AN EXAMINATION OF GENDER AND RACIAL-DIFFERENCES AMONG MISSOURI INSANITY ACQUITTEES

This study examines gender and racial differences among Missouri insan ity acquittees, which included 42 African American females, 279 Africa n American males, 63 Caucasian females, and 458 Caucasian males. Signi ficant differences across the four groups were not found in age, curre nt marital status, a diagnosis of borderline intellectual functioning/ mental retardation, committing crimes of assault and burglary, and whe ther insanity acquittees ever received conditional releases to reside in the community. Some variations across the four gender/race categori es were related to race (diagnoses of schizophrenia, mood disorders, a nd other Axis I diagnoses), but variations were more frequently relate d to gender (whether ever married; diagnoses of substance abuse, sexua l disorders, antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality d isorder, and any personality disorder; committing crimes of murder, se xual offenses, and serious offenses; and current residential status). African American males were identified as being an at-risk population. They were the most likely to have a schizophrenia diagnosis, a substa nce abuse diagnosis, an antisocial personality disorder diagnosis, and to be hospitalized on the survey date. Implications for treatment and future research are explored.