RISK OF HOMICIDAL BEHAVIOR AMONG DISCHARGED FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIC-PATIENTS

We studied the risk of homicidal behavior among 281 released male fore nsic psychiatric patients during the 14-year period 1978-1991. Release d patients were about 300 times more likely to commit a homicide than the general male population during the first year outside hospital, an d the corresponding risk was 53-fold during a mean follow-up period of 7.8 years. The odds ratio for committing a homicide among all Finnish schizophrenics during the 12-year period 1980-1991 was 9.7, which ind icates that previous criminality associated with schizophrenia also in creases the risk of homicidal behavior remarkably when compared with s chizophrenia per se. We believe that this kind of epidemiological appr oach is a useful method of identifying and classifying factors associa ted with very high risk of homicidal behavior and preventing homicidal behavior among high-risk populations.