Citation

Pal S. Med. Law 1997; 16(1): 87-95.

Affiliation

Mental Health Services, Boroko, Papua New Guinea.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, International Centre of Medicine and Law)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9212605

Abstract

The case notes of all 64 referred abnormal offenders (mental patients with criminal records) sent to a psychiatric hospital between January 1971 to May 1996 were examined. It was found that severe mental disorder like schizophrenia (27 out of 64) was the most common cause of violent crimes such as homicide. Epilepsy 10.9 (n = 7) was another important neuropsychiatric condition related to violence. Alcohol and cannabis abuse were an associated factor in 21 (32.8%) referred cases. Culture bound syndromes like "Amok Syndrome" and "Spirit Possession Syndrome" were also found as a cause of violent behavior.

Language: en