| Summary: | A review of the literature indicates that young males, who are unemployed with low
levels of education, predominate in populations of pre-trial criminal offenders
suspected of having a psychiatric illness, also known as “Observation Patients”
according to the Criminal Procedures Act of 1977 in South Africa. Other contributory
factors include a history of mental illness and non-compliance on psychiatric
medication, a previous forensic history, co-morbid substance abuse and being
intoxicated at the time of the offence. Dual diagnosis is considered a key contributor
to criminal behaviour in this group of patients. The review of the literature also shows
a significant proportion of co-morbid intellectual disability among offenders found to
be psychiatrically ill at the time of the criminal event. A previous study conducted 20
years earlier, in 1986 at the Sterkfontein Forensic Psychiatric Unit by Vorster (1986)
showed that the typical profile was a single, unemployed, poorly educated male in his
twenties, usually with a history of psychiatric treatment. This typical profile
confirmed the evidence in the literatures at the time of the study.
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