Dangerous Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD)
Definition
A UK policy category (not a diagnostic term) for individuals assessed as presenting grave and immediate danger due to personality disorder. DSPD units operated at Broadmoor, Rampton, and Frankland from 2004 to 2011; a 2010 evaluation found no significant reconviction reduction.
- Jurisdiction
- United Kingdom policy category
- Status
- Policy term, not a clinical diagnosis
- Units operated
- Broadmoor, Rampton, Frankland, 2004-2011
- 2010 evaluation finding
- No significant reconviction reduction
Common questions
Why did the DSPD programme end despite substantial investment in dedicated units?+
The 2010 evaluation found the specialist units did not significantly reduce reconviction compared with standard high-secure care, undermining the policy rationale for maintaining a separate, resource-intensive pathway, and services were subsequently reorganised into mainstream personality disorder pathways within prisons and secure hospitals.
Why is it important to note DSPD was never a clinical diagnosis?+
Because DSPD was a UK administrative classification for service allocation rather than a category in diagnostic manuals such as DSM or ICD, an individual could not be clinically diagnosed with DSPD, only assessed as meeting the policy's dangerousness and personality-disorder criteria for admission to a specific unit.
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