Crimes committed by mental patients

BEIJING - About 82 percent of the 1,515 people who were accused of criminal offenses and underwent psychiatric evaluation at a Beijing hospital from 1984 to 1996 suffered from mental illnesses, official media reported on Monday.

Psychiatric evaluations found 1,248 of the group were suffering from mental illnesses, the Xinhua New Agency's Outlook Weekly on Monday quoted a report by the judicial expertise department of Beijing Anding Hospital, a leading psychiatric institution in China.

More than 94 percent of the criminal offenses the mental patients were charged with fell into three categories: assault and battery, property violation, and disruption of social administration, the report showed.