Assessing the probability of patients reoffending after discharge from low to medium secure forensic mental health services
An inductive prevention paradox
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21148830 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bob Heyman (University of Huddersfield, corresponding author), Paul M Godin, Paul Godin (City, University of London), Lisa Reynolds (0000-0002-9609-2135, City, University of London), Jacqueline P Davies, Jacqueline Davies (City, University of London) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 84-102 |
| Publication date | 2013-02-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Health Risk & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1369-8575 • E-ISSN: 1469-8331 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13698575.2012.751090 |
| OpenAlex | W2024342847 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 36 |
Citizens of developed societies are troubled by those who commit ‘irrational' crimes against the person. Reoffending by ex-patients following their release from secure mental health services triggers particularly intense angst when amplified by media and political scrutiny. Forensic mental health service providers are expected to minimise the occurrence of such transgressions by releasing only those patients who are judged acceptably unlikely to reoffend. However, reoffending probabilities can only be estimated by observing behaviour in secure institutional settings designed specifically to prevent patients from transgressing. The article explores this ‘inductive prevention paradox' which arises when the implementation of measures designed to avoid an adverse event obscures direct observation of what might have happened if prophylaxis had not been attempted. The analysis presented draws on data obtained in 1999–2003 from two qualitative studies in medium to low secure UK institutions, one providing forensic mental health services and the other forensic learning disability services. We explored the views of 56 staff members and 21 patients about risk management in forensic services and undertook additional 25 staff interviews for case studies of the 21 patients. The wider applicability of the inductive prevention paradox will be considered in the Discussion. We argue that the prognostic limitations arising from prevention have been underestimated by policy makers and in official inquiries; and that the prevailing personal risk assessment framework needs to be complemented by greater attention to the environments which patients will be discharged into
Business · Commit · Criminology · Mental health · Political science · Psychiatry · Public relations · Scrutiny · Computer Science · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Healthcare Decision-Making and Restraints · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
‘Our tariff will rise’
Playing the game
Health care through the ‘lens of risk’
Signs of Safety’ Practice at the Health and Children’s Social Care Interface
‘I’d best take out life insurance, then.’ Conceptualisations of risk and uncertainty in primary care consultations, and implications for shared decision-making
Treatment, deterrence or labelling
Concealment, communication and stigma
Purity and Danger
Risk and Culture
On Being Sane in Insane Places
Strategy of prevention
Timetables
Studies in ethnomethodology
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
A risk worth taking? Value differences and alternative risk constructions in accounts given by patients and their community workers following conditional discharge from forensic mental health services
The institutional origins of risk
Forensic mental health services as a risk escalator
Mentally disordered offenders' views of ‘their’ risk assessment and management plans
Inquiry reports as active texts and their function in relation to professional practice in mental health
Risk, safety, and clinical practice
Modernity and Self-Identity
Multidisciplinary Teamwork in a UK Regional Secure Mental Health Unit a Matter for Negotiation
On the social psychology of the psychological experiment
Ecological Correlations and the Behavior of Individuals
Health risk escalators and the rehabilitation of offenders with learning disabilities
The problems of offenders with mental disorders
Probabilities and health risks
Asylums
| Citations per year | 0.54 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2023 (11) |
| Highly cited | No |