Victims of mentally disordered offenders in Zimbabwe, 1980–1990

The aim of this study is to describe the victims of mentally disordered patients in Zimbabwe. The nature and degree of their crimes were such that the offending patients received a special verdict and were detained at a special hospital. This study provides descriptive data as regards victims' age, gender, and relationship to the patient. It also describes the crimes committed, the methods used, and patients' diagnoses. There were more male than female offenders and most offenders had one victim. The majority of victims were female and were related to the patient. More than 75% of the patients were suffering from major mental illness, but 14.3% were confused due to physical illness which resulted in them becoming mentally disturbed, and as a result they received a special verdict. There were no recorded sexual offences by females.

[1]  F. Oyebode,et al.  Mentally disordered offenders in Zimbabwe and in England and Wales: a socio-demographic study , 2007, Medicine, science, and the law.

[2]  M. Large,et al.  Homicide during psychotic illness in New South Wales between 1993 and 2002 , 2007, The Medical journal of Australia.

[3]  Scott Allen Johnson.  Female Sex Offenders , 2006 .

[4]  P. Solomon,et al.  Family Violence among Adults with Severe Mental Illness , 2005, Trauma, violence & abuse.

[5]  K. Heilbrun,et al.  Comparing single and serial homicide offenses. , 2004, Behavioral sciences & the law.

[6]  D. Stein,et al.  A Culture-Bound Syndrome ‘Amafufunyana’ and a Culture-Specific Event ‘Ukuthwasa’: Differentiated by a Family History of Schizophrenia and other Psychiatric Disorders , 2004, Psychopathology.

[7]  L. Appleby,et al.  Mental illness in people who kill strangers: longitudinal study and national clinical survey , 2004, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[8]  P. Czobor,et al.  Gender differences in violent behaviors: relationship to clinical symptoms and psychosocial factors. , 2004, The American journal of psychiatry.

[9]  S. McElroy,et al.  Psychiatric and legal features of 113 men convicted of sexual offenses. , 2004, The Journal of clinical psychiatry.

[10]  J. Monahan,et al.  Mental Disorder, Violence, and Gender , 2003, Law and human behavior.

[11]  N. Arican,et al.  Filicide cases in Turkey, 1995-2000. , 2003, Croatian medical journal.

[12]  P. Taylor,et al.  Mental disorder and serious violence: the victims. , 2003, The Journal of clinical psychiatry.

[13]  G. Kullgren,et al.  Victim relations and victim gender in violent crimes committed by offenders with schizophrenia , 2003, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

[14]  Jeffery T. Walker,et al.  Female Sex Offenders: An Overview and Analysis of 40 Cases , 2002 .

[15]  Edna Erez,et al.  Domestic violence and the criminal justice system: an overview. , 2002, Online journal of issues in nursing.

[16]  M. Woodward,et al.  Mental disorder and homicide: a review of epidemiological research , 2000, Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale.

[17]  S. Mednick,et al.  Mental illness and criminal violence , 1998, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

[18]  M. Swartz,et al.  Risk reconsidered: targets of violence in the social networks of people with serious psychiatric disorders , 1998, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

[19]  Winett Lb.  Constructing violence as a public health problem. , 1998 .

[20]  T. Karlsson.  Sharp force homicides in the Stockholm area, 1983-1992. , 1998, Forensic science international.

[21]  P. Burgess,et al.  Serious criminal offending and mental disorder , 1998, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[22]  J. Junginger,et al.  Delusions and symptom-consistent violence. , 1998, Psychiatric services.

[23]  G. Asnis,et al.  Violence and homicidal behaviors in psychiatric disorders. , 1997, The Psychiatric clinics of North America.

[24]  S. Turkson,et al.  Psychiatric disorders among offender patients in the Accra Psychiatric Hospital. , 1997, West African journal of medicine.

[25]  M. Dolan,et al.  A Survey of Male Homicide Cases Resident in an English Special Hospital , 1996, Medicine, science, and the law.

[26]  S. Mednick,et al.  Mental disorder and crime. Evidence from a Danish birth cohort. , 1996, Archives of general psychiatry.

[27]  J. Tiihonen,et al.  Mental disorders and homicidal behavior in Finland. , 1996, Archives of general psychiatry.

[28]  Thormaehlen Dj,et al.  Children: the secondary victims of domestic violence. , 1994 .

[29]  S. A. Clark.  Matricide: The Schizophrenic Crime? , 1993, Medicine, science, and the law.

[30]  E. Larkin,et al.  Mentally Abnormal Homicide — A Review of a Special Hospital Male Population , 1993, Medicine, science, and the law.

[31]  E. Johnstone,et al.  Dangerous Behaviour Preceding First Admissions for Schizophrenia , 1992, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[32]  F. Chikara,et al.  Psychiatry in Zimbabwe. , 1991, Hospital & community psychiatry.

[33]  J. Swanson,et al.  Violence and psychiatric disorder in the community: evidence from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area surveys. , 1990, Hospital & community psychiatry.

[34]  Ohaeri Ju,et al.  Psychiatry in Africa: an overview. , 1989, The American journal of psychiatry.

[35]  J. Fagan,et al.  Crime at Home and in the Streets: The Relationship between Family and Stranger Violence , 1987, Violence and Victims.

[36]  A. Odejide.  Some clinical aspects of criminology: A study of criminal psychiatrie patients at the Lantoro Psychiatrie Institution , 1981 .

[37]  T. Buchan.  Some clinical and cultural correlates of violent death. , 1978, South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde.

[38]  S. Acuda,et al.  Crime and mental illnesses: a study of a group of criminal patients in Mathari Mental Hospital. , 1978, East African medical journal.

[39]  E. Parker.  The Victims of Mentally Disordered Female Offenders , 1974, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[40]  L. Winett.  Constructing violence as a public health problem. , 1998, Public health reports.

[41]  D. Thormaehlen,et al.  Children: the secondary victims of domestic violence. , 1994, Maryland medical journal.

[42]  R. Jegede,et al.  A study of the role of socio-cultural factors in the treatment of mental illness in Nigeria. , 1981, Social science & medicine. Part A, Medical sociology.

[43]  A. Odejide.  Some clinical aspects of criminology: a study of criminal psychiatric patients at the Lantoro Psychiatric Institution. , 1981, Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica.

[44]  S. Klein,et al.  Murder, 1957 to 1968: A Home Office Statistical Division report on murder in England and Wales, , 1969 .