Forensic Treatment and Rehabilitation: The Growing Need for More Services and More Research

Abstract

The rehabilitation of criminal offenders requires consideration of both theoretical and practical issues. To apply to the special needs and problems of criminal offenders, the conceptual framework that informs the general rehabilitation of most people with mental illness needs to be modified. On a practical level, specific treatment programs may include attention to unique issues that depend on the different categories of offenders and the different contexts of treatment settings. The time may now be ripe for giving more thought to treatment in forensic psychiatry. In the past, forensic psychiatry has emphasized evaluations but there are now several trends that together may soon make the treatment of mentally disabled criminal offenders a more central concern. In this article, some current trends will be mentioned, and then one area of forensic treatment will be examined more closely. Among the relevant changes are theoretical considerations. In the past, a dominant view in forensic psychiatry drew sharp distinctions between the performance of evaluations and the provision of treatment. More recently, however, it has been argued1 that, contrary to Appelbaum's thesis [1], these roles are inextricably intertwined. Even seemingly purely forensic evaluations may inevitably invoke a dimension of the doctor-patient treatment relationship.