Psychiatric Bulletin (2007) 31: 421-424. doi: 10.1192/pb.bp.107.014803
© 2007 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Forensic psychiatry in Europe
Harvey Gordon, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist, Secretary
*Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health Partnership NHS
Trust, Littlemore Mental Health Centre, Sandford Road, Oxford OX4 4XN, email:
Josie.Ferguson{at}obmh.nhs.uk
and Forensic Section, Association of European Psychiatrists
Per Lindqvist, Associate Professor of Forensic Psychiatry
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm,
Sweden
Declaration of interest
None.

Introduction
The European Union now includes 27 member states. The Council
of Europe
stretches even further with 45 member states. A comprehensive
definition of
Europe geographically embraces all of Eastern
Europe, including the western
part of Russia and the western
part of Turkey. Increasing mobility and
national cooperation
within Europe requires enhancing mutual knowledge and
understanding
of the context of evaluation and treatment of mentally
disordered
offenders and similar individuals who manifest antisocial behaviour
and violence. A recent study confined to the previous 15 member
states of the
European Union provides a useful baseline for
subsequent European comparisons
(
Salize & Dressing,
2005).

Definition of forensic psychiatry
Definitions of forensic psychiatry vary but its essence relates
to the
assessment and treatment of people with mental disorder
who show antisocial or
violent behaviour. Key elements include
the interface between mental health
and the law, affording
expert evidence in civil and criminal courts, and the
assessment
and treatment of mentally disordered offenders and similar patients
who have not committed any offences. Forensic psychiatry is
a sub-specialty of
general psychiatry, which itself is a sub-specialty
of medicine. Concurrently
forensic psychiatry overlaps with
law, criminal justice and clinical
psychology and occurs in
an evolving social and political context.

Historical factors
The theory and practice of forensic psychiatry in Europe can
be traced back
at least 200 years and even back into Greek
and Roman antiquity
(
Barras & Bernheim, 1990).
Influential
trends in forensic psychiatry in the 19th and 20th centuries
emanating from France (
Lloyd &
Benezech, 1992), Germany
(
Gaupp, 1974) and Britain
(
Sullivan, 1924) were
accompanied
by further positive contributions in countries such as Austria,
Denmark, Sweden and Finland. In Russia, during the Soviet period,
forensic
psychiatry was well developed but its reputation damaged
by the abuse of
psychiatry in the detention of religious and
political dissidents. Twelve
years of Nazi rule in Germany
from 1933 until 1945 decimated the hitherto
leading role played
by German psychiatry. After the reunification of Germany
in
1990, differing trends in forensic psychiatry in the former
West and East
Germany required gradual blending into that appropriate
for the enlarged
Federal Republic of Germany (
Konrad,
2001).
Further issues in Europe of historical and contemporary
interest
include developments in the former Yugoslavia, where in one
case a
former head of State, Radovan Karadzic, a psychiatrist,
remains at liberty but
with a warrant for arrest on charges
of crimes against humanity
(
Dekleva & Post, 1997).

Criminal responsibility
Mainland Europe has retained a much stronger tradition of emphasising
criminal responsibility in relation to mentally disordered
offenders compared
to Britain, where, except in charges of
murder, the issue is marginal. Mental
responsibility for a
crime is, however, primarily an issue of morality,
although
a clinician can advise a court on how the mental disorder if
present
may impair cognition, perception, affect and judgement.
A finding of insanity
implies a complete absence of criminal
responsibility, whereas in many cases
the responsibility of
the mentally disordered offender is reduced rather than
eliminated.
The perspective preferred in Britain, Ireland and Scandinavian
countries is the pragmatic one focusing on whether or not the
offender is
mentally disordered and in need of treatment, rather
than on their
responsibility for the offence (
Salize
& Dressing, 2005).
In The Netherlands there is a
well-established system known
as
Terbeschikkingstellung or
TBR, whereby some
offenders suffering usually from severe
personality disorder,
assessed as a serious risk to others and found to be of
diminished
responsibility are sentenced to punishment combined with
therapeutic
measures (
Van Marle,
2000). During the Soviet period there
were phases during which a
finding of diminished responsibility
was available, and in post-Soviet Russia
it was reintroduced
in 1997 (
Ruchkin,
2000).
In most of Europe it is now the case that provision is made for diminished
responsibility findings in appropriate cases. Schizophrenia and related
psychoses, organic psychoses and intellectual disability would usually attract
such an outcome, with more variability in cases of affective disorder,
personality disorder, substance misuse and paraphilias. Only in Germany
(Nedopil & Otterman, 1993)
and Austria (Schanda et al,
2000) is there also specific provision for involuntary detention
following a conviction for an offence related to substance misuse.

Forensic psychiatric facilities
Across Europe, mentally disordered offenders can be found in
forensic
hospitals, general psychiatric hospitals, less commonly
in psychiatric wards
in district general hospitals, and in
prisons and in the community. Gunn
(
1976) described models
of
care involving an integrated system where patients who have
committed offences
were transferred back from forensic units
to general psychiatry when stable,
and a parallel system, whereby
they remained in forensic out-patient care
after discharge
from secure facilities. Currently probably only Germany
provides
a system predominantly of parallel care, whereas in most of
Europe
there is a mixture of an integrated and parallel nature.
In some European
Union member states aggressive, violent or
high-risk patients with mental
disorder who have not committed
offences may also be admitted to forensic
facilities (
Salize & Dressing,
2005).
A comprehensive range of secure psychiatric facilities is available across
most of Western Europe, but Belgium is only now planning such provision
(Naudts et al, 2005)
and in Italy the well-known decision of 1978 to close general psychiatric
hospitals left untouched and poorly developed facilities for forensic
admissions (Fornari & Ferracuti,
1995). In Eastern Europe, high and medium secure units are
available in Russia (Ruchkin,
2000), whereas in Poland there are new forensic facilities
(Ciszewski & Sutula, 2000)
and in Bulgaria there is a high-security unit within a general psychiatric
hospital (Dontschev & Gordon,
1997), but forensic psychiatry is still very limited in other
Eastern European countries.
Across most of Western Europe, with the deinstitutionalisation of general
psychiatric hospitals over the past 30 years, there is now a trend towards a
degree of reinstitutionalisation, with increasing numbers of admissions to
forensic hospitals (Priebe et al,
2005), although reasons for this may also include higher rates of
comorbid substance misuse and the higher level of concern about risk within
society generally. The lowest prevalence rates in Europe of patients who have
committed offences are found in Italy, Portugal and Greece. In Russia the
trend towards deinstitutionalisation seen in Western Europe has not occurred
(Ruchkin, 2000).

Relationship between general and forensic psychiatry
Patients detained in forensic psychiatric hospitals tend to
show multiple
disabilities, including antisocial behaviour,
substance misuse and poor
insight and reduced adherence to
treatment. Concern has also been expressed
that the increase
in forensic admissions in Europe may partly be a reflection
of insufficient length of stay of a subgroup of patients with
schizophrenia or
related psychoses and also prone to violence
in general psychiatric hospitals
(
Schanda et al,
2004). One
of us (H.G.) also takes the view that a further factor
may
also be the decline in prescription of depot antipsychotic medication.
Clearly, there is a tension at the boundary between general
and forensic
psychiatry (
Szmukler, 2002).
Admission to general
psychiatric hospitals of patients who have committed
offences
can be met with considerable reluctance even when they are initially
stabilised in a forensic unit. Conversely forensic units are
not always
appropriately receptive to accepting patients for
transfer into secure
facilities from general psychiatric colleagues.
As a majority of patients in
forensic units have had previous
contact with general psychiatric services or
will require transfer
to general psychiatry when stabilised, close interaction
between
general and forensic psychiatry is essential.

Psychiatry in prison
Prisons have historically been and remain to an extent a facility
confining
sizeable numbers of people who have a mental disorder.
Major problems facing
prison health services in Europe were
acknowledged in the early 1990s
(
Tomasevski, 1992) and
subsequently
a greater emphasis on improvement in mental healthcare in prisons
in Europe has been felt necessary
(
Gatherer et al,
2005).
Currently a European Union funded study into mental
healthcare
in European prisons is being undertaken (H. J. Salize, personal
communication, 2007). Across Europe prisons mostly have special
units for
mentally disordered prisoners, but usually not in
sufficient numbers
(
Blaauw et al, 2000).
Transfer of prisoners
with mental illness to psychiatric hospitals in Europe
is often
problematic owing to disputes about diagnosis or concern regarding
the level of security required. Only in the Scandinavian countries
are
prisoners with psychoses rarely to be found. Research into
suicide in European
prisons is ongoing (
Konrad,
2002;
Fruehwald et
al, 2003;
Dahle et
al, 2005).

Female patients who have committed offences
Female offender patients in Europe constitute between about
15 and 17% of
the total (
Salize & Dressing,
2005). Most
of the literature on forensic psychiatry in Europe has
focused
on males. In Britain the relatively high numbers of female patients
in
high-security hospitals has been reducing markedly over
the past decade, on
the basis that most can be safely managed
in a lesser degree of security.

Sex offenders
Although most sex offenders are sentenced to prison and do not
have mental
illnesses, elements of personality disorder, affective
dysregulation,
substance misuse, organic factors and paraphilia
are frequently encountered
(
Gordon & Grubin, 2004).
In
Europe, Denmark probably has the most established tradition
in the
treatment of sex offenders, using a combination of biological
and
psychotherapeutic approaches (
Hansen &
Lykke-Olesen, 1997).
Effective programmes of treatment of sex
offenders are also
employed elsewhere in Europe including France
(
Minne, 1997)
and Belgium
(
Cosyns, 1998), and
cross-national projects on
sex offenders are also in progress in various
countries in
Europe (
Salize &
Dressing, 2005).

Training in forensic psychiatry
Marked differences exist across Europe in the standards of training
in
forensic psychiatry (
Gunn & Nedopil,
2005). Only Britain,
Ireland, Sweden and Germany have a separate
certificate of
specialist training. Denmark has forensic training but no
specialist
qualification. The Netherlands has no specialist training in
forensic psychiatry. Training in forensic psychiatry is well
developed in
Russia and Bulgaria but less so elsewhere in Eastern
Europe. The Association
of European Psychiatrists (AEP), to
which most national psychiatric
associations in Europe, including
the Royal College of Psychiatrists, are
affiliated, also has
a small but growing forensic section, which organises
sessions
on forensic psychiatry. An informal group of forensic psychiatrists
in Europe, led by Professor John Gunn (UK) and Professor Norbert
Nedopil
(Germany) is also now actively working to improve forensic
psychiatric
training in Europe.

Ethics in forensic psychiatry
The psychiatrist giving evidence in court in regard to a defendant
charged
with a criminal offence does so in a context in which
he has no therapeutic
relationship with the accused and there
is no traditional doctor-patient
relationship (
Bailey et al,
2004).
A long-running debate in the USA focused around whether or
not
psychiatrists giving evidence in court in criminal trials are
in the
process practising medicine, the so-called Stone:Applebaum
controversy
(
Stone, 1984;
Applebaum, 1997). Nonetheless
the
knowledge and expertise on which the psychiatrist bases his
evaluation is
that of medicine and psychiatry and the ethical
framework is that grounded
within his profession (
Nedopil,
2004).
The British view has been well articulated for over 50
years
in recognising that a psychiatrist preparing a court report
must remain
impartial but remain concerned for the welfare
of the offender
(
Scott, 1953). Forensic
psychiatry does however
have both an obligation to do what is in the best
interests
of a patient while concurrently seeking to protect the public
from
serious harm. Usually these two parameters coincide with
each other, but
occasionally may conflict.
Post-war European development has placed increasing emphasis on
preservation of human rights, including pertaining to individuals with
mentally illness. The European Court of Human Rights protects the human rights
of persons subject to involuntary psychiatric commitment by creating
supranational law in the spheres of unsoundness of mind, the
lawfulness and conditions of detention, the right to a review of detention by
a court, the right to information, and the right to respect for private and
family life (Niveau & Materi,
2006). In five cases brought before the European Court of Human
Rights, modifications have needed to be made to national mental health
legislation, including England and Wales, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Separately, monitoring of all aspects of detention and custody in the Council
of Europe is carried out by the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and
Inhumane and Degrading Treatment, which has reported adversely on aspects of
psychiatric care in various countries including Greece and Turkey
(Niveau & Materi, 2006).
The protection of human rights of detained patients in European legislation
may however be more evident than that which pertains to the victims of
patients who have committed offences. In Russia, despite improved mental
health legislation and ethical reform in the post-soviet period, monitoring of
mental healthcare remains insufficiently robust.

Conclusions
Forensic psychiatry in Europe occurs within nations of different
legal
traditions whose history has been affected by varying
political doctrine.
While harmonisation of forensic psychiatry
in Europe may not as yet be
entirely feasible, common principles
can be shared regarding the provision of
services for mentally
disordered offenders and similar patients who have not
offended.
The legislative framework in Europe for the involuntary civil admission of
mentally disordered patients varies widely across member states and clearly
standardisation of reporting is required for adequate comparative analysis
(Dressing & Salize, 2004).
Similarly the assessment and reassessment of mentally disordered offenders and
professional training standards vary markedly across European member states
(Dressing & Salize, 2006).
There is now, however, some momentum across Europe towards collaboration in
forensic psychiatry in regard to consideration of agreement of the optimum
ingredients required for training and best clinical practice. Over 15 years
have now elapsed since Europe was divided according to ideological difference,
and forensic psychiatry can now evolve in a Europe whose nations share a more
common perspective. Research into forensic psychiatry in Europe will now
require a cross-national approach, while increasingly fertilisation of ideas
will benefit from mutual cooperation and coordination. A multilingual
framework for communication would be the ideal. However, the reality is that
the English language serves as a common medium of scientific discourse.

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