Regional developments in Germany's forensic psychiatry - a comparison between forensic hospitals in the federal state of Baden-Wurttemberg

In order to understand increasing numbers of forensic inpatients the authors looked at the impact of regional factors on the population of forensic inpatients notwithstanding an identical framework of legal regulations and policies within a German federal state (Baden-Wurttemberg). The rates of growth in inpatients of all forensic hospitals in Baden-Wurttemberg were compared from 1997 to 2006. Differences between forensic hospitals in the rates of sentencing and discharge, and individual characteristics of patients, offences and forensic legal conditions were examined. Annual data by the Federal Office of Statistics and the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs on hospital treatment orders ( 63 StGB German Penal Code) were used. There are substantial differences in the growth of the forensic inpatient populations within Baden-Wurttemberg, which cannot be ascribed to individual characteristics of patients, types of offences or low discharge rates, but rather to different rates of sentencing by regional courts. Additional data show no positive association of sentencing rates with regional crime rates and socioeconomic indicators.