Epidemiological investigations of the associations between major mental disorders and crime: methodological limitations and validity of the conclusions

Abstract

Five epidemiological investigations of post-World War II birth cohorts have examined the relation between major mental disorders and criminality. This article critically reviews the objectives, methodology and findings of these investigations. The validity of the results is assessed as are the limitations which restrict their interpretation. It is concluded that persons who develop major mental disorders are at increased risk across the lifespan of committing both non-violent and violent crimes. However, this increased risk may be limited to generations of persons with major mental disorders born in the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. It is hypothesized that these generations of persons with major mental disorders have received inappropriate and inadequate mental health care and that they include a larger proportion of individuals than previous and perhaps subsequent generations, who display a pattern of stable antisocial behaviour from childhood through adulthood.