PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Grounds, A TI - Forensic psychiatry and political controversy DP - 2004 Jun 01 TA - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online PG - 192--196 VI - 32 IP - 2 4099 - http://jaapl.org/content/32/2/192.short 4100 - http://jaapl.org/content/32/2/192.full SO - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law2004 Jun 01; 32 AB - This article gives a U.K.-based perspective on the involvement of forensic psychiatry organizations in questions of political controversy. Medical professional bodies are fundamentally concerned to uphold good standards of clinical practice and patient welfare, and to uphold professional medical ethics. In our specialty, when acting as individual expert witnesses, we seek to serve the courts with objectivity and respect for the law. However, as members of our professional bodies we have a legitimate medical concern about how the law affects the mentally disordered as a class. We should articulate a collective view about what treating the mentally disordered justly and appropriately in the legal system means and should challenge the law when it fails to achieve this.