Characteristics of criminal defendants referred for psychiatric evaluation

This paper describes the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of a sample of criminal defendants who were referred to the Court Liaison Serv ice for psychiatric screening. Data has been extracted from the records of the Court Liaison Service and the psychiatric reports prepared for the cour ts. Most defendants were male, Pakeha, and facing serious charges. They had high rates of both previous psychiatric contact and criminal conviction. Defendants who received the usual correctional sanctions are compared with those who were admitted to a psychiatric hospital as an outcome of their co urt appearance. More defendants who received correctional sanctions were re ferred because of concerns about dangerousness and they had high rates of d epression. Most defendants who were hospitalised had diagnoses of schizophr enia or bipolar affective disorder.