RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Forensic Psychiatry: A Subspecialty The Presidential Address at the Nineteenth Annual Meeting of The American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
JF Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online
JO J Am Acad Psychiatry Law
FD American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
SP 323
OP 333
VO 17
IS 4
A1 Rosner, Richard
YR 1989
UL http://jaapl.org/content/17/4/323.abstract
AB The implications of the definition of forensic psychiatry are explored, with particular reference to the field as a subspecialty of general psychiatry. The allegation of undue moral uncertainty in forensic psychiatry is denied and the moral issues are revealed to be related to the status of the underlying philosophical disputes. An outline for the organization of the forensic psychiatric assessment is presented. The charge that forensic psychiatry is not as “hard” a science as the other forensic sciences is denied. The administrative and political organizational problems facing the subspecialty are explored. The practitioners in the field are encouraged to recognize that forensic psychiatry is a subspecialty and to work for official subspecialty status. Cautious predictions about the future of the field are provided.