Forensic Psychiatry in the USA

Overview

The author presents a brief account of the history of forensic psychiatry in the USA and basicclassical precedents from forensic psychiatry which influenced in a significant way contemporarypractice (Andrew Goldstein, M’Naghten, Dusky v. United States, Lake v. Cameron, Lessard v.Schmidt, Tarasoff).The author describes the practice of evaluation of criminal responsibility, ability for legal procee-dings, principles of involuntary hospital admission, duties of the psychiatrist to the patient, toother subjects and society, psychiatric treatment ordered by legal court. He mentions also trai-ning in forensic psychiatry and basic demands regarding forensic psychiatric examination.

Key words:
forensic psychiatry, criminal responsibility, ability for legal proceedings, involuntaryhospital admission, forensic psychiatric examination.