Nineteen male serious reoffenders who were discharged direct to the community from a Special Hospital: I. general characteristics

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Abstract
There were a total of 112 discharges direct to the community from Park Lane Special Hospital. The 19 cases who were reconvicted of an offence designed as serious during the period 1974 to 1989 were identified. This article presents a general analysis of these cases, in terms of their pre-admission careers, their treatment in the hospital and the outcome. These cases raise a number of legal, administrative and clinical issues relating to the management and treatment of mentally disordered offenders which deserve further exploration. What is now required is full and exact investigation and faithful record of cases … by painstaking and searching enquiries into their hereditary antecedents, their mental and bodily characters, the conditions of their training and the exact circumstances of their crimes. (Henry Maudsley, 1888)