Abstract
‘Forensic’ is used in this edited collection to examine mental health, welfare and criminal justice within correctional, community and secure psychiatric settings. Involuntary, coercive and court-mandated treatments and interventions used by a range of professionals − including probation officers − are discussed by academics, researchers and policy makers/practitioners from across the social sciences. This is a specialist text but one which covers many aspects related to mental health practice that will be of wider interest.
Just over half the contributors work in Australia. They include a range of academics with research and policy/practice interests in mental health related issues and offending. The ‘forensic’ part of the title may put some people off as the term has been used and misused in a range of science and legalistic courses at some universities and in the popular broadcast media. The paradigm or model of ‘forensic’ used in the book suggests an area of knowledge, policy and practice which has common features across custodial, secure and community settings. The solutions, though, will be familiar to readers of the Probation Journal in terms of risk, responsibilization, partnership working and best practice approaches arising from the latest academic thinking on desistance, recovery and therapeutic jurisprudence. The presence of Irish/UK contributions alongside those from Australia and USA makes the comparative perspectives useful for moving beyond our own local ideas.
Parts I and II introduce the practice contexts for the book. Chris Trotter (at p. 45), in talking about the risk paradigm, reminds us that many aspects of risk assessment cover parts of people’s situation that they have limited capacity to change, given existing levels of social exclusion. It is the preoccupation with risk control and safety that has supported the ‘forensic’ in extending beyond secure hospitals and criminal justice to child protection, domestic violence, sexual offending and problematic substance use. The distinction between disorders, predispositions and culpability is one which is worked out in the swampy lowlands of forensic practice in each and every case encountered. Progressive rehabilitative approaches such as specialist mental health and problem-solving courts along with recovery approaches are introduced. The greater service user voice ushered in by these developments remains challenging within criminal justice systems which must balance victims, communities and organizational accountabilities.
Burkitt, Kinston and McLoughlin (in Chapter 8) recognize the way political economy has shaped Australian responses to forensic mental health issues. Hopes for the community as a solution to the decline in state support for welfare are recognized as problematic, especially for people who are regarded as dangerous, often without warrant. Given the increases in carceral populations across much of the developed world, hopes for deinstitutionalization for people in forensic groups are probably limited in any case. Where people do move from secure to community settings many challenges are recognized in establishing a sustainable way of life. Other groups of people that are faced with difficulties in forensic settings − as victims or perpetrators − in relation to their mental health and vulnerabilities are young people and victims of child sexual abuse.
The third part of the book looks at justice, welfare and mental health. Chapters on when children are removed from the homes of parents with mental health problems, psychiatric assessment/diversion/sentencing of patients within police and court settings analyse the everyday experiences of the forensic process in criminal justice work. Much of what is written will assist students and experienced practitioners reflect upon the injustices that are commonplace. The chapter examining the practical failings of community care policy introduced me to a useful new concept of transinstitutionalization. Whilst deinstitutionalization was the legitimate purpose of community care the result was a move for many people involved to other institutions such as prison, multi-occupied dwellings and day centres. The final chapter in this part of the book relates to staff working in forensic and correctional settings. These professional contexts provide challenges to worker resilience and the principles of positive psychology are explored as a solution.
The final part of the book deals with rehabilitation and recovery. A recovery-based project for people with chronic alcohol and mental health problems is promoted, a reintegration readiness framework introduced, an outline of mental health services in prison is given and two pilot projects on substance abuse from Australia examined. These provide an optimistic conclusion to the book. The chapter by Best and Savic points to the importance of community connectors for community based recovery. This is how recovery capital flows between individuals and informal groups in their neighbourhoods.
The concluding chapter by the book’s editors, Sheehan and Ogloff, draws together some disparate themes which have hovered around the different parts and chapters of the book. Whilst risk and safety is one, the unmet need of many people within a punitive system is perhaps the most noticeable. The call for better services which meet those needs seems hollow in an age of neoliberal austerity. Nonetheless the book does provide signs that people are renewing systems with innovations and solutions that may benefit the most vulnerable, including potential victims. If those with psychiatric symptoms and offending behaviours can be provided with appropriate care and supported to realize their capacities then public safety is more likely to be enhanced.