Psychiatry and the Law, 2nd edition

Psychiatry and the Law is the only major work focused on the high-profile area of forensic psychiatry and law in New Zealand. Since the first edition was published in 2007, the medicolegal landscape has altered dramatically with far-reaching changes in legislation and case law, and in the procedures for regulating the behaviours of mentally impaired offenders.

One such area of dramatic change has related to developments in the determination of fitness to stand trial, with numbers having almost tripled over the period from 2010–2019, demonstrating a heightened awareness among legal and medical experts, lawyers and judges of the risks to rights to a fair trial posed by an ever-broader range of relevant mental impairments.

The book also discusses the evolving models of clinical management and risk assessment, and the changing professional perceptions of the relationship between mental disorder and violence.

Written for use by lawyers, clinicians and students of forensic psychiatry and law, this book canvasses this sometimes highly controversial area of legal and clinical practice in a thoroughly practical manner, informed by an interdisciplinary perspective.