Abstract
This article summarizes 15 months' experience as the only psychiatrist available to jails, courts and attorneys for the huge tropical area of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (Micronesia). Twelve percent of all psychiatric evaluations during this time were court- or jail-related. All but one of these “forensic” cases had a psychiatric illness at the time of evaluation, using strict diagnostic criteria. Even in this unsophisticated developing region, the Micronesian police recognized the most serious cases by identifying persons in jail who acted and talked “abnormally” as compared to the rest of the jail population.
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