[The application of diminished criminal responsibility rating scale to mental retardation offenders].

Objective: To explore the application of Diminished Criminal Responsibility Rating Scale (DCRRS) to mental retardation offenders.

Methods: The DCRRS was used to 121 cases of mental retardation offenders who were divided into three groups according to the degree of their diminished criminal responsibility.

Results: There were significant differences in rating score among the three groups (mild group 22.12+/-4.69, moderate group 25.50+/-5.48, major group 27.59+/-5.69), and 17 items had good correlation with the total score of the scale with the correlation coefficient from 0.289 to 0.665. Six factors were extracted by the factor analysis, and 69.392% variation could be explained.

Conclusion: The DCRRS has rational items, its total score could show the difference among the three degree diminished criminal responsibility of mental retardation offenders.