Abstract
Importance: People with mental illness are more likely to have contact with the criminal justice system but research to date has focused on risk of offense perpetration, while less is known about the risk of being a victim of crime and violence.
Objectives: To establish the incidence of victimization, by all types of crime and by violent crime specifically, following the onset of mental illness across the full diagnostic spectrum, compared to those in the population without mental illness.
Design: Longitudinal national cohort study utilising register data
Setting: Danish population-based study
Participants: A cohort of over 2 million persons born between 1965 and 1998 and followed from 2001 or from their 15th birthday until the end of 2013.
Exposures: Cohort members were followed for onset of mental illness recorded as a first contact with outpatient or inpatient mental health services. Diagnoses across the full spectrum were considered separately for men and women.
Main outcome: Incident rate ratios (IRRs) were estimated for first crime victimization event (any and violent crime) reported to police following onset of mental illness. The IRRs were adjusted for cohort member’s own criminal offending, in addition to a number of sociodemographic factors.
Results: In a total cohort of 2,058,063, the adjusted IRR for crime victimization associated with any mental disorder was 1.49 (CI 1.46-1.51) for men and 1.64 (CI 1.61-1.66) for women. The IRRs were higher for violent crime victimization (males with any mental disorder: 1.76, CI 1.72-1.80; females with any mental disorder: 2.72, CI 2.65-2.79). The strongest associations were for persons diagnosed with substance use disorders and personality disorders, but significant risk elevations were found across almost all diagnostic groups examined.
Conclusions and relevance: Onset of mental illness is associated with an increased risk of becoming a victim of crime, and of violent crime in particular. Elevated risk is not confined to specific diagnostic groups. Women with mental illness are especially vulnerable to victimization. An individual’s own offending account for some but not all of the increased vulnerability to victimization.
Objectives: To establish the incidence of victimization, by all types of crime and by violent crime specifically, following the onset of mental illness across the full diagnostic spectrum, compared to those in the population without mental illness.
Design: Longitudinal national cohort study utilising register data
Setting: Danish population-based study
Participants: A cohort of over 2 million persons born between 1965 and 1998 and followed from 2001 or from their 15th birthday until the end of 2013.
Exposures: Cohort members were followed for onset of mental illness recorded as a first contact with outpatient or inpatient mental health services. Diagnoses across the full spectrum were considered separately for men and women.
Main outcome: Incident rate ratios (IRRs) were estimated for first crime victimization event (any and violent crime) reported to police following onset of mental illness. The IRRs were adjusted for cohort member’s own criminal offending, in addition to a number of sociodemographic factors.
Results: In a total cohort of 2,058,063, the adjusted IRR for crime victimization associated with any mental disorder was 1.49 (CI 1.46-1.51) for men and 1.64 (CI 1.61-1.66) for women. The IRRs were higher for violent crime victimization (males with any mental disorder: 1.76, CI 1.72-1.80; females with any mental disorder: 2.72, CI 2.65-2.79). The strongest associations were for persons diagnosed with substance use disorders and personality disorders, but significant risk elevations were found across almost all diagnostic groups examined.
Conclusions and relevance: Onset of mental illness is associated with an increased risk of becoming a victim of crime, and of violent crime in particular. Elevated risk is not confined to specific diagnostic groups. Women with mental illness are especially vulnerable to victimization. An individual’s own offending account for some but not all of the increased vulnerability to victimization.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | JAMA Psychiatry |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 19 Feb 2018 |