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Briefing Paper
APPROXIMATELY 1,000 HOMICIDES PER YEAR IN
THE UNITED STATES ARE COMMITTED BY INDIVIDUALS WITH SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESSES
WHERE DOES THIS NUMBER COME FROM?
1988 Department of Justice study
(J. M. Dawson and P. A. Langan, Murder in Families, U.S. Department of Justice,
1994)
This was a study of 2,655 homicides in 1988 drawn from a "representative
sample" of 33 of the largest counties in the United States. The information was
obtained from the files of prosecutors who examined the cases. They reported that 4.3
percent of the assailants had a "history of mental illness."
In 1988 there were reported to be 20,680 cases of "murder and non-negligent
manslaughter" in the United States (Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics
online). If the Dawson and Langan study is correct, there would have been 889 homicides
(20,680 x 4.3%) caused by mentally ill individuals in the United States in 1988. Since
1988, the murder rate has decreased in the United States (16,910 in 1998). Most of the
decrease is thought to be caused by (a) increased incarceration rates of career criminals;
(b) fewer drug-related homicides, because of increased organization of the cocaine
distribution; and (c) demographic factors, especially an aging population. None of these
would be likely to significantly affect the number of homicides committed by individuals
with mental illnesses. On the other hand, since 1988, public psychiatric services for
individuals with mental illnesses have continued to deteriorate, and there are now many
more such individuals who have been released from state psychiatric hospitals and who are
not being treated.
Assuming that there had been no change between 1988 and 1998 in the percentage of
homicides committed by individuals with "a history of mental illness," then in 1998
4.3 percent of 16,910 homicides, or 727 homicides, would have
been committed by such individuals.
1992 estimate based on published stories in
the Washington Post
(E. F. Torrey, Violent behavior by individuals with serious
mental illness, Hospital and Community Psychiatry 45:653–662, 1994)
This study of all homicides committed by severely mentally
ill individuals reported by a single newspaper (The Washington Post) for the year
1992 found 13 such homicides. It was assumed that this newspaper was covering stories for
the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area of approximately 3 million people. The total
population of the United States in 1992 was 255 million, or 85 times that of the
Washington area. Since homicides by severely mentally ill individuals were being
anecdotally reported throughout the United States, in rural areas as well as in urban
areas, it was assumed that the Washington metropolitan area was representative of the
entire United States. The total number of homicides committed by severely mentally ill
individuals in the United States in 1992 would therefore have been 1,105 (13 x 85). This,
of course, includes only those cases reported by the newspaper. Between 1992 and 1998, the
population of the United Sates increased from 255 million to 270 million. If the 1992
estimate was accurate, then in 1998 there would have been 1,170
homicides committed by individuals with severe mental illnesses in the
United States.
1992 data from the National Comorbidity
Survey published by the National Institute of Mental Health
(H. Harwood, A. Ameen, G. Denmead et al., The
Economic Costs of Mental Illness, 1992, Rockville, Md.: NIMH, 2000)
Using National Comorbidity Survey data, this report concluded that, for individuals
with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI), "the SPMI population without
substance-related disorders may be responsible for no more than about 3 percent of violent
crime, with 3 to 5 times as much violence accounted for by the dually diagnosed (SPMI and
substance disorders) population" (section on crime, p. 1.5). The study also assumed
that the percentages for homicides were the same as for "violent crime" (section
on crime-related costs, p. 6.8). Thus, SPMI individuals with no substance abuse disorders
were said to be responsible for no more than 3 percent of homicides, but individuals with
SPMI and alcohol or drug abuse were responsible for between 9 and 15 percent of
homicides.
Based on the 1998 number of 16,910 total homicides, SPMI
individuals (with concurrent substance abuse) would have been responsible for between
1,522 (9%) and 2,537 (15%) of them.
Conclusion
Given the only three studies done on this question to date,
it seems reasonable to conservatively estimate that individuals with severe mental
illnesses are responsible for approximately 1,000 homicides per year in the United States.
No studies exist to ascertain whether this number has decreased or increased since the
1988–1992 period when these studies were done. Anecdotal data suggest that the number
has increased and is continuing to increase.
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