Cargando…

The profile of offenders accused of rape referred to the Observation Ward of the Free State Psychiatric Complex, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2011–2015

BACKGROUND: Sexual assault in South Africa has reached alarming proportions. Mental illness amongst offenders accused of rape is one of the complicating factors. AIM: To describe the sociodemographic, clinical and forensic profile of alleged offenders accused of rape referred to a South African tert...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: van Zyl, Laurisa, Mosotho, Nathaniel L., Cronjé, Leilani, Vosloo, Mia, Odendaal, Leandré, Odendaal, Fritz, Kruger, Sarel, Joubert, Gina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: AOSIS 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9210183/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35747339
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v28i0.1807
_version_ 1784730109900488704
author van Zyl, Laurisa
Mosotho, Nathaniel L.
Cronjé, Leilani
Vosloo, Mia
Odendaal, Leandré
Odendaal, Fritz
Kruger, Sarel
Joubert, Gina
author_facet van Zyl, Laurisa
Mosotho, Nathaniel L.
Cronjé, Leilani
Vosloo, Mia
Odendaal, Leandré
Odendaal, Fritz
Kruger, Sarel
Joubert, Gina
author_sort van Zyl, Laurisa
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Sexual assault in South Africa has reached alarming proportions. Mental illness amongst offenders accused of rape is one of the complicating factors. AIM: To describe the sociodemographic, clinical and forensic profile of alleged offenders accused of rape referred to a South African tertiary public psychiatric hospital for forensic evaluation, as well as describe the profile of the reported victims. SETTING: Free State Psychiatric Complex (FSPC) Observation Ward, Bloemfontein, South Africa. METHODS: This cross-sectional retrospective study compiled a sociodemographic, clinical and forensic profile of offenders accused of rape referred to the FSPC for forensic assessment between 2011 and 2015. The study population comprised 159 alleged offenders. Sociodemographic data, mental status, clinical diagnoses, comorbid substance use and forensic outcomes were collected from clinical files. RESULTS: All accused offenders were male with a median age of 30 years. About half obtained primary school level education. Unemployment was common (37.3%) with 40% receiving government grants. Most accused offenders were single (78.0%). Clinically, schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders were the most common diagnoses (30.8%), followed by intellectual disability (16.3%). Almost a third of the accused offenders did not suffer from any mental illness. Alcohol (20.1%) and cannabis use disorders (12.6%) were dominant comorbidities. After a 30-day evaluation period, 53.2% of alleged offenders were found competent to stand trial. The verdict of criminal responsibility was made for 43.7% of this sample. CONCLUSION: This study contributes data on sociodemographics, psychiatric morbidities and comorbidities and forensic findings amongst alleged offenders of rape referred for forensic assessment.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9210183
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher AOSIS
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-92101832022-06-22 The profile of offenders accused of rape referred to the Observation Ward of the Free State Psychiatric Complex, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2011–2015 van Zyl, Laurisa Mosotho, Nathaniel L. Cronjé, Leilani Vosloo, Mia Odendaal, Leandré Odendaal, Fritz Kruger, Sarel Joubert, Gina S Afr J Psychiatr Original Research BACKGROUND: Sexual assault in South Africa has reached alarming proportions. Mental illness amongst offenders accused of rape is one of the complicating factors. AIM: To describe the sociodemographic, clinical and forensic profile of alleged offenders accused of rape referred to a South African tertiary public psychiatric hospital for forensic evaluation, as well as describe the profile of the reported victims. SETTING: Free State Psychiatric Complex (FSPC) Observation Ward, Bloemfontein, South Africa. METHODS: This cross-sectional retrospective study compiled a sociodemographic, clinical and forensic profile of offenders accused of rape referred to the FSPC for forensic assessment between 2011 and 2015. The study population comprised 159 alleged offenders. Sociodemographic data, mental status, clinical diagnoses, comorbid substance use and forensic outcomes were collected from clinical files. RESULTS: All accused offenders were male with a median age of 30 years. About half obtained primary school level education. Unemployment was common (37.3%) with 40% receiving government grants. Most accused offenders were single (78.0%). Clinically, schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders were the most common diagnoses (30.8%), followed by intellectual disability (16.3%). Almost a third of the accused offenders did not suffer from any mental illness. Alcohol (20.1%) and cannabis use disorders (12.6%) were dominant comorbidities. After a 30-day evaluation period, 53.2% of alleged offenders were found competent to stand trial. The verdict of criminal responsibility was made for 43.7% of this sample. CONCLUSION: This study contributes data on sociodemographics, psychiatric morbidities and comorbidities and forensic findings amongst alleged offenders of rape referred for forensic assessment. AOSIS 2022-05-31 /pmc/articles/PMC9210183/ /pubmed/35747339 http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v28i0.1807 Text en © 2022. The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
spellingShingle Original Research
van Zyl, Laurisa
Mosotho, Nathaniel L.
Cronjé, Leilani
Vosloo, Mia
Odendaal, Leandré
Odendaal, Fritz
Kruger, Sarel
Joubert, Gina
The profile of offenders accused of rape referred to the Observation Ward of the Free State Psychiatric Complex, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2011–2015
title The profile of offenders accused of rape referred to the Observation Ward of the Free State Psychiatric Complex, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2011–2015
title_full The profile of offenders accused of rape referred to the Observation Ward of the Free State Psychiatric Complex, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2011–2015
title_fullStr The profile of offenders accused of rape referred to the Observation Ward of the Free State Psychiatric Complex, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2011–2015
title_full_unstemmed The profile of offenders accused of rape referred to the Observation Ward of the Free State Psychiatric Complex, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2011–2015
title_short The profile of offenders accused of rape referred to the Observation Ward of the Free State Psychiatric Complex, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2011–2015
title_sort profile of offenders accused of rape referred to the observation ward of the free state psychiatric complex, bloemfontein, south africa, 2011–2015
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9210183/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35747339
http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v28i0.1807
work_keys_str_mv AT vanzyllaurisa theprofileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT mosothonathaniell theprofileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT cronjeleilani theprofileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT vosloomia theprofileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT odendaalleandre theprofileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT odendaalfritz theprofileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT krugersarel theprofileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT joubertgina theprofileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT vanzyllaurisa profileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT mosothonathaniell profileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT cronjeleilani profileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT vosloomia profileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT odendaalleandre profileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT odendaalfritz profileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT krugersarel profileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015
AT joubertgina profileofoffendersaccusedofrapereferredtotheobservationwardofthefreestatepsychiatriccomplexbloemfonteinsouthafrica20112015