Socio-demographic, psychiatric and legal characterisation of Colombian unimputable patients, 2000–2013

• Published in: Revista colombiana de psiquiatría 2017-04, Vol.46 (2), p.82-87
• Main Authors: Escobar-Echavarría, Juliana, Molina-Osorio, Sergio Ignacio, Restrepo-Bernal, Diana Patricia
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; por
• Subjects: Behaviour; Comportamiento; Crime; Crimen; Defensa por insanía; Insanity defence; Mental disorders; PSYCHIATRY; Trastornos mentales; Violence; Violencia
• ISSN: 2530-3120; 0034-7450; 2530-3120
• DOI: 10.1016/j.rcpeng.2017.05.004

Mental illness has been associated with violent behaviour. Criminal behaviour in the mentally ill population in Colombia has not been well studied. This is a retrospective, descriptive study, from a secondary source. An analysis was made of the sociodemographic, clinical, and legal variables of 127 unfit to plead patients. A descriptive analysis of quantitative variables was performed by measures of central tendency, and frequencies and percentages were calculated for the qualitative variables. The software SPSS® version 21.0 was used to analyse the data, and the study was approved by the Research Committee of the CES University. The median age was 34 years, interquartile range 19 years, and 92.1% were men. The primary diagnosis was schizophrenia in 63%, 66.9% consumed alcohol, and 58.3% other drugs at the time they committed the crime. Almost one/third (29.1%) had a criminal record, and the most common type of crime was murder in 44.1% of cases. Around half (50.3%) of the victims had some degree of consanguinity with the patient. The study subjects had higher illiteracy and lower educational levels than the Colombian prison population. Schizophrenia was the main diagnosis, and homicide the most prevalent crime, which agrees with the literature where non-indictable patients are responsible for 5–20% of murder cases worldwide. To reduce the gap between the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, especially schizophrenia, should be within the specific actions to prevent violence and criminal behaviour associated with mental illness. La enfermedad mental se ha asociado con comportamientos violentos. En Colombia poco se ha estudiado la población de enfermos mentales con comportamiento criminal. Estudio descriptivo retrospectivo a partir de fuente secundaria. Se analizaron variables sociodemográficas, clínicas y legales de 127 pacientes inimputables. Se realizó análisis descriptivo de las variables cuantitativas a través de medidas de tendencia central, y para las variables cualitativas se obtuvieron frecuencias y porcentajes. La información se analizó con el software SPSS® versión 21.0. La investigación fue aprobada por el Comité de Investigación de la Universidad CES. La mediana de edad fue 34 [intervalo intercuartílico, 19] años; el 92,1% eran varones. El diagnóstico principal fue esquizofrenia en el 63%. En el momento de cometer el crimen, el 66,9% consumía alcohol y el 58,3%, drogas. El 29,1% tenía antecedentes delictivos y el tipo de delito más frecu