Homocides and Schizophrenia:
In Out of the Shadows, published by John Wiley & Sons earlier this year, I estimated that there are now approximately 1000 homicides a year committed by individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, almost all of whom were not taking medication at the time of the homicide. My estimate was based on all cases in a metropolitan area of 4 million people for 1 year, then extrapolated to the whole country. Anecdotal evidence suggests that such cases are not unique to urban areas so I think such extrapolation is reasonable. To date, nobody has challenged this 1000/year estimate. Altogether in the US there are approximately 24,000 homicides a year.
Dr. E. Fuller Torrey
Note: I reviewed this in Surviving Schizphrenia (3rd ed., 1995), pp. 271-273. Since this was published, there have been at least three pertinent papers:
Heila et al., American J. Psychiatry 154:1235-1242, 1997
Amador et al., American J. Psychiatry 153:1185-1188, 1996
Fenton et al., American J. Psychiatry 154:199-204, 1997
Schizophrenia and Jail
The vast majority of people with schizophrenia who are in jail have been charged with misdemeanors such as trespassing.
As many as one in five (20%) of the 2.1 million Americans in jail and prison are seriously mentally ill, far outnumbering the number of mentally ill who are in mental hospitals, according to a comprehensive study. Source: Human Rights Watch
The American Psychiatric Association estimated in 2000 that one in five prisoners were seriously mentally ill, with up to 5 percent actively psychotic at any given moment.
In 1999, the statistical arm of the Justice Department estimated that 16 percent of state and federal prisoners and inmates in jails were suffering from mental illness. These illnesses included schizophrenia, manic depression (or bipolar disorder) and major depression.
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