VIOLENCE RATINGS OF FEMALE-PATIENTS IN BROADMOOR HOSPITAL

A study is described which characterised the female population of Broa dmoor Special Hospital on a scale (Robertson et al., 1987) which rates violence associated with the index offence and previous episodes of v iolence both in terms of prosecuted violence and unprosecuted incident s. This scale has been applied recently to the male population of Broa dmoor (Wong et al., 1993). The findings here confirm the notion that t he female population of a Special Hospital are less violent than the m ales in terms of ratings of violence associated with the index offence and in previous convictions for violent offending. The females contai n a larger proportion of patients convicted of the offence of Arson (i ndex offence) and patients transferred from other hospitals because of being unmanageable in these settings (under Section 3 of the Mental H ealth Act). Extreme ratings of violence amongst the females is associa ted with a diagnosis of personality disorder rather than schizophrenia or psychosis.