title: Explanations for violent behaviour--an interview study among forensic in-patients.
abstract: The alleged relation between mental disorder and violent criminal behaviour has been investigated mainly from an epidemiological perspective. Population-based registry studies have shown that violence occurs more frequently among people with mental disorders, like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, compared with control subjects, but that the increased risk is largely mediated by drug abuse and socio-economic deprivation. The aim of this study was to explore how patients who have committed violent or sexual crimes and have been sentenced to forensic psychiatric care by a Swedish court of law construed their criminal actions in terms of causes. Forty-six participants from six different Swedish forensic psychiatric clinics were included in the study. A semi-structured interview study was conducted and the data was analysed using a thematic analysis. A large group of the participants did not believe that the mental disorder played any role in the criminal events. Contributing causes that were mentioned were drug abuse and social factors.
authors: Centre for Ethics, Law and Mental Health, University of Gothenburg, Sweden; Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Electronic address: susanna@filosofi.gu.se.
authors: Susanna
authors: S
authors: Radovic
authors: Forensic Psychiatry, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Sweden.
authors: Pontus
authors: P
authors: Höglund
mesh_terms: D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012307:Risk Factors; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Cause; Crime; Mental disorder; Qualitative research