Mental disorders occurring in healthy persons who have previously committed a socially dangerous act

Abstract

In this descriptive retrospective study aimed at studying the characteristics of mental and behavioral disorders in mentally healthy people who had previously committed socially dangerous acts, the characteristics of 1129 accused who underwent forensic psychiatric examination in the Republic of Azerbaijan in the period 2001–2020 were analyzed (in the course of 20 years). As a result of the study, it was revealed that in 25.5% of cases, mentally healthy people who repeatedly committed criminal acts, along with various forms of mental and behavioral personality disorders, had accentuated character traits. Even in persons who have committed a crime for the third time, 40% of cases have some kind of psychopathic personality traits. Among mentally healthy people with previous convictions, the majority of mental disorders are personality and behavioral disorders, including symptomatic forms that occur in adulthood, but endogenous pathologies such as schizophrenia, schizotypal disorder, and delusional disorders also occur (13.1%). Persons who committed repeated offenses and had mental disorders, were found to be not criminally responsible in 11.5% of cases and to have limited criminal responsibility in 3.3% of cases. It was revealed that compulsory treatment measures were recommended for 19.7% of the surveyed, while the remaining 80.3%, despite having a mental disorder, were prosecuted due to their stable mental state of remission and compensation.