Chinese forensic psychiatry and its wider implications

摘要

The current configuration of forensic mental health services in Europe and Australia, whereby mentally ill offenders are directed on treatment orders to secure psychiatric hospitals away from the criminal justice system, is being challenged by differing models such as those in the USA, where there are more than three times the number of persons with severe mental illness in prisons and jails than in all public and private hospitals (Torrey, 1995; Torrey et al., 2010). There are a limited number of forensic beds, all of which are maximum level security, which are predominately occupied by those ordered into them by the court. In contrast, secure hospital provision in Europe encompasses differing security levels from low to high, for assessment and treatment of offenders from court or prison.