This bulletin is an annual publication that summarises information about people subject to a restriction order (restricted patients) admitted to, detained in, or discharged from psychiatric hospitals (high secure and other hospitals in England and Wales which admit mentally disordered offenders).
Publications
This bulletin is an annual publication that summarises information about people subject to a restriction order (restricted patients) admitted to, detained in, or discharged from psychiatric hospitals (high security and other hospitals in England and Wales which admit mentally disordered offenders). These data are now in the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly Bulletins. http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/prisons-and-probation/oms-quarterly/oms-quarterly-editions
This bulletin is an annual publication that summarises information about people subject to a restriction order (restricted patients) admitted to, detained in, or discharged from psychiatric hospitals (high security and other hospitals in England and Wales which admit mentally disordered offenders). These data are now in the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly Bulletins. http://www.justice.gov.uk/statistics/prisons-and-probation/oms-quarterly/oms-quarterly-editions
Overview
The term ‘mentally disordered offenders’ refers to people who have been compulsorily admitted to hospital under the following Acts:
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Part V of the Mental Health Act 1959
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Part III of the Mental Health Act 1983
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the Criminal Procedure (Insanity) Act 1964 as amended by the Criminal Procedure (Insanity and Unfitness to Plead) Act 1991, or
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the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 (whose provisions came into force on 31 March 2005).
High Secure Hospitals
Mentally disordered offenders are detained in psychiatric hospitals.
High secure hospitals hold patients detained under mental health legislation. These are patients who require treatment under conditions of high security because of their dangerous, violent or criminal tendencies.
There are three high secure hospitals:
1. Ashworth
2. Broadmoor, and
3. Rampton.
The term ‘other hospital’ refers to any other psychiatric hospital in England and Wales, which admits mentally disordered offenders as well as other patients.
Discharge from Hospital
The term ‘discharge’ refers to the release of a patient from detention in hospital into the community, by whatever means, with or without restrictions.
Discharge may be ordered by either the Secretary of State or the First Tier Tribunal - (Mental Health). The First Tier Tribunal is an independent body with discharge powers separate from those of the Secretary of State.
Conditional discharges mean that the patient remains liable to detention in hospital and may be recalled by the Secretary of State.
Technical Data
Sources of information: restricted patients
The information provided in this section comes mainly from the Mental Health Unit casework system which was introduced in 1993.
A number of adjustments have been made in recent years, with a view to enhancing data quality while conserving staff resources.
In producing the 2005 bulletin ‘Statistics of Mentally Disordered Offenders 2005' some problems were encountered which led to a manual matching approach being undertaken to produce tables 1-9. This led to the exclusion of data relating to offence, period of stay, type of hospital (in population tables) and unrestricted hospital orders.
The current bulletin, ‘Statistics of Mentally Disordered Offenders 2008’ was produced using the Ministry of Justice, Mental Health Unit casework system.
Data validation work was undertaken using yearly returns from the three high secure hospitals. These detail admissions, disposals and population. This data validation work is undertaken in order to improve the accuracy of the data.
Due to the complexities of data validation work it has not been possible to provide information on offence, period of stay or unrestricted hospital orders in this bulletin.
It is also important to note that the 2008 bulletin no longer includes tables categorising patients admitted to hospital in terms of their type of mental disorder. This categorisation was repealed by the Mental Health Act 2007.
Sources of information: re-offending
The re-offending information in this bulletin is derived from the Ministry of Justice’s copy of the Police National Computer (PNC). This is a database which records information on all offences which are prosecuted.
The method for calculating re-offending data was altered in 2006 in two ways. Before 2006, figures were calculated using the Offenders Index (OI). However, in line with other statistical publications in the Ministry of Justice, figures are now being calculated using the PNC which gives greater offence coverage.
Before 2006, reconviction figures were used so that an offender was considered to have been reconvicted if the offence and the conviction occurred within a specified period of time. However, in line with other MOJ publications, re-offending figures are now being used. An offender is considered to have re-offended if the offence occurs within a specified period of time, even if the conviction occurs subsequent to that period.
Both the change in data source from the OI to PNC and the change in definition from reconviction to re-offending were considered to have achieved a more comprehensive measure of reoffending.
Re-offending figures for earlier years have been back-dated in the 2007 bulletin using the PNC so that the consistency of figures is maintained. This is why figures may differ from those which appear in pre-2006 bulletins.
Finally, it is important to note that re-offending data represents only those patients first discharged. It does not capture all patients discharged into the community in a given year. It does not take into account recalls to hospital either.
Glossary
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Admission
An ‘admission’ refers to the date that the person becomes a restricted patient under the Mental Health Act. In some cases, a patient may appear to have been admitted or discharged more than once within a given year, although they may not have physically moved. Transfers between hospitals in England and Wales are not counted within the admission tables in the 2007 bulletin, unless the patient’s legal category has also changed.
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Discharge
Discharges refer to the release of a patient with or without restrictions. Discharge may be ordered by either the Secretary of State or a First Tier Tribunal.
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Offenders Index (OI)
The Offenders Index database holds details on over 6 million offenders. The index holds details of all convictions for standard list offences since 1963. Source data for the Index comes from Court Appearance data taken from Home Office records and the Police National Computer (PNC). The data is used to produce regular information on reconviction rates for offenders who have served different types of sentence, for example, custodial sentence or community penalty.
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Police National Computer (PNC)
The Police National Computer ( PNC) holds details of people, vehicles, crimes and property that can be electronically accessed by the police and other criminal justice agencies. It is a national information system maintained and delivered by the NPIA (National Policing Improvement Agency).
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Reconviction
Reconviction refers to whether an offender is convicted for an offence within two years following release from hospital.
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Restricted patients
Persons subject to the special restrictions set out in section 41 of the 1983 Act; those referred to in the 2007 bulletin are detained in high security or other psychiatric hospitals, or subject to conditional discharge in the community.
Contact Details
For statistical enquiries about this topic, please contact:
Ministry of Justice (MoJ)
Email: statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)20 3334 3737
Ministry of Justice Statistics 102 Petty France London SW1H 9AJ
