OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of the relationship between antiandrogenic therapy of sexual offenders and home leave steps in a forensic psychiatric hospital. METHODS: Retrospective evaluation of all sexual offenders (n = 79) who were treated in the forensic psychiatric hospital Berlin between the 1.1.1998 and the 1.1.2005. RESULTS: There is an increase in the number of patients treated with antiandrogenic medication during the observed time period. Patients under this kind of pharmacotherapy receive higher grades of home leave steps. CONCLUSIONS: As possible reasons for the observed changes we discuss the contemporaneous implementation of a new pharmacotherapeutic treatment option (LHRH-agonists) and an aggravation of the German criminal law for sexual offenders.
