The authors aim to provide practical guidance to enable practitioners in the various criminal justice, health and social care agencies to divert mentally disordered offenders from prosecution and custody and to help prevent re-offending.

Offenders, Deviants or Patients? provides a practical approach to understanding both the social context and treatment of mentally disordered offenders. Taking into account the current public concern, often heightened by media sensationalism, it addresses issues such as sex offending, homicide and other acts of serious bodily harm. This fourth edition comes after extensive new research by academics and professionals in the field and reflects recent changes in law, policy and practice, including: new sex offending legislation proposals to amend homicide legislation a new mental health act. Using new case examples, Herschel Prins examines the relationship between mental disorders and crime and looks at the ways in which it should be dealt with by the mental health care and criminal justice systems. Offenders, Deviants or Patients? is unique in its multidisciplinary approach and will be invaluable to all those who come into contact with serious offenders or those who study crime and criminal behaviour.

This book provides a concise introduction to the increasingly important field of forensic mental health. It aims to set out both the key concepts in forensic mental health as well as the way the discipline operates in the broader context of criminal justice and mental health care systems. It will provide an ideal introduction to the subject for students taking courses in universities and elsewhere, for mental health practitioners in the early stages of their careers, and for professionals from other agencies needing an informed and up-to-date account of forensic mental health.

Forensic medicine covers an amazing range of different subjects and no single individual can expect to be an expert in all of them. The Oxford Handbook of Forensic Medicine provides comprehensive coverage of all areas within this complex discipline. Written for specialists and non-specialists alike, it will appeal to practising forensic scientists, as well as lawyers, police officers, and forensic science students. It shows how forensic medicine has been used in specific cases enabling the reader to apply their knowledge in real life. A detailed glossary of medical terms helps those without medical training to understand medical reports and practices. This easily-portable guide is essential reading for the busy clinical forensic doctor or nurse, and others working at the interface between medicine and law.

Fully updated to meet current guidelines and standards of practice, this handbook provides concise and practical information for intellectual and learning disability nurses. Small enough to slip into a bag for daily reference but still highly detailed, this is an invaluable resource for everyone working in the field.

Topical theme of mentally disordered offenders. Reputation of Herschel Prins, Editors and Contributors.

In the past forensic psychiatry has been a sub-speciality of general psychiatry without its own, separate identity. However, since the mid-1980s there has been a growing in terest in the application of community care principles to mentally disordered offenders. A new set of attitudes have developed which have enabled the mentally disordered offender to emerge from relative institutional obscurity to a much higher profile in the community. Although numerically small in relation to the general psychiatric population, forensic patients tend to attract the public' s attention by virtue of their greater propensity for troublesome behaviour. Such a group needs expert community support in order to maintain an accepta bie public face. Unfortunately these developments have outstripped the creation of training opportunities for community staff charged with their support and supervision. Most community practi tioners have had to learn 'on the job' with inadequate support and supervision from senior staff, who of ten have less direct experience of working with this client group than themselves. Just such a situation prompted the authors, in 1990, to establish a module on 'Working with Mentally Disordered Offenders in the Community' as part of an MA in Social W ork at the University of Reading. As the course developed it became clear that the topic and content had equal application to other community professionals working in the field.

This book aims to rethink systemic intervention to enhance its relevance for supporting social change in the 21st century. It offers a new systems philosophy and methodology, focusing upon the fundamental importance of exploring value and boundary judgements as part of the intervention process. It includes four detailed examples of the practice of systemic intervention.

This revised and updated edition of Care of the Mentally Disordered Offender in the Community provides a comprehensive, evidence-based guide to theory and practice. The social and clinical context within which mental health care is provided to offenders in community settings has changed significantly in recent years. An increasing proportion of all mental health care is provided in the community and our knowledge of the links between violence and mental illness has advanced. Existing psychological and pharmacological treatments have been refined and new treatments have been introduced. Epidemiological and intervention-based research has evaluated these changes and suggested new avenues for clinical development. Over three sections, the second edition of Care of the Mentally Disordered Offender in the Community explores the key areas of the field. Part 1 describes the social, administrative and clinical context within which care is now given. Part 2 discusses treatment and the evaluation of violence risk when determining the most appropriate treatment. Part 3 explores psychiatric services and their relationship with other agencies. The text has been updated to cover recent developments in theory and practice. New chapters have been added that cover US provision for people with mental disorders leaving prison, the community management of sexual offenders, the relationship between care and coercion and the treatment of personality disorders. Written by a global team of experts, the book provides critical insights into the social, clinical, and institutional aspects of an increasingly important part of psychiatric community care.

Succinct, structured, and focused, this book concentrates on the key facts and practical day-to-day issues vital to forensic psychiatry.Includes fact-oriented practical advice and clinically relevant examples Reflects current practice and the latest laws Provides tips on testifying in legal mattersFeatures a clear bullet point style to help readers