Court-mandated community outpatient treatment for persons found not guilty by reason of insanity: a five-year follow-up.
The authors conducted a 5-year follow-up study of 79 persons found not guilty by reason of insanity who were referred to and accepted for court-mandated community outpatient treatment. This was a severely mentally ill and violent group with extensive experience in both the criminal justice and mental health systems. This program was not without risks despite a readiness to revoke the patients' conditional release status when indicated; during the 5-year follow-up period, 25 (32%) were rearrested (18 [72%] for crimes of violence), 37 (47%) were hospitalized, and 38 (48%) had their conditional releases revoked. The authors believe that members of this population need social controls and long-term treatment when they are in the community.
Lamb
H R
HR
Department of Psychiatry, University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles 90033.
Weinberger
L E
LE
Gross
B H
BH
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D002140:California; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D003417:Criminal Psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006708:Homicide; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007298:Insanity Defense; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000628:therapy; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D014754:Violence