visual recording guidelines
• Code G: powers of arrest amended by Serious and Organised Crime and Police Act 2005
• Code H: detention, treatment and questioning of terrorism suspects.
Code C applies to persons in a police station, whether or not they have been arrested, and
including those detained under s135 or s136 of the MHA:
• does not apply to prisoners transferred from prison, or detained under immigration laws or terrorism
laws.
The custody officer

This is a statutory position, at the centre of PACE procedures, in terms of both procedure
and safeguards. A custody officer:
• is independent of the investigation
198
Police Detention and PACE
• is at least the rank of sergeant

• has undergone specific training
• is responsible for ensuring that all detainees are held and dealt with in accordance with PACE.
The custody officer is responsible for a series of statutory functions, including:

• deciding whether to detain following arrest
• the welfare of detained persons, including mental and physical health problems, language difficulties:
– clinical attention must be accessed as soon as practicable for any person who appears to need it
or who asks for it
• calling an appropriate adult when required to do so
• conducting a risk assessment relating to risks to the detained person or to staff:
– guidance on the required risk assessment is provided in Code C para 3.6–3.10 and Home Office
circular 32/2000
• informing the detained person of their rights, and the grounds for their detention
• compiling and maintaining a custody record
• calling and liaising with health-care professionals and liaising with solicitors
Arrest on suspicion of
committing an offence
Police station Police interview and

diversion further investigations
scheme
Released without charge

Decision May be bailed to return to
to charge police station at a given
time
Charged and detained in Charged and released

police custody with or without police bail
Magistrates’
court diversion Appearance at
scheme magistrates’ court
Remanded on bail
Remanded in custody pending ongoing
prosecution
Figure 16.1 The process of police detention and charging

199
• deciding whether there is sufficient evidence to charge and whether they should be detained or
released, with or without bail, in the meantime:
– the Police and Justice Act 2006 transferred the authority to decide whether or not to change
from the police to the CPS
• deciding whether to detain or release on bail following a charge, pending appearance at
magistrates’ court.
The custody officer can also request regular breaks, short interview sessions and other safe-
guards that will assist in ensuring that the interview process is fair and appropriate.
Important rights of an individual detained in police custody

• Right to have someone of their choice informed of their arrest.
• Right to have free, private legal advice from a solicitor.
• Right to examine the custody record, which can be requested for up to 12 months after period of
detention, and the code of practice.
• Right to an appropriate adult where appropriate.
• At least 8 hours of uninterrupted rest in any 24-hour period, not disturbed by interviews or travel.
This time starts from arrest, not arrival at the police station.
Table 16.1 describes the PACE detention time limits. At the end of a period of detention
the detained person must be:
• released without charge
• charged and released with or without bail, or
• charged and remanded in police custody pending a magistrates’ court hearing.
Remand in custody may be justified by a risk of:
• absconding
• committing further offences while on bail
• interfering with the course of justice.
Table 16.1 PACE detention time limits

PACE clock On the arrival of an arrested person at the police station, or Periodic reviews are
starts When an individual at the police station voluntarily is arrested conducted by an
At 24 hours Continued detention must be authorized by an officer of rank of officer of rank of
superintendent or above who is responsible for the police station. inspector (or above)
They must believe that: who is not involved in
– continued detention without charge is necessary to obtain the investigation. The
evidence (including by questioning) frequency increases as
– the offence must be an indictable offence the detention period
– the investigation is being carried out ‘diligently and becomes longer
expeditiously’ (s42(1))
At 36 hours This is the maximum duration of detention that can be authorized
by the police
Further detention requires a magistrates’ warrant, up to a
maximum total duration of detention, without charge for normal
criminal offences (as opposed to terrorist offences), of 96 hours
The appropriate adult

The appropriate adult without provision was introduced by PACE to provide protection for
vulnerable people at a police station, whether there as a suspect or a witness. Such a person
is required when dealing with anyone who is:
• mentally disordered (Code C uses the original four-part MHA classification of mental disorder)
200
The Psychiatrist in the Police Station
• mentally vulnerable (has difficulty in understanding the significance of questions or their replies, for
whatever reason, including problems with physical health or mental health, drugs or alcohol)
• under the age of 17.
There is a low threshold for calling an appropriate adult:

• when the ‘custody officer has any doubt about the mental state or capacity of a detainee’ (Code C
Note 1G).
The appropriate adult may be:

• the guardian, relative or other person responsible for the person’s care
• someone who has experience of dealing with mentally disordered or vulnerable people (often a
mental health social worker), who is not employed by the police
• some other responsible person aged 18 or over, who is not employed by the police
• but not anyone involved in the offence or investigation:
– this includes anyone who has received admissions from the detained person prior to attending
as the appropriate adult. Sometimes this precludes a social worker from a patient’s community
mental health team, for example.
There is no statutory duty on local authorities (or any other body) to provide appropriate
adults. There is no comprehensive description of the role of the appropriate adult, but rights
include:
• private consultation
• to have information about the grounds for detention and to see the custody record
• to request legal advice
• reading of rights and interviewing must be done in the presence of the appropriate adult, and the
suspect should be charged and cautioned again in their presence
• at interview the police officers must explain that the role of the appropriate adult is:
– to advise the person being questioned
– to observe that the interview is conducted properly and fairly
– to assist in communication (for example, explaining words or procedures).
Investigations of practice have tended to report that appropriate adults are not called upon
as often as they should be:
• A review of custody records (n = 20 805) reported that an appropriate adult should have been
called in 2.3% of cases, but was actually called in only 0.2% (Bean and Nimitz, 1995).
• Gudjonsson et al. (1993) suggested that an appropriate adult was called in 4% of cases but was
justified in 15–20%.
● The Psychiatrist in the Police Station

Practising psychiatry in a police station can be intimidating, because of the unfamiliar,
restrictive and authoritarian environment. You should:
• have a sound knowledge of relevant legal rights and procedures, including PACE, MHA and the
Mental Capacity Act (MCA)
• understand the roles and authority of the other individuals whom you will be working with
• be clear about the proper boundaries of your role as a psychiatrist and understand on which issues
your decision is authoritative and on which you are only giving advice
• ensure that you have effective clinical supervision and know where to go for advice or discussion.
201
Issues that you should expect to consider include:

• fitness for detention
• fitness for interview
• risk assessment:
– risk of self-harm or suicide, or risk of harm to others – this should be documented in the custody
record, and communicated to the custody officer
• any medical advice to be given to the detained person
• any medical advice to be given to custody staff
• any requirements for periodic rousing or changes to standard observation procedures
• whether there is a need for an appropriate adult
• information about required medication
• the appropriate setting for any further psychiatric treatment that is warranted, including MHA
assessment and appropriate placement.
You should not be asked about fitness to be charged. Being charged is a passive process
which requires no capacity on the part of the individual being charged. A police interview
is not a prerequisite to being charged.
Where you have existing knowledge of the patient, either your own knowledge or know-
ledge from medical notes, you need to consider how much information should be passed on
to the police officers responsible for their detention:
• You should always take your medical notes away with you. If you leave them in the police station
they will become part of the custody record and will no longer be confidential.
Confidentiality is dealt with generally in Chapter 4, and in relation to multi-agency public

protection panels (MAPPPs) in Chapter 17.
Fitness to be detained
There is no definition of fitness to be detained. An individual is unfit when they require
immediate medical investigation or treatment in hospital, and the consequences of not
receiving this are serious. Examples include medical emergencies such as disturbance of
level of consciousness, severe head injury, and acute metabolic or endocrine states.
It would be unusual for a psychiatric disorder to render an individual unfit for detention.
Fitness to be interviewed
This is determined by the custody officer. Health-care professionals may offer advice, and
the custody officer should consider this.
Annex G of PACE Code C states:
A detainee may be at risk in an interview if it is considered that
• Conducting the interview could significantly harm the detainee’s physical or mental
state
• Anything the detainee says in the interview about their involvement or suspected
involvement in the offence about which they are being interviewed might be considered
unreliable in subsequent court proceedings because of their physical or mental state
In assessing whether the detainee should be interviewed, the following must be consid-
ered:
• How the detainee’s physical or mental state might affect their ability to
– understand the nature and purpose of the interview
202
The Psychiatrist in the Police Station
– comprehend what is being asked

– appreciate the significance of the answers that they give
– make rational decisions about whether they want to say anything
• the extent to which the detainee’s replies may be affected by their physical or mental
condition rather than representing a rational and accurate explanation of their involve-
ment in the offence
• how the nature of the interview, which could include particularly probing questions,
might affect the individual
Fitness to be interviewed is a dimensional and dynamic characteristic:
• Some individuals are clearly not fit, others may be considered fit so long as certain precautions or
safeguards are employed.
• Some individuals are predictably unlikely to regain fitness (dementia, for example), while others
(e.g. intoxication) are unfit now but will regain fitness in due course.
Suggestibility and false confessions

Gudjonsson (2003) proposes a typology of false confessions:
• Voluntary:
– The individual actively presents themselves and confesses, due to delusions (for example, of
guilt in depression), or more commonly associated with personality disorder as a way of seeking
attention.
• Pressured–compliant:
– The individual is pressurized to confess by the interview situation or associated stressors.
• Pressured–internalized:
– A high level of suggestibility leads the confessor temporarily to believe that they are guilty.
Usually occurs in association with learning disability.
The distinction between pressured–compliant and pressured–internalized may not be clear

cut.
The Gudjonsson suggestibility scale (Gudjonsson, 1997) is sometimes recommended for
use in assessment. However, some (Beail, 2002) consider that the scale may not be valid
for this purpose because it concentrates on semantic memory rather than episodic memory
(which is more important in interview situations).
The consequences of failing to follow proper procedure at

interview
PACE includes safeguards in relation to the admission of evidence at trial:
• Section 76 requires a court to exclude any evidence of confession if the prosecution cannot prove
that it was not obtained by oppression or in consequence of anything said or done that was likely
to render it unreliable.
• With regard to ‘mentally handicapped persons’ s77 provides that, where a confession was made
in the absence of an independent person, but is nevertheless admitted as evidence, and the
prosecution case depends wholly or substantially on it, the judge must warn the jury to view the
evidence with caution.
• More generally, s78 provides that the court may exclude any prosecution evidence if its admission
would have an adverse effect on the fairness of proceedings.
The absence of an appropriate adult when one should have been present does not neces-
sarily lead to evidence being inadmissible. The Court of Appeal has tended to decide cases
203
Box 16.1 Assessing fitness to be interviewed (adapted from Ventress et al., 2008)
This is a functional test of capacity, not dependent on any particular mental disorder or diagnosis. Factors
such as tiredness, emotional arousal or distress, physical pain or intoxication may constitute mental
vulnerability and delay interviewing.
Before seeing the patient:
• obtain information from the forensic medical examiner (FME) and custody officer about their
presentation in the police station, particularly level of intoxication, agitation, confusion, bizarre
behaviour, loss of consciousness or head injury
• obtain information from the GP or mental health team about background history and pre-existing
physical or psychiatric conditions
• consider potential risk of harm towards you or others during the assessment, and take appropriate
measures.
On seeing the patient:
• obtain consent for the assessment, unless the person does not have capacity (in which case it is
necessary to be satisfied that proceeding is in their best interests)
• attempt to take a full psychiatric history, concentrating on identifying evidence of mental disorder,
learning disability, personality disorder, drug and alcohol use
• undertake a full mental state examination, including assessment of cognitive functioning as
appropriate.
Consider the capacity of the individual to understand:
• why they are in the police station, and why they are to be interviewed
• the police caution and their rights
• the questions that are likely to be asked at interview, and their significance
• the significance of their answers, and the potential consequences
Consider whether the person’s mental state could influence their ability to tell the truth, or to give an
accurate account of events. For example:
• delusional beliefs or altered mood could lead to an exaggeration of actions
• auditory hallucinations, thought disorder or confusion could lead to the person being unable to follow
conversations or to misunderstand questions
• a confession might be unreliable – look particularly for a high degree of suggestibility with a relatively
low IQ and emotional distress.
Consider whether the interview process itself might lead to a significant deterioration in their condition.
Form a judgement based upon the assessment as to the impact of any symptoms of a mental (or physical)
disorder upon the police interview, and the risks that this could pose (to individual’s health, or to reliability of
evidence given). Communicate your decision to the custody officer, and document in custody record.
Consider other recommendations:
• If the individual is currently deemed unfit for interview, would a reassessment be helpful and, if so, when?
• Do further safeguards need to be considered for the interview, such as more frequent breaks, simple
language being used, or a mental health professional being present in the interview to monitor the
person’s mental health?
• Do further assessments need to be carried out, such as a psychological assessment, or by a specialist in
old age or learning disability?
according to whether the interview evidence was actually unreliable or not, rather than
whether the appropriate safeguards were used.
Appellate judgments in relation to fitness to be interviewed similarly tend to turn on the
particular characteristics of the case. It would be very difficult to draw principles of clinical
relevance from the judgments.
204
Diversion from Police Custody
Box 16.2 Assessing suggestibility and reliability of confessions

This is usually assessed after the event, where a defence team is querying whether an interview should
have gone ahead, and whether there should have been safeguards in place, and whether any confession
or other statements are reliable.
Consider Box 16.1 in terms of making a retrospective assessment. In addition, you need to formulate the
interviewee’s suggestibility, considering:
• historical evidence of a tendency to lie, exaggerate, seek attention in other maladaptive ways – you will
need a collateral history for this
• personality style, especially inadequate or histrionic types
• intelligence and strategies for coping with stress – consider a formal IQ assessment
• social skills and competence.
You will also need to assess the interview directly, by listening to tapes or viewing video. Reading the
transcripts is unlikely to be adequate. Particularly look for evidence of stress expressed in an idiosyncratic
way, which might not have been obvious to the interviewing police officers.
● Diversion from Police Custody

In 1990, Home Office Circular 66/90 reiterated government policy that for mentally
disordered persons, ‘alternatives to prosecution … should be considered before deciding
that prosecution is necessary’. The policy of diversion was reinforced by the Reed Report
(Department of Health and Home Office, 1992), and most recently was supported by the
Bradley Report (Department of Health, 2009).
‘Diversion’ may imply that psychiatric treatment and criminal prosecution are mutually
exclusive. In fact the relationship between the two is more complex and dynamic than that:
• where the alleged offence is trivial and the individual is floridly psychotic, then prosecution is likely
to be set aside in favour of treatment
• conversely, where the offence is very serious and the individual has minor or non-acute mental
health needs, psychiatric treatment is likely to give way to prosecution.
For many cases the correct path lies in between these extremes and both offending and
mental health needs are properly dealt with in parallel (Figure 16.2). The key to initial
management is ensuring that:
• where offending or risk require the person to remain within the criminal justice system, their mental
health needs are nevertheless addressed appropriately
• where it is appropriate for him to be diverted into hospital care, his risk and offending are
nevertheless addressed.
Advantages of diverting offenders out of the criminal justice system (CJS) include:
• vulnerable individuals who have committed minor crimes due to their disorder do not receive a
criminal conviction
• more time is spent by police processing more serious crime
• the individual is given help and support to reduce further reoffending, rather than punishment.
Disadvantages include:
• people with a diagnosis of mental disorder may evade prosecution for serious offences
• such individuals may cause disruption if admitted to local mental health services (this was found
not to be the case by James et al., 2002)
• individuals who have a history of offending but who are not charged or convicted may be more
difficult to manage in future, leading to further offending.
205
Prosecution may
take precedence
over initial
Increasing seriousness of offence

psychiatric
treatment
Psychiatric
treatment and
prosecution
proceed in
parallel
Psychiatric
treatment may
take precedence
over prosecution
Increasing seriousness of acute

mental health needs
Figure 16.2 The relationship between severity and immediacy of mental health needs, and the
seriousness of the offence/risk
Diversion schemes
Diversion schemes are most often based in police stations or magistrates’ courts, but may
also operate in bail hostels. They recognize:
• the value of using offending and arrest as an opportunity for therapeutic intervention
• the potential vulnerability of mentally disordered individuals within the CJS.
They are often nurse-led projects, either linked with forensic mental health services, or spe-
cial teams for mentally disordered offenders within local mental health services. The most
successful schemes ensure good communication between mental health services (local and
forensic) and the CJS, as well as availability of beds (Birmingham, 2001).
The development of diversion schemes has had no central strategic drive, so there is
considerable geographical variation in provision. One of the key recommendations of the
Bradley Report (Department of Health, 2009) was that all custody suites (and all courts)
should have access to liaison and diversion services.
● The Police in Psychiatric Hospitals

Police liaison
Interagency working between mental health professionals and the police is important to:
• maintain safety within the hospital setting, and to address serious violence committed within the
hospital
• improve public and staff confidence
• identify intelligence related to absconding or potential offences (e.g. drug offences)
• provide assistance when assessing or admitting outpatients to hospital
• provide assistance if a patient absconds from hospital.
206
The Police in Psychiatric Hospitals
Box 16.3 Managing mental health needs in a police station

A 32-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of section 18 wounding. He stabbed a neighbour
as he came out of the lift in their block of flats in an apparently unprovoked assault. He was arrested
outside the block of flats with blood on his hand and clothes; he made an admission seeming to establish
his involvement in the offence. The victim is in hospital but the seriousness of his injuries is not clear at
present. The detainee has little criminal history and no previous violent offences. At the time of his arrest
he was resistive, and the police officers describe him as appearing to be intoxicated. Since he has been
in custody he has refused to speak to police officers, but has been noted to be agitated and muttering to
himself in the cell. He looks preoccupied and sometimes frightened. The custody officer has decided that
he is not fit to be interviewed and is seeking further advice on his management and mental health needs.
You establish that he is not known to the local psychiatric services but he does not engage with your
attempts to assess him directly. Objectively his presentation suggests that he is psychotic.
The offence is certainly very serious, although the circumstances and consequences are not yet
established. The final charge may be section 20 wounding to murder. Certainly this is not a case where a
prosecution should be set aside in favour of psychiatric treatment.
He also has serious and acute mental health needs, apparently being acutely psychotic. But note the
following:
• While at face value it may seem likely that the offence was partly determined by his psychosis, this is
not established.
• The role of intoxication in his presentation is not established; it may be that he will improve significantly
with clearance of stimulant drugs.
• The offence establishes that he poses a high risk of violence to others, but there is no way to formulate
this risk any further.
Given the offence, his risk and his mental health needs, it would not be appropriate for him to be released.
He must be detained in custody or in hospital.
In considering admission to hospital:
• Weigh up the uncertainties mentioned above very carefully. You must be sure that his risk is
manageable within a hospital setting.
• He would need to be detained under the Mental Health Act to allow effective risk management and
assessment/treatment. Police bail to the hospital would not be sufficient, as this is only a requirement
on the detainee to remain; no authority is conferred on the hospital or clinicians to hold him.
• Given the seriousness of the offence a medium secure bed may be required. Availability may be a
problem.
If you are considering recommending that he remain in custody, and then be remanded in custody from
the magistrates’ court, then you must:
• consider what may be done while he remains in the police cell overnight; consider required
observations, whether any medication is warranted and risk of self-harm
• liaise with the relevant court diversion scheme and the local prison to which he is likely to be remanded
• consider making an immediate referral to the relevant forensic service in order to secure as early an
assessment of his need for transfer to hospital as possible.
You must constantly consider confidentiality issues and ensure that sharing of information
is appropriate (see Chapter 4). Many services identify a specific liaison officer. This may
enable development of a better working relationship, with better mutual understanding of
roles and concerns.
• Remember that police officers have limited training in mental health issues. Their view of a situation
is likely to reflect this, rather than a lack of will to assist.
207
Prosecuting inpatient violence

• The ‘zero tolerance’ policy regarding violence towards staff in the NHS (Department of Health,
1999) initially excluded mental health units.
• The NHS Security Management Service, introduced in 2003, is responsible for the protection of
NHS people, property and assets.
• In 2004–5, there were over 40 000 reports of physical assaults on members of staff in mental
health and learning disability settings. This was higher than other services and led to new guidelines
for these services (NHS Security Management Service, 2005).
The decision to prosecute inpatient violence may be finely judged:

• The previous implied presumption against prosecution in mental health settings is wrong, many
patients remaining capacitous despite their mental disorder (Behr et al., 2005).
Anecdotally, many services continue to report difficulties working with the police and/or
the CPS in relation to prosecuting inpatients:
• Senior police officers tend to express concerns that (Brown, 2006):
– psychiatric patients will provide poor quality evidence
– a prosecution is not in the public interest – the patient is already in hospital so available sanctions
may be limited
– the amount of training received by officers is inadequate.
• The CPS may request statements from responsible clinicians (RCs) about the accused’s:
– mental disorder, treatment and detention in hospital
– other relevant information about the patient’s behaviour
– state of mind at the time of committing the alleged offence, including whether they knew what
they were doing and whether it was wrong
– fitness to plead.
• RCs should:
– be aware that issues of fitness to plead and potential defences of not guilty by reason of insanity
(NGBROI) are properly decided at court rather than at this stage
– refer to the Code for Crown Prosecutors (see Chapter 17) in discussions with the CPS
– emphasize that Part 3 MHA disposals may well be in the public interest, even if, for example,
there is a verdict of NGBROI.
Bayney and Ikkos (2003) have provided a useful discussion of the associated issues.
Police involvement in security and drugs

Drug use is prevalent in many forensic mental health units (Durand et al., 2005). If police
are to be engaged in supporting attempts to deal with this, it may be important to educate
them about the particular environment of a hospital and the profound effects of cannabis on
those with severe mental illness. Otherwise they may not see modest amounts of cannabis
as sufficiently important.
Police contact with patients who are AWOL

Section 18 MHA provides that a detained patient who is AWOL may be taken into custody
and returned by an AMHP, any member of hospital staff, a police officer or anyone with the
written authorization of the hospital managers:
• A conditionally discharged patient who has been recalled to hospital is treated in the same way as
one who is AWOL.
208
The Police in Psychiatric Hospitals
Box 16.4 Considerations in police involvement for inpatient violence

Advantages of police involvement in inpatient violence:
• may assist future risk management, ensuring that offences are recorded
• improves morale of staff, who will feel protected and valued
• may reduce adverse impact upon victim
• may improve patients’ confidence in their own safety
• reduces any perception that violence is part of the job of a mental health professional
• establishes that the actions of the perpetrator have consequences.
Disadvantages of police involvement in inpatient violence:
• may adversely affect therapeutic relationship with perpetrator
• may feel punitive to perpetrator or other patients
• a low threshold for calling police may result in a reluctance to attend for more serious incidents
• prosecution may lead to adverse publicity for the hospital
• if case is not concluded, there may be dissatisfaction from victim, leading to a deterioration in the
relationship between the police and mental health professionals.
If you decide to involve the police then think about the case in terms of the evidential and public interest
tests described in the Code for Prosecutors (see Chapter 17), so you can have an informed discussion with
the police.
The Code of Practice (CoP; para 22.12) states that the police should be involved ‘only if
necessary’, and preferably ‘only to assist’ a mental health professional.
The police should be informed immediately if a missing person is (CoP para 2.14):
• considered to pose a risk to themselves or to others
• considered vulnerable in any other way
• subject to restrictions under Part 3 of the Act.
References
*Bayney R, Ikkos G. (2003). Managing criminal acts on the psychiatric ward: understanding the police
view. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 9, 359–67
Beail N. (2002) Interrogative suggestibility, memory and intellectual disability. Journal of Applied
Research in Intellectual Disabilities 15, 129–37
Bean P, Nimitz T. (1995) Out of Depth Out of Sight. Loughborough: University of Loughborough
Behr GM, Ruddock JP, Benn P, Crawford J. (2005). Zero tolerance of violence by users of mental
health services: the need for an ethical framework. British Journal of Psychiatry 187, 7–8.
Birmingham L. (2001) Diversion from custody. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 7, 198–207.
*Brown A. (2006). Prosecuting psychiatric inpatients – where is the thin blue line? Medicine Science
and the Law 46(1), 7–12.
Department of Health. (1999) NHS Zero Tolerance Zone: We don’t have to take this. Resource Pack.
London: The Stationery Office
Department of Health. (2007) Inpatients formally detained in hospitals under the Mental Health
Act 1983 and other legislation, NHS Trusts, Care Trusts, Primary Care Trusts, and Independent
Hospitals, England; 1995–96 to 2005–6. London: Office for National Statistics
Department of Health. (2008) Code of Practice, Mental Health Act 1983. London: The Stationery
Office
209
health problems or learning disabilities in the Criminal Justice System.
Department of Health and Home Office. (1992) Review of Health and Social Services for Mentally
Disordered Offenders and Others Requiring Similar Services (The Reed Report). Cm 2088. London:
HMSO.
Docking M, Grace K, Bucke T. (2008) Police Custody as a ‘Place of Safety’: Examining the Use of
Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983. Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Available at: http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/section_136.pdf
Durand M, Lelliot P, Coyle N. (2005) The Availability of Treatment for Addictions in Medium Secure
Psychiatric Inpatient Services. London: Department of Health
Gudjonsson GH. (1997) Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales. Hove: Psychology Press
*Gudjonsson GH. (2003) The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions: A handbook. Chichester:
Wiley-Blackwell
Gudjonsson GH, Clare ICH, Rutter S, Pearse J. (1993) Persons at Risk during Interviews in Police
Custody: The identification of vulnerabilities. Royal Commission on Criminal Justice. London:
HMSO
Home Office. (2005) Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (s.60(1) (a), s.60A(1) and s.66(1)) Codes
of Practice A–G. London: The Stationery Office
James D, Farnham F, Moorey H, Lloyd H, Hill K, Blizard R, Barnes TRE. (2002) Outcome of Psychiatric
Admission through the Courts. Home Office Research Development Statistics Occasional Paper
No. 79. London: Home Office
NHS Security Management Service. (2005) Protecting your NHS: Promoting safer and therapeutic
services. London: The Stationery Office
Royal College of Psychiatrists. (2008) CR149 Standards on the use of section 136 of the Mental
Health Act 1983. Available at: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/publications/collegereports/cr/cr149.
aspx
*Ventress MA, Rix KJ, Kent JH. (2008) Keeping Pace. Fitness to be interviewed by the police. Advances
210
17
Psychiatry and the
Criminal Justice System
The core criminal justice system (CJS) agencies are:
• the police (see Chapter 16)
• the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
• the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), encompassing:
– National Probation Service
– HM Prison Service (see Chapters 18 and 19)
• Youth Justice Board (YJB) and Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) (see Chapter 12):
– the YJB is to be abolished in 2011, its functions being subsumed into the Ministry of Justice
(MoJ).
Forty-two regional Criminal Justice Boards coordinate activity and share responsibility
between the CJS agencies. The Parole Board is an independent body that works collabora-
tively with criminal justice partner agencies.
● The Crown Prosecution Service

A Government department (headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, reporting to the
Attorney General), this is the principal prosecuting authority in England and Wales, which:
• advises the police on possible prosecutions
• determines whether or not to charge
• prepares and presents cases at court.
The CPS was created by the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 in order to separate the
processes of investigation and prosecution of crime, in the interests of independence and
transparency, and to reduce confirmation bias in police investigation.
The code for Crown prosecutors

Available at http://www.cps.gov.uk. A case should be prosecuted if it passes both stages of
the Full Code Test:
• The Evidential Stage:
– The evidence is such that a conviction is more likely than not.
• The Public Interest Stage:
– A case that passes the evidential stage should normally be prosecuted unless public interest
factors against prosecution outweigh those in favour (Table 17.1).
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Psychiatry and the Criminal Justice System
Table 17.1 Some factors to be weighed up in the public interest stage

A prosecution is A conviction is likely to result in a significant sentence
more likely to be The offence was premeditated or violent, involved a weapon or threat of violence or
required if was committed against a person serving the public (e.g. a police officer/health-care
professional)
The offence was carried out: in breach of court order, by a group, committed in the
presence of a child, motivated by any form of discrimination or committed in order
to facilitate more serious offending
The suspect took advantage of: the victim’s vulnerability, a marked difference
in ages of suspect and victim, a marked difference in levels of understanding of
suspect and victim or a position of authority or trust
The victim was corrupted or the suspect was a ringleader
Previous convictions are relevant to the present offence
A prosecution would positively impact on community confidence. There is a risk the
offence will be repeated
A prosecution is The court is likely to impose a nominal penalty, or the seriousness and consequences
less likely to be can be appropriately dealt with by an out-of-court disposal
required if The suspect played a minor role, has put right the loss or harm, or has been subject
to regulatory proceedings or a civil penalty
The loss or harm is minor or the offence was committed as a result of a genuine
mistake or misunderstanding
There has been a long delay between the offence and trial (with various caveats).
A prosecution is likely to have an adverse effect on the victim’s physical or mental
health
The suspect is or was suffering from significant mental or physical ill health at the
material time
A prosecution may require details to be made public that could harm the sources of
information, international relations or national security
Prosecutors:
• will take into account views expressed by victims, but must form an overall view of the public
interest
• select charges that:
– reflect the seriousness of the offence
– give the court adequate powers to sentence.
● The Parole Board

Parole, as introduced by the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) 1967, was intended to promote
rehabilitation, while maintaining the deterrent of recall to custody for transgressions. Now,
protecting the public and managing risk may be the preferred focus, reflecting contemporary
socio-political preoccupations.
The Parole Board is an independent, executive, non-departmental public body, which
was sponsored by HM Prison Service from 1996, by the Home Office from 2003 and by the
Ministry of Justice since 2007:
• A recent consultation document (Ministry of Justice, 2009a) notes that the Board’s role has
changed from an advisory body to a more ‘court-like’ decision-making body, and suggests options
for future organization and sponsorship.
In addition to a chair, chief executive and members of the secretariat, in March 2010 there
were 73 judicial members, 30 psychiatrists, 10 psychologists, 10 probation members and 90
independent members.
Some important case law principles:
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The Parole Board
• Thynne v UK (1991) EHRR 666:

– Discretionary life sentence prisoners were entitled to be considered for release at an oral hearing
by an independent court-like body.
• Stafford v UK (2002) 25 EHRR 32:
– Post-tariff mandatory lifers were only entitled to be detained if necessary for public protection.
– Justification for their continued detention had to be considered at an oral hearing, at regular
intervals, by a court-like body with the power to direct release.
• R v Parole Board [2005] UKHL 1:
– A determinate sentence prisoner on licence is entitled to an oral hearing to consider his recall
where there are significant disputes of fact.
The CJA 2003 made parole automatic for prisoners serving standard determinate sentences
of >12 months whose offence was committed on or after 4 April 2005. Therefore the Board
now considers whether or not to release:
• indeterminate sentence prisoners who are post-tariff or who have been recalled to prison
• discretionary conditional release (DCR) prisoners (pre-CJA 2003, see Chapter 15) or extended
sentence prisoners who have completed their minimum term of imprisonment
• recalled determinate sentence prisoners.
The statutory test for the release of indeterminate sentence prisoners is that:
• The Board is satisfied that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that the prisoner
should be confined.
• If a prisoner is not to be released:
– ‘risk must mean dangerousness … it must mean there is a risk of Mr. Benson repeating the
sort of offence for which the life sentence was originally imposed; in other words risk to life and
limb’ (R v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Benson (no.2), The Times, 21
November 1988)
– To justify post-tariff detention, the risk should be ‘substantial … not merely perceptible or
minimal … unacceptable in the judgment of the Parole Board’ (R v Parole Board ex parte Bradley
[1991] 1 WLR 134).
The test for release differs for determinate sentence prisoners.
Parole Board hearings

The Board sits as a one-, two- or three-member panel, reviewing suitability for release in
paper hearings and oral hearings. Paper hearings are used:
• to consider cases in which a DCR prisoner is applying for parole:
– these are becoming less frequent now that parole is automatic
• to serve as the initial hearing where a prisoner has been recalled from release on licence.
Oral hearings normally take place in prisons, considering suitability for release from
indeterminate sentences:
• Chaired by a sitting or retired judge for life sentence prisoners, and often by an experienced
independent member for imprisonment for public protection (IPP) prisoners.
• Specialist members are included in those cases where psychiatric or psychological factors are
important.
213
Box 17.1 The oral hearing

Before the hearing, the panel will familiarize itself with a dossier containing reports from the offender
manager, offender supervisor, prison staff and any specialist reports.
A public protection advocate may submit (written or oral) evidence on behalf of the Secretary of State,
and seeks to represent the views of the victim. Since 2007, victims/victims’ families have been able to
attend (part of) the hearing.
The prisoner’s representative will be invited to make an application, and panel members adopt an
inquisitorial role to test the evidence of witnesses. Hearings are as informal as possible; the order of
questioning and witnesses varies. Witnesses almost always include:
• the offender manager
• any other professionals involved in the risk assessment and management of the prisoner.
The decision
A majority decision is sufficient. The panel chair drafts the written reasons for the decision, for agreement
by co-panelists.
Decisions are issued within 14 days of the hearing. A decision to release is binding on the Secretary of
State; a recommendation to transfer to open conditions is not binding.
Data from 2009–10 (Parole Board, 2010) shows that:

• 24 204 cases were considered:
– 2974 oral hearings
– 2202 determinate sentence paper panels
– 13 423 recall cases.
• The rate of release has declined:
– 18% of DCR cases were granted parole (24% in 2008–9)
– 11% of life sentence prisoners were released (15%)
– 5% of IPP cases were released (8%).
• The rate of recall to custody has remained constant:
– 50 determinate sentence prisoners were recalled, a rate of 4%, the same as in 2008–9
– 90 out of 1797 life sentence prisoners under active supervision in the community were recalled (a
rate of 5%, compared with 5.4% in 2008–9).
Psychiatric reports for Parole Board hearings

The task of a psychiatrist instructed to provide a report for a Parole Board hearing is to pro-
vide an assessment of risk, and the risk of serious harm in particular. Treating psychiatrists,
such as those who provide regular clinical sessions to the prison, should consider carefully
whether to provide parole reports:
• Information gathered while treating the patient is subject to medical confidentiality.
• As a patient, the prisoner will have provided medical information without expecting it to be
shared.
• If they believe a treating psychiatrist will share information with the body that will decide whether
to release them, a prisoner may be less likely to engage in a therapeutic relationship and provide
information that will allow modification of risk.
It may be preferable for reports to be separately commissioned by the relevant primary care
trust or the prisoner’s legal representative.
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National Offender Management Service
Box 17.2 Writing a report for the Parole Board in relation

to an indeterminate sentence prisoner
Before agreeing to provide a report for the Board, psychiatrists must obtain fully informed and valid
consent for the disclosure of medical information. The body of the report will be similar to a psychiatric
report for courts or tribunals.
Ensure that you have all the information you need. This will include:
• The parole dossier, which contains information about conduct in prison, sentence progression and
participation in offending behavior programmes (OBPs).
• Prison medical records and (if applicable) previous psychiatric records.
It is important to give a clear structure and to use headings. Reports will usually include:
• An introduction detailing your sources of information.
• Background information encompassing the usual sections of a psychiatric history.
• An analysis of the index offence, discussing any relevant psychiatric issues.
• Analysis of the offender’s response to offending behaviour work.
• A summary of psychiatric treatments received during prison sentence.
• A mental state examination.
• A risk assessment.
• A summary of the recommendations of other report writers, particularly the offender manager and
supervisor. Are they recommending release or transfer to open conditions?
• An analysis of the proposed risk management plan – is it viable? Outline additional psychiatric needs;
how they should be addressed and by whom.
• Opinions and recommendations.
The risk assessment for a parole report should, in particular, consider:
• How the prisoner’s mental disorder relates to their risk.
• Risk factors identified by CJS agencies, and any risk assessment instruments that have been used.
Do they have face validity? Are there psychiatric factors that may make them less accurate for this
individual than for non-mentally disordered offenders?
• Are there additional psychiatric factors that need to be taken into account?
• State clearly whether the risk is more than minimal to life and limb.
The recommendation section should give a clear statement as to whether you are in a position to support
release:
• You can recommend release only where you have determined that the risk is no more than minimal to
life and limb.
• Alternatively, would you support a transfer to open conditions? If so, comment on the risk of
absconding.
• Provide a rationale for your recommendation, based on both the assessed risks and the viability of
proposed risk management plans.
● National Offender Management Service

Created in response to Lord Carter’s unpublished 2003 review of correctional services,
NOMS is an executive agency of the MoJ that brings together the administrative organiza-
tion of HM Prison Service and the National Probation Service:
• It aims to deliver ‘end-to-end management’ of offenders throughout the offender pathway.
• By introducing a new approach to offender management.
215
The Offender Management Approach (National Offender

Management Service, 2005)
Having originally been a welfare-orientated service, by the 2000s the priority of the Proba-
tion Service was public protection. A single offender manager (OM) ‘manages’ an offender
throughout their contact with NOMS, whether in custody or the community. Management
is more rigid, systematized and programmatic than before:
• The offender management process involves (ASPIRE):
– Assessment
– Sentencing planning
– Implementation
– Review
– Evaluation.
• The OM is responsible for the supervision of the offender:
– directly in the community
– by delegation to a prison officer or another probation officer in custody.
• The ‘four Cs’ offer the best chance of achieving reform and rehabilitation:
– Consistency – of message and behaviour, over time and across staff.
– Commitment – of staff to offenders. Success is more likely when this is reciprocated.
– Consolidation – turning new learning into routine and instinctive behaviour through positive
reinforcement.
– Continuity – to improve engagement.
• Four offender management approaches, allocated on basis of risk and need:
– Tier 1: Punish
– Tier 2: Punish and help
– Tier 3: Punish, help and change
– Tier 4: Punish, help, change and control.
The ‘resources follow risk’ principle means offenders at Tiers 3 and 4 will be subject to
higher levels of supervision and support, often via a multi-agency approach.
A meta-analysis suggested that correctional work is most effective when offenders are
involved in their own assessment and are active collaborators in the implementation of
their sentence plan (Dowden and Andrews, 2004).
Assessment of risk and OASys

Criminal justice agencies rely on the Offender Assessment System (OASys) and Risk
Matrix 2000 (RM2000) risk assessments.
OASys is the principal risk assessment and management system used by NOMS in
England and Wales, providing a structured approach to examining the following areas of
criminogenic need, with defined thresholds for intervention:
• offending history
• analysis of offence – with an emphasis on risk of serious harm
• accommodation
• education, training and employability
• financial management and income – and how this relates to offending
• lifestyle and associates – examining how peers influence behaviour
• relationships – including history of violence/domestic abuse
• drug misuse – and relationship to offending
• alcohol misuse – and relationship to offending
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National Offender Management Service
• emotional wellbeing
• thinking and behaviour – assessing the offender’s reasoning ability and consequential thinking skills
• attitudes – towards offending and supervision.
Offenders are assessed at the pre-sentence stage to inform sentence planning, at regular
intervals throughout sentences and at the end of interventions as a means of monitoring
change.
The outcome commonly used, particularly in relation to a multi-agency public protection
panel (MAPPP), is risk of serious harm (ROSH):
• Serious harm means ‘an event which is life threatening and/or traumatic, from which recovery,
whether physical or psychological, can be expected to be difficult or impossible’ (National Offender
Management Service, 2009).
The levels of ROSH used by OASys are:

• Low:
– current evidence does not indicate the likelihood of causing serious harm.
• Medium:
– there are identifiable indicators of serious harm
– the offender has the potential to cause serious harm, but is unlikely to do so unless there is
a change in circumstances, for example failure to take medication, loss of accommodation,
relationship breakdown, drug or alcohol misuse.
• High:
– there are identifiable indicators of risk of serious harm
– the potential event could happen at any time and the impact would be serious.
• Very high:
– there is an imminent risk of serious harm
– the potential event is more likely than not to happen imminently and the impact would be
serious.
OASys also indicates the likely subject of harm: the public, prisoners, a known adult, chil-
dren, staff and self.
An evaluation of the second pilot of OASys (Howard, 2006) found:
• The most frequent areas of need were:
– education, training and employability
– thinking and behavior.
• The risk of serious harm was assessed as:
– low for 53%
– medium for 36%
– high for 11% of offenders.
• 2-year reconviction rates of:
– 26% for those rated as low likelihood of reconviction
– 58% for medium likelihood
– 87% for high likelihood.
Analysis of OASys data has led to the development of actuarial tools, which differentially
weight OASys factors to generate percentage risks of reoffending over 1 and 2 years:
• OASys Violence Predictor (OVP)
• OASys General re-offending Predictor (OGP)
• Offender Group Reconviction Scale (OGRS) – based on age, gender, current offence and previous
offending.
217
Proponents describe them as demonstrating good predictive accuracy (Howard, 2009) and
they are routinely quoted in pre-sentence reports, though whether they are useful in relation
to those with mental disorder is not established. Certainly they do not take into account
psychiatric treatment for severe mental illness as a dynamic factor.
RM2000 is an actuarial risk assessment instrument which includes subscales for sexual
violence, non-sexual violence, and overall violence. Actuarial risk assessments is discussed
further in Chapter 6.
Offending behaviour programmes

Offending behaviour programmes for use in custody and the community should be centred
on these principles (Mackenzie, 2006):
• based on an explicit model of the causes of crime
• target criminogenic needs
• responsive
• based on a cognitive–behavioural approach.
OBPs aim to:

• understand the reasons for offending
• facilitate risk assessment
• reduce future offending and help manage risk.
There are 22 OBPs accredited for the prison setting and 18 for the community (Table 17.2),
but availability varies between regions and prisons. Attendance at OBPs forms part of an
offender’s sentence plan, and failure to attend may lead to breach proceedings.
Evaluations of OBPs tend to show inconsistent and modest effect sizes on reoffending. In
some cases early reductions are not sustained on longer follow-up:
• Completers do better than non-starters; non-completers do worst of all (Harper and Chitty, 2004).
• Wilson et al. (2005) found a mean effect size of 0.32 (a moderate effect) on reoffending rates for
various cognitive–behaviourally based OBPs.
• Enhanced Thinking Skills (ETS) led to a reduction in self-reported impulsivity, reduction in prison
security reports, and improvements in measures of locus of control, attitudes to offending and
cognitive indolence (McDougall et al., 2009).
• Meta-analysis of 16 studies in 4 countries suggested a 14% reduction in recidivism for participants
in Reasoning and Rehabilitation compared with controls (Joy Tong and Farrington, 2006).
• The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (2008) estimated that, overall, OBPs lead to 10–24%
reduction in reoffending.
● Victim Liaison Units

Victim liaison units (VLUs) sit within local probation trusts, and seek to represent the
interests of victims of crime in the CJS. Over the last 10 years the rights of victims have
gained an increasingly prominent place in sentencing and offender management.
Section 69 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act (CJSCA) 2000 placed victim
work on a statutory footing for the first time, requiring, in relation to violent or sexual
offenders who receive 12 months or more custody, probation boards to:
• Ascertain whether the victim(s) wishes to:
– make representations about restrictions or requirements on release, or
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Victim Liaison Units
Table 17.2 Some commonly available offender behaviour programmes

General offending Thinking Skills Programme 20 sessions over 4–10 weeks, looking at interpersonal
(TSP; previously Enhanced problem-solving skills and emotional self-
Thinking Skills, ETS) management
The most commonly delivered programme in prison
Think First 22 sessions delivered over up to 3 months, in a
community setting
Reasoning and Similar to TSP and delivered in prison for prolific
Rehabilitation offenders, particularly those with sexual, violent or
drugs offences
38 sessions over 9–18 weeks
Cognitive Skills Booster A short enhancement for those who have already
Programme completed a general offending behaviour programme
Aggression and Controlling Anger and 24 sessions aiming to help male prisoners monitor and
violence Learning to Manage it understand their emotions
(CALM) Not suitable for those who use violence instrumentally
or those convicted of domestic violence
Aggression Replacement Social skills, anger management and improved moral
Training reasoning
28 sessions, for medium to high risk of harm offenders
Cognitive Self-change For offenders over 24 years with a lifespan history of
Programme violence and some motivation to change
Examines violence promoting cognitive style and
individual risk factors. Five modules delivered in prison,
the last after release
Domestic violence Community Domestic Community-based programmes for male perpetrators
Violence Programme of domestic violence
Integrated Domestic Teach non-controlling behaviour strategies and
Violence Programme enhanced victim empathy
Take around 6 months to complete
Healthy Relationships For prisoners with a history of violence in relationships
Programme
Sex offending Sex Offender Treatment A family of programmes for sex offenders, including
Programme (SOTP) an adapted version for those with learning disability,
and a pre-release booster programme
Available in prison and in the community
Internet Sex Offender For adult male non-contact Internet offenders.
Group Programme Core modules challenge offending, impulse control
and emotional management skills to improve victim
empathy
Substance use Offender Substance Abuse For men and women who are sufficiently stable,
Programme motivated and whose offending is linked to substance
use
26 sessions over 12–24 weeks
Drink-impaired drivers Men and women whose drinking is stabilized
Programme for Individual An individual programme delivered over 50 hours in
Substance Misusers (PRISM) 10–20 sessions
– receive any information about such restrictions or requirements.

• Pass such information to or from the victim as appropriate.
The Domestic Violence, Crime & Victims Act (DVCVA) 2004 extended this duty to vic-
tims of mentally disordered offenders subject to restrictions.
219
The Mental Health Act (MHA) 2007 further extended this duty to the victims of
patients who receive unrestricted hospital orders.
Restricted patients
The DVCVA 2004 requires the Justice Secretary and/or the First Tier Tribunal to notify
probation:
• when a patient applies for a tribunal
• if a patient is to be discharged
• whether the discharge will be conditional or absolute
• of the conditions of the discharge in so far as they relate to contact with the victim
• if restrictions are lifted
• when a section 47/49 patient is remitted to prison.
Mental Health Unit (MHU) practice is to notify the VLU:

• when a patient is transferred to another hospital
• when leave is granted to a patient (on the basis that the victim will not be given details of the
leave)
• when a patient previously unfit to plead is remitted for trial
• when a conditionally discharged patient is recalled to hospital.
The MHU may:

• inform the VLU when a patient has absconded if there is a perceived risk to the victim
• seek information from the VLU when considering leave applications.
Unrestricted patients
VLUs should relay the wishes of the victim to the hospital managers who will pass on
representations to the responsible clinician (RC). RCs must inform managers if they are
considering:
• discharging a patient from detention
• discharging a patient onto a community treatment order (CTO)
• varying the conditions of a CTO (in so far as they relate to contact with the victim)
• discharging a patient from a CTO.
Box 17.3 Disclosing information to victims

Disclosure is intended to reduce the risk of harmful confrontations between patients and victims:
• There is no statutory requirement for clinicians to disclose information directly to victims.
• Aside from the information to which victims are entitled, there is no statutory duty to break patient
confidentiality.
Having considered all aspects of the case, clinicians should consider whether to liaise directly with victim liaison
officers prior to making decisions about leave, or at other important stages of a patient’s rehabilitation:
• It is often helpful for the clinical team to be made aware of the views of the victim at an early stage of
a patient’s care pathway.
You should always inform and seek consent from the patient when sharing information about their
case. Explain that disclosures may reassure victims and improve the prospects of a patient’s successful
rehabilitation into the community:
• Patient consent is not required for the disclosures specified in statute.
• Valid and fully informed consent is required for more extensive disclosures.
220
MAPPAs
RCs and approved mental health practitioners (AMHPs) should consider any representa-
tions made by the victim when deciding on conditions (e.g. exclusion zones) for supervised
community treatment (SCT):
• But the purpose of restrictions must be those defined in s17B MHA.
● Multi-agency Public Protection Arrangements

(MAPPAs)
The legal framework
Sections 67 and 68 of the CJCSA 2000 placed a statutory duty on police and probation
(the responsible authority [RA]) to ‘establish arrangements for the purpose of assessing &
managing the risks’ posed by violent and sexual offenders in their area. HM prison service
was incorporated into the RA by the CJA 2003.
A number of agencies have a ‘duty to co-operate’ with the RA, including social care,
housing, education and health. Each of the 42 MAPPA areas has a:
• strategic management board (SMB) responsible for monitoring and developing MAPPA
• MAPPA coordinator with responsibility for oversight of the local arrangements.
The key functions of MAPPA:

• Identification of MAPPA offenders
• Assessing the risks posed by offenders
• Managing the risks posed by offenders
• Sharing information about offenders.
The desired outcome of MAPPA is effective risk management (Kemshall, 2003):

• Zero risk can never be achieved
• Risk management should be based on:
– a rigorous risk assessment
– defensible decision-making.
Identification of offenders
There are three formal categories of MAPPA eligible offender:
• Category 1 – registered sex offenders (RSOs)
• Category 2 – violent or other sex offenders:
– sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment or longer, or
– sentenced to a hospital order or guardianship under the MHA.
• Category 3 – other offenders, ‘who, by reason of offences committed by them ... are considered by
the RA to be persons who may cause serious harm to the public’:
– although this category is intentionally broad, most of these offenders are likely to be people who
have committed serious sexual or violent offences prior to the introduction of the legislation.
Many police forces have also agreed local protocols relating to a fourth category:
• Potentially dangerous offenders:
– those without a criminal conviction or caution to place them in any category above, but whose
behaviour gives reasonable grounds for believing that there is a present likelihood of them
committing an offence that will cause serious harm.
221
An MDO will remain eligible for MAPPA for a defined period as shown in Table 17.3.
Table 17.3 Multi-agency public protection arrangement eligibility period

Category Transferred prisoner s37 s37/41
1 For the period specified at Required to remain on sex For life
the time of sentence offender register for 7 years
2 Until expiration of licence Until discharged from Until absolute discharge
hospital or from community
treatment order
3 When a level 2 or 3 MAPP meeting decides that the risk of harm has reduced sufficiently
and the case no longer requires multi-agency management
Offenders whose supervision has ended may be included as a category 3 offender
On 31 March 2009 there were 44 761 MAPPA cases (Ministry of Justice, 2009b)
• 32 336 category 1
• 11 527 category 2
• 898 category 3.
Notification of MAPPA-eligible offenders

The responsibility for identifying MAPPA-eligible offenders falls to each agency with a
statutory role in their care or supervision, including health.
Relevant offenders for mental health are MAPPA eligible offenders:
• who are subject to a conditional discharge from a restricted hospital order made under the MHA or
equivalent legislation
• who are discharged by the RC under a CTO made under s17 of the MHA
• whose conditional discharge is planned within the next 6 months
• who are required to register with the police and whose discharge is planned within the next 6
months.
Box 17.4 Notification of MAPPA-eligible patients

Clinical teams must maintain an awareness of which of their patients are MAPPA (multi-agency public
protection arrangement) eligible, and routinely consider at what point in the care pathway liaison with
MAPPA is appropriate.
The 2009 MAPPA Guidance (National Offender Management Service, 2009) recommends that:
• the MAPPA coordinator be notified of offenders already in the community for whom notification had
not taken place, and that
• there is a process in place to identify all MAPPA-eligible offenders within 3 days of sentence/admission
to hospital (and on every fresh admission or transfer)
• MAPPA form F/G is submitted to the relevant MAPPA coordinator within 10 days of the relevant point,
i.e. 6 months prior to the planned release/discharge or with as much notice as possible.
Appendix 4 of the 2009 MAPPA Guidance contains a MAPPA document set, which includes
• Form A: allows any professional involved in the management of a MAPPA-eligible offender to
make a referral to a level 2 or 3 meeting.
• Form G: for the Initial Notification of MAPPA mental health patients.
The completed forms should be sent to the relevant MAPPA coordinator. Most mental health trusts will
have protocols for the sharing of relevant information with MAPPA.
222
MAPPAs
Risk management
MAPPA-eligible offenders are managed at one of three levels (Table 17.4).
Table 17.4 Levels of MAPPA (multi-agency public protection arrangement) management

Level 1 Ordinary agency Risks posed by an offender can be managed by the agency
management responsible for supervision/care of the offender
Offender has been assessed as presenting a low or medium risk
of serious harm (ROSH); or, if high risk, a robust risk management
plan is in place
Represents the highest proportion of offenders
Does not preclude the sharing of information between agencies
Cases should be reviewed every 4 months
In health, level 1 patients will be managed under care programme
approach arrangements
Level 2 Active multi-agency Offender assessed as posing a significant ROSH – usually high or
management very high on Offender Assessment Systems
Requires active involvement and coordination of interventions
from other agencies to manage risk
Has previously been managed at level 3 and the seriousness
of risk has diminished and/or the complexity of multi-agency
management of risk has been brokered and a MAPPA risk
management plan has been established
Cases will be reviewed every 8–12 weeks
Level 3 The offender is assessed as presenting a high or very high ROSH.
Present risks can only be managed by a plan that requires close
cooperation at a senior level due to complexity or the need for
unusual resource commitments
Although not assessed as high risk, there is a high likelihood of
media scrutiny and/or public interest
Cases will be reviewed every 4–6 weeks
Guidance from the Royal College of Psychiatrists (2004) recommends the following level
of clinical representation:
• Strategic management board – consultant psychiatrist
• Level 3 meeting – consultant forensic psychiatrist
• Level 2 meeting – consultant forensic psychiatrist or consultant general psychiatrist with special
training in, or experience of, the interface between psychiatry and the CJS.
MAPPP meetings produce a risk management plan, the minutes of which will be produced
and distributed within:
• 5 days for level 3 cases
• 10 days for level 2 cases.
Between April 2008 and March 2009 there were 10 924 cases (24% of the total) being man-
aged at multi-agency level (Ministry of Justice, 2009b):
Category of offender Level 2 Level 3

1 4 408 (10%) 424 (1%)
2 3 891 (9%) 320 (0.7%)
3 1 701 (4%) 180 (0.4%)
Total 10 000 (22%) 924 (2%)
223
Outcomes for offenders managed at multi-agency level in 2008–9 (Ministry of Justice,

2009b):
Returned to prison for Returned to prison for Charged with serious

breach of licence breach of SOPO further offence*
Level 2 1297 (11.87%) 58 (0.53%) 40 (0.37%)
Level 3 117 (1.07%) 10 (0.09%) 8 (0.07%)
*A serious further offence is defined as homicide or attempted homicide, rape or attempted rape, and other serious
violent or sexual offences with a maximum penalty of 14 years imprisonment or more
Percentages are of the total level 2 and 3 populations
SOPO, sex offending prevention order
Box 17.5 Attending a MAPPP meeting

MAPPP meetings vary considerably in their attitude to mentally disordered offenders, their understanding
of psychiatric issues and their acceptance of medical confidentiality.
• In some cases, excellent relationships have developed which allow effective collaboration.
• But sometimes you may be the only health-care professional in a large group of CJS workers, and this
can be intimidating.
• The other attendees may form an initial evaluation of the case based on the offending history, not
taking into account the role of mental illness and the intervening period of psychiatric treatment and
rehabilitation.
• Sometimes this leads to a MAPPP making unreasonable requests, perhaps related to covert
observations or restrictions on leave, or information about every leave that is taken.
Before attending, consider:
• What information is appropriate to disclose.
• What you are hoping to achieve from the meeting. This might include gaining further information or
might be to reduce risk-related anxiety among CJS agencies.
• What requests might be made by a MAPPP meeting and how you will deal with them.
Discuss the meeting with the patient, in order to:
• gain permission for the disclosure of the appropriate amount of information
• reassure the patient about continued CJS involvement, and explain that it is often helpful to work with
CJS agencies.
At the meeting:
• Bear in mind your aims and the parameters that you have set around information sharing.
• Be prepared politely to decline to give undertakings or assurances, pending further discussion at the
hospital and a subsequent MAPPP meeting.
Make sure that you keep careful notes of the meeting, including what information was disclosed and what
information was gained.
If the patient refuses consent to share information you must consider whether or not disclosure is
warranted in the public interest:
• The usual rules and guidance apply to this – see Chapter 4.
• Remember that it is for the doctor to determine whether or not release of medical information is
justified in the public interest.
• OASys assessments are indicative only.
• Always ensure that you make comprehensive notes of your deliberations, to record how you weighed up
the issues in terms of the professional guidance available.
224
MAPPAs
Information sharing and confidentiality

The MAPPA 2009 Guidance (National Offender Management Service, 2009) requires that
the process of information sharing between agencies:
• has lawful authority
• is necessary, proportionate and done in ways that are:
– accountable
– ensure the safety and security of the information shared.
The CJA 2003 requires the cooperation of health, which ‘may include the exchange of
information’. However:
• there are no new powers allowing the release of medical information
• there is no change in the threshold for release of information without consent
• it does not over-ride:
– the Common Law Duty to protect patient confidentiality
– the Data Protection Act 1998
– Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
References
Dowden C, Andrews DA. (2004) The importance of staff practice in delivering effective correctional
treatment: a meta-analysis of core correctional practices. International Journal of Offender
Therapy & Comparative Criminology 48, 203–14
Harper G, Chitty C. (2004) The Impact of Corrections on Re-offending: A review of what works. Home
Office Research Study No. 291. London: Home Office
Howard P. (2006) Findings 278: The Offender Assessment System: An evaluation of the second pilot.
London: Home Office
Howard P. (2009) Improving the Prediction of Re-offending using the Offender Assessment System.
Research Summary 2/09. London: Ministry of Justice
Joy Tong LS, Farrington D. (2006) How effective is the ‘reasoning and rehabilitation’ programme
in reducing reoffending? A meta-analysis of evaluations in four countries. Psychology, Crime and
Law 12(1), 3–24
Kemshall H. (2003) The community management of high-risk offenders. Prison Service Journal
March
Mackenzie DL. (2006) What Works in Corrections: Reducing the criminal activities of offenders &
delinquents. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
McDougall C, Perry AE, Clarbour J, Bowles R, Worthy G. (2009) Evaluation of HM Prison Service
Enhanced Thinking Skills Programme: Report on the outcomes from a randomised controlled trial.
Ministry of Justice Research Series 3/09
Ministry of Justice. (2009a) The Future of the Parole Board. Consultation Paper 14/09. Available
from: http://www.justice.gov.uk
Ministry of Justice. (2009b) National Statistics for Multi-agency Public Protection Arrangements
Annual Reports 2008–9. London: Ministry of Justice
National Offender Management Service. (2005) The NOMS Offender Management Model. London:
Home Office
*National Offender Management Service. (2009) MAPPA Guidance 2009 Version 3.0. Available at:
http://www.probation.homeoffice.gov.uk
225
Parole Board. (2010) Annual Report and Accounts the Parole Board for England and Wales 2009/10.
London: The Stationery Office
*Royal College of Psychiatrists. (2004) Psychiatrists & Multi-agency Public Protection Arrangements:
Guidelines on representation, participation, confidentiality & information exchange. London:
Royal College of Psychiatrists
*Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health. (2008) A Review of the Use of Offending Behaviour Programmes
for People with Mental Health Problems. London: Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
Wilson DB, Bouffard LA, Mackenzie DL. (2005) A quantitative review of structured, group-orientated,
cognitive behavioral programs for offenders. Criminal Justice and Behaviour 32, 172–204
226
18
Prisons and Prisoners
● The Size of the Prison Population
In February 2010, the total prison population in England and Wales was 83 925 (data avail-
able from monthly bulletins, available at: http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/resource
centre/publicationsdocuments/):
• This represented 110% of the uncrowded prison capacity.
• 79 701 (95%) were men; 4224 women.
• 70 116 (84%) were sentenced; 4494 (5%) were convicted but unsentenced; 8271 (10%) were
untried.
• 72 596 (86.5%) were adults; 9633 were young adults (18–20 years); 1696 were 15–17 years.
• The prison turnover in the UK is 140 000–150 000 per year.
• At the end of March 2008, 10 911 prisoners were serving indeterminate sentences. Of these 4170
were serving imprisonment for public protection (IPP) or detention for public protection (DPP) and
the rest life imprisonment.
The average resource cost in England and Wales is £39 000 per prisoner per year:
• 2.5% of the gross domestic product is spent on the criminal justice system (CJS).
Rate of imprisonment in December 2008 (Figure 18.1; data from Walmsley, 2009):
• UK – 153/100 000 population
• average for western Europe and Scandinavia – 95/100 000:
– highest was Spain – 160/100 000
– lowest was Andorra – 37/100 000
• The United States had the highest prison population rate in the world, 756 per 100 000 of the
national population, followed by Russia (629) and Rwanda (604).
Prison population trends

The prison population in the United Kingdom has been increasing for the last several dec-
ades (Figure 18.2). The rate of change has increased particularly since the 1990s, reflecting
a more punitive political approach to law and order:
• 1997–2007 – the number of prisoners increased by 30%
• 1996–2006 – the number of people found guilty remained constant; more use of custodial sentences
• 1997–2009 – the number of women in prisons increased by 60%.
227
USA
Russia
Ukraine
Latvia
Lithuania
Poland
Spain
United Kingdom
Hungary
Australia
Canada
Greece
Netherlands
France
Italy
Germany
Switzerland
Sweden
Norway
Denmark
Japan
Pakistan
Andorra
India
0 200 400 600 800
Rate of imprisonment per 100 000 people
Figure 18.1 Rate of imprisonment of selected countries per 100 000 of the population (data from
Walmsley, 2009)
Age
Over half of all prisoners are between the ages of 20 and 34, the sentenced population being
somewhat older than the remand one. In February 2010, there were:
• 1696 15–17 year olds in prison (2% of the total population)
• 9633 young adults (18–20 years) in prison (11% of the total)
• 7358 prisoners were over 50 years (9%):
– of these, 518 were over 70 years.
Ethnicity
Black and minority ethnic (BME) groups are greatly over-represented in prison (Ministry
of Justice, 2009):
Ethnic grouping Prison population General population

(Ministry of Justice, 2009) (%) (2001 census) (%)
BME 26 7.9
Black 15 2
Asian 7 4
Mixed 3 1.2
Chinese/other 2 0.8
228
The Size of the Prison Population
90 000
80 000
70 000
60 000
Prison population
50 000
40 000
30 000
20 000
10 000
0
1900
1905
1910
1915
1920
1925
1930
1935
1940
1945
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
Figure 18.2 Prison population in England and Wales from 1900 2005
• 14% of the male, 23% of the female, and 38% of the BME prison population were foreign
nationals.
• Excluding foreign nationals, the rate of imprisonment (based on 2001 general population figures)
was:
– 1.3/1000 for white
– 3.7/1000 for mixed
– 6.8/1000 for black
– 1.8/1000 for Asian
– 0.5/1000 for Chinese or other.
Stewart (2008) surveyed 1457 newly sentenced prisoners from 49 prisons. The proportion
of non-white prisoners serving sentences of more than 1 year was greater than for white
prisoners. This difference was not accounted for by offence category.
Prisoners and low IQ

Among young offenders, 23% had an IQ below 70, 36% were between 70 and 79, and 23%
were between 80 and 89 (Harrington and Bailey, 2005). Mottram (2007) found an average
IQ ranging from 83 to 87 in three prisons. Twenty-five per cent of adult prisoners had an IQ
less than 80 and 7% had IQ less than 70.
229
Socio-economic factors
Of sentenced prisoners (Social Exclusion Unit, 2002):
• approximately 50% of sentenced prisoners ran away from home as a child (five times the normal
population)
• 27% were taken into care as a child (compared with 2% general population)
• 48% had a reading ability, and 65% a numeracy ability, below level 1 (the level expected of
11 year olds); the comparable rate for both in the general population was 23%
• 49% males and 33% females had been excluded from school (2% general population)
• 32% were homeless prior to imprisonment.
In a survey of newly sentenced prisoners (Stewart, 2008):

• 40% had been permanently excluded from school
• 13% had never been employed
• 62% had been on benefits in the year prior to custody
• 61% were single
• 46% had no qualifications.
Physical health and deaths in prison custody

Fazel and Baillargeon (2011) note the high rates of infectious diseases among prisoners
worldwide, as well as higher than expected rates of hypertension, diabetes, asthma and
arthritis in US studies. In contrast to previous assertions, the prevalence of epilepsy seems
not to be increased (Fazel et al., 2002).
In 2009, there were 168 deaths in prison:
Self-inflicted 60
Non-self-inflicted 101
Homicide 0
Awaiting classification 5
Other non-natural causes 2
● Psychiatric Morbidity in Prisons

The prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among remand and sentenced prisoners in UK pris-
ons was established in a series of studies in the 1990s. More recently, research has turned its
focus on to particular subgroups of the prisoner population. All studies demonstrate much
higher rates of mental disorder than in the general population. This research effort has
mostly taken the form of cross-sectional prevalence studies. There has been little research
into psychiatric processes within prisons, perhaps with the exception of reception screen-
ing, and virtually no longitudinal studies. Consequently empirical research has yet to estab-
lish the effect of imprisonment on severe mental illness, or whether imprisonment causes
psychosis.
The Institute of Psychiatry studies

These two studies of random samples from the male prisoner population gave the preva-
lence rates shown in Table 18.1.
230
Psychiatric Morbidity in Prisons
Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey of psychiatric morbidity

among prisoners
A survey commissioned by the Department of Health and the High Security Psychiatric
Services Commissioning Board, carried out between September and December 1997 by
Singleton et al. (1998):
• initial sample size – 3563 prisoners in England and Wales (5.7% of the total prison population).
The research included interviews in two stages. In stage 1 all randomly selected prisoners
were asked to take part in an initial interview covering all topic areas. In stage 2 a random
subsample of 1 in 5 of the stage 1 respondents were interviewed clinically for psychotic dis-
orders (using SCAN v 1 and CIS-R) or personality disorders (using SCID-II):
• response rate – 88% for stage 1; 76% for stage 2.
This is the most widely quoted study of psychiatric morbidity in prisons, for the following
reasons:
• The number of subjects was higher than for other studies.
• It used a comparable methodology to the ONS General Household Survey, enabling direct
comparison with the general population.
• It suggests even higher rates of morbidity than other studies.
Table 18.1 Institute of Psychiatry studies of prison psychiatric morbidity

Brooke et al. (1996) Gunn et al. (1991)
Unconvicted male prisoners Sentenced male prisoners randomly
randomly selected from 16 adult selected from 13 adult prisons and
prisons and 9 YOIs 3 YOIs
Semi-structured clinical interview Semi-structured clinical interview
making diagnoses according to making diagnoses according to
ICD-9 criteria ICD-10 criteria
n 1478 adults, 406 young offenders 544 adults, 206 young offenders
Psychosis 4.8% 1.9%
Neurosis 25.6% 5.9%
Personality disorder 11.2% 10%
No psychiatric diagnosis 37.5% 63%
An often-quoted headline is that this study showed that fewer than 1 in 10 prisoners had no
mental health needs (Tables 18.2–18.4):
• Sleep problems (67% (male) and 81% (female) of the remand population) and worry (58% and
67%) were the most commonly reported symptoms.
Table 18.2 Point prevalence of neurotic symptoms (i.e. score of 12 or more on CIS-R at lay
interview)
Remand Sentenced General population*
Male 58% 39% 12%
Female 75% 58% 18%
*Data from contemporaneous General Household Survey (Jenkins et al., 1997)
231
Table 18.3 Prevalence of functional psychosis in the past year

Disorder Male sentenced Male remand Female (remand
and sentenced)
Schizophrenia 1% 2% 3%
Other non-organic psychotic disorders 4% 7% 10%
Manic episode 1% 1% 1%
Severe or recurrent depression and psychosis 1% 1% 1%
Any functional psychosis 7% 10% 14%
In the General Household Survey, the prevalence of psychosis was 0.4%
Table 18.4 Personality disorders (PDs) among prisoners

Disorder Male sentenced Male remand Female
Antisocial PD 49% 63% 31%
Paranoid PD 20% 29% 16%
Borderline PD 23% 23% 20%
Any PD 64% 78% 50%
Brugha et al. (2005) compared a random sample (n = 3142) of remand and sentenced male
and female prisoners, with a random sample (n = 10 108) of household residents:
• This methodology sought to avoid sampling and ascertainment biases that might have affected
previous studies.
• The weighted prevalence of probable functional psychosis was:
– 0.45% among the household residents
– 5.2% among the prisoners.
Psychiatric morbidity in prisons worldwide

A systematic review of 62 surveys across 12 countries (Fazel and Danesh, 2002) covered
22 790 prisoners, with a mean age of 29 years. The prevalence of psychiatric disorder is
shown in Table 18.5.
Table 18.5 Prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in prisons worldwide

Disorder Male Female
Psychotic illnesses 3.7% 4%
Major depression 10% 12%
Personality disorder 65% 42%
Antisocial PD 47% 21%
Substance misuse in UK prisons

Earlier studies indicated that substance misuse (Table 18.6) in unconvicted male prisoners
was 38% (Brook et al., 1996) and in sentenced male prisoners was 23% (Gunn et al., 1991).
Table 18.6 Prevalence of substance misuse in the year prior to prison

Hazardous drinking Any evidence of drug dependence
Remand Sentenced Remand Sentenced
Male 58% 63% 51% 43%
Female 36% 39% 54% 41%
232
Prison Structure and Organization
The ONS survey (Singleton et al., 1998) showed:

• 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men who were dependent on drugs reported having methadone
replacement treatment in the month before coming into prison.
Liriano and Ramsay (2003) demonstrated differing rates of drug use by age, as shown in
Table 18.7:
• Overall, 73% of respondents had taken an illegal drug in the 12 months prior to imprisonment,
nearly half (47%) having used heroin or cocaine (crack or powder).
• Other studies have found similar figures – 60–70% (Burrows et al., 2001) and 63% (Swann and
James, 1998).
• The general population use of illicit drugs was 9.3%.
• The most frequently used drugs were cannabis (65% overall) and heroin.
Table 18.7 Recorded drug use in the year prior to imprisonment

Drug 17–24 years (n = 747) 25–59 years (n = 1089)
Cannabis 80% 54%
Cocaine 37% 28%
Crack 33% 29%
Ecstasy 43% 21%
Heroin 32% 31%
A systematic review of 13 studies (n = 7563) published between 1966 and 1994 showed that
(Fazel et al., 2006):
• prevalence rates of alcohol abuse/dependence in male prisoners ranged from 17.7% to 30.0%
(seven studies) and among female prisoners 10.0 to 23.9% (five studies)
• prevalence rates for drug abuse/dependence in male prisoners ranged from 10.0 to 48.0% (eight
studies) and among female prisoners 30.3 to 60.4% (six studies)
• limitations include marked heterogeneity in the sample, different prevalence rates depending on
the assessors and 88% of the sample from US prisons.
● Prison Structure and Organization

There are 139 HM Prison Service establishments in England and Wales. Prisons may be:
• closed (where security measures aim to prevent escape), or
• open (where prisoners have more freedom within the prison and may go out of the prison to
engage in community-based employment)
• local (primarily housing unsentenced prisoners, or those serving short sentences), or
• training (where there is greater availability of interventions aimed at reducing offending).
All local prisons are closed. Training prisons may be closed or open.
A remand or newly sentenced prisoner will be housed in a local prison. Those who
receive longer sentences will in due course be allocated to a training prison. Local prisons
have induction procedures for new prisoners, and many have a first night centre, where
prisoners are housed initially, before moving to a wing.
High security prisons house prisoners who are category A or B.
Categories of prisoner
Prisons are often described with reference to the security category of prisoner that they pre-
dominantly house. There are four security categories for adult male prisoners:
233
• Category A prisoners are those whose escape would be considered highly dangerous to the public,
or a threat to national security.
• Category B prisoners are those for whom escape must be made very difficult.
• Category C applies to prisoners who cannot be trusted in open conditions.
• Category D prisoners can be reasonably trusted in open conditions.
Unconvicted adult prisoners will generally be treated as category B prisoners.

Female prisoners are not categorized in the same way, only category A being distin-
guished, and defined in the same way as for men. Women’s prisons may be:
• closed, for prisoners who are not trusted in an open prison
• semi-open, for those who can be trusted to stay in a semi-open prison, or
• open, for those who can be trusted to stay in an open prison.
Unconvicted adult female prisoners will be held in closed conditions.

Young offenders are categorized as category A, Restricted, Closed or Open.
Prison structural organization

• Gatehouse: checking the ID and maintaining a record (Gate Book) of anyone going in or out of
prison. Following this, visitors may have to go through security checks which will vary according to
the category of prison.
• Reception: all receptions and discharges go through this area. Responsible for the roll of the prison
along with the gatehouse. The reception procedure involves collection of personal details, recording of
personal property, allocation of a prison number, review of health needs and mental health screen.
• House block/accommodation: prisoners live in cells or occasionally in dormitories. Cells are usually
shared. House blocks are usually divided into separate units or wings.
• Visitors’ centre.
• Health-care centre: the level of service varies between prisons – see Chapter 19. Prisoners can see a
GP, optician, dentist, psychiatrists or other health professionals according to need.
• Segregation unit: the purpose of the segregation unit is to maintain safety, order, discipline and
respect for human dignity. It can also be used for vulnerable individuals to keep them safe from
others if a specialist or vulnerable unit is not available.
• Vulnerable prisoners’ wing: most prisons have a designated wing where prisoners who are at risk
of becoming a victim of violence from others are housed, to separate them from the general
prison population. The most common group is those charged with or convicted of sexual crimes,
particularly against children. Prisoners choose to be housed here, under Prison Rule 45.
• Education and training centre.
• Chaplaincy.
• Gymnasium.
Close supervision centres

These are effectively segregation units within high security prisons, which hold the most
difficult and challenging male prisoners. In comparison to segregation units in other prisons,
often prisoners are held here for longer periods.
Grades of prison staff

Uniformed staff include the following:
• Operational support grades (OSG), who are employed in various duties around the prison.
• Instructional officers, who provide vocational training for prisoners.
234
• Prison officers, whose primary duty is custodial, ensuring the safety and security of the prison.
Duties are wide ranging, including locking and unlocking doors, counting prisoners, searching cells,
prisoners and visitors, escorting prisoners around the prison.
• Senior officers, who have responsibility for a group of prison officers, or some aspect of prison
functioning.
Managerial positions, otherwise known as governors, include:

• Operational managers (Grades G to E), who may, for example, have responsibility for a particular
houseblock, or for health care
• Senior managers (Grades D to A). The governor of a prison is often known as the ‘Number One
Governor’.
Prisons are strictly hierarchical. It is important to remember this when working within a
prison.
Some prison officers act as personal officers, having a particular responsibility for the
treatment of one or more prisoners. They may contribute to sentence planning, resettle-
ment and otherwise support an individual’s rehabilitation. In some prisons these roles are
taken on by probation officer offender managers. The interface for offender managers, per-
sonal officers and other staff is flexible.
The prison regime

Prisons provide a rigid, routine-based structure, in which all is subordinate to good order and
discipline. The regulatory framework for the treatment of prisoners in England and Wales
is provided by The Prison Rules 1999, a statutory instrument which is frequently amended.
While there are some minimum standards and requirements, these are often couched in
flexible terms such as ‘so far as reasonably possible’. Therefore there is considerable local
variation in the regimes provided in different prisons, authority for this lying within the
local hierarchical structure.
Most prisoners are housed in shared cells, and are required to maintain their cell in a
clean and tidy state, subject to inspection by prison officers. The property allowed in cells
varies among prisons.
All prisoners, including those subject to restricted regime for discipline reasons, should be
allowed at least 1 hour of fresh air every day. Association periods allow prisoners on a wing
to mix and socialize recreationally.
Unsentenced prisoners are distinguished from sentenced prisoners in a number of ways.
They may generally wear their own clothes, they may receive more visits, and they are not
required to work or attend education or training, though those who exercise their right not
to do so may be ineligible for certain privileges.
Prisoners may buy items from the prison shop, known as the canteen. Money may be sent
in by friends or relatives, or earned through working. A set maximum amount may be spent
each week, any excess being saved until release.
Incentives and earned privileges

There are three levels of regime: basic, standard and enhanced. Prisoners are allocated to a
level depending on their behaviour and conduct. Privileges include:
• the amount of money a prisoner may spend
• frequency of visits
• own clothes
• amount of association.
235
Discipline and punishment

The range of offences against prison discipline includes:
• fighting or other violence, hostage-taking, escaping or absconding
• obstruction of an officer in the execution of his duty, being disrespectful to an officer
• disobeying an order, rule or regulation
• consumption of alcohol
• possessing, selling or delivering an unauthorized article
• intentionally failing to work properly.
The alleged offence is considered at an adjudication, usually chaired by a Governor. Punish-

ments include removal of privileges, confinement to cell or serving more of the sentence
in custody.
See the Prison Discipline Manual, available on the HM Prison Service website, for fur-
ther information.
Visitors
The number and frequency of visits allowed to a prisoner vary among prisons, according to
local facilities. Generally, convicted prisoners should be allowed a minimum of one hour-
long domestic visit a fortnight. Unconvicted prisoners are allowed more visits than sen-
tenced prisoners. The prisoner sends a visiting order to prospective visitors, enabling them
to visit.
Work, vocational training and education

Provision varies among prisons. In training prisons, prisoners are expected to engage in
some form of activity. Common work opportunities include working as a wing cleaner, in
the laundry, on the servery at meal times or as a gardener, as well as various types of indus-
trial workshop.
Roll checks
Checks tend to occur before or after meal times, or when prisoners return to wings following
activity sessions. Each section of the prison counts its prisoners, feeding their total back to
a central point. While a roll check is taking place, and until it is correct, the prison may be
on stand fast – limiting movement of prisoners, but also staff and visitors.
Release on temporary licence (ROTL)

Prisoners may be allowed leave from the prison either on compassionate grounds or for
resettlement purposes.
Prison therapeutic communities

These prisons, or units within prisons, aim to provide a therapeutic environment based on
therapeutic community (TC) principles and psychological treatment. For example:
• HMP Grendon (Buckinghamshire):
– The most well-established prison TC, with places for up to 235 residents of category B status.
Each of six wings operates as an autonomous therapeutic community.
– Criteria for reception:
䡲 Prisoners must be serving a sentence that will let them stay at Grendon for at least 24 months.
䡲 Prisoners cannot be on psychotropic medication.
䡲 Need to evidence some degree of motivation or reflectivity about their offending.
236
• HMP Dovegate (Staffordshire):

– 200-bed TC.
– Criteria for reception:
䡲 Sentenced, category B or C.
䡲 No open assessment, care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) for 6 months.
䡲 Not category A or E list for 6 months.
䡲 No psychotropic- or codeine-based medication.
䡲 No positive mandatory drug test for 6 months, more than 18 months to parole eligibility date
(PED).
䡲 Volunteer for therapy.
䡲 PCL-R scores to be less than 25.
Dangerous and severe personality disorder services within prisons

There are two prison-based units for male prisoners with dangerous and severe personality
disorders, which complement the dangerous and severe personality disorder (DSPD) units
at Rampton and Broadmoor high secure hospitals:
• HMP Frankland – 86 places
• HMP Whitemoor – 70 places.
The Primrose Project is a 12-bed pilot DSPD service for women, based at HMP Low Newton.
The DSPD programme is discussed further in Chapter 9.
Box 18.1 Booking a visit in prison

Know whether you are booked in to health-care or legal visits. The former is preferable as the medical
notes are more likely to be available and there may be health-care staff to act as informants.
If a prison insists on booking you in to legal visits, ensure that you will have a private room available for the
interview and ask in advance to see the medical notes. Ensure that you know who booked the visit, when
and with whom, in case you are asked at the gate.
Make sure that you are aware of contraband items. The list will vary among prisons:
• Carry the minimum equipment with you and if you need to bring any contraband items with you (a
Dictaphone perhaps) ensure that permission is granted in writing and in advance.
• Find out in advance if you can leave your phone or other items at the gate. If not, leave them in your car.
Schedule in the time it may take to pass through the security procedures and waiting for someone to pick
you up. It is often helpful to arrive at times of shift changeovers so staff coming into the prison can escort
you through.
Have the internal extension at hand as sometimes there are phones in the waiting areas which may be
useful if you have been waiting for a long time.
Regulation of prisons
Prison and probation ombudsman
• Investigates:
– complaints from prisoners, people on probation and immigration detainees held at immigration
removal centres
– deaths of prisoners.
• The ombudsman is appointed by the Secretary of State for Justice and is independent of the Prison
Service, the National Probation Service and the Border Agency.
237
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons

• An independent inspectorate, which reports on conditions for and treatment of those in prison,
young offender institutions and immigration detention facilities.
There are three categories of inspection:

• Full inspections:
– each establishment holding adults and young adults is inspected once every 5 years, and those
holding juveniles once every 3 years
– an announced inspection, which lasts for at least one week
– inspection findings are reported back to the establishment’s managers and reports are published
within 16 weeks of inspection
– the establishment is expected to produce an action plan, based on the recommendations made
within the report, within a short period following publication.
• Full follow-up inspections:
– unannounced and proportionate to risk
– assess progress made with particular focus on areas of serious concern identified in the previous
full inspection, particularly on safety and respect.
• Short follow-up inspections:
– unannounced, conducted where the full inspection suggested fewer concerns.
The Inspectorate also carries out thematic inspections, across establishments, focusing on
particular groups of prisoner, interventions or services.
All inspection reports, thematic reports and research publications are freely available on
the Inspectorate website at: http://www.justice.gov.uk/inspectorates/hmi-prisons.
Independent monitoring board

Every prison and immigration removal centre has its own independent monitoring board
(IMB), made up of volunteer lay people, which aims to monitor day-to-day standards of
prison functioning in the interests of care and decency.
IMB members have unrestricted access to the prison and to prisoners on scheduled visits
and can respond to confidential requests from prisoners.
● Reducing Reoffending in Prisons

Offending behaviour programmes
Offending behaviour programmes (OBPs) are CBT-based interventions, mostly delivered
on a group basis, which aim to develop understanding of the reasons for offending and
modify thinking styles and behavioural patterns that contribute to offending.
There is a menu of accredited OBPs available in prison and in the community. These are
discussed further in Chapter 17.
Drug treatment in prisons

Addiction and problematic drug use is seen as a paramount criminogenic need among the
imprisoned population. It is accepted that, if an intervention is effective in treating drug
addiction, then it will also have an impact on reoffending rates.
There are a number of treatment approaches provided across the prison estate.
238
Reducing Reoffending in Prisons
Counselling, assessment, referral, advice and throughcare service

(CARATs)
• Established 1999, now well-established across the prison service.
• Provides:
– initial assessment following referral
– advice to prisoners with substance misuse problems
– liaison with health care both in prison and in the community
– care plan assessments
– drawing up a care plan for the prisoner
– one-to-one counselling and groupwork services
– assessment for intensive treatment programmes in prison
– throughcare linking with community drug treatment services
– ensuring, where required, that prisoners are offered post-release support for up to a maximum of
8 weeks.
Prison addressing substance-related offending (P-ASRO)

• CBT-based group work programme.
• Aims to address drug dependence and related offending in prisoner.
• 20 sessions over 5 weeks.
• Four modules:
– Motivation to Change
– Personal Scientist, focused on identifying triggers for use and coping strategies
– Relapse Prevention
– Lifestyle Change, including developing skills such as problem-solving and negotiation.
Rehabilitation of the addicted prisoners’ trust (RAPt)

• Based on the 12-step Minnesota model, lasts 16–20 weeks, and often delivered on a drug-free
wing.
• Includes group sessions, community meetings, community activities, peer evaluation, with many of
the counsellors being in recovery from addiction themselves.
• The long-term goal is abstinence.
• A phased programme, continuing after release:
– motivational enhancement therapy
– primary phase – first 5 steps of the 12-step programme
– relapse prevention – recognizing high-risk situations and developing skills to cope with them
– post-custody treatment, on residential or day treatment basis.
• Early evaluations (Martin et al., 2003) showed:
– 48% referred completed the programme
– 95% of those completing the programme remained abstinent in prison
– post-release reconviction at 1 year was 25% (vs 38% in control group); reconviction at 2 years
was 40% (vs 50% for the control group).
Integrated Drug Treatment System (IDTS)

• The most recent initiative, rolled-out across 49 prisons so far.
• Aims to integrate the various treatment services available within a prison, including primary care,
mental health care and CARATs, and improve continuity of care for users in prison (McSweeney et
al., 2008).
• No evaluation available.
239
● The Effectiveness of Imprisonment:

Absconding, Escaping and Reoffending
The aims of imprisonment include retribution, deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilita-
tion. Retribution and deterrence are achieved by the process of imprisonment itself. Inca-
pacitation is achieved by containment, success being measured by the rate of escapes and
absconds, an abscond being defined as an escape that does not involve overcoming a physi-
cal security measure (mostly from open prisons):
• In 2008–9, there were 362 absconds, 1 escape from prison and 4 escapes from a prison escort.
These figures represent a dramatic decrease over recent years (Figure 18.3), probably following the
introduction of key performance indicators for prisons in the 1990s.
The socio-political debate about the success of imprisonment as a method of crime reduc-
tion tends to centre on reconviction rates, although rehabilitation might be measured in
other ways too.
Reconviction rates, at one year post-release, are:
• 47% for all prisoners
• 60% of those released after serving less than 12 months of sentence
• 76% for those having at least 10 previous custodial sentences
• 75% of children group (<18 years).
An estimated one million crimes per year (or 18% of recorded, notifiable crimes) are com-
mitted by ex-prisoners at a cost of £11 billion pounds (Social Exclusion Unit, 2002).
1400
1200
1000
Escapes and absconds
800
600
400
200
0
6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
199 199 199 199 00 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200 200
2
9 5– 9 6– 9 7– 9 8– 9 9– – – – – – –
00 001 002 003 004 005 006 007 008
– – –
19 19 19 19 19 20 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Figure 18.3 Trends in escape and absconding from prison (data from HM Prison Service website)
240
The Effectiveness of Imprisonment
The strongest predictors of reoffending for men released from prison were (Motiuk, 1998):
• unemployment
• substance misuse
• criminal associates
• single status
• personal or emotional problems.
Multiple logistic regression analysis of data from three surveys of about to be released prison-
ers, matched with reoffending data from the Police National Computer (May et al., 2009),
suggested that the following factors were associated with increased risk of reoffending:
• greater number of previous convictions
• younger age
• drug problems
• shorter sentence
• employment and accommodation problems
• having no visits from a partner or family member
• offence type:
– theft and handling associated with increased reoffending
– drug offences (in contrast to having drug problems) were associated with lower risk of
reoffending; this replicates previous research (Cunliffe and Shepherd, 2007)
– fraud and forgery and sex offences were also associated with a relatively lower risk of reoffending.
References
Brook D, Taylor C, Gunn J, Maden A. (1996) Point prevalence of mental disorder in unconvicted male
prisoners in England and Wales. British Medical Journal 313, 1524–7
*Brugha T, Singleton N, Meltzer H, Bebbington P, Farrell M, Jenkins R, et al. (2005) Psychosis in the
community and in prisons: a reports from the British national survey of psychiatric morbidity.
Burrows J, Clarke A, Davison T, Tarling R, Webb S. (2001). Research into the Nature and Effectiveness
of Drugs Throughcare. Occasional Paper 68. London: Home Office
Cunliffe J, Shepherd A. (2007) Reoffending of Adults: Results from the 2004 cohort. Home Office
Statistical Bulletin 06/07. London: Home Office
Fazel S, Baillargeon J. (2011) The health of prisoners. The Lancet 377, 956–65
Fazel S, Bains P, Doll H. (2006) Substance abuse and dependence in prisoners: a systematic review.
Addiction 101, 181–91
*Fazel S, Danesh J. (2002); Serious mental disorder in 23 000 prisoners: a systematic review of 62
surveys. The Lancet 359, 545–50
Fazel S, Vasos E, Danesh J. (2002) Prevalence of epilepsy in prisoners: systematic review. British
Medical Journal 324, 1495
Gunn J, Maden A, Swinton M. (1991) Treatment needs of prisoner with psychiatric disorders. British
Medical Journal 303, 338–41
Harrington R, Bailey S. (2005) Mental Health Needs and Effectiveness of Provision for Young
Offenders in Custody and in the Community. Youth Justice Board. Available at: http://www.yjb.
gov.uk/publications/Resources/Downloads/MentalHealthNeedsfull.pdf
241
Jenkins R, Lewis G, Bebbington P, Brugha T, Farrel M, Gill B, Meltzer H. (1997) The National Psychiatric
Morbidity Surveys of Great Britain – initial findings from the Household Survey. Psychological
Medicine 27, 775–89
Liriano S, Ramsay M. (2003) Prisoners’ drug use before prison and links with crime. In: Ramsay M
(ed.), Home Office Research Study 267: Prisoners’ drug use and treatment: seven research studies.
London: Home Office
Martin C, Player E, Liriano S. (2003) Results of evaluations of the RAPt drug treatment programme.
In: Ramsay M (ed.), Home Office Research Study 267: Prisoners’ drug use and treatment: seven
research studies. London: Home Office
May C, Sharma N, Stewart D. (2009) Factors Linked to Reoffending: A one-year follow-up of prisoners
who took part in the Resettlement Surveys 2001, 2003 and 2004. Ministry of Justice Research
Summary 5. London: Ministry of Justice
McSweeney T, Turnbull PJ, Hough M. (2008) The Treatment and Supervision of Drug-dependent
Offenders: A review of the literature prepared for the UK Drug Policy Commission. London: UK
Drugs Policy Commission
Ministry of Justice. (2009) Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System 2007/08. London:
Ministry of Justice
Motiuk L. (1998) Using dynamic factors to better predict post-release outcome. Forum on Corrections
Research 10, 12–13
Mottram PG. (2007) HMP Liverpool, Styal and Hindley Study Report. Liverpool: University of Liverpool
*Singleton N, Meltzer H, Gatward R, Coid J, Deasy D. (1998) Psychiatric Morbidity among Prisoners.
Summary report. London: Office for National Statistics
Social Exclusion Unit. (2002) Reducing Re-offending by Ex-prisoners. London: Social Exclusion Unit
Stewart D. (2008) The Problems and Need of Newly Sentenced Prisoners: Results from a national
survey. Ministry of Justice Research Series 16/08. London: Ministry of Justice
Swann R, James P. (1998) The effect of the prison environment upon inmate drug taking behavior.
Howard Journal 37(3), 252–265.
*Walmsley R. (2009) World Prison Population List, 8th edn. London: International Centre for Prison
Studies
242
19
Mental Health Care
in Prisons
● Health-care Services in Prisons
Until recently health-care services in prisons were run by the Home Office (as it then was)
and the NHS had no responsibility for the health care of prisoners. This separation was
criticized from the 1960s by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), the Royal College of
Psychiatrists and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP). A momentum for change
began to gather in the mid-1990s with a series of critical reports:
• The principle of equivalence was stated in 1997 (Healthcare Advisory Committee for the Prison
Service, 1997):
– Prisons ‘should give prisoners access to the same quality and range of healthcare service as the
general public receives from the NHS’.
• The National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002 provided for the funding
for prison health care to be transferred to the NHS and imposed a duty of partnership between the
NHS and the Prison Service.
• Since April 2006, commissioning of health-care services in prisons has been the responsibility of the
NHS through primary care trusts (PCTs).
The facilities provided vary greatly among prisons, depending on the size of the prison and
its purpose. Local remand prisons, for example, tend to need more comprehensive health-
care services, particularly psychiatric, than open prisons. Often there are informal arrange-
ments in place whereby prisoners are transferred from a prison without 24-hour nursing
cover to a nearby prison which has this.
According to Brooker et al. (2008):
• The expenditure on prison mental health care was £306 per head of prison population per annum
(11% of total prison health-care spend).
• Estimated spend in the community is between £42 and £79 per head per annum, depending on
what services are included.
• So spending in prison is between 3.9 and 7.3 times greater than in the community.
• The psychiatric morbidity is around 20 times greater in prison.
Categories of health-care centre

• Type 1 prison health-care services: daytime cover, generally by part-time staff (no inpatient facilities).
• Type 2 prison health-care services: daytime/24-hour cover, generally by full-time staff (no inpatient
facilities).
243
Mental Health Care in Prisons
• Type 3 prison health-care services: healthcare centre with 24-hour nurse cover, usually with
inpatient facilities.
• Type 4 prison health-care services: as type 3 but also serving as a national or regional assessment
centre, used by other prisons.
Mental health in-reach teams

In 2001, a strategy document (Department of Health, 2001) perceived that prison mental
health care was too focused on the health-care centre and visiting clinicians. In-reach teams,
analogous to community mental health teams (CMHTs) in the community, were to be
developed, enabling prisoners with mental health problems to remain on ordinary location
and receive, as it were, treatment in the community:
• By 2008 there were 350 mental health in-reach workers in post (exceeding the Government’s
target of 300).
• A deliberate policy of non-prescription, allowing services to develop according to local need, led to
a lack of focus and consistency, expanding case loads and complaints of understaffing (Brooker et
al., 2008).
Primary care mental health teams

In pursuit of the principle of equivalence, some PCTs have developed primary mental
health-care teams within prisons:
• Models of care for prisons are not consistent, but the essence of these teams is that prisoners can
access them directly, and the teams concentrate on supporting and treating common mild and
neurotic disorders.
• The corollary is that the in-reach teams can concentrate on ‘severe and enduring mental illness’.
Models of care that adopt some degree of functionalization need to account for the differences
between the prison environment and prisoner population, and the general community. Severe
neuroses and personality disorders are particularly common within the prison environment,
both because they are more common within the prisoner population, and because the prison
environment precipitates crises. Such prisoners may not fulfil the criteria for the in-reach
team, but may require more intensive support than the primary care team can provide.
Recommended psychiatric staffing

The Royal College of Psychiatrists (2006) recommends the following complement:
• Category B local remand prison of 500 places:
– 0.5 whole-time equivalent (wte) consultant (general adult or forensic)
– 0.5 wte non-consultant grade
– plus 0.2 wte addiction specialist sessions.
• Category A local remand prison of 500 places:
– 0.75 wte consultant (general adult or forensic)
– 0.5 wte non-consultant grade
– plus 0.2 wte addiction specialist sessions.
• Category B dispersal prison of 500 places:
– 0.5 wte (forensic or forensic rehabilitation)
– 0.5 non-consultant grade.
• Category C and D dispersal prison:
– unlikely to require full psychiatric team so perhaps 0.3 wte per 500 places but with same access
to specialist services through a mental health trust.
244
Psychiatric Assessments in Prisons
● Psychiatric Assessments in Prisons

Carrying out a psychiatric assessment in prison follows the same principles as in other set-
tings. Assessment of suicide risk is of particular importance in all cases.
Although there is little empirical evidence about the pathoplastic effect of imprison-
ment (Hassan et al., 2011), at face value prison is not a good environment in which to treat
mental disorder. For some, coming to prison is part and parcel of their lifestyle. For others,
reception into custody is profoundly stressful:
• It leads to a sudden and complete interruption of the prisoner’s life.
• They are separated from family and support structures in the community.
• They may feel that they have an uncertain future, certainly in the short term, possibly in the long
term.
• They may be concerned about the fidelity of their spouse, loss of job, financial instability, loss of
house/accommodation/possessions.
• They may find the prison an unfamiliar, hostile, even threatening environment.
• They may experience discrimination or bullying.
• They may have difficulty coming to terms with the crime that they have committed.
So it is unsurprising that imprisonment often precipitates neurotic mental illnesses and also,
in those with a predisposition to it, psychosis.
Always be aware of personal safety:
• Consider placement of furniture in the room.
• Note where the alarm button is located and where the nearest staff are.
• Ask prison staff about the patient you are seeing, to gauge level of risk.
Remember that prisoners on remand are often in an acutely stressful situation which will
change over time:
• They may have recently come into prison and might be withdrawing from drugs or alcohol.
• They may have a trial or sentencing hearing approaching.
• Consider the relationship of any symptoms to appearances in court, visits from family or other
significant events.
Box 19.1 Assessing depression in prison

It is difficult to assess depressive symptoms in prison, leading to a risk of both over- and under-diagnosis:
• Following remand or sentencing, prisoners may experience depressive symptoms, as part of an
adjustment disorder.
• Anhedonia – there is often little to find pleasure in within the prison environment.
• Disturbed sleep is usual among prisoners.
• Negative cognitions, such as guilt, may be linked to their offence.
• Limited opportunities for activity often lead to lack of motivation.
It can be helpful to focus on the biological symptoms and objective symptoms of depression.
• It is important to enquire about a past history of depression as being imprisoned may precipitate a
recurrence.
Reception screening
• A health screen, using the revised F2169 document, takes place before the prisoner’s first night to
detect:
245
– immediate physical health problems

– immediate mental health problems
– significant drug or alcohol problems
– risk of suicide and/or self-harm.
• Each prison should have protocols to address the identified immediate health needs
• Non-urgent general health assessments should be completed in a week.
• The reception screen has 15 questions and takes approximately 5–10 minutes to deliver.
• A positive score on any of the following four specific questions within the screen can identify 82%
(Birmingham et al., 2000) to 86% (Grubin et al., 2002) of those with serious mental illness:
– a charge of murder or manslaughter
– previous treatment by a psychiatrist outside prison
– previous prescription for antipsychotic or antidepressant medication
– a history of self-harm outside prison.
Box 19.2 Assessing a newly remanded prisoner charged with murder

The stressors listed above are often seen most acutely in newly remanded prisoners charged with murder
because:
• The offence is exceptionally serious, and qualitatively different from other offences.
• The deceased may have been well known to the prisoner, perhaps their spouse or a friend, killed in rage
or intoxication. There may be a complex mixture of guilt, shame, remorse and bereavement.
• The killing may have directly affected the dynamics of their support structures.
• They are facing a very long prison sentence, with complete loss of their established lifestyle.
Such prisoners are often very distressed on reception into custody with a characteristic constellation of
symptoms:
• Poor sleep, with racing thoughts; usual preoccupations of the deceased and family.
• Re-experiencing symptoms relating to the alleged offence, including intrusive thoughts, memories and
recurrent nightmares; flashbacks may occur but are less common.
• Low mood and anxiety, tearfulness.
• Severely impaired concentration.
• Suicidal thoughts.
Typically this syndrome gradually improves over a period of several weeks with supportive treatment.
Pharmacological treatment is not usually necessary. In some cases a persistent depressive episode
develops, which should be treated accordingly.
Ganser syndrome
A syndrome of:
• approximate answers
• clouding of consciousness
• conversion symptoms
• hallucinations
• abrupt resolution with amnesic gap.
This only warrants mention because it was described, in 1898, as a reaction to imprison-
ment. The original description was based on a series of three patients. Its nosological status
is dubious and it is not described in contemporary classifications of mental disorder.
Usually the term is used to describe a dissociative state, as Ganser intended it. Sometimes
it is used to imply malingering. The ICD-10 differential diagnosis of such a patient is likely
to encompass:
246
Psychiatric Treatment in Prison
• malingering
• schizophrenia and other psychoses
• a dissociative disorder, perhaps primary, but more likely to be secondary to depression
• pseudo-dementia.
The diagnosis of Ganser syndrome is best avoided.
Box 19.3 Distinguishing psychosis in prison

Personality disorder and other neuroses are common, and often present with complaints suggestive of
psychosis. On the other hand, because of underlying neuroses, psychosis may present atypically. It is
especially important:
• to be rigorous in classifying psychopathology, and
• to concentrate on delineating characteristic syndromes, rather than being too focused on a particular
symptom.
The most common such combination of symptoms is paranoid sensitive ideas of reference and auditory
verbal pseudo-hallucinations. This combination is more likely to be due to a paranoid disposition coupled
with the environment of prison, than to psychosis.
It is important to consider observations of others, but note:
• the prisoner may be in their cell most of the day and not observed as they would be in hospital even if
they are on health care, so psychosis may go unnoticed
• alternatively, non-psychiatric staff may assume that paranoia and voices are due to psychosis
• the assessment of prison staff may lack objectivity and be coloured by attitudes to particular types of
offender or offence.
Be aware of the possibility that prisoners may feign or exaggerate symptoms in order:
• to gain medication, which may be abused or traded within the prison
• to mitigate their offence
• to gain a hospital transfer.
● Psychiatric Treatment in Prison

The principles of psychiatric treatment in prison are no different from elsewhere, but a
prison is an inadequate environment for the treatment of severe mental illness and psycho-
sis. Usually prisoners located on health-care wings are in single cells, and they may have
less opportunity for exercise, association and activity than other prisoners. Spending long
periods of time alone and unoccupied tends to exacerbate psychosis.
Prison health-care centres are not recognized as hospitals for the purposes of the Mental
Health Act (MHA) 1983:
• Treatment cannot be provided in prison under the MHA 1983.
• The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 may be used for the treatment of prisoners who lack
capacity, but where the prisoner is suffering from a mental disorder transfer to hospital under the
MHA 1983 is preferred.
Before prescribing, ask about local policies and procedures relating to:
• timing of medication rounds
• having medication in possession or under supervision.
247
Care planning in prisons

The care programme approach (CPA) applies to those in prison in the same way as it does
in the community. For existing patients of mental health services CPA responsibility should
remain with existing community teams, certainly for those on remand or serving short sen-
tences. Effective care planning is more difficult in a prison environment, particularly in
local remand prisons because of:
• rapidly changing population
• diverse and multiple mental health needs
• resistance from mental health teams in the community to maintain contact with patients/accept
referrals
• difficulty in planning for release
• more difficult to involve families or carers.
The work of in-reach teams often involves liaison with community teams or hospitals more
than face-to-face contact with patients (Brooker et al., 2008).
Transfer of prisoners between prison and hospital

• To hospitals – see Chapter 2.
• From hospitals – see Chapter 3.
Food refusal and other extreme behaviours

Food refusal is a common protest behaviour in prison. Physical management is described in
recent Department of Health (2010) guidance.
There are four broad categories:
• Those suffering from acute mental illness:
– Most common diagnoses are severe depression, non-affective psychosis, or less commonly an
acute stress reaction.
– Accurate diagnosis is the first priority. Many will require urgent transfer to hospital, though some
with a more acute, situationally determined stress reaction may respond to supportive care
within prison.
– Those with a psychosis are likely to have delusional ideas about the nature of the food provided
or the intentions of those preparing or serving it. Sometimes providing sealed food (sandwiches,
for example) is helpful in the short term.
• Those with paranoid personality traits/disorder:
– Tend to be engaged in an oppositional struggle with authority, perhaps making some specific
demand, but sometimes without making an explicit demand.
– This may be seen as a dynamic clash between a stubborn, self-important prisoner and a rigid,
controlling prison regime.
– In most cases the prisoner will cease food refusal of their own accord eventually, perhaps
spuriously rationalizing this to avoid loss of face, or moving on to some other oppositional
behaviour.
– The only way to expedite this is to enable some face-saving manoeuvre for the prisoner. This
requires careful mediation between the inflexible prisoner and the similarly inflexible prison.
• Those who are making an apparently genuine demand, such as to move to a different prison, or to
have some privilege:
– These cases require support and counselling to persuade them to pursue their demand in a more
appropriate way. In most cases these food refusals are short-lived.
248
– Food refusal among immigration detainees seeking to avoid repatriation is relatively common
and may be of this type, though the food refusal may be particularly persistent.
• Those who are prepared to starve themselves to death, usually to make some political point:
– An uncommon group. The prisoner will have an established history of activism and commitment
to the cause. Their offending may well be related to this.
– This group pose a very serious ethical challenge to prisons and health-care workers. Occasionally
such protesters have succeeded in martyring themselves.
Important legal principles

• Leigh v Gladstone (1909): Home Office had a duty to preserve the health of the prisoners, even to
the extent of forcibly feeding them. This principle has been superseded by
• The Secretary of the State v Robb [1995] 2 WLR 722: held that an individual’s right to self-
determination outweighed any other countervailing interests of the state. Although R was of sound
mind and understood what he was doing, and although he persisted in his refusal, it was lawful to
abide by his wishes and withhold nutrition and hydration.
Principles of health care

Food refusers are likely to require a psychiatric assessment. Management of health-care
needs should be carried out jointly by mental health staff and physicians:
• Assessment:
– Full psychiatric assessment to establish presence of acute mental illness.
– Assess and clearly document capacity to decide to refuse food and/or fluids.
– Conduct a thorough nutritional status assessment (e.g. food and fluid intake, weight, BMI,
oedema).
– Conduct relevant laboratory investigations (FBC, U&Es, Mg2+, Ca2+, PO43–, CRP, ESR, glucose and LFTs).
• Management:
– Document the presence or absence of an advance refusal.
– Regular physical reviews – weekly (including blood tests) if drinking fluids, more frequently if
abnormalities develop.
– Consider offering food supplements.
– Involve independent mental capacity advocate if appropriate.
– Transfer to general hospital if the prisoner becomes dehydrated, weak, oedematous or develops
significant biochemical abnormalities.
Re-feeding syndrome
A potentially fatal complication of re-feeding:
• The risk is negligible if fast of less than 5 days, with BMI >18.5 kg/m2.
• The risk is high in presence of either one major risk factor or two lesser risk factors:
Major risk factors Lesser risk factors

BMI < 16 kg/m2 BMI < 18.5 kg/m2
Weight loss > 15% Weight loss > 10%
Little or no nutritional intake for more than 10 Little or no nutritional intake for more than 5 days
days History of alcohol abuse or use of some drugs
Low K+, Mg2+ or phosphate levels before the onset including insulin, chemotherapy, antacids or
of re-feeding diuretics
See Department of Health (2010) for further guidance on management of re-feeding

syndrome.
249
Dirty protesting
This is usually a strategy to achieve some gain and/or associated with paranoid personality
disorder. The prisoner defecates and/or urinates in their cell, smearing faeces on the walls
and often on their body and clothing.
There are well-established prison procedures for dealing with this. Clearly there are
health risks for the prisoner and for the staff dealing with them, but the need for input
from physical or mental health-care staff is less than in food refusal. Psychiatric assessment
is often necessary as sometimes very florid psychosis may lead to similar behaviour, but the
diagnosis is usually evident.
Self-harm
Deliberate self-harm (DSH) to relieve distress and subjective tension is a relatively common
behaviour in prison. There is little research evidence to guide management.
Of 1741 male sentenced prisoners, drawn from 25 prisons (Maden et al., 2000):
• 17% of men reported DSH on at least one occasion during their life.
• Self-harm was more common among white than non-white prisoners.
• More white men in the medium and long-term sentence group than in the short-term sentence
group gave a history of DSH.
• DSH was associated with alcohol dependence but not with drug addiction.
• Neurotic and personality disorders were more commonly diagnosed in the DSH group.
Extreme and persistent self-harm

This small group of prisoners taxes the prison system, because they are difficult to care for
in prison, just as they are elsewhere. Many show the expected clinical features: high levels
of impulsivity and emotional instability, other features of borderline personality disorder,
a history of abusive experiences in childhood, disturbed early attachments, early onset of
conduct disorder, drug/alcohol abuse to cope with emotional distress.
But they are a heterogeneous group. Motivations are often complex and may be obscure,
being an admixture of:
• relief of subjective negative emotion
• exerting control over environment and custodians
• a deliberate strategy to achieve a gain.
Clinical management is very difficult and can be demoralizing for those staff involved. Often
mental health teams provide intense input as a reaction to a period of self-harm and then,
as the behaviour wanes, withdraw having been exhausted. It is probably helpful to maintain
some consistency in the support provided, perhaps by differentiating between two roles:
• Staff who will respond to crises by providing more intense support and participating in assessment,
care in custody and teamwork (ACCT) reviews.
• Staff, perhaps a visiting clinician, who will provide regular, consistent supportive treatment, both at
times of crisis and in between them.
Suicide
The rate of suicide:
• Prison population - 133/100 000
• Remand prison population – 339/100 000
• General population – 9.4/100 000.
250
A national survey of suicides in prison between 1999 and 2000 (Shaw et al., 2004) found
that, of 172 self-inflicted deaths:
• 49% were of prisoners on remand
• 32% occurred within 7 days of reception into prison
• 92% were by hanging or self-strangulation
• 72% had a history of mental disorder.
• The commonest (27%) primary diagnosis was drug dependence
• 57% had symptoms suggestive of mental disorder at reception into prison
• 24% had an F2052SH* open at the time of death
• 51% had had an F2052SH* open at some during sentence.
(*At the time of data collection, the form F2052SH was the record of observations opened on
prisoners who were considered at risk of self-harm. It has since been superseded by ACCT.)
Table 19.1 A typology of prison suicide (Liebling, 1995)
Young prisoners with Older prisoners facing Those with psychiatric

poor coping skills long sentences illness
Proportion of total (%) 30–45 5–0 10–22
Motivation Fear/helplessness Guilt; hopelessness Alienation/loss of self-
Distress/isolation control fear/helplessness
Importance of their Acute Chronic Varied
situation
History of previous Common Less common Varied
suicidal behaviour
There are significant differences between those prisoners who had attempted suicide and
controls (Liebling, 1995):
• Protective factors:
– involvement in PE
– job in prison
– active in cell.
• Risk factors:
– bullied at school
– childhood sexual abuse
– previous self-injury
– difficulties with other prisoners
– receiving few letters
– no release plans
– high hopelessness score
– persistent sleeping problems.
Managing risk of suicide in prison

ACCT – assessment, care in custody and teamwork
A system for monitoring and protecting prisoner at risk of serious self-harm or suicide. The
approach aims:
• to encourage all staff to work as a team to recognize and manage suicide risk
• to alter the balance from watching and preventing self-harm, to engaging the prisoner in working
collaboratively to deal with their problems.
251
Box 19.4 Assessing suicide risk in prison

This should follow the same principles as assessing suicide risk in the community. Assessment for the
presence of mental illness is obviously very important, but not all prisoners who complete suicide were
mentally ill. With respect to the prison environment you should particularly consider the following.
Have they been in prison before?
• If so how did they cope then? Is this time any different to last time?
Have they a previous history of self-harm in the community or in prison?
• It is important to consider both environments because they are very different, and suicidal behaviour
may be situationally determined.
Are they vulnerable to being bullied?
• Ask about experiences of bullying in prison, or any other interpersonal problems with prisoners or with
staff.
• Ask if they were bullied at school or in employment.
Ask about the offence:
• While a remand prisoner may legitimately be cautious about discussing their charge, it is important to
gain an understanding of their associated feelings and emotions. In the context of suicide, shame is
perhaps particularly important.
• What are their expectations of their court case? What are the prospects for a prison sentence? It
is common for prisoners to feel that they would not be able to cope if they were to receive a long
sentence. This must be distinguished from feeling currently overwhelmed or hopeless.
What support structures are available to them?
• Ask about frequency of visits, telephone calls and letters.
• Do they have any friends within the prison?
• Are they religious? Do they use the prison chaplaincy services?
How do they spend their time in prison?
• Are they working or attending education? Do they use the gym?
Remember that sleep problems are very common. So while impaired sleep may be an important and
distressing symptom for an individual, it may not discriminate well.
Useful practical advice about the process is available in the HM Prison service guidebook,
The ACCT Approach: Caring for people at risk in prison, available from: http://www.hmprison
service.gov.uk/assets/documents/10000C1BACCTStaffGuide.pdf:
• Any member of staff can open an ACCT plan.
• The unit manager, in collaboration with other staff, will formulate an immediate action plan to keep
the prisoner safe.
• A trained assessor will carry out an assessment within 24 hours, and this should be followed by:
– the first case review, where an individualized CAREMAP (Care and Management Plan) is drawn up
– further case reviews are carried out according to individual need.
• Closure of the ACCT should be planned, and is followed by a post-closure review.
Other sources of support within prison

• Peer support schemes:
– The Listeners scheme is the most well established. Prisoners may be designated as a Listener,
and receive training and supervision from the Samaritans. Listeners are available on the wings to
support and counsel fellow prisoners.
– This provides an excellent source of support for some. Other prisoners find it difficult to place trust
in another prisoner.
252
• Personal officer.
• Chaplaincy.
• Mental health in-reach or primary care teams.
References
Birmingham L, Gray J, Mason D, Grubin D. (2000) Mental illness at reception into prison. Criminal
Behaviour and Mental Health 10(2), 77–87
Brooker C, Duggan S, Fox C, Mills A, Parsonage M. (2008) Short Changed: Spending on prison mental
health care. London: Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
Department of Health. (2001) Changing the Outlook: A strategy for developing and modernizing
mental health services in prisons. London: Department of Health
Department of Health. (2010) Guidelines for the Clinical Management of People Refusing Food in
Immigration Removal Centres and Prisons. London: Department of Health
Grubin D, Carson D, Parsons S. (2002) Report on the New Prison Reception Health Screen and the
Results of the Pilot Study in 10 Prisons. London: HM Prison Service
Hassan L, Birmingham L, Harty M, Jarrett M, Jones P, King C, et al. (2011) Prospective cohort study of
mental health during imprisonment. British Journal of Psychiatry 198, 37–42
Healthcare Advisory Committee for the Prison Service. (1997) The Provision of Mental Health Care in
Prisons. London: HM Prison Service
*Liebling A. (1995) Vulnerability and prison suicide. British Journal of Criminology 35, 173–87
Maden A, Chamberlain S, Gunn J. (2000) Deliberate self harm in sentenced male prisoners in England
and Wales: some ethnic factors. Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health 10(3), 199–204
Royal College of Psychiatrists. (2006) College Report 141: Prison Psychiatry: Adult prisons in England
and Wales. London: Royal College of Psychiatrists
*Shaw J, Baker D, Hunt IM, Moloney A, Appleby L. (2004) Suicide by prisoners: national clinical survey.
British Journal of Psychiatry 184, 263–7
253
20
Psychiatric Issues in
Criminal Courts
● Fitness to Plead and be Tried
The legal test
Originally formulated in R v Pritchard (1836) 7 Car & P 303 KB, a case involving a deaf and
dumb defendant, as consisting of three elements:
• ‘Whether the prisoner is mute of malice or by visitation of God’:
– a defendant might have refused to enter a plea as a strategy to avoid their estate being claimed
by the Crown following conviction and execution.
• ‘Whether he can plead to the indictment or not’:
– an illiterate deaf–mute, for example, had no way of communicating their plea.
• ‘Whether he is of sufficient intellect to comprehend the course of proceedings on the trial, so as to
make a proper defence – to know that he may challenge any of you to whom he may object, and
to comprehend the details of the evidence ...’
In R v John M [2003] EWCA Crim 3452, the Court of Appeal approved the trial judge’s
more contemporary explication of the Pritchard criteria, which required that the defendant
was capable of:
• understanding the charges and deciding whether to plead guilty or not
• exercising their right to challenge jurors
• instructing solicitors and counsel, which involves being able to:
– understand the lawyers’ questions, apply their mind to answering them and convey their answers
intelligibly
• following the course of proceedings, which means that they are able to:
– understand what is said by witnesses and counsel to the jury, to communicate to their lawyers
• giving evidence in their own defence, which includes being able to:
– understand the questions they are asked, apply their mind to answering them, and convey their
answers intelligibly to the jury.
Note also the Strasbourg Jurisprudence:
• Article 6(1) ECHR provides the right to participate effectively in the criminal trial process.
• Effective participation was expanded on in SC v UK [2005] 40 EHRR:
… does not require the ability to understand every point of law or evidential detail …
effective participation … presupposes that the accused has a broad understanding of the
nature of the trial process and what is at stake for him or her, including the significance of
254
Fitness to Plead and be Tried
any penalty which may be imposed. It means that he or she, if necessary with the assist-
ance of, for example, an interpreter, lawyer, social worker, or friend, should be able to under-
stand the general thrust of what is said in court. The defendant should be able to follow
what is said by the prosecution witnesses, and, if represented, to explain to his lawyers his
version of events, point out any statements with which he disagrees, and make them aware
of any facts which should be put forward in his defence
• Domestically, R v Miller [2006] EWCA Crim 2391, confirmed that ‘the bottom line ... is that every
defendant should have a fair trial’, and that this requires ‘effective participation’.
Note that fitness to plead and be tried is a single issue only. Strictly speaking a defendant
cannot be fit to enter a plea but unfit to be tried (R v Sharp [1957] CrimLR 821):
• This sometimes causes practical difficulty, and is a particular area of dissatisfaction for some (The
Law Commission, 2010)
The Court of Appeal has avoided establishing that any specific problem of itself renders an
individual under disability. This includes:
• amnesia for the offence (R v Podola (1959) 43 Cr.App.R. 220)
• a conclusion that the defendant is highly abnormal (R v Berry (1978) 66 Cr.App.R. 156)
• delusions about evil influences in the proceedings (R v Moyle [2008] EWCA 3059).
The procedure
This is provided by the Criminal Procedure (Insanity) Act 1964, (which was amended by
the Criminal Procedure (Insanity & Unfitness to Plead) Act 1991, and then by the Domes-
tic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004).
Under the title ‘finding of unfitness to plead’, the Act refers to ‘fitness to be tried’, and
the state of being ‘under a disability’. This loose terminology is unhelpful and there is no
established difference between these various terms. The courts have also tended to use the
terms interchangeably (e.g. R v Ghulam [2009] EWCA Crim 2285).
The issue may be considered at any time up until the opening of the defence case:
• If raised by the defence it must be proved on the balance of probabilities (R v Robertson (1968) 52
Cr.App.R. 690).
• If raised by the prosecution it must be proved beyond reasonable doubt (R v Podola (1959) 43
Cr.App.R. 220).
• It is decided by the judge, on the basis of the written or oral evidence of two registered medical
practitioners (RMPs), one of whom must be section 12 approved.
A finding of disability must be followed by a trial of the facts, in which:

• A jury determines whether or not they ‘did the act or made the omission’ that constitutes the offence:
– if the jury is not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, then they are acquitted
– otherwise, the court proceeds to disposal.
• The trial of the facts protects a mentally ill defendant who has done nothing wrong from being
made subject to an order of a criminal court.
• However, some argue that the trial of the facts is itself not compatible with Article 6 rights (see for
example, Bartlett and Sandland, 2007, pp226–30).
• Although the statute requires a trial of the facts to follow a finding of disability, R v Hasani [2005]
EWHC 3016 (Admin) provides authority for a second trial of issue to take place, where a defendant
regains fitness to plead before the trial of the facts takes place.
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Psychiatric Issues in Criminal Courts
Box 20.1 Assessing fitness to plead and stand trial

There are no standardized instruments for assessing fitness to plead:
• The first such tool described in a UK setting showed unconvincing reliability and validity (Akinkunmi, 2002).
Dependent on a full psychiatric examination, this is a cross-sectional assessment of capacity. Therefore
where an advance opinion in writing concludes that the defendant is under disability, this must be
followed up by a further assessment and opinion as close as possible to the trial of issue in court.
Consider these issues:
• Can the defendant explain to you the charges against them in simple terms?
• Can they give an account of what factors would lead them to decide on a guilty or not-guilty plea?
• Do they have a basic understanding of the people who will be in the court room and their roles? If you
explain an aspect of this to them, can they assimilate it?
• Ask them what they would do if they knew someone on the jury, or someone on the jury did not like them.
• Can they discuss the events that led to their charges, and give an account of themselves?
• How well can they participate during the course of a psychiatric interview? Is there any evidence of
distractedness or distractibility, poor short-term memory, agitation or other impairment?
Cognitive deficits:
• Simple objective tests of cognitive ability, such as a serial 7s and registering and recalling a name and
address, may be helpful. But they are not determinative, being rather different to the task required in a
court room.
• Where dementia or other cognitive disturbance is suspected, an MMSE is useful but remember that this
is a screening test for dementia, not a capacity test for the courtroom. Similarly further cognitive testing
(e.g. MEAMS, CAMCOG) or brain imaging may support a conclusion that they are unfit, but are not
essential to the capacity assessment.
• In suspected learning disability formal IQ assessment may be important supportive evidence, but a low
IQ does not necessarily lead to being under disability.
The following psychiatric symptoms commonly interfere with fitness to plead:
• Auditory hallucinations may distract the patient, preventing them from following evidence or giving
evidence – consider the frequency, intensity and degree of insight. Look for objective evidence that the
patient is distracted, during your examination, for example. Less commonly, somatic hallucinations or
passivity may have a similar impact.
• Psychotic disorganization symptoms, such as perplexity and thought disorder, are likely, if present, to
render a defendant under disability.
• Depression may affect the patient’s ability to attend to, concentrate on and remember the evidence.
Such cognitive deficits may be evident on simple testing. Evidence of psychomotor retardation,
irrepressible tearfulness or an intense preoccupation with depressive cognitions may be important.
• Hypomania may affect attention and concentration, and short-term memory. A patient who is
sufficiently disturbed to be considered manic will almost certainly be under disability.
• Delusions are most likely to affect fitness to plead when they relate to the court procedure. So if a
patient is deluded that, for example their defence team is conspiring against them, or that the court is
in some other way fixed, they may not be able to instruct council and participate in the trial properly.
Try not to adopt too dichotomous an approach to the clinical decision-making. You should consider what
measures might be put in place to enable a fair trial to take place. This might include measures such as:
• more frequent than usual breaks
• having a friend or intermediary with them in the dock
• giving evidence by video link rather than in person
• pointing out to the court how any further deterioration in mental state might be recognized and managed.
Fitness to plead is an issue only at Crown court. A magistrates’ court, if satisfied that he
did the act charged, may either adjourn for inquiry into the offender’s condition and most
256
Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGBROI)
appropriate disposal, or make a hospital order under s37(3) of the Mental Health Act
(MHA).
● Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGBROI)

The legal test of insanity
Insanity at the time of committing an offence is one circumstance in which the mens rea is
lacking, and may be a defence to any offence where mens rea is an issue.
The M’Naghton Rules were formulated by the House of Lords in a majority ruling to
establish the law after Daniel M’Naghton had been found not guilty by reason of insanity. It
is often said that ironically M’Naghton would not have fulfilled his own criteria:
To establish a defence on the ground of insanity, it must be clearly proved, that, at the time
of committing the act, the party accused was labouring under such a defect of reason, from
disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing, or, if he
did know it, that he did not know it was wrong
Defect of reason
Defect of reason may be temporary or permanent (R v Sullivan (1983) 77 Cr.App.R. 176),
but does not include:
• momentary absent-mindedness in context of depression in a case of shoplifting (R v Clarke (1972)
56 Cr.App.R. 225)
• uncontrollable impulse (R v Kopsch (1927) 19 Cr.App.R. 50).
Disease of the mind

Disease of the mind includes ‘The major mental disorders which doctors call psychoses,
such as schizophrenia ... any mental disorder that manifests itself in violence and is prone to
recur’ (Bratty v Attorney-General for Northern Ireland 1963).
Mind means ‘mental faculties of reason, memory and understanding’ and it does not
matter whether ‘the aetiology of the impairment is organic ... or functional’ (R v Sullivan
(1983) 77 Cr.App.R. 176).
It has been held to include:
• arteriosclerosis (R v Kemp (1956) 40 Cr.App.R. 121)
• psychomotor epilepsy (Bratty v Attorney General for Northern Ireland (1962) 46 Cr.App.R. 1)
• sleepwalking (R v Burgess (1991) 93 Cr.App.R. 41), where it was held further that the danger of
recurrence of a mental disorder manifesting in violence may go towards categorizing it as a disease
of the mind, rather than as an automatism due to external cause
but not:
• where a diabetic recklessly fails to take food, thus causing hypoglycaemia (R v Bailey (1983) 77
Cr.App.R. 76).
It must be of internal cause, rather than external (compare with non-insane automatism,
Chapter 15):
• In R v Hennessey (1989), hyperglycaemia due to diabetes was a disease of the mind.
• In R v Quick (1973) 57 Cr.App.R. 722, hypoglycaemia due to administered insulin to a diabetic was
not a disease of the mind, non-insane automatism being the proper defence.
• Non-insane automatism remains a possibility where temporary impairment results from some
external physical factor such as a blow to the head causing concussion (R v Sullivan, above).
257
• A defence of non-insane automatism may be allowed where external factors (prescribed drugs and
alcohol) operate on an underlying mental condition (mixed personality disorder), if the underlying
disorder would not in itself produce a state of automatism (R v Roach [2001] EWCA Crim 2698).
According to Memon (2006) the courts have adopted a broad interpretation of disease of
the mind and a restrictive interpretation of defect of reason.
Nature and quality of the act

A unitary construct, which refers to ‘the physical character of the act’ and which does not
encompass issues of morality (R v Codere (1916) 12 Cr.App.R. 21).
Did not know it was wrong

This is legally wrong, as opposed to morally wrong (R v Windle [1952] 36 Cr.App.R. 85). In
R v Johnson [2007] EWCA Crim 1978, the Court of Appeal was obliged to follow this strict
interpretation, but acknowledged that courts had sometimes been more flexible and encour-
aged a further appeal to the House of Lords. See also MacKay et al. (2006).
Box 20.2 Not guilty by reason of insanity (NGBROI) in practice

Hypothetical case examples illustrate the difficulty in interpreting clinical cases in the terms of the
M’Naghton rules. For clinicians, the problem tends to be in the nature and quality and legal wrongness
aspects of the defence, rather than in what constitutes a disease of the mind.
The case of a man who assaults another individual because he delusionally believes that the victim is
about to attack him is likely to satisfy the criterion of not knowing that his actions are legally wrong,
because, in his mind, he is acting in self-defence:
• If the attack is not believed to be imminent, then this defence becomes weaker.
• If he assaults someone whom he delusionally believes has sexually abused his children, he might
not satisfy this criterion, because even if his delusion were true it would be legally wrong to resort to
violence.
A woman who kills her child because she is deluded that the child is about to be abducted, tortured and
slowly killed nevertheless knows that her actions are legally wrong. It may be difficult to argue that she did
not understand the physical character of her acts.
• It might be argued that her delusions alter the nature and quality of the act, such that in her deluded
state she is saving the child from a worse fate, rather than acting to kill it.
Procedure for a defence of NGBROI

The issue may be raised by the defence (on balance of probabilities), the prosecution
(beyond reasonable doubt) or the court itself (standard of proof unclear). In contrast, where
the issue is automatism not due to disease of the mind, then the onus is on the prosecution
to prove its absence beyond reasonable doubt.
The verdict must be returned by a jury on the written or oral evidence of two registered
medical practitioners (RMPs) (one s12 approved). A plea of NGBROI cannot be accepted
by the court without trial.
● Disposal Options Following the Special Verdict

or a Finding of Disability
There are three disposal options following either a finding of NGBROI, or of unfitness to be
tried and that they did the act:
258
Unfitness to Plead and NGBROI in Practice
• Hospital order under s37 MHA 1983 with or without a restriction order:
– The criteria are exactly as for a hospital order following conviction, except that there is no
requirement for the hospital managers to confirm availability of a bed. Rather, it is the duty of
the hospital managers to admit them in accordance with the order. This reflects the lack of any
custodial alternative for the court (in contrast to a convicted defendant).
– A restriction order must be made where the alleged offence was murder.
– If a restriction order is made, then s5A(4) provides that the Secretary of State may, if satisfied by
the responsible clinician that they can properly be tried, remit the person for trial, either to court
or to prison.
• Supervision order:
– Defined in schedule 1A of the CPIA 1964 as requiring the individual to be under the supervision
of a social worker or probation officer for a maximum of 2 years. An order may also include
requirements of residence or of medical treatment.
– The court must be satisfied that the proposed supervising officer is willing to undertake the
supervision, and that arrangements are in place for the treatment that is specified.
– There is no sanction for any failure to comply by the supervised person. A magistrates’ court may
revoke or amend, but not extend, the order.
• Absolute discharge.
A supervision order may include a requirement to ‘submit ... to treatment by or under the
direction of an RMP with a view to the improvement of his mental condition’:
• Requires written or oral evidence from two RMPs (one ss12 approved) that he has a mental condition
that requires and may be susceptible to treatment, but which does not require a hospital order.
• The treatment may be specified only as:
– non-resident treatment, or
– treatment under the direction of an RMP.
• However, it may be arranged subsequently for part of the treatment to be given as a resident patient.
Prior to disposing of the case, ss35, 36 and 38 MHA 1983 are also available.
A guardianship order under s37 is not available in these circumstances, and neither is a
hospital direction under s45A.
Box 20.3 Disposals following findings of unfit to plead or NGBROI

When working as an expert witness, your first duty is to the court, but you should also deal with the
patient’s clinical need. It is always preferable for a clinical service to make its own decisions about
admission of patients.
• In cases of disability or NGBROI, the court requires medical evidence that a hospital order is appropriate
but does not require confirmation of bed availability.
• It is essential that, as a clinician, you make it your business to ensure that the responsible clinical service
is aware of the patient, and is involved in the case at as early a stage as possible.
• You should make the referral yourself; it is poor practice simply to advise solicitors to do so and leave
what will ultimately be a clinical matter in the hands of non-clinicians.
● Unfitness to Plead and NGBROI in Practice

The use of NGBROI and unfitness to plead increased dramatically following the Criminal
Procedure (Insanity and Unfitness to Plead) Act 1991, which introduced discretion into
disposal for the first time, detention in hospital previously being inevitable. Kearns and
Mackay (2000) and Mackay et al. (2006, 2007) reviewed court data between 1987 and 2001
(Figure 20.1).
259
90
Number of findings of disability
80 Findings of
unfitness to
70 plead
60
50
40
30
20 Findings of
10 NGBROI
0
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
Figure 20.1 Annual frequency of findings of disability in England and Wales (NGBROI – not guilty by
reason of insanity)
Between 1997 and 2001:

• schizophrenia and mental impairment each accounted for about one-third of the findings of
unfitness to plead (Mackay et al., 2007)
• schizophrenia accounted for half the findings of NGBROI and other psychoses about 11%. Other
diagnoses included depression and anxiety disorders, epilepsy and hypomania (Mackay et al.,
2006).
Table 20.1 shows disposals following findings of disability and NGBROI for the years 1997–
2001.
Box 20.4 Criticisms of the Pritchard criteria and M’Naghton Rules

These rules date back to the mid-1800s, and many consider them overdue for substantive, statutory
update:
• The Law Commission published a consultation paper in relation to fitness to plead in October 2010, and
is scheduled to publish a consultation on the insanity defence in summer 2011.
• It is likely that the law in this area will change over the coming years.
The Pritchard criteria:
• are often considered to be weighted too heavily on the cognitive capacity of the defendant, rather than
on a capacity assessment within the spirit of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005
• do not allow a disjunctive consideration of fitness to plead and fitness subsequently to participate in a
trial
• may be applied inconsistently by psychiatrists
• bear little relation to the statutory test of capacity in the MCA 2005.
See Rogers et al. (2008, 2009) for a critical review favouring a more systematized assessment process, and
the Law Commission (2010) generally.
The M’Naghton Rules:
• are out of date in relation to contemporary psychiatric thinking
• are sometimes confusing in relation to non-insane and insane automatisms
• are interpreted by experts inconsistently, and they are different from the law (Mackay et al., 2006)
The requirement not to know the physical character of the act or not to know that it was legally wrong
forms a very high standard. Experience suggests that trial courts often show more flexibility than the rules
explicitly contain.
260
Diminished Responsibility and Loss of Control
Table 20.1 Disposals following findings of disability and not guilty by reason of insanity (NGBROI)
1997–2001 (data from Mackay et al., 2006, 2007)
Unfit to plead NGBROI
(n = 329) (n = 72)
Percentages of total n
Detention in hospital 63 47
restricted 39 38
unrestricted 24 10
Community supervision 24 43
Absolute discharge 4 10
Unknown 9 0
● Diminished Responsibility and Loss of Control

For offences committed on or after 4 October 2010, the three partial defences to murder,
which reduce the conviction to manslaughter, are provided by the Coroners and Justice
Act 2009. Expert psychiatric evidence is required for diminished responsibility because
it is founded on the existence of a recognized medical condition. It may sometimes be
admissible in relation to loss of control, and in rare cases of killing by the survivor of a
suicide pact.
Diminished responsibility
This partial defence, which must be proved by the defence on the balance of probabilities, is
provided by s52 of CJA 2009. It requires that the defendant was suffering from:
• an abnormality of mental functioning, which arose from a recognized medical condition, and:
– the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) guidance (Ministry of Justice, 2010) mentions ICD-10 and DSM-
IV but also states that ‘there is scope for conditions not specified in such a list’ to satisfy this
criterion
• substantially impaired ability to do one or more of the following:
– understand the nature of his conduct
– form a rational judgement
– exercise self-control, and
• ‘Provides an explanation for D’s acts and omissions’ in relation to the killing, in that it ‘causes or is
a significant contributory factor in causing, D to carry out that conduct’:
– this explicit requirement for a causal link may sometimes be difficult to satisfy, and for some
commentators is likely to make the defence too restrictive.
The term ‘mental functioning’ probably does not substantively differ from ‘mind’ in the
previous definition of diminished responsibility. So the guidance in R v Byrne (1960) 44
Cr.App.R. 246 remains applicable:
A state of mind so different from that of ordinary human beings that the reasonable man
would term it abnormal … wide enough to cover the minds activities in all its aspects, not
only the perception of physical acts and matters, and the ability to form a rational judg-
ment whether an act is right or wrong, but also the ability to exercise will power to control
physical acts in accordance with that rational judgment.
261
‘Substantial’ will continue to mean its usual English language meaning: more than triv-
ial or minimal but short of total. The relationship between intoxication and diminished
responsibility is considered below.
Other aspects of this new defence will be refined further by the Court of Appeal in due
course.
Loss of control
The common law defence of provocation is replaced with the partial defence of ‘loss of
control’ (s54 of CJA 2009). Where there is sufficient evidence to raise the defence (decided
by the judge), then the burden of proof is on the prosecution to prove that it is not satisfied.
This partial defence is available where all of three criteria are satisfied:
• The acts or omissions in relation to the killing resulted from loss of control:
– the loss of control may or may not be sudden (s54(2)), so there ‘may be a delay between the
incident which was relevant to the loss of control and the killing’ (Ministry of Justice, 2010, para
18), but presumably not between the loss of control itself and the killing
– this delay allows cumulative provocation, as in prolonged domestic abuse, to constitute a
qualifying trigger.
• The loss of control had a qualifying trigger, attributable to either or both of:
– a fear of serious violence from the victim to the defendant or another (a subjective test)
– things said or done which ‘constituted circumstances of an extremely grave character and which
caused the defendant to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged’ (an objective test)
– things said or done need not be said or done by the deceased, though they must cause the
defendant to feel wronged.
• A person of the same sex and age, with a normal degree of tolerance and self-restraint and in the
circumstances of the defendant, might have reacted in the same or similar way:
– the circumstances of the defendant refers to all his circumstances except those whose only
relevance is that they bear on his general capacity for tolerance or self-restraint
– so, for example, a dispositional tendency to lose one’s temper cannot in itself satisfy this
criterion.
The partial defence of loss of control is not available where:

• the act is committed in a considered desire for revenge (s54(4)), or
• the defendant incited the qualifying trigger in order to use violence (s55(6)):
– the defence is excluded if the purpose of the defendant’s actions was to justify violence, but the
fact that he caused a reaction in others which in turn caused him to lose self-control does not
necessarily exclude the defence
• sexual infidelity in itself cannot constitute a qualifying trigger (s55(6)):
– this reflects the tendency of the Court of Appeal to be unsympathetic to infidelity as a provoking
factor, but it is likely to generate appellate court judgments.
Psychiatric evidence may be relevant to an understanding of the ‘circumstances of the

defendant’.
● Intoxication as a Defence
Most authorities deal with alcohol; generally the principles will apply to drugs too. The
starting point is that, where the necessary mens rea is proved to have existed, it is no defence
that it only existed because of intoxication, whether the intoxication is voluntary or invol-
untary. A drunken intent is still an intent (R v Kingston [1995] 2 A.C. 355):
262
Intoxication as a Defence
• Intoxication may be involuntary where drinking is the result of an irresistible craving for or
compulsion to drink. Alcohol dependence is usually required to satisfy this. It is acknowledged that
even a severely dependent drinker may nevertheless sometimes choose to delay his next drink, so a
degree of control is not inconsistent with involuntary intoxication.
• Ignorance of the strength of an alcoholic drink does not make subsequent intoxication other than
voluntary.
For crimes of basic intent or where recklessness is sufficient mens rea, unawareness of risk
due to self-induced intoxication is no defence (DPP v Majewski (1976) 62 Cr.App.R. 262):
• So, for manslaughter, assault, s20 wounding, reckless arson or criminal damage, rape and sexual
assault, intoxication is mostly irrelevant.
• An exception may be where it is reasonable to suppose that the defendant did not know that the
drug would have such an effect. In these cases it must be established whether the taking of the
drug was itself reckless.
But for a crime of specific intent, the jury should take into account the drunkenness when
deciding, in the round, whether or not they did have the requisite intent:
• Psychiatric expert evidence is sometimes called in relation to whether the defendant had the
capacity to form the required intent. This is a very difficult judgement to make and back up with
evidence. In any case, for the jury the issue is simply whether they did have the requisite intent,
drunk or not.
• Drinking in order to offend (Dutch courage) does not provide a defence for a crime of specific
intent.
Intoxication and diminished responsibility

There is considerable case law relating to alcohol and diminished responsibility, which
applies to the previous construct of diminished responsibility. But much of this remains
applicable post Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (Richardson, 2010):
• Where an abnormality of mind is present, the fact that he would not have killed if he had not also
been drunk does not necessarily prevent the defence being available (R v Dietschmann [2003]
UKHL 10).
• Where alcoholism has reached the stage that the defendant’s brain has been injured by repeated
insults from intoxicants so that there is gross disturbance of judgement and emotional responses,
this may constitute an abnormality of mind (R v Tandy (1988) 87 Cr.App.R. 45), and probably would
constitute an abnormality of mental functioning arising from a recognized medical condition:
– this does not depend on there being demonstrable brain damage (R v Wood [2008] EWCA
Crim 1305)
– but alcohol dependence syndrome does not necessarily constitute an abnormality of mind (R v
Stewart (James) [2009] EWCA Crim 593).
• In R v Stewart (above) the court suggested that, in considering a defence of diminished responsibility
based upon alcohol dependence or involuntary intoxication, the jury might consider, inter alia:
– the extent and seriousness of the defendant’s dependency on alcohol
– the extent to which his ability to control his drinking or to choose whether to drink or not, was
reduced
– whether he was capable of abstinence from alcohol, and for how long, and
– whether he was choosing to drink for some particular reason, such as a birthday celebration.
• Presumably, following Stewart, a jury may find that an irresistible craving for or compulsion to drink
constitutes an abnormality of mental functioning arising from the recognized medical condition of
alcohol dependence syndrome.
263
● The Need for a Restriction Order

A restriction order, provided by s41 MHA 1983, is available at the discretion of the sen-
tencing Crown court:
• where a hospital order under s37 MHA 1983 has been made, and
• where ‘It appears to the court ... that it is necessary for the protection of the public from serious
harm’.
Whether or not it is necessary is decided with regard to:

• The nature of the offence
• The antecedents of the offender
• The risk of him committing further offences if set at large:
– not the seriousness of the risk that the defendant will reoffend, but the risk that if he does so the
public will suffer serious harm … the potential harm must be serious, and a high possibility of
minor offences will no longer be sufficient (R v Birch (1989) 11 Cr.App.R. 202).
The court must hear oral evidence from one of the RMPs who has recommended the hospi-
tal order, but it is not required for this evidence to recommend a restriction order.
The effects of a restriction order are dealt with in Chapters 3 and 5.
Box 20.5 Giving oral evidence in relation to restriction orders

It is unusual for a court not to make a restriction order where the psychiatric evidence is that it is
warranted. Over the years, the threshold for imposing a restriction order has reduced. If the court has
required you to attend, clearly it has a restriction order in mind. Persuading a court not to make a
restriction order is likely to be a harder task than the reverse.
The effect of the advent of supervised community treatment (SCT) is uncertain in this regard:
• It might be that psychiatrists are increasingly comfortable with the notion of coercion in the
community, and consequently recommend s41 more often.
• On the other hand, there may be patients whose risks can now be managed civilly, with a community
treatment order (CTO), and therefore an s41 is not necessary.
You should explicitly consider the alternatives of an s41 now, or a CTO later:
• Section 41 is a more onerous and secure measure for the court to make, which may be attractive for the
sentencer and for public confidence.
• The future involvement of the MoJ in management can be useful, enabling the clinical team to take a
more neutral position, separate from the ‘stick’ of MoJ sanctions.
• A CTO is less restrictive and allows more clinical flexibility in the future, but an approved medical health
practitioner (AMHP) will have to agree to its imposition and subsequent renewals.
The nature of the offence may be considered in terms of the seriousness of the harm actually caused, or
the potential harm that may have been caused.
• Also consider issues such as motivation and intent, planning, weapon use, excessive or extreme violence,
contributory situational factors, intoxication.
Antecedents of the offender include previous convictions but may also include established previous risk
behaviours that have not been prosecuted
Risk of further offences implicitly means further offences that are likely to result in serious harm:
• So the fact that an offender is highly likely to reoffend at a high frequency but in a relatively minor way,
would not justify a restriction order.
264
The Assessment of Dangerousness
● The Assessment of Dangerousness under s229

CJA 2003
Protection of the public from serious harm has always been considered a legitimate aim of
sentencing, courts using common law powers to impose longer sentences than required by
the seriousness of the offence.
A series of statutory measures for dealing with offenders deemed to be dangerous were
used sparingly by the courts. But the current dangerous offender provisions provided by
chapter 5 of Part 12 of the CJA 2003, amended by the Criminal Justice and Immigration
Act 2008, have been used frequently. The statutory framework, associated case law and
issues of use have been reviewed by Clark (2011).
For the purposes of the Act, an offender is dangerous if:
• he has committed a specified offence, and
• there is a significant risk of further specified offences, and
• there is a significant risk that such offences will lead to serious harm to the public.
There are over 150 specified violent and sexual offences listed in schedule 15 of the CJA 2003,
some of which are shown in Table 20.2. These may be further categorized as ‘serious specified
offences’ where the usual maximum sentence is 10 years or more imprisonment.
Table 20.2 Some common specified violent and sexual offences listed in schedule 15 of CJA 2003
Attempted, conspiring, incitement to murder, Rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault,
manslaughter, infanticide indecent assault
s20 and s18 wounding, actual bodily harm, threats Various sexual offences against minors
to kill
Kidnapping, false, imprisonment, child cruelty Exposure and voyeurism
Robbery, aggravated burglary or vehicle taking Possession of indecent photographs of children
Arson, criminal damage, causing death by Offences related to sexual activity with individuals
dangerous driving with mental disorder
‘Significant risk of serious harm’

• ‘Significant’ means its usual English meaning, and does not equate to any numerical probability. In
particular the actuarial OASys-based tools used by the probation service, while instructive, are not
determinative of this risk judgement.
• ‘Serious harm’ means ‘death or personal injury whether physical or psychological’ (s224(3)).
• Repetitive low level violent or sexual offending is not sufficient to satisfy the test, even where it is
possible that future victims may be harmed more seriously than those who have gone before (R v
Lang [2005] EWCA Crim 2864).
In considering this issue, the court:

• must take account of available information about the offence
• may take into account available information about:
– previous offences
– any pattern of behaviour of which the offences form a part
– the offender.
There is no statutory requirement for psychiatric evidence beyond the usual requirement
when making a custodial sentence in relation to a defendant who appears to be mentally
disordered:
265
• However, psychiatric evidence may be relevant to these domains of enquiry and it is commonly
sought.
• The Court of Appeal has tended to support this as good practice where, for example, ‘the danger is
due to a mental or personality problem’ (R v Fawcett (1995) 15 Cr.App.R.(S.) 55).
Box 20.6 Assessing dangerousness for the purposes of

section 229 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003
This single dichotomous assessment should be contrasted with the dimensional repetitive risk assessments
of clinical practice. The tendency of psychiatrists to overestimate risk has even greater potency where
there is no prospect of review. The conservatism of clinical practice should not be carried into the court
room.
It is probably helpful to adopt the familiar strategy of clinical risk assessment to delineate circumstances in
which risk of reoffending will go up and when it will go down.
The significant risk criterion may be considered satisfied:
• where there seems to be a high risk of reoffending regardless of situational factors, or
• where high-risk situations are so common in ordinary life that they are bound to occur at a high
frequency.
Psychiatric issues are less relevant to the likelihood of serious harm criterion:
• While future victims may be more seriously harmed than past victims, a high likelihood of relatively
minor offending does not constitute dangerousness even where more serious harm is possible (but not
likely).
The nature and circumstances of the offence:
• Consider premeditation and planning, use of violence more extreme or sustained than required,
evidence of sadism or sexually motivated violence, the circumstances and nature of the provocation,
weapon use and weapon carrying.
Previous convictions and past patterns of behaviour:
• Previous violence that has not led to conviction may be taken into account.
Information about the offender:
• Consider particularly the nature of any mental illness or personality disorder and its relationship to
violence.
• Relevant characteristics may include emotional instability, impulsivity, dispositional paranoia, pro-
criminal or pro-violent attitudes, alcohol and drug misuse.
Sentencing options for dangerous offenders

Previously the statute required imprisonment for public protection (IPP) where the offender
was considered ‘dangerous’. The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 reintroduced
judicial discretion into sentencing, so, while there are still prescribed qualifying criteria,
IPP and extended sentences become available when they are satisfied rather than inevitable
(Table 20.3).
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The Assessment of Dangerousness
Table 20.3 Available sentences for dangerous offenders

Discretionary life Available where the offence is a serious specified offence, and the nature and
sentence circumstances of it justify a life sentence
A life sentence cannot be justified on the grounds of risk because risk is equally
well managed by the (slightly) less onerous IPP
Imprisonment for public Available at the judge’s discretion for a serious specified offence where:
protection (IPP) – the notional custody time is more than 2 years*, or
– he has a previous schedule 15A conviction†
Extended sentence Available at the judge’s discretion for any specified offence where:
– the notional custody time is more than 2 years*, or
– he has a previous schedule 15A conviction†
Sentencing as usual Available at judge’s discretion for any offence that does not justify a life
sentence
*The notional custody time refers to the amount of time that the prisoner would spend in custody after sentencing,
and equates to a determinate sentence of 4 years or a minimum term of 2 years.
†Schedule 15A convictions include: attempt, conspiracy or incitement to commit murder; manslaughter; wounding
with intent; possession of firearm with intent to endanger life; robbery using a firearm; various sexual offences
carrying a liability to life imprisonment; rape or attempted rape; intercourse with a girl under 13; assault by
penetrations.
References
Akinkunmi AA. (2002) The MacArthur competence assessment tool – fitness to plead: a preliminary
evaluation of a research instrument for assessing fitness to plead in England and Wales. Journal
of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 30, 476–82
Bartlett P, Sandland, R. (2007) Mental Health Law: Policy and practice, 3rd edn. Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Clark T. (2011) Sentencing dangerous offenders following the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act
2008, and the place of psychiatric evidence. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology 22(1),
138–55
Kearns G, Mackay RD. (2000) An upturn in unfitness to plead: disability in relation to the trial under
the 1991 Act. Criminal Law Review July, 532–46
Law Commission, The. (2010) Unfitness to Plead. A consultation paper. Available at: http://www.
lawcom.gov.uk/unfitness_to_plead.htm
Mackay RD, Mitchell BJ, Howe L. (2006) Yet more facts about the insanity defence. Criminal Law
Review May, 399–411
Mackay RD, Mitchell BJ, Howe L. (2007) A continued upturn in unfitness to plead – more disability in
relation to the trial under the 1991 Act. Criminal Law Review July, 530–45
Memon R. (2006) Legal theory and case law defining the insanity defence in English and Welsh law.
Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology 17(2), 230–52
Ministry of Justice (2010) Circular 2010/13. Available at: http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/
bills-and-acts/circulars/2010/index.htm
Richardson J. (2010) Archbold 2011: Criminal pleading evidence and practice. London: Sweet &
Maxwell
Rogers TP, Blackwood NJ, Farnham F, Pickup GJ, Watts MJ. (2008) Fitness to plead and competence
to stand trial: a systematic review of the constructs and their application. Journal of Forensic
Psychiatry and Psychology 19(4), 576–96
Rogers TP, Blackwood NJ, Farnham F, Pickup GJ, Watts MJ. (2009) Reformulating fitness to plead: a
qualitative study. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology 20(6), 815–34
267
21
Providing Expert Evidence
to Criminal Courts
This chapter considers the role of the expert in criminal courts. Many of the principles also
apply to civil and family courts, but there are important differences. If necessary, familiarize
yourself with the family procedure (adoption) rules, civil procedure rules, or the Coroners’
Rules (all available from the Ministry of Justice website, http://www.justice.gov.uk). See
also Rix (2008) in relation to civil cases and St John-Smith et al. (2009) for Coroners’
Courts.
● Psychiatry and Criminal Law

There are three categories of witness:
• Witnesses of fact, who give evidence about events that they have observed directly.
• Professional witnesses, for example a doctor giving factual evidence about the treatment that they
have provided for a patient.
• Expert witnesses, who provide courts with opinion based on expertise in some specific scientific field.
There is a high-order tension between law and psychiatry:

• The law deals in dichotomous, categorical certainty.
• Psychiatry deals in diverse, dimensional probability.
Consequently, psychiatric expert evidence is at risk of being appropriated by either side, or

ridiculed as vague and unhelpful. Psychiatric experts must:
• be acutely aware of this dynamic
• ensure that their opinions are sound and defensible on the facts
• be robust in defending their opinions
• accept some responsibility for ensuring that their opinions are not misappropriated.
The admissibility of expert evidence

An expert witness is distinguished from an ordinary witness by having some particular
knowledge or experience that goes beyond that of most people:
• The ‘Bonython criteria’ have been adopted into the Common Law by the Court of Appeal:
– ‘whether a [non-expert] person ... would be able to form a sound judgment on the matter without
the assistance of [an expert]’
– ‘Whether the matter forms part of a ... reliable body of knowledge or experience’, such that an
expert opinion would be ‘of assistance to the court’
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Psychiatry and Criminal Law
– ‘whether the expert has acquired by study or experience sufficient knowledge ... to render his
opinion of value ...’.
• With regard to psychiatry, an expert’s opinion is admissible to furnish the court with scientific
information which is likely to be outside the experience and knowledge of a judge or jury … Jurors
do not need psychiatrists to tell them how ordinary folk who are not suffering from mental illness
are likely to react to the stresses and strains of life (R v Turner [1974] 60 Cr.App.R. 80)
An expert’s evidence must be relevant and within their field of expertise, in order to be
admissible:
• An opinion on a matter that is ultimately for the jury to decide (diminished responsibility,
for example) may be admissible. See R v Stockwell (1993) 97 Cr.App.R, 260, a case involving
identification experts.
• Some argue that psychiatrists should refrain from addressing the ultimate issue because it may
involve interpretation of facts which themselves may be challenged in court.
• For others it is unhelpful to justify not giving an opinion by stating that it is a matter for the jury. All
matters of fact are for the jury; the expert is simply giving their opinion, and the jury is not bound
by it.
According to Kenny (1984), a discipline may be called a science if:

• it is consistent, that is, different experts would generally give the same answers to questions that
are central to the discipline
• it is methodical, such that there is agreement on appropriate, replicable procedures for gathering
information
• the body of knowledge is cumulative, such that established knowledge may be used reliably as a
basis from which to develop new knowledge, and
• it is predictive and falsifiable, allowing the not-yet-known to be predicted from the already-known.
Some question whether psychiatry, as practised in the courtroom, can satisfy these criteria
(Coles and Veiel, 2001; Rogers, 2004). A reflective psychiatrist may acknowledge that, if
these criteria define the parameters of what is scientific, then an expert psychiatric witness
is sometimes pressed to go beyond them.
Hearsay evidence and psychiatry

In general, the facts on which an expert bases their opinion should be proved by admissible
evidence, i.e. not hearsay. The Criminal Justice Act (CJA) 2003 preserves certain common
law exceptions to this (s118), including that:
• an expert witness may draw on the body of expertise relevant to their field
• a statement is admissible if it relates to a physical sensation or mental state.
The strict position is:

• A doctor may not state what a patient told him about past symptoms as evidence of the existence
of those symptoms because that would infringe the rule against hearsay, but he could give
evidence of what the patient told him in order to explain the grounds on which he came to a
conclusion with regard to the patient’s condition. (Tapper, 2010, p542)
In practice courts are sometimes more flexible:

• Archbold (Richardson, 2011, at para 199-77) notes that ‘as a concession, doctors are sometimes
allowed to base their opinion on what the defendant has told them without those matters being
proved by admissible evidence’.
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Providing Expert Evidence to Criminal Courts
The dual agent role of psychiatric expert witnesses

In the UK, in contrast to some other jurisdictions such as the USA, psychiatrists often act
as ‘dual agents’ (Stone, 1984), acting on behalf of:
• the patient in the interests of care and treatment
• the court to inform sentencing.
O’Grady (2002) suggests that UK psychiatrists should adopt a mixed ethical framework
encompassing:
• medical ethics of beneficence and non-maleficence
• justice ethics of truthfulness, respect for autonomy and respect for human rights of others.
This is often necessary when working within the UK system, particularly when dealing with
severely ill defendants who perhaps require a hospital disposal. But psychiatrists should
retain a high sensitivity to potential conflicts, and separate their roles when necessary:
• For example, it is difficult for a visiting psychiatrist to a prison to treat a prisoner and also provide
objective expert evidence to a court.
Independence of expert witnesses

Instructions for expert psychiatric reports mostly come from the defence, with fewer from
the Crown Prosecution Service or directly from the Court.
As an expert you have a professional duty to those instructing you, to carry out your work
diligently, in a timely manner and to a high standard. But your over-riding duty is to assist
the court to achieve its objective of dealing with the case justly. Accordingly your report
is independent, unbiased and objective; you would write the same report regardless of who
instructed you:
• Roscoe et al. (2009) reviewed psychiatric reports on perpetrators of homicide in England and Wales
between 1996 and 2001. The agreement on diagnosis between defence and prosecution reports
was significantly lower than between reports prepared for the same side:
– All psychiatrists should be aware of the possibility of an unwitting bias towards the instructing
side.
Remember that, where the instruction is from the defence, your report may or may not be
disclosed and used in court. Where your report is prepared for the prosecution, it will be
disclosed. Consequently a prosecution expert sometimes becomes a defence witness; the
reverse is less likely.
● Criminal Procedure Rules

The Criminal Procedure Rules, available from http://www.justice.gov.uk, govern the prac-
tice and procedure to be followed in the criminal division of the Court of Appeal, Crown
courts and magistrates’ courts.
There are 76 Parts. All expert witnesses must be familiar with Part 33 which relates to
expert evidence. This Part:
• defines an expert as ‘a person who is required to give or prepare expert evidence for … criminal
proceedings, including … [in relation to] fitness to plead or … sentencing’
• defines the expert’s duty to the court and includes requirements for the content of the report (see
‘Writing the Report’ below)
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Criminal Procedure Rules
• includes rules regarding introducing expert evidence in a case

• provides for the court to direct that experts discuss the case and ‘prepare a statement for the court
of the matters on which they agree and disagree’:
– if an expert does not comply with such a direction, then their evidence may not be introduced
• provides for the court to direct that a single joint expert be instructed by more than one defendant:
– applies where a number of defendants all wish to introduce expert evidence on some issue
– does not apply to the appointment of a single expert for defence and prosecution; this would
compromise the adversarial nature of a criminal trial
– rarely relevant to psychiatric evidence, which is necessarily defendant-specific.
Agreeing to provide a psychiatric report: accepting instructions

The quality of instruction varies from a general request for a ‘full psychiatric report’ to a
tailored list of issues specific to the particular case.
The General Medical Council (GMC) guidance emphasizes that ‘you must ensure that
you understand exactly what questions you are being asked to answer’ (General Medical
Council, 2008):
• A telephone conversation may be helpful.
• In practice, some issues are contingent on other issues, so it may not be possible to generate a
complete list of questions at the start.
• Therefore you should use your professional discretion to consider issues that you think are relevant,
but do not go too far without checking with those instructing. For example, you may not be thanked
for giving your opinion on diminished responsibility where the issue on which you have been
instructed was fitness to plead.
Consider your expertise and competence. You must be satisfied that you are able to answer
the questions asked. If you are not, try to suggest an alternative expert with greater experi-
ence in the particular area.
You must also ensure that you have sufficient indemnity cover for your fee-paying work.
Sources of information
Consider what documents you require. For most criminal cases this will include:
• witness statements
• transcript of interviews (sometimes tapes or videotapes)
• custody record
• proof of evidence
• previous convictions and cautions
• previous medical records (GP and psychiatric or general hospital records).
In some cases, particularly cases of murder, you should ensure that you receive the ‘unused
material’:
• In serious cases there is often a wealth of evidence gained from witnesses, some of which is not
required to prove the prosecution case. This unused material often contains psychiatrically relevant
information about the defendant and their circumstances.
Ask the solicitors to get the medical records for you in advance of seeing the patient. It is
best to read all the paperwork before seeing the patient. This allows a much more focused
and revealing psychiatric examination.
You should always note what documents you have not obtained that you would have
271
liked to obtain. You must form your opinions with any such evidence gap in mind, and state
this clearly in your report.
Fees and information governance

Defence solicitors are required to gain prior authority from the Legal Services Commission
(LSC) for expert fees exceeding £100. This allows solicitors to receive payment from the
LSC, and pass it on to the expert, prior to conclusion of the case:
• You will need to provide an estimate of the maximum fee that you think you will charge, based on
an hourly rate and the maximum number of hours’ work required.
• If the case turns out to require more work than you thought, the solicitors can apply for an
extension of funding.
• It is reasonable to charge for assessing the defendant, reading the relevant papers, interviewing
necessary informants, and for formulating your opinion.
• You should not charge for researching clinical or legal issues that might be required for you to come
to an opinion; as an expert you are expected to know this already. Similarly it is not reasonable to
charge for the time you spend preparing and improving a series of draft reports or for supervision
time.
The CPS does not need to gain prior authority, but will wish to agree your fees in advance
in much the same way.
Information governance is as important for court reports as for other clinical work. You
should use encrypted storage media, and take proper precautions in relation to electronic
communication.
Ensure that you keep accurate time records of the work undertaken. The LSC requires
solicitors to instruct only those professionals who keep such records and make them avail-
able to the LSC on reasonable notice.
Once you have completed the report the instructing solicitors will have ownership of the
report, and you should not disclose it without their permission. However, where you have
concerns about a defendant’s acute mental health needs or associated risks, you still have a
professional duty of care. You must ensure that these are communicated to the appropriate
people.
The assessment
Introduction and gaining consent
Ensure that the defendant understands:
• That you are not acting in a therapeutic capacity, but to inform the court whether there are any
psychiatric issues that are relevant to the case.
• That although their solicitors (or the CPS) have asked you to see them, you are independent of the
defence (or prosecution).
• That in contrast to most medical consultations what they tell you is not confidential. The instructing
side will certainly see the report, the judge may well see it and it may be read out in open court.
• What will happen to the report and paperwork after conclusion of your work, where it will be held
and under what circumstances it may be accessed in the future.
A full psychiatric history and mental state examination

This follows the standard scheme. In comparison to a general psychiatric history there may
be a particular emphasis on:
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Criminal Procedure Rules
• behavioural problems in childhood, to understand the genesis of offending behaviour

• the development or course of any mental illness, and its relationship to offending or risk behaviours
• dispositional factors relevant to offending.
Detailed accuracy is important:
• The history you collect needs to be internally consistent. Ensure that dates or timeframes do not
conflict.
• But remember that a self-report history is only as good as the defendant’s recollection and
engagement allows. So always be aware that there may be inaccuracies in what you have been told
and tailor your conclusions accordingly:
– For most clinical issues, detailed dates and times are not crucial.
– Beware spending so much time and attention on a detailed episodic history that you forget to
think about the defendant’s emotional state or subjective experiences.
The mental state examination follows the standard procedure, bearing in mind issues such
as fitness to be tried where relevant.
The current alleged offence

You should include both a summary of the evidence contained in the prosecution papers
and a report of the defendant’s account to you. The amount of detail required varies from
case to case, generally dependent on the importance of mental state at the time of the
offence. For example:
• Relatively little detail is required in the case of a habitual thief charged with a series of thefts, who
happens to have developed a psychosis while on remand. Here the crucial issues are their current
mental state, in relation to their fitness to be tried and the need for a psychiatric disposal.
• By contrast where you are considering a defence of not guilty by reason of insanity or diminished
responsibility, considerable detail is necessary.
As with most history taking it is important to use as high a proportion of open questions as
possible. Use the following ways of encouraging recall:
• Find a point in time prior to the alleged offence that the defendant remembers well and work
forward step by step.
• When recall apparently fails, use prompts from the witness statements to remind them of
innocuous aspects of the situation.
• Ask about different mental functions specifically and sequentially: what did they see or hear? How
did this make them feel? What thoughts came into their mind?
Remember to ask about actions after the offence. Sometimes these are seen in court as impor-
tant indicators of motivation or intention, so your opinion must take them into account.
Closing the interview

Ensure that you have their permission to contact any necessary informants.
Explain what will happen next and how long it will take to complete your report. Con-
sider how much of your opinion to feed back to them straightaway.
Ensure, particularly in custodial settings, that you communicate any concerns about acute
needs or risks appropriately. If possible make a brief entry in the prison medical record, to
document that you have carried out an assessment.
Further information
Now collect any additional sources of information, including a collateral history, and write
your report.
273
● Writing the Report

Accuracy and internal consistency are important. Inaccuracies and errors, even typographi-
cal errors, may be used to undermine an expert in court.
Use normal English language as far as possible. Some psychiatric terminology is necessary
but it should always be adequately explained, probably in parentheses.
Occasionally a solicitor will ask you to change your report after you have submitted it:
• You should not agree to alter your opinion.
• If the solicitor is pointing out a typographical error or minor factual issue then it may be reasonable
to issue a revised version.
• If there is some new information to be considered, it is better to prepare a brief addendum.
A suggested macro-structure
Use sub-headings and number your paragraphs. This will make it much easier to navigate
around the report when giving oral evidence.
The precise structure will vary between cases and experts. But all reports should
include:
• an introductory section
• the body of the report, in which the evidential information is set out
• a final section including a summary and opinions.
An introductory section
This should contain:
• A list of the sources of information used, and a note of any wanted sources that have been
unobtainable.
• A brief account of the defendant’s situation, including, for example:
– the charges against them and the dates on which they are alleged to have occurred
– the stage that the case has reached and important forthcoming hearing dates
– whether they are in custody or on bail.
• A statement in relation to informed consent, making specific reference to confidentiality, and
subsequent storage of the report and associated paperwork.
It may contain three other requirements of the Criminal Procedure Rules. These are all
required in every report, though their placement may vary:
• ‘details of the expert’s qualifications, relevant experience and accreditation’ (rule 33.3(1)(a))
• ‘a statement that the expert understands his duty to the court, and has complied and will continue
to comply with that duty’ (33.3(1)(i)):
– The ‘expert’s duty to the court’ is defined in three parts at 33.2: (1) ‘to help the court achieve
the overriding objective by giving objective unbiased opinion on matters within his expertise’; (2)
‘this duty overrides any obligation to the person from whom he receives instructions or by whom
he is paid’; (3) ‘an obligation to inform all parties and the court if the expert’s opinion changes
from that contained in a report served as evidence or given in a statement.’
– The over-riding objective of the court is defined at 1.1 as ‘that criminal cases be dealt with justly’,
and some characteristics of a just process in this context are listed.
• ‘the same declaration of truth as a witness statement’, which is provided in the Practice Direction
to part 27:
274
Writing the Report
This statement (consisting of x pages) is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and
I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I
have stated in it anything which I know to be false, or do not believe to be true.
In contrast to the civil procedure rules, the Criminal Procedure Rules do not require a report
in a criminal case to state the substance of the instructions. It may or may not be helpful
to do so.
The body of the report

The structure of this broadly follows a standard psychiatric history and examination, with
an added section for information about the current alleged offence.
Most experts give discrete sections for different sources of information. Sometimes it is
helpful to give a more narrative account. For example, where the collateral history from the
defendant’s mother ratifies some aspect of self-report, you might decide to include informa-
tion from both those sources at the same point.
However you choose to organize this, you must clearly distinguish whether information
has been gained from:
• the defendant themselves
• your own observations
• other people who know the defendant
• prosecution papers
• past medical records.
There is a very important balance to be achieved between concision and inclusiveness:

• Some reports, particularly from less experienced experts, tend towards over-inclusiveness, perhaps
for fear of missing some important issue.
• You must be balanced, and include evidence that both supports and goes against the conclusions
you have reached.
The bottom line is that the report should include all the information that is important to
your opinion, paragraph 33.3(1) requiring that reports:
• ‘contain a statement setting out the substance of all facts given to the expert which are material to
the opinions expressed in the report, or upon which those opinions are based’ and
• ‘make clear which of the facts … are within the expert’s own knowledge’:
– For example, observations of mental state may be within the expert’s own knowledge, while
subjective reports of symptoms are hearsay (which may nevertheless be relied on according to
the established rules).
Rule 33.3 also requires a report to:

• give details of any literature or other information on which the expert has relied
• state who carried out any examination, measurement, test or experiment that the expert has used
for the report, give that person’s qualifications, experience and accreditation, state whether it was
carried out under the expert’s supervision, and summarize the findings
• summarize the range of opinions that might reasonably be held on any matter, and give reasons
for the expert’s own opinion
• explain if the expert’s opinion is subject to any qualification.
Summary and opinion

Finally rule 33.3 requires every report to ‘contain a summary of the conclusions reached’. It
is often helpful to give a concise clinical summary of the case, a brief psychiatric formula-
275
tion perhaps, before going on to give your opinion on how this clinical assessment interfaces
with the relevant legal matters.
Box 21.1 Writing psychiatric reports for sentencing

It is helpful if the written reports before the sentencing judge are in tune with each other and refer to each
other:
• Always make sure that you see the probation pre-sentence report (PSR) and talk to the probation officer
preparing it.
• Make explicit reference to the PSR. Consider whether there are any psychiatric issues that would hinder
compliance with a proposed requirement.
• Consider the risk assessment in the PSR. If you think that all the major risk issues have been properly
identified and addressed, then say so. If, on the other hand, you think that because of psychiatric issues
the group-based actuarial data is not applicable to this individual, then you should explain this.
Always look at the statutory criteria that the court will be considering. Where relevant make sure that:
• your opinion uses the statutory language where possible
• the link between clinical terms and statutory terms is explicit, and that
• all the required elements are present and correct in your report.
● Giving Oral Evidence in Court

In most cases oral evidence is not required, unless:
• you have written an unclear or ambiguous report
• there are conflicting opinions available to the court necessitating closer examination
• there is a statutory requirement for oral evidence (e.g. making a restriction order), or
• the psychiatric issues are central to deciding the case (e.g. not guilty by reason of insanity,
diminished responsibility).
Criminal trials are difficult to organize and, while courts do their best to work around
experts’ other professional commitments, you will need to show flexibility.
Prior to the court hearing

It may be some time since you prepared your report:
• Check whether or not there is further evidence available that you did not have at the time.
• Re-read your report, your original handwritten notes, other experts’ reports and if necessary the rest
of the papers.
You may be asked to attend a conference with the barrister:

• They will want to:
– ensure that they understand your opinion and clarify any ambiguities
– discuss any conflicting opinion from other experts
– satisfy themselves that they know what answers you will give to their questions.
• You should seek an understanding of:
– the order in which they are going to take your evidence
– the points that they wish to emphasize.
Consider whether you need to see the defendant again, perhaps at court prior to the hear-
ing; this is essential for fitness to plead.
276
Giving Oral Evidence in Court
At court
Dress soberly and smartly, arrive early, know who to inform of your arrival and expect to do
some waiting. It is helpful to know how the judge should be addressed (Your Honour most
often, sometimes My Lord/Lady):
• For guidance see http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/you-and-the-judiciary/going-to-court/what-do-i-call-
judge
• At court, ask the lawyer who has called you, or just wait and see what term the barristers use.
Expect to sit in court prior to giving evidence, to hear other witnesses, expert or other-
wise:
• Occasionally you may be asked not to do so, but this is the exception. If in doubt, check with the
side who has called you.
• Remember to turn your phone off before going in.
In the witness box

You will be asked whether you wish to be sworn in on a holy book (there are many avail-
able) or affirm. You will be asked to give your name, current appointment and qualifications:
• Have a prepared speech to hand, in which you explain your current appointment(s) and your
qualifications. For example, MRCPsych might be described as a postgraduate professional
qualification in clinical psychiatry.
Understand whom you are trying to persuade of your opinion:

• Never the barristers – they either do or don’t agree with you by default.
• Always the judge – even where the issue is for the jury it is helpful to engage with the judge.
• But where a jury is present, it is them that you are trying to persuade.
While a barrister is asking you a question, look at them. But when you are talking, talk to
the jury and/or judge:
• Stand facing between the judge and jury, and turn your torso to look at the barrister.
• Make eye contact and try actively to engage with judge/jury.
Speak loudly and more slowly than you would in conversation:

• The judge will be taking notes. Watch their writing hand, pause regularly and wait for them to stop
writing before continuing.
Be prepared simply to acknowledge errors and consider the impact of new evidence, which
perhaps was heard before you arrived, on your opinions.
Remember that the barrister is there to present a particular case, whereas you are inde-
pendent:
• You have no emotional investment at all and are entirely non-partisan; your opinion is simply your
opinion, given for the benefit of the court, and the court may or may not agree with it.
• You are calm, unbiased, reflective yet robust, and willing to concede a point where necessary.
Your evidence will be split into three parts:

• Examination-in-chief:
– By the side that has called you.
– Most barristers will carefully lead you through those parts of your written report that they wish to
277
adduce. This is fine, though be aware of the possibility that selective use of your evidence might
distort the overall picture. Remember that your duty is to give unbiased evidence to the court,
and correct this if necessary.
– Your evidence essentially is that contained in your report. That is not to say you cannot explain or
expand a little but in the main, you should stick to your report.
– Some barristers will read sections out and simply ask you to confirm that it is your evidence.
Others will ask you to read out parts of your report. Sometimes it is difficult to know how much to
say and when to stop – keep an eye on the barrister, who will give a sign.
• Cross-examination:
– By the opposing side.
– This is a much more flexible affair. Be aware of the strategies commonly used by barristers (Box
21.2).
– Defend your opinion robustly but where you need to concede a point, do so promptly and
without fuss.
– Always retain your composure. Never become defensive or aggressive.
• Re-examination:
– By the side that has called you.
– Usually fairly brief, particularly if the cross-examination has failed to score many points.
Box 21.2 Some strategies used by barristers and how to deal with them
If you are inexperienced then be prepared for a barrister politely to point this out:
• Where they make an accurate factual statement, for example that you are still in training, then simply
agree, allowing them to move on as quickly as possible.
• If they extrapolate too far, so as to suggest your opinion is not authoritative, clearly point out that you
have all the required qualifications and emphasize the experience that you do have.
Barristers will try to squeeze dimensions into categories and probability into certainty so as to support their
case:
• Avoid giving too simple an answer to a complex question, and when a barrister asks whether you agree
with a complex statement, take the opportunity to rephrase it in your own words, rather than simply
agreeing. Sometimes this leads to a sarcastic response such as ‘I thought that was what I just said’, but
that does not matter.
You know far more than the barrister about psychiatry. So often a barrister will attack your opinion on
internal consistencies or inaccuracies in your report:
• Where a typographical error is pointed out, simply acknowledge it.
• Where there is some information which suggests that the history you gained is not accurate, then
take time to consider whether it is important in terms of your opinion. In most cases it is not, and it
is reasonable to point out that people often give slightly different answers at different times or to
different people, so such minor inconsistencies are to be expected; you formulated your opinion with an
appropriate tolerance for such things.
Introducing doubt by suggesting alternative explanations for the evidence:
• You may have to concede that a suggested alternative is possible, but ensure that you explain why in
your view it is unlikely and why you prefer your stated opinion.
In general barristers are impassive and show little emotion, so as to suggest they are in full control of their
case. But they may frown, raise their eyebrows or give quizzical looks of surprise or disbelief, as though to
suggest you have said something ridiculous:
• Remember that all such performances are strategic; ignore them and retain your composure.
Less often they show irritation or anger, or accuse you of being pedantic, or of avoiding giving a clear
answer:
278
Giving Oral Evidence in Court
• Politely assure them that you are just trying to present your evidence accurately for the benefit of the
court.
A common strategy is to try to lead you down a cul-de-sac to some conclusion that is helpful to the
barrister’s case, by asking a series of seemingly innocuous questions, usually requiring just yes or no
answers:
• Be aware of this common strategy whenever a cross-examining barrister asks you a yes or no question.
• Be pedantic in your answers and do not give a simple answer unless it is really that simple. Usually in
psychiatry it will not be long before you can point out that the issue is rather more complex than the
barrister’s question implies. This leaves you with a get-out clause, and stymies the barrister’s strategy.
• Psychiatrists inevitably rely heavily on the defendant’s self-report. Barristers may assert that your whole
opinion is solely based on what the defendant told you, and therefore cannot be reliable:
• Point out the other sources of information that you do have, and point to the consistency between
sources as being persuasive of veracity.
• Be prepared to explain the syndromal nature of psychiatric diagnosis, and the amount of psychiatric
knowledge that the defendant would need in order to feign the disorders that you have diagnosed.
• Be able to explain to the court what features would alert you to feigning.
• Look at the timing of reports of problems, for example if the defendant has complained of the illness in
question prior to the offence.
• Look carefully for objective evidence to support your conclusions. This might be straightforward – an
abnormal MRI brain scan in dementia, for example, or may be slightly less obvious, such as toleration
of high-dose diazepam in alcohol detoxification to support your assertion that they were dependent on
alcohol.
References
Coles EM, Veiel HOF. (2001) Expert testimony and pseudoscience: how mental health professionals
are taking over the courtroom. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 24, 607–25
General Medical Council. (2008) Acting as an Expert Witness. London: General Medical Council
*Kenny A. (1984) The psychiatric expert in court. Psychological Medicine 14(2), 291–302
O’Grady J. (2002) Psychiatric evidence and sentencing: ethical dilemmas. Criminal Behaviour and
Richardson J. (2011) Archbold 2011: Criminal Pleading Evidence and Practice. London: Sweet &
Maxwell
Rix KJB. (2008) The psychiatrist as expert witness. Part 1: general principles and civil cases. Advances
Rogers T. (2004) Diagnostic validity and psychiatric expert testimony. International Journal of Law
and Psychiatry 27, 281–90
Roscoe A, Rodway C, Mehta H, While D, Amos T, Kapur N, et al. (2009) Psychiatric recommendations
to the court as regards homicide perpetrators. Journal of Forensic psychiatry and Psychology
20(3), 366–77
*St John-Smith P, Michael A, Davies T. (2009) Coping with a coroner’s inquest: a psychiatrist’s guide.
Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 15, 7–16
Stone A. (1984) The ethical boundaries of forensic psychiatry – a view from the ivory tower. Bulletin
of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 12(3), 209–19
Tapper C. (2010) Cross and Tapper on Evidence, 12th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press
279
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Practical Forensic Psychiatry
Highly succinct, structured and focused, this book
Practical
concentrates on the key facts and practical day to day
issues vital to forensic psychiatry whether for quick clinical
reference or for fact-oriented exam preparation.
● clear bullet point style helps you to find key facts at a
glance
Forensic
● clinical cases, tips and practical advice help those starting
out on placements or giving evidence in legal situations
● fact-oriented, it gives you an invaluable revision guide for
higher examinations in psychiatry
Psychiatry
● reflecting current practice, modern law and clinically
relevant examples it will give you an up to date précis of
current practice
An essential purchase for trainees in psychiatry, practising
consultant psychiatrists and other mental health
professionals working in forensic psychiatry including mental
health nurses, social workers, psychologists and occupational
therapists.
Clark ● Rooprai
I S B N 978-1-4441-2063-9
Edited by Tom Clark

and Dharjinder Singh Rooprai
9 781444 120639
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International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4441-4976-0 (eBook - PDF)

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1. The Development of Forensic Psychiatric Services 1

15. The Criminal Law and Sentencing 183

DSH deliberate self-harm

OVP OASys Violence Predictor

VLU victim liaison unit

The need for secure hospitals

The development of criminal asylums

The birth of forensic psychiatry

The Emery Report (Ministry of Health, 1961)

The Gwynne Report (Ministry of Health, 1964)

The Glancy Report (DHSS, 1974)

The Butler Committee on mentally abnormal offenders

– increasing numbers of consultant appointments

The development of regional secure units

The Reed Review

Impact of the Reed recommendations

Table 1.1 Security characteristics at different levels of security

The differential impact of ‘security creep’

● Current Secure Hospital Provision

High secure services

• Broadmoor Hospital, Crowthorne, Berkshire; 260 beds.

Medium secure services

Low secure services

● Forensic Community Services

● Commissioning Arrangements and the

Reorganizations are frequent, mostly varying the nature of the purchasers:

– establishment of GP consortia to take over as the main commissioners

The relationship between the NHS and independent sector

– 39–65% from prison

Source of referral Male (%) Female (%)

● Diversion from CJS

Box 2.1 Assessment of referrals for admission from a setting of

Assessing a referral for transfer from higher security

Court diversion schemes

As a result of these pressures, waiting times for admission have increased:

The Bradley Report (Department of Health, 2009) recommended a minimum target of 14

Transfers late in sentence

• The prospect of release sensitizes professionals to risk.

Clinically, detention close to expected release is undesirable, because it is likely negatively

• Such cases may be dealt with by detention under s2 or s3:

● Admissions Under Part 3 of the Mental Health

Admissions by court order prior to sentencing

Section 36 – Remand to hospital for treatment

Duration of 28 days, renewable on the evidence of the RC, up to maximum of 12 weeks.

Section 38 – interim hospital order

For ss35, 36 and 38:

Section 44 – Committal to hospital under section 43 hospital order

MHA sentences available to criminal courts

A magistrates’ or Crown court:

Section 45A – Hospital direction and limitation direction

Transfers from custody by warrant

Section 47 – Removal to hospital of a sentenced prisoner

Section 48 – Removal to hospital of an unsentenced prisoner

• is satisﬁed by reports from two RMPs, one s12(2) approved:

For both ss47 and 48: