Changing ideas in the disposition of offenders range from “Crime and Punishment” through “Punishment or Treatment?” towards “Social Defence”. Attention is increasingly focused on offenders who have behavioural and mental abnormalities but are not presently regarded as treatable. The resistance from lawyers and correctional personnel to the shift of emphasis away from the interests of the individual patient towards the preservation of community interests is parallel to that of the medical profession. Legal changes which will enhance the status of psychiatric diagnosis and treatment will be delayed unless psychiatrists can demonstrate empirically confirmed advances in management which can be demonstrated to the courts.
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