Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a devastating mental illness, and one of a larger class of psychotic disorders defined by the presence of delusions (false beliefs) and/or hallucinations (sensory perceptions without external sensory input). Schizophrenia may also be characterized by disorganized speech and behavior and by negative symptoms such as social, cognitive, and emotional withdrawal. Sensationalized accounts of dangerous, violent, and criminal behavior committed by schizophrenic persons have proliferated through the popular media; and the assumption of schizophrenia-associated crime and violence has contributed to public fear, stigma, social rejection, and even the denial of services and programmatic funding to schizophrenic individuals. In reality, most schizophrenic persons are not criminal or violent. Given this common misperception, a review of the empirical schizophrenia-crime/violence literature—along with proposed explanations for the relationship based in psychological, neurobiological, and social theory—appears timely.

Two converging lines of evidence continue to support a relationship between schizophrenia and crime: First, higher rates of psychosis and schizophrenia are found in criminal or delinquent populations; and second, schizophrenia patients are much more criminal and violent than the general population. In most cases, family or close network members are the victims of severe violent crimes, and most offending is found among young males in early illness stages. Examination of the schizophrenia-crime link began over a century ago with early psychoanalytic proposals and published case histories. This inquiry has progressed through research in different areas, including studies of violence within psychiatric hospital settings, of criminal behavioral histories of mentally ill individuals, and of national registry case linkages.

Psychological Factors: Schizophrenia Symptoms

Individual psychological symptoms may explain schizophrenic crime and violence, and research on delusions and hallucinations in the mentally ill (including schizophrenia but also mood and substance use disorder patients) have provided some evidence for this explanation.

Delusions

Previous research indicates a general association between delusions and violence among mentally ill ...