The Mentally Disordered Offender in an Era of Community Care New Directions in Provision

The care and management of mentally disordered offenders poses a major challenge to criminal justice agencies and psychiatric services. These patients, 'the people nobody owns', are particularly vulnerable to political and professional change and as psychiatric services become increasingly community-based, the task of meeting the needs of the offender, as well as expectations of public protection, becomes a more difficult prospect. This book brings together the papers and a summary of the discussion presented at a Cropwood Round Table conference organised by the Institute of Criminology and the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Cambridge. Seeking to define future needs and directions in legal and service provisions, it includes perspectives from the fields of criminology, sociology and social psychiatry, as well as contributions from practitioners and administrators. Remarkable for the tenacity and depth with which the expert contributors address the problems, this volume will be essential reading for all professionals working in the psychiatric and criminal justice systems with this frequently marginalized client group. Through a searching examination of the situation within one jurisdiction it points the way to service developments, improved care management and new research opportunities that have universal applications.

Conference participants; List of tables and figures; Preface; Part I. Introduction: 1. Offender-patients: the people nobody owns Herschel Prins; Part II. Future Directions for Psychiatric Services and Mental Health Law: 2. Future pattern of psychiatric services Douglas Bennett; 3. Future directions for mental health law Sir John Wood; 4. A criminological perspective - the influence of fashion and theory on practice and disposal: life chances in the criminological tombola Jill Peay; Part III. Perspectives on Future Needs: 5. The mentally abnormal offender in the era of community care Tony Fowles; 6. New directions for service provision: a personal view Paul Bowden; 7. Defining need and evaluating services John Wing; 8. Black people, mental health and the criminal justice system Deryck Browne, Errol Francis and Iain Crowe; 9. A view from the probation service Graham Smith; 10. A view from the prison medical service Rosemary Wool; 11. A view from the courts: diversion and discontinuance Philip Joseph; Part IV. Planning and Implementing New Services: 12. A view from the private sector Mike Lee-Evans; 13. Case management Geoff Shepherd; 14. A view from the Department of Health John Reed; Part V. A Concluding Review: 15. Future directions for research William Watson; References; Tables of cases; Index.

This book brings together the papers and a summary of the discussion presented at a Cropwood Round Table conference and seeks to define future needs and directions in legal and service provisions.