Follow-Up on Baxstrom Patients Returned to Hospitals for the Criminally Insane
HENRY J. STEADMAN PH.D.1
1 Senior Research Scientist (Sociology), Mental Health Research Unit, New York Department of Mental Hygiene, 44 Holland Ave., Albany, N.Y. 12208
Of 967 patients transferred from hospitals for the criminally insane to civil mental hospitals as a result of the Supreme Court decision in the Baxstrom case, 26 were returned to hospitals for the criminally insane between 1966 and 1970. There was no factor or set of factors that significantly differentiated this group from other Baxstrom patients, although the 26 tended to be younger and to have more serious criminal records. Some differences were also found between patients returned via civil proceedings and those returned via criminal proceedings.
