Citation

Gwee K. Int. J. Law Psychiatry 2017; 52: 44-54.

Affiliation

National University of Singapore, Singapore; Department of Psychology, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore. Electronic address: kenji_GWEE@IMH.com.sg.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ijlp.2017.03.005

PMID

28408047

Abstract

Despite the increasing prevalence and involvement of mental health professionals in local courts, there has been no systematic study of the role played by these expert witnesses in Singapore courtrooms. An empirical study of all existing recorded cases on Lawnet (Singapore's legal database of all court trial cases) from 1975-2014 involving psychologists and psychiatrists was conducted.

RESULTS revealed that, not only were these mental health experts increasingly dotting the landscape of the legal arena, the variety of their contributions has also been gradually growing. Furthermore, there were marked differences across criminal, civil and custody cases with regards to the issues of how these experts were consulted and how their inputs utilized and appreciated by judges. Differences between psychology and psychiatry were also apparent. A future with more assistance rendered by these professions to courts, as well as greater synergy between law and mental health, was predicted for Singapore courts.

Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Courts; Expert witness; Mental health; Singapore