Prosecuting Psychiatric Patients for Assault

Assaults by Patients: The Experience and Attitudes of Psychiatric Hospital Nurses

“…Phelan et a1 [5] have pointed out that this creates a moral dilemma for nurses, as aresult of which they are reluctant to initiate legal action unless it seems clear that the patient was fully responsible for his or her behaviour at the time of the assault. This reluctance is reinforced by a widespread belief that the courts are unlikely to convict psychiatric inpatients, although the evidence for this is conflicting [5]. Failure to prosecute means that the public are less aware of the level of assaults in psychiatric units than they would be otherwise.…”

“…It appears that such prosecutions are rare, and are usually left to the initiative of the assaulted nurse [5,12]. The results of prosecution are mixed.…”

Prosecuting psychiatric patients who assault staff: a New Zealand perspective

“…In instances where the patient was clearly acting in accordance with their psychiatric illness, prosecution may be of negligible benefit, or even harmful 11–13 . When a patient’s behaviour is deemed unrelated to their illness, prosecution may be legitimate in certain cases 8–10,12 . One may argue that prosecution is not in line with the principle of patient beneficence.…”

“…Some authors have argued that the tolerance of aggression leads to its encouragement and increasing frequency and that appropriate responses may decrease their frequency 8,14 . Others have emphasized the issues of fairness and retribution and the rights of other patients and staff to a safe hospital environment 10,14 .…”

The prosecution of psychiatric inpatients

“…Recent case reports from the USA and Canada have advocated the selective prosecution of psychiatric inpatients, emphasizing the possible advantages (Schwarz and Greenfield, 1978;Phelan et al, 1985;Miller and Maier, 1987;Hoge and Gutheil, 1987). Unreported offences are often poorly and inconsistently recorded in medical notes.…”