Despite the growing attention to quality and quality improvement in health care in the United States, forensic psychiatry has yet to incorporate relevant developments and information and make quality an important item on the agenda. This article reviews the empirical research regarding the perceived quality of forensic evaluations, which has primarily examined criminal rather than civil forensi...

A diverse sampling of articles was considered as a landscape against which evidence-based practice has been and should be a part of forensic psychiatry. Caveats were identified, limitations suggested, and recommendations made as to how such a marriage might work.

In the 30 years since the founding of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law in 1969, there has been a tremendous growth in the organization as well as in the number of psychiatrists who have a subspecialty of forensic psychiatry. In an attempt to explain this exponential growth, the author looks at the many social, economic, medical, and legal activities that were active during these y...

Understanding the work of forensic psychiatrists in other countries requires a knowledge of the role of the forensic psychiatrist in that country's legal system. It is useful to know the wording of the relevant legal standards and the assumptions and reasoning used by the forensic psychiatrists of that country when applying their expertise to a particular legal issue. The Italian legal system a...

In response to Dr. Ezra Griffith's essay, we support the view that forensic practice cannot be cleanly divided from its ethics foundation in medical and general psychiatric practice. Personal and professional values cannot be separated in formulating a unified theory of ethics for professionalism in forensic practice. We support Dr. Griffith's narrative perspective and offer a delineation of ho...

Great variability exists in written forensic psychiatry reports. A template is offered for quick preparation of such reports. The template includes the standard elements of competency and criminal responsibility reports. The method makes use of currently available computer technology.

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in how medical professionals develop and articulate a moral foundation on which to base a way of leading their professional lives. In this essay, however, the author focuses more narrowly on how black physicians do it. The author explains that black physicians confront a unique set of circumstances and experiences that define reality for black...