The clinical case conference has been a hallmark of undergraduate and graduate medical education for decades and affords attendees the opportunity to hear about interesting and difficult cases and to learn from a discussion of the complexities of diagnosis and treatment. In forensic psychiatry, the complexities in a case conference also extend to the formation of a forensic opinion. The applica...

Exactly three years have passed since the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) issued a report entitled “Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward.” Describing in detail the need for establishing enforceable standards and best practices, the document urged establishment of a federal National Institute of Forensic Science. Public responses from relevant professional organ...

The role of psychiatry in the legal arena is grossly misunderstood and even controversial. Some respected psychiatrists and members of the public have argued that the current state of the science of psychiatry is such that it has little to offer the legal system, and consequently, psychiatrists should be banned from the courts. Alan Stone's critique of forensic psychiatry 25 years ago is probab...

It is postulated that there is a declining interest in forensic psychiatry in some countries, e.g. in Denmark. Can this decline be conclusively demonstrated? If so, what are the explanations? It is postulated that it is due not to decreasing interest on the part of psychiatrists, but to a change in attitude on the part of those who run the judicial system. It is further maintained that the esse...

units to university departments. We need, for example, one or two departments of forensic psychiatry to stimulate interest in the subject, to inquire scientifically into the problems, and to foster the required skills in new recruits to the field. Scotland has made a small beginning with a chair at Edinburgh University. England has no department of forensic psychiatry at all, though Professor T...

The prominence of risk in UK social and criminal justice policy creates opportunities, challenges and dangers for forensic psychiatry. The future standing of the specialty will depend not only on the practical utility of its responses to those opportunities and challenges, but also the ethical integrity of those responses.

This article demonstrates that there is no free will problem in forensic psychiatry by showing that free will or its lack is not a criterion for any legal doctrine and it is not an underlying general foundation for legal responsibility doctrines and practices. There is a genuine metaphysical free will problem, but the article explains why it is not relevant to forensic practice. Forensic practi...

Many activities undertaken by the forensic psychiatrist have nothing to do with dynamic psychotherapy, and rightly so. Likewise, the main thrust of dynamic psychotherapy, is independent of forensic issues. Nevertheless, there is a pre serve of clinical responsibility within forensic psychiatry which, on occasion, justly invokes the aid of dynamic psy chotherapy. This may be when the scope of th...

The formal process of specialization and subspecialization in medicine began at the start of the 20th century. Although forensic psychiatry has long held a central place within organized psychiatry, it was not officially recognized as a subspecialty until the end of the 20th century. This milestone was achieved through the efforts of many leaders in the field, and prominent among them has been ...

A survey was conducted of a sample of AAPL members to determine their opinions on the inclusion of controversial ethical guidelines for forensic psychiatry. Members appear to appreciate the need to consider traditional Hippocratic values as at least one consideration in their functioning as forensic psychiatrists. They appear to balance their duties to an evaluee with duties to society and the ...