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Detention of ‘Psychopathic Disorder’ Patients in Special Hospitals Critical Issues

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

A. T. Grounds
A. T. Grounds*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry; now Lecturer, Institute of Criminology, 7 West Road, Cambridge CB3 3DT
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Extract

The detention of offenders in the legal category ‘psychopathic disorder’ in special hospitals for treatment raises a number of critical issues. There are doubts about the nature of the disorder; what constitutes treatment; who is ‘treatable’; the effectiveness of treatment; and whether evidence of psychological change implies reduced risk of reoffending. In view of these uncertainties, it is argued that indeterminate hospital orders may provide an unrealistic and unjust legal framework for treating ‘psychopaths' in special hospitals, and the use of powers under the Mental Health Act to transfer such patients to hospital during the course of prison sentences is a more appropriate alternative. This provision could be used more frequently, subject to improved safeguards of the right of release at the expiry of sentence.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 151 , Issue 4 , October 1987 , pp. 474 - 478
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1987 

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