Sentencing mentally disordered offenders: Factors that predict sentencers' decisions about treatment

Abstract

This research examines the way that judges and magistrates sentence mentally disordered people. It identifies case, court and offender factors that predict whether a sentencer imposes a treatment requirement on an offender. An archival data set of 6800 community corrections orders made by Victorian courts was analysed used CHAD multivariate analysis to examine the relationships between offender and case factors and the likelihood that the offender's order would include a requirement for mental-health treatment. Variables that predicted whether a sentence included a psychological or psychiatric treatment component were: whether the offender was currently undergoing mental health treatment, wh..