Violent behavior and the factors associated with the decision to report it: a retrospective study
Felice Carabellese, Chiara Candelli, Donatella La Tegola, Gabriele Rocca, Alessandro Catamo, Domenico Martinelli & Roberto Catanesi
The Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology
August 14, 2014
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14789949.2014.943793
Abstract
An ample volume of research evidence supports the conclusion that severe mental illness is correlated with violent behavior. While episodes of violent behavior are included in medical notes, not all episodes of violent behavior are officially reported to the police, even when they are actual crimes. We conducted a retrospective study on the already existing clinical files of four public psychiatric outpatient facilities, based in Southern Italy, in order to assess how many cases of violent behavior are actually reported and which variables are more frequently connected with the decision to report. The data shows that the episodes known to the health services, in number and seriousness, vastly outnumber the complaints actually made towards their patients.