Long-Term Recidivism of Mentally Disordered Offenders Considered “Dangerous to the Public” in Switzerland

Abstract

Objectives: The commissions for risk assessment of offenders dangerous to the public were established in 1995 in Switzerland. The main goal was to reduce recidivism of offenders released into the community by means of identifying high-risk offenders and recommending measures for offender management. This study investigates long-term recidivism data of this high-risk cohort of offenders.Methods: Baseline data included risk assessment of one of the commissions, the type of index offense, and psychiatric disorders according to ICD-10 for the total cohort of offenders examined by the commissions between 1995 and 2009. Criminal records were drawn in 2019 for all offenders from the Swiss Federal Office of Justice.Results: From a total of 147 offenders 35 recidivated within a median time at risk of 9.1 years (31.8%), of which 10 (9.1%) recommitted a severe offense. Within the treatment status, sentences (imprisonment and preventive detention) were compared to court-ordered measures (in- or outpatient court ordered treatment, civil court mandated treatment, vocational training facility). There were no significant differences comparing treatment status, different diagnostic groups, type of index offense and other risk factors. Except of age at release (or relapse), which predicted recidivism with younger subjects showing higher recidivism rates (p = 0.014).Conclusion: Our study showed that over a long-term time at risk this high-risk cohort showed a similar recidivism rate as many other studies with different cohorts. With appropriate management recidivism rates in high-risk offenders can be lowered allowing them being consecutively reintegrated into society. The finding that younger subjects have higher recidivism rate was reproduced in this population.

General and violent recidivism of former forensic psychiatric patients in Finland

“…This study found that of the 501 Finnish forensic psychiatric patients released from care between 1999 and 2018, 17% generally reoffended and 10% violently reoffended during a mean follow-up of 8 years. The general recidivism rate is low when compared to released prisoners in Finland, as 59.3% of released prisoners reoffended within 5 years of release with a crime for which they were sentenced either time in prison or community service ( 12), but somewhat comparable, although on the lower side, to other international forensic samples reporting recidivism rates between 16 and 49% (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). However, percentual reoffending is highly skewed by follow-up time, so a more comparable measure is recidivism rate per 100,000 person-years.…”

Rückfallverläufe von entlassenen Maßregelvollzugspatienten (§ 63 StGB) differenziert nach Diagnosegruppen

“…Forschungsbefunde der Folgejahre verdeutlichten, dass die Patientengruppe keine zeitlich stabile, sondern eine von gesellschaftlichen und gesetzlichen Änderungen unterlegene Kohorte umfasst 4 12 . Bisherige Untersuchungen betonen die Notwendigkeit einer weiteren Differenzierung innerhalb der Gruppe der Maßregelvollzugspatienten sowohl diagnose- als auch deliktspezifisch 10 21 .…”

“…Aus bisherigen Untersuchungen ist bekannt, dass psychiatrische Diagnosen unterschiedlichen Einfluss auf die Rückfallwahrscheinlichkeit nehmen, Befunde teilweise für allgemein erhöhte Rückfallraten bei psychischen Erkrankungen sprechen [5][6][7], eine Verallgemeinerung auf alle Störungsbilder aufgrund divergierender Forschungsbefunde indes unzulässig scheint [8][9][10]. Spezifische Untersuchungen befassten sich bereits mit einzelnen Delikt-und Diagnosegruppen [11][12][13].…”