Department of Psychiatry, Nelson Mandela Medical School, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
Department of Psychiatry, Nelson Mandela Medical School, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
Int J Law Psychiatry. 2021 Jan-Feb;74:101666. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2020.101666. Epub 2021 Jan 5.
Mentally ill offenders have a right to a fair trial and adequate treatment in terms of the law. The diversion of mentally ill offenders between the criminal justice and the mental health care systems is linked to the forensic psychiatric assessment and based on two psycho-legal constructs, fitness to stand trial (FTST) and criminal responsibility (CR). Forensic psychiatric assessment is therefore an important element in criminal law and plays a major role in the court's decisions regarding the sentence, detention, placement, or treatment of mentally ill offenders. The legislation aims to ensure balancing the rights of mentally ill offenders to psychiatric care and society's safety. A narrative overview of the literature summarizing the findings on legislation regulating FTST and CR assessment and their practice in different areas of the world was conducted. It offers insight into the advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches and examines the way court proceedings function in these different geographical and psychosocial-legal contexts. This may have policy implications for individual systems and allow countries to consider feasible mechanisms to refine the relevant legislation to improve their practices in forensic psychiatric assessments. Worldwide, relevant legislation is considered as essential in protecting mentally ill offender's right; it has been established for many years regarding specifying the procedures and responsibilities for the mental health care and criminal justice systems. Despite similarities in the principles of the psycho-legal constructs in different countries, there are differences in the way legislations are implemented, often depending on the available resources.
精神障碍犯罪者在法律上有权获得公正审判和充分治疗。将精神障碍犯罪者从刑事司法系统转移到精神卫生保健系统与法医精神病学评估有关，并基于两个心理法律结构，即适合接受审判（FTST）和刑事责任（CR）。因此，法医精神病学评估是刑法的一个重要组成部分，在法院对精神障碍犯罪者的判决、拘留、安置或治疗做出决定方面发挥着重要作用。立法旨在确保在精神障碍犯罪者的精神保健权利和社会安全之间取得平衡。本文对文献进行了叙述性综述，总结了关于规范 FTST 和 CR 评估及其在世界不同地区实践的立法，并深入探讨了各种方法的优缺点，研究了在这些不同的地理和心理社会法律背景下，法庭程序是如何运作的。这可能对各个系统的政策产生影响，并使各国能够考虑可行的机制来完善相关立法，以改进其法医精神病学评估实践。在全世界范围内，相关立法被认为是保护精神障碍犯罪者权利的必要条件；多年来，许多国家都制定了关于明确精神卫生保健和刑事司法系统的程序和责任的立法。尽管不同国家的心理法律结构原则相似，但立法的实施方式存在差异，这通常取决于可用资源。
