Forensic Psychiatry

Last update: 8 November 2012,
by Maureen Bell

I have included links to the full text of some books and reports on this page.

I've also developed a page specifically on Violence, Aggression and Dangerous Behaviour and another which deals with Mental Health Legislation

Lists of books and journal articles relating to forensic psychiatric nursing, forensic psychiatry, commitment of the mentally ill, and community treatment orders can be found on my bibliographies and reading lists page.

For practice guidelines related to forensic issues click here.

Library members have online access to a number of journals of interest for this area. You'll find them in the e-Journals A-Z list at the top right of this page.

Behavioral Sciences and the Law
British Journal of Criminology
British Journal of Delinquency
Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health
Forensic Science International
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice
International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry
Journal of Addictions and Offender Counseling
Journal of Forensic Nursing
Journal of Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology
Legal & Criminological Psychology

If you're not a library member try the link below for access to free journal articles on this topic
Forensic Psychiatry
Free full text journal articles from PubMed Central.

The 2002 Mental Health Strategy For Women Offenders
Jane Laishes, Mental Health, Health Services, Correctional Service Canada, December 2002.

Access to Justice: evidence of the experiences of adults with mental health problems - Ministry of Justice
A report summarising international research evidence on the experiences of adults with mental health problems in the justice system, by KM Research and Consultancy Ltd.
Ministry of Justice Research Series 6/09, May 2009.

All In The Mind - 15 July2006 - The psychology of stalking
All In The Mind - 24 March2002 - In the Mind of the Psychopath
All In The Mind - 16 April 2011 - Mental health courts and the challenge of therapeutic jurisprudence
Transcripts and audios from All in the Mind, a series on ABC Radio National. Other programs can be found here

Antisocial Personality Disorder
A page of resources from Internet Mental Health.

Ashworth Special Hospital: Report of the Committee of Inquiry
This is the report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Personality Disorder Unit, Ashworth Special Hospital presented to the British Parliament in January 1999.

Australian Institute of Criminology - Arson
Australian Institute of Criminology - Drugs and alcohol
Australian Institute of Criminology - Mental health
Australian Institute of Criminology - Offender treatment
Publications from the Australian Institute of Criminology.

Changing the Outlook: A Strategy for Developing and Modernising Mental Health Services in Prisons
Published by the Department of Health, U.K., December, 2001.

COCOA : Care for Offenders Continuity of Access
Final report, by R. Byng, et al. The study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research (NIHR HS&DR) programme with support from the NIHR Peninsula Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (PenCLAHRC). NIHR Service Delivery and Organisation Programme, 2012.

Common Sense Approach to Working with Defendants and Offenders with Mental Health Problems
Main author, Linda Bryant. London, Together: Working for Wellbeing, October 2010.

Community-based Compulsory Treatment Orders in Scotland: The early evidence
By Simon Lawton-Smith. King's Fund, November 2006. This paper explores what happened in the first six months after community-based compulsory treatment orders were introduced in Scotland in October 2005. It looks at how many people have become subject to the orders, the pathways to being placed on an order, the impacts on mental health staff, and resource issues.

Criminal Justice: Publications - Centre for Mental Health
HFree full text of f reports on many aspects of forensic mental health, from the Centere for Mental Health (previously the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health).

Factors Underlying and Maintaining Nurses' Attitudes to Patients with Severe Personality Disorder
Final Report to the National Forensic Nurses' Research and Development Group, by Len Bowers, Linda McFarlane, Frank Kiyimba, Nicola Clark, and Jane Alexander. Department of Mental Health Nursing, City University, London, August, 2000.

General and Forensic Psychiatry
A page maintained by Dr Pogos Voskanian, a forensic psychiatrist. It includes advice on the writing of medicolegal reports.

Inspection of Social Care Services in High Security Hospitals: Broadmoor Hospital
This document is the report of the inspection of Broadmoor social care service which took place between 9-19 September 2003. Two inspectors carried out the inspection. The objective of the inspection was to evaluate the implementation of Government policy and guidance relating to the social care needs of patients in the high security hospitals.

International Experiences of Using Community Treatment Orders
By Rachel Churchill, Gareth Owen, Swaran Singh, and Matthew Hotopf. This report, published in March 2007, was undertaken by the Institute of Psychiatry who received funding from the Department of Health in the UK, and presents the findings from a systematic review of existing studies on Community Treatment Orders.

Intervening to Prevent Antisocial Personality Disorder: A Scoping Review
By Patricia Moran, and Ann Hagell. Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate, September 2001 (Home Office Research Study 225)

Lord Bradley's review of people with mental health problems or learning disabilities in the criminal justice system
Produced for the British Government in April 2009 this independent review was commissioned to examine the extent to which offenders with mental health problems or learning disabilities could, in appropriate cases, be diverted from prison to other services and the barriers to such diversion.

Mandated Community Treatment: Beyond Outpatient Commitment
An article by John Monahan and others, published in Psychiatric Services 52: 1198-2005, 2001.

Medicine & Psychiatry Expert
Actually a forensic psychiatry page, run by Harold J Bursztajn, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, and co-Director, Program in Psychiatry & the Law, Harvard Medical School

Mental Health and Criminal Justice : A Review of the Relationship Between Mental Disorders and Offending Behaviours and on the Management of Mentally Abnormal Offenders in the Health and Criminal Justice Services [CRC funded reports]
Prepared for the Criminology Research Council, by Paul Mullen, August 2001.

Mentally disordered offenders - guidance and forms
From the Ministry of Justice in the U.K. The guidance covers work with restricted patients detained in hospital and those discharged into the community.

Offender Health Research Network - Mental Health
The Offender Health Research Network is funded by Offender Health at the Department of Health, and is a collaboration between several universities, based at the University of Manchester. Links to the full text of publications from a number of agencies are available on this site.

Pathways to Unlocking Secure Mental Health Care
This report finds that little evidence is available about the long-term outcomes secure services achieve for their patients, and makes 15 recommendations to make secure services more efficient and better value for money. London, Centre for Mental Health, April 2011. The report makes 15 recommendations to make secure services more efficient and better value for money.

Psychiatry and Law Updates
This page is described as "An Education and Communication Services for Forensic, Legal, and Judicial professionals". It is the work of William H. Reid, an American forensic psychiatrist.

Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder: A Case of Diagnostic Confusion
Hare, Robert. Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder: A Case of Diagnostic Confusion
Psychiatric Times February 1996, XIII(2)

Reaching out, reaching in: Promoting mental health and well-being in secure settings
By Lorraine Khan. Centre for mental Health September 2010. This paper suggests that there is an urgent need for all secure units to develop an integrated, whole system and comprehensive approach to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of the young people in their care.

Report of the Review of Security at the High Security Hospitals
Report of the Review of Security at the High Security Hospitals. London, Department of Health, 2000 This is a report of the review of security at the three English high security (special) hospitals, Ashworth, Broadmoor and Rampton, undertaken by Sir Richard Tilt and the Review Team.

Review of Queensland Forensic Mental Health Services
Prepared by Paul Mullen and Karlyn Chettleburgh, Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health, 2002.

Review of Sex Offender Treatment Programmes
Prepared for the High Security Psychiatric Services Commissioning Board (HSPSCB) November 1998, by Derek Perkins, Sean Hammond, Dawn Coles, and Darren Bishop.

Review of Treatments for Severe Personality Disorders
By Fiona Warren and others. Produced by the Research Development and Statistics Directorate, Home Office, London, 2003. Home Office Online Report 30/03.

Seminars in Practical Forensic Psychiatry
Edited by Derek Chiswick & Rosemarie Cope. Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1995.

Stalking and Harassment in Scotland
By Sue Morris, and Simon Anderson, and Lorraine Murray. Scottish Executive Social Research, 2002. The findings of the report are summarised in Crime and Criminal Justice Research Programme Research Findings No.67/2002

The Stanford Prison Experiment: A Simulation Study of the Psychology of Imprisonment
An extensive slide show and information about this well known experiment conducted in the summer of 1971 at Stanford University under the supervision of Philip G. Zimbardo and others.

Too Little Too Late: An independent review of unmet mental health need in prison
By Kimmett Edgar and Dora Rickford. London, Prison Reform Trust, 2009.

The Treatment of Psychopathic and Antisocial Personality Disorders: A Review
By Jessica H Lee (Clinical Decision Making Support Unit, Broadmoor Hospital) 1999.

Without Conscience - Robert Hare's Web Site
Dr Robert Hare is an authority on the study of psychopathy and the author of the Psychopathy Checklist.

Working with Personality Disordered Offenders: A Practitioners Guide
By Jackie Craissati and others. Ministry of Justice National Offender Management Service and Department of Health, 2011.

Zeno's Forensic Site
Maintained by Zeno Geradts, who works at the Forensic Science Laboratory (Gerechtelijk Laboratorium van het Ministerie van Justitie) in The Netherlands, this page contains information on forensic science, forensic medicine and forensic psychiatry.