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Protecting the Public?: Detention and Release of Mentally Disordered Offenders

NCJ Number
232368
Author(s)
Tessa Boyd-Caine
Date Published
2010
Length
214 pages
Annotation
This book explores the tension that exists England and Wales between the rights of individuals detained under criminal and mental health law and the right of the public to be protected.
Abstract
This book is intended for use by academics, policymakers, law enforcement officials, law reformers, and others interested in the fields of criminal justice, forensic psychology and psychiatry, and mental health law and public policy. The book analyzes the use of executive discretion for cases of mentally disordered offenders who have entered the criminal justice system in England and Wales. The book is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 examines executive discretion and the rule of law. Chapter 2 examines the care and control of mentally disordered offenders who have been placed in compulsory treatment for their mental disorder, while chapter 3 discusses the use of executive discretion for mentally disordered offenders. Chapter 4 examines the relationships in the system of executive discretion, while chapter 5 explores the various constructions of the public in the restricted patient system. Chapter 6 explores how values of human rights have operated alongside the objective of public protection, while chapter 7 examines the tensions that exist between patient's rights and the public's right to protection. References and index