Citation

Nedopil N. Crim. Behav. Ment. Health 2009; 19(4): 224-234.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/cbm.719

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Background Forensic psychiatry at first glance seems to differ from one country to another due to different historical developments, different legal systems and different mental health systems. In spite of that, forensic psychiatry has several goals shared across countries, principally: assurance of treatment for severely mentally ill people who become delinquent;giving evidence to courts in cases when the offender's mental responsibility is in question;working effectively at the interface of the law and psychiatry, and, in so doing, working well with other clinical and non-clinical professionals in the field;preventing relapse of offenders with mental disorder.