Authors (including presenting author) :
So WL (1), Lai E (2), Siu B (1), Lam J (3), Chan C (2), Chan A (2), Chu KY (1), Leong SL (1), Lui SH (1), Liu A (1), Tang D (1), Leung HW (1), Mok C (2), Lam M (4)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Forensic Psychiatry, Castle Peak Hospital, (2) Occupational Therapy Department, Castle Peak Hospital, (3) Department of General Adult Psychiatry, Queen Mary Hospital, (4) Department of General Adult Psychiatry, Castle Peak Hospital
Introduction :
The Forensic Psychiatric Department of Castle Peak Hospital provides territory-wide outreach psychiatric services to the Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre (SLPC) of the Correctional Services Department. The SLPC receives mentally ill offenders sentenced by the courts for compulsory psychiatric inpatient treatment, as well as remanded and sentenced individuals who require psychiatric assessment and treatment referred by courts and correctional institutions.
Objectives :
By analysing the service data of the Department, this study explored the estimated prevalence of mental disorders among offenders and compared the estimated crime rate between mentally ill patients and the total population in Hong Kong.
Methodology :
Service data of offenders referred to psychiatrists at the SLPC from January 2011 to December 2020 were analysed. Demographic data of gender, age on admission, educational level, principal psychiatric diagnosis, index offence, and assessment outcome were collected.
Result & Outcome :
Data of 7535 offenders (74.8% males) aged 14 to 97 (mean: 41.3 ± 13.7) years were analysed. More than 60% (66.2%) had a diagnosable mental disorder. The most prevalent principal psychiatric diagnosis was schizophrenia and related disorder (22.8%), followed by mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use (18.6%), and mood disorders (8.8%). The commonest index offences were theft and related offences (20.5%), followed by acts intended to cause injury (19.7%), and illicit drug offences (11.6%). The estimated prevalence of mental illness among prison population was 7.1% (male: 8.2%, female: 5.0%). The estimated crime rate for mentally ill patients was found to be 43.3 to 263.2 per 100 000 population. The estimated prevalence of mental disorders among offenders and the estimated crime rate for mentally ill patients are relatively low in Hong Kong. The result was an important effort to document the changing characteristics of mentally ill offenders and provide an estimation of the prevalence and crime rate for mentally ill patients in Hong Kong.
