Companion Guide to Mentally Disordered Offenders

The first edition of this book was welcomed by probation and mental health personnel as an accessible guide to this complex area of law, covering the spectrum of special provision from the mentally disordered suspect at the police station through to the conditional discharge from hospital of restricted patients, including diversion from the criminal justice system, insanity and allied defences, community orders combining treatment and supervision, mentally disordered prisoners, guardianship orders, etc. Now completely revised and updated, the text considers proposals to reform the Mental Health Act and to introduce measures permitting the indefinite detention of persons with personality disorders considered to pose unacceptable risks to public safety. The book includes illustrative case examples of patient-offenders at point of sentence and their subsequent management from a legal perspective.