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Dangerous Severe Personality Disordered (DSPD) patients: characteristics and comparison with other high-risk offenders

Dangerous Severe Personality Disordered (DSPD) patients: characteristics and comparison with other high-risk offenders
Dangerous Severe Personality Disordered (DSPD) patients: characteristics and comparison with other high-risk offenders
England and Wales introduced the administrative category of Dangerous Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) and established special units in prisons and high-secure psychiatric hospitals for their treatment. To examine their characteristics, we approached 202 patients admitted to DSPD units; 174 consented to participate in research. All were male, and the median age was 38 years. Most were white and born in the UK. Most patients (75%) met full DSPD criteria as suffering from severe personality disorder that caused them to be dangerous. With respect to personality disorder, most had elevated psychopathic traits and 40% met criteria for psychopathy on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (Hare, 2003). With respect to dangerousness, 25% of patients had a history of homicide; 28%, sexual offenses; and 41%, other violent offenses. Median time spent in prison was more than 12 years. According to standardized measures of violence risk, those admitted to DSPD units resembled other groups of high risk offenders described in the international literature. There were some significant differences between those admitted to prison- versus hospital-based units. The findings confirmed that DSPD units contain dangerous offenders with no evidence of preemptive incarceration
1499-9013
127-136
Burns, Tom
e9e49214-6bbb-43ce-b39f-0d814abbc83e
Fazel, Seena
eca9b4ef-7c40-4522-b520-4d690634d4ee
Fahy, Tom
0acb610e-ed84-493b-9a2a-7ae2dc42be2c
Fitzpatrick, Ray
e8a93c39-1f5e-4a7d-bfc2-77cf6dd7435f
Rogers, Robert
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Sinclair, Julia
be3e54d5-c6da-4950-b0ba-3cb8cdcab13c
Linsell, Louise
bf220517-49cd-4fbb-8666-19d2a1de1257
Doll, Helen
235c881b-5763-4866-8e6d-ba9862cd2405
Yiend, Jenny
50ff91dd-aab4-4f6d-aead-be11f10f63a7
Burns, Tom
e9e49214-6bbb-43ce-b39f-0d814abbc83e
Fazel, Seena
eca9b4ef-7c40-4522-b520-4d690634d4ee
Fahy, Tom
0acb610e-ed84-493b-9a2a-7ae2dc42be2c
Fitzpatrick, Ray
e8a93c39-1f5e-4a7d-bfc2-77cf6dd7435f
Rogers, Robert
6db4f3b3-40c5-4c5b-89fa-36073fbd3c07
Sinclair, Julia
be3e54d5-c6da-4950-b0ba-3cb8cdcab13c
Linsell, Louise
bf220517-49cd-4fbb-8666-19d2a1de1257
Doll, Helen
235c881b-5763-4866-8e6d-ba9862cd2405
Yiend, Jenny
50ff91dd-aab4-4f6d-aead-be11f10f63a7

Burns, Tom, Fazel, Seena, Fahy, Tom, Fitzpatrick, Ray, Rogers, Robert, Sinclair, Julia, Linsell, Louise, Doll, Helen and Yiend, Jenny (2011) Dangerous Severe Personality Disordered (DSPD) patients: characteristics and comparison with other high-risk offenders. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 10 (2), 127-136. (doi:10.1080/14999013.2011.577139).

Record type: Article

Abstract

England and Wales introduced the administrative category of Dangerous Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) and established special units in prisons and high-secure psychiatric hospitals for their treatment. To examine their characteristics, we approached 202 patients admitted to DSPD units; 174 consented to participate in research. All were male, and the median age was 38 years. Most were white and born in the UK. Most patients (75%) met full DSPD criteria as suffering from severe personality disorder that caused them to be dangerous. With respect to personality disorder, most had elevated psychopathic traits and 40% met criteria for psychopathy on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (Hare, 2003). With respect to dangerousness, 25% of patients had a history of homicide; 28%, sexual offenses; and 41%, other violent offenses. Median time spent in prison was more than 12 years. According to standardized measures of violence risk, those admitted to DSPD units resembled other groups of high risk offenders described in the international literature. There were some significant differences between those admitted to prison- versus hospital-based units. The findings confirmed that DSPD units contain dangerous offenders with no evidence of preemptive incarceration

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Published date: 2011

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 193699
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/193699
ISSN: 1499-9013
PURE UUID: 50106e56-2402-42c5-9b71-aabc76ce0363
ORCID for Julia Sinclair: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1905-2025

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Date deposited: 19 Jul 2011 10:50
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:54

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Contributors

Author: Tom Burns
Author: Seena Fazel
Author: Tom Fahy
Author: Ray Fitzpatrick
Author: Robert Rogers
Author: Julia Sinclair ORCID iD
Author: Louise Linsell
Author: Helen Doll
Author: Jenny Yiend

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