Forensic Psychiatrists’ Role with Mentally Disordered Offenders

Forensic Psychiatrists’ Role with Mentally Disordered Offenders

Too often, people do not even realize what their civil rights are, much less when they have been violated. Although your civil rights include those against being discriminated against for your race, color, national origin, sex, religion or a disability, they also include your right to vote, to have equal protection under the law and freedom of speech. For individuals whose civil rights have been violated, if they have been emotionally injured as a direct result of the violation a forensic psychiatric or psychological expert witness may be retained by your attorney to assess whether or not you have suffered any emotional injury as a result of the civil rights violation that you may have suffered..

One subspecialty of forensic psychiatry is correctional psychiatry.  According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), “inmates in local jails had the highest prevalence of mental problems, with nearly two thirds of jail inmates (64.2 percent) satisfying the criteria for a mental health problem currently or in the previous year… a mental health problem was defined as receiving a clinical diagnosis or treatment by a mental health professional.”  Although some of the incarcerated individuals with mental illness developed symptoms of their illness while incarcerated, many more are mentally ill prior to committing the crime that caused their incarceration.

Often, either immediately at the time of arrest or in a preliminary hearing, the opinion of a forensic psychiatrist will be sought to address “competency” questions such as “competency to stand trial,” “legal insanity,” etc.

Thus, the criminal side of forensic psychiatric practice includes a range of expertise including providing mental health services to inmates in the form of correctional psychiatry as well as addressing questions of mental competency when an individual is initially arrested and charged with a crime.