PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Miller, Robert D. TI - Who's Afraid of Forensic Psychiatry? DP - 1990 Sep 01 TA - Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online PG - 235--247 VI - 18 IP - 3 4099 - http://jaapl.org/content/18/3/235.short 4100 - http://jaapl.org/content/18/3/235.full SO - J Am Acad Psychiatry Law1990 Sep 01; 18 AB - Forensic psychiatry has come under mounting criticism from the press and other medical professionals, largely for its participation in the insanity defense. The author argues that the expertise available from the specialty is of increasing importance to psychiatry as a whole, as more and more legal issues become relevant to the practice of general psychiatry, and should be actively encouraged and legitimized rather than ostracized. All psychiatrists should be exposed to forensic principles and practices during their training, and the ability of forensic psychiatrists to serve as transducers between the clinical and the legal/judicial should be increasingly used to present the clinical viewpoint effectively in courts and legislatures.