A questionnaire survey on judgment of criminal responsibility]

The authors conducted questionnaire surveys utilizing model cases with the aim of investigating the current views of psychiatrists regarding criminal responsibility judgments in forensic psychiatric evaluations. Six model cases-injury by a person with acute schizophrenia, indecent assault by a person with chronic schizophrenia, attempted murder by a woman with depression, arson by an alcohol abuser, burglary by an amphetamine abuser, rape and indecent assault by a person with personality disorder-were presented to 345 psychiatrists, who were asked about criminal responsibility and appropriate treatment for each of the cases. One hundred eighty-five of the psychiatrists responded. In the case of acute schizophrenia with hallucination and delusion, the case of severe depression, and the personality disorder case, there was a high level of agreement between the evaluations of criminal responsibility made by the different respondents, but in the case of chronic schizophrenia, the case of alcohol-induced psychotic disorder, and the case of amphetamine abuse, there were variations in the evaluation of criminal responsibility, with many respondents emphasizing the patient's symptoms and condition at the time of the offense, and relatively few emphasizing whether the disorder was endogenous. Regarding the form of treatment, many of the respondents recommended compulsory hospitalization for the case of acute schizophrenia with hallucination and delusion, while at the same time recommending treatment in a prison environment for the personality disorder case. In contrast, for the case of chronic schizophrenia and the case of alcohol-induced psychotic disorder, opinion was divided as to whether the subject should be handled with a medical or a judicial approach. Regarding treatment for the case of alcohol-induced psychotic disorder and the case of amphetamine abuse, there was a tendency to make a judgment based on the subject's condition at the point of psychiatric evaluation, which was not necessarily linked to the criminal responsibility.