Dangerous Mistakes
- 1 June 1991
- journal article
- Published by Royal College of Psychiatrists in The British Journal of Psychiatry
- Vol. 158 (6) , 752-757
- https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.158.6.752
Abstract
The shortening of the periods of detention for treatment, deterrence or retribution have made a live issue of whether (or when) it is justifiable to detain violent and sexual offenders solely for the protection of others. Anti-protectionist arguments have made ‘dangerousness' a dirty word, but are based either on actuarial statistics of doubtful relevance or on confused moral reasoning. A typology of ‘dangerousness' is tentatively offered, and the impossibility of adequately supervising some dangerous offenders in the community is emphasised. That said, offenders detained solely for the sake of others are entitled to more than merely ‘humane containment’.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Motives for Offending among Violent and Psychotic MenThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1985
- Rape: A 22-Year Cohort StudyMedicine, Science and the Law, 1976
- Remarks on Crime and CriminalsJournal of Mental Science, 1888