Vic: Killers more likely to suffer mental disorders, study finds

AAP General News (Australia)
12-21-2009
Vic: Killers more likely to suffer mental disorders, study finds

MELBOURNE, Dec 21 AAP - Four out of five Victorian women killers and one in three of
their male counterparts suffered a mental disorder when they took a life, a study has
found.

The unpublished study of homicide and mental illness is part of a doctoral degree by
Victoria Police Detective Senior Sergeant Debra Bennett and covered 380 men and 55 women
who committed homicides in Victoria from 1997 to 2005, The Age newspaper said.

The most common disorder diagnosed in the study group was schizophrenia, a condition
38 of the 435 killers had, the newspaper said.

Men with schizophrenia were found to be eight times more likely to kill, with women
with the same condition 29 times more likely to kill than non-schizophrenics, the study
found.

The study said the "vast majority" of schizophrenics are not a risk to others but it
found they were more likely than other killers to plan their attack and be motivated by
revenge.

Victoria has fewer psychiatric beds than the national average, with 23 beds per 100,000
people compared with 30.7 per 100,000 nationally, the newspaper said.

AAP jrd/rs

KEYWORD: KILLERS

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