Abstract
What is the nature of the relationship between mental disability and crime? This chapter examines its nature, scope, direction, and implications for the study of criminology. Its early sections critically assess issues of definition, causation and of the success of treatment interventions. Its latter part reviews developments in policy and the emerging blurring of risk-oriented and therapeutic objectives. It concludes by urging a more sophisticated and less discriminatory approach to the field, which does not focus on diagnoses but rather on a holistic understanding of the relationship between people and crime.
