Female offenders referred for pre-trial psychiatric evaluation.

Recently. female offenders have drawn attention from criminologists owing to the rapid rise in the rate of crime committed by women compared to men and to their increasingly active role in the crimes. l Widom (\978) has critically reviewed various etiological considerations such as biological as well as environmental stress hypotheses to explain female criminality. One aspect of the environmental hypothesis deals with psychopathology observed in women who commit various offenses. Findings from previous studies range from considering all female offenders as mentally-ilF to identification of specific characteristics such as preponderance of depression: l and other psychiatric disorders such as antisocial personality, alcoholism, drug abuse. homosexuality and hysteria.' Investigators have stressed the need for systematic research on female offenders at various stages of the incarceration process beginning with the period awaiting for trial to long term after-incarceration. l The present study concerns the characteristics and disposition of women committed to a State Hospital for pretrial psychiatric evaluation (PTPE) for a period of five years (\974-79) and includes demographic variables, offenses associated with commitment, previous criminal and psychiatric history. present psychiatric status, associated medical conditions and types of disposition. It further attempts to study the age incidence of female commitment, relationship of psychiatric diagnosis to type of offense, as well as relationship of prior criminal and psychiatric history to the outcome of the evaluation.