An examination of the effects of this statutory change found no significant change in the frequency of insanity acquittals of personality disordered subjects between the 3, pre-reform years and the 3, post-reform years. A review of how Psychiatric Security Review Boards handled these patients once committed to their jurisdiction was accomplished by constructing a matched comparison group of psychotic acquittees. It was found that personality disordered subjects spent less time in the system and less time in the hospital than psychotic patients during the pre-reform years. In post-reform years, however, their time in the system and time in the hospital was the same as psychotic controls. There were fewer decisions to discharge personality disordered patients from the system after reform, although this difference may be due to factors other than the statutory reform itself. The authors conclude that narrowing the insanity defense is a worthy goal, but may be difficult to achieve. 19 references and 2 tables