When people are found not guilty in a court case by reason of insanity, how often do they end up back in trouble?
That's the question posed by a new study from Yale University. The answer seems to depend on how closely they are monitored once they leave the hospital.
According to the report, of the 365 people found not guilty by reason of insanity in the past 30 years, 215 have been discharged by the Psychiatric Security Review Board, or PSRB, the state agency which oversees insanity acquittees.
One hundred seventy-seven of those acquittees participated in conditional release from Whiting, the state's maximum security hospital, while 40 left without it.
Conditional release is a period of time after the acquittee is released from the hospital and living in the community, but is still being closely supervised and receiving mental health treatment.
The study shows that 17 of the 40 people who left the hospital without conditional release were eventually re-arrested, compared to only 15 of the 177 people who received conditional release.
"They're mandated to be meeting with their conditional release supervisor," said Dr. Tobias Wasser, a co-author of the study. "They're having a hearing every two years with the board. Their conditional release supervisor is sending a report to the [PSRB] board every six months."
Wasser believes the diligence and supervision of the PSRB has a lot to do with the low recidivism rate among those who participate in conditional release.
"They are very aware of the board and how the board can very easily pull them back into the hospital if they do anything they are not supposed to," Wasser said.
The study is published in the academic journal Behavioral Sciences and Law.
