Abstract

The subspecialty of psychiatry known as forensic psychiatry deals with problems that arise at the point where psychiatry and law intersect, as well as with the movement of mentally ill criminals across a range of social systems. Four major developments have benefited forensic psychiatry today: the growth in awareness and appreciation of the connection between mental illness and criminal behavior; the development of legal criteria that define legal insaneness; the new approaches to mental health treatment that offer alternatives to incarceration care; as well as shifts in public perceptions and attitudes regarding mental illness. The scope of forensic psychiatry as it currently exists and the ethical dilemmas this subspecialty faces worldwide are examined in this paper.