PSYCHIATRY, THE LAW, AND THE PUBLIC

Abstract

The law is a public affair. The involvement of psychiatrists and psychiatry in legal and judicial proceedings themselves, not to mention the ever-increasing media commentary, is an opportunity to educate the public, but it also entails the very real risk of compounding public misinformation and misgivings about our field. The American Psychiatric Association has both a professional staff Division of Public Affairs and a membership component, the Joint Commission on Public Affairs. Staff and members field queries from the public and the media, plan educational campaigns in collaboration with advocacy organizations, prepare and distribute fact sheets, media kits, and issue kits for members, brochures for the lay reader, booklets for important audiences including clergy, educators, and legislators, and many other resources. Given their critical influence on the layperson's image and understanding of psychiatry, the participation of forensic psychiatrists in the public affairs activities of our major professional organization is not only welcome, but vital. As the trailer for the Court Television channel reminds us time and time again, the framers of the United States Constitution meant for trials to be open to the public. U.S. courtrooms were built with galleries for observers. Newspapers reported on sensational trials in great detail. Law has always been a public affair. But the advent of television cameras in courtrooms takes public scrutiny to a whole new level. And the role of forensic psychiatrists and psychiatry is also a matter of public discussion. Should the adoptive or biological parents of a child three or four years old be granted custody? Should the man convicted of shooting fellow passengers on the Long Island Railway have