Abstract

Offenders resides in prison faces many problems Isolation from the families overcrowding in prison guilt and stigmatization are main causes of deterioration in mental health of prisoners Present study intends to assess mental health problem in two groups of convicted criminals murderers and rapists in terms of depression anxiety and stress Based on purposive sampling technique 72 convicted criminals were selected from Birsa Munda Central Jail Hotwar Ranchi India Both the groups of criminals were matched on various socio-demographic parameters such as gender age education religion marital status residence and occupation All participants were assessed on Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale DASS Obtained responses were scored by using standard scoring procedures and subsequently statistically analyzed by using Chi-square test In present study rapists group have shown significant difference on scale of depression in comparison to murderer s group Whereas there were no significant differences found between both the groups on level of anxiety and stress Mental health problems were found prevalent in both the groups but more prominent in rapist s group Rapists group have shown more symptoms and severity of depression anxiety and stress than the murderers group in present study