A prospective study of court referrals to a forensic psychiatric clinic at the maximum security unit Mathari Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya, February - September 1986

Abstract

This project presents a prospective study of 151 consecutive court referrals examined for mental status before or during trial over a period of thirty weeks. A formal psychiatric diagnosis was made on 119 (78.8%). As in similar studies in this country and elsewhere the majority of the referrals were males (84.8%) and young. 57% had at least one previous admission to hospital for mental illness and 41.7% had at least one ,previous involvement with the law. The referrals committed a wide variety of offences varying from vagrancy and trespass to robbery with violence and murder. Common crimes committed were vagrancy, stealing and being in possession of cannabis sativa in that order. Schizophrenia (28.9%) featured more than any other diagnostic category though due to methodological differences, this proportion is rather low compared to other local findings. The results show that there was no direct relationship between any diagnostic category and any typ~ of crime. Methods suggested by the author, on how to reduce criminality among mentally ill people are mainly those directed towards intensifying the. present, communi ty psychiatric serVices and family life education in schools. Along with these, areas of future research have been suggested. The results of validating Self-Rating-Questionnaire and Standard-Psychiatric-Interview diferred is that. , there were 77.0% true positives and 23.0Z false positives. The author has suggested a reason to account for this big difference.