Case Linkage Method

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This article consists of widely cited research conducted by professors from Monash University in 1998, their findings are supported by well-known researchers in the same field such as Walsh, Buchanan and Fahy (2002). The intended audience appears to be non-expert, making the terminology and content unchallenging to the average reader. The study involved the exploration of the psychiatric history of 4156 individuals convicted in the higher courts of Victoria between 1993 and 1995 through manual case linkage of two data bases; higher court records of convictions and a state-wide psychiatric case register listing virtually all contacts with the public psychiatric services. It was thought that a relationship existed between mental disorder and …show more content…
Limitations of the study are identified by the authors, this includes that case linkage methodology can lead to an underestimation of the true level of association between being convicted of an offence and having a history of psychiatric contact. The case register provides extensive data on those with schizophrenia in the community but only a selected, and potentially skewed sample of those with affective disorders, personality disorders and substance misuse disorders. Lastly, the diagnostic integrity of the case register depends on the treating consultant’s diagnosis, not on research criteria. Overall this is a valuable and reliable source, it supports a hypothesis that although there is some relationship between mental health problems and violent offending, the risk is not increased. While nearly a third of men convicted of a violent offence in the higher courts had prior contact with the mental health services, for many, this contact had only been brief, and in some cases the individual had received either a diagnosis of substance misuse or received no psychiatric diagnosis. This alludes to the need for greater care and clinical awareness of the needs of some mentally ill patients, along with the revision of previous studies in the same