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Prevalence of Criminal Thinking among State Prison Inmates with Serious Mental Illness

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Law and Human Behavior

Abstract

To examine the prevalence of criminal thinking in mentally disordered offenders, incarcerated male (n = 265) and female (n = 149) offenders completed measures of psychiatric functioning and criminal thinking. Results indicated 92% of the participants were diagnosed with a serious mental illness, and mentally disordered offenders produced criminal thinking scores on the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) and Criminal Sentiments Scale-Modified (CSS-M) similar to that of non-mentally ill offenders. Collectively, results indicated the clinical presentation of mentally disordered offenders is similar to that of psychiatric patients and criminals. Implications are discussed with specific focus on the need for mental health professionals to treat co-occurring issues of mental illness and criminality in correctional mental health treatment programs.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (R34 MH070401-01A1). The research contained in this document was coordinated in part by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (Project Number 475-R05). The contents of this manuscript reflect the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Texas Tech University, Lubbock, USA

    Robert D. Morgan, Jon T. Mandracchia & Danielle Murray

  2. University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, USA

    William H. Fisher

  3. Columbia University, New York, USA

    Naihua Duan

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  1. Robert D. Morgan
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  2. William H. Fisher
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  3. Naihua Duan
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  4. Jon T. Mandracchia
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Correspondence to Robert D. Morgan.

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Morgan, R.D., Fisher, W.H., Duan, N. et al. Prevalence of Criminal Thinking among State Prison Inmates with Serious Mental Illness. Law Hum Behav 34, 324–336 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-009-9182-z

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