Disposition of Insanity Acquittees in Illinois

Abstract

Little attention has been paid to the processing of insanity acquittees subsequent to criminal trial. This study first obtained descriptive data on new insanity acquittees (N = 137) in Illinois between January 1982 and July 1984 and then examined the criminal commitment criteria used by evaluating psychiatrists and criminal courts in the disposition of insanity acquittees. Acquittees in Illinois were largely male, chronic schizophrenics who had been acquitted for murder or attempted murder. Judges tended to use criminal criteria that were more demanding than those which had been recommended by psychiatrists. Stepwise discriminant analyses revealed that psychiatric diagnosis was the most influential factor in determining psychiatrists’ recommendations and court dispositions. Psychiatrists and committing judges failed to comply with the requirements of the committment law in one quarter of the cases.