Psychiatric Reports Requested by the Courts in Six Countries

Abstract

Consecutive series of individuals for whom psychiatric reports were requested by the courts in the context of criminal proceedings were studied in six countries: Brazil, Denmark, Egypt, Swaziland, Switzerland, Thailand. A total sample of 96 cases was obtained. Careful study of the court records and psychiatric reports revealed three types of situation which could trigger a request for such a report; an ‘offence-oriented’ response where the offence itself is seen as indicative of mental morbidity, a ‘patient-oriented’ response in which the patient's previous contact with the mental health system serves as trigger and a ‘behaviour-oriented’ response in which the patient's disturbed behaviour in detention or in court arouses concern. The majority of the individuals were first offenders (60 per cent), while a similar proportion had had previous psychiatric treatment.