Journal List > Korean J Schizophr Res > v.19(1) > 1057823

Park: A Comparative Analysis of the Official Crime Statistics of People with Mental Illness and Public Perception

Abstract

Objectives

There exists only a limited number of studies on the people's perception of criminality of people with mental illness. People's fear of the dangerousness of people with mental illness may have been exaggerated, and yet there are few studies exploring whether people's view of the crime rates of mentally ill people are correct or not.

Methods

A total of 363 college students participated in the present study. The present study first compared the official statistics of the crime rates of the mentally ill with the public perception. In addition, the rates of mentally ill offenders with previous convictions across crime types are compared with people's perception.

Results

Compared to the official crime statistics, people's estimates of crime rates of mentally ill offenders were grossly exaggerated across crime types, including fraud, assault, rape, robbery, theft, homicide, and arson. Furthermore, the rates of mentally ill offenders with previous convictions across all crime types on the official crime statistics were actually higher than people's estimates.

Conclusion

The present findings reveal that people‘s view of the crime rates of mentally ill people is considerably distorted. There is an urgent need to clarify these prejudices in order to help people with mentally illness adjust to society and to prevent them from committing crime.

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Fig. 1.
Comparison of official statistics and public perception-crime rates of people with mental illness.
kjsr-19-25f1.tif
Fig. 2.
Comparison of official statistics and public perception-crime rates of mentally ill offenders with previous convictions.
kjsr-19-25f2.tif
Table 1.
The crime rates of people with mental illness across crime ypes
Crime type N %
Total crime offenses 5,241 0.4
Homicide  60 5.8
Rape  383 1.7
Arson  123 8.9
Assault  524 0.3
Robbery  31 1.1
Theft 1,559 1.5
Fraud  278 0.1
Table 2.
The rates of offenders with previous convictions acros crime types
Crime type N %
Total crime offenses 896,404 41.7
Homicide   622 59.4
Rape  11,470 50.2
Arson   942 67.4
Robbery  1,867 65.0
Assault 172,453 49.3
Crime against property 187,990 33.8
Table 3.
The rates of mentally ill offenders with previous convic-ions across crime types
Crime type N %
Total crime offenses 3,942 65.7
Homicide 27 45.0
Rape 196 51.2
Arson 76 61.8
Robbery 23 71.9
Assault 882 62.5
Crime against property 1,617 69.5
Table 4.
Public perception of crime rates of people with menta illness (N=363)
Crime type M SD Median
Total crime offenses 26.04 22.22 20.00
Homicide 25.19 23.88 20.00
Rape 24.28 26.18 15.00
Arson 23.63 23.87 13.50
Assault 17.24 18.58 10.00
Robbery 11.65 15.32 05.00
Theft 11.00 13.68 05.00
Fraud 08.31 12.50 05.00
Non-specific motive 39.01 29.71 30.00
Table 5.
Public perception of the rates of mentally ill offenders with previous convictions across crime types (N=363)
Crime type M SD Median
Homicide 36.65 27.31 30.00
Rape 37.85 28.49 30.00
Arson 28.74 24.33 20.00
Robbery 27.28 24.87 20.00
Assault 31.61 25.90 20.00
Crime against property 18.52 21.18 10.00
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