Criminal histories and offense analyses of women in forensic psychiatry. A comparison with men
Attention for violence and delinquency by women has grown substantially the past years. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the background of women who commit violent offenses. What is their criminal history, what type of offenses do they commit and in which way do they differ from men? In this study criminal histories and index offenses were analysed of 218 women and 218 men who have been admitted between 1984 and 2014 with a mandatory treatment order in one of four Dutch forensic psychiatric settings. It is concluded that there are important differences between female and male forensic psychiatric patients.