Search results for ‘Subject term:"mentally disordered offenders"’ Sort:
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Forensic mental health services: facts and figures on current provision
- Authors:
- RUTHERFORD Max, DUGGAN Sean
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Forensic Practice, 10(4), December 2008, pp.4-11.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
Forensic mental health services play an important role in providing treatment and accommodation for people diverted from prison or the courts who require secure and specialist mental health treatment. This paper seeks to provide an up-to-date and improved understanding of forensic mental health services by presenting the most recent facts and figures. Forensic services in this paper refer to the service that provide the care of mentally disordered offenders who have been transferred to secure hospitals from prisons or the courts.
Imprisonment for Public Protection; an example of 'reverse diversion'
- Author:
- RUTHERFORD Max
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology (The), 20(Supplement 1), April 2009, pp.46-55.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This paper summarises the findings of a recent report on the mental health implications of imprisonment for public protection (IPP), and explores the hypothesis that IPP is an instance of 'reverse diversion' - that people with mental health problems who offend are, as a result of criminal justice legislation, more likely to receive a prison sentence than be diverted to mental health services. This is particularly a reflection of the 'rise of risk', and an indication that sentencers are more inclined to diagnose 'dangerousness' rather than mental illness.
A missed opportunity?: community sentences and the mental health treatment requirement
- Authors:
- KHANOM Husnara, SAMELE Chiara, RUTHERFORD Max
- Publisher:
- Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 44p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
The Mental Health Treatment Requirement (MHTR) is one of 12 options (‘requirements’) available to sentencers when constructing a Community Order or a Suspended Sentence Order. The MHTR can be given to an offender with mental health problems who does not require immediate compulsory hospital admission under the Mental Health Act. If they give their consent, the MHTR requires them to receive mental health treatment for a specified period. This report is based on an exploratory research project to examine the way in which the Mental Health Treatment Requirement is issued and the processes involved. It's secondary aims were: to explore the views of sentencers and identify the main problems that have prevented them from issuing the MHTR at the point of sentencing; to examine the Drug Rehabilitation Requirement for any lessons its operation may provide for improving the MHTR; to consider whether the MHTR is an effective, suitable and therapeutic form of diversion for offenders with mental health problems and to explore inter-agency working. Fifty six professionals working in the courts, in probation and in health services were interviewed about their experiences and knowledge of the MHTR. Results found many professionals lacked direct experience of the MHTR, and some were not aware of it at all. Professionals also had varied views about the purpose of the MHTR and the criteria for who should receive an MHTR were not clear.