Widening the scope of the hybrid order

Abstract

Hybrid orders under section 45A of the Mental Health Act allow for convicted mentally disordered offenders to be given a sentence of imprisonment and simultaneously transferred to hospital for psychiatric treatment. In England and Wales their use is limited to patients with psychopathic disorder and the order has been little used. Two recent judgments by the House of Lords and the Court of Appeal have interpreted the law in a manner which widens its scope, allowing treatment of a greater range of offenders under the order, including offenders with co-morbid mental illness.