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Research ArticleARTICLES

A Comparison of Civil Patients and Incompetent Defendants: Pre and Post Deinstitutionalization

Thomas M. Arvanites
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online December 1990, 18 (4) 393-403;
Thomas M. Arvanites
PhD
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Abstract

There has been a great deal of speculation that deinstitutionalization has resulted in the criminalization of the mentally ill. Using two samples of defendants found incompetent to stand trial (IST) and two samples of civil patients randomly selected from five states, pre and post deinstitutionalization, this research compares changes in their mental health and arrest histories. After deinstitutionalization, fewer and less dramatic differences in the arrest and mental health histories were evident between ISTs and civil patients. Both patient samples displayed significant increases in prior hospitalization and arrest histories. Among the civil patients there was a significant increase in the frequency and seriousness of criminal activity. There was no evidence that IST commitments are being expanded to hospitalize the nondangerous mentally ill no longer subject to civil commitment.

  • Copyright © 1990, The American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
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Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online: 18 (4)
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
Vol. 18, Issue 4
1 Dec 1990
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A Comparison of Civil Patients and Incompetent Defendants: Pre and Post Deinstitutionalization
Thomas M. Arvanites
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online Dec 1990, 18 (4) 393-403;

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A Comparison of Civil Patients and Incompetent Defendants: Pre and Post Deinstitutionalization
Thomas M. Arvanites
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online Dec 1990, 18 (4) 393-403;
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