Placement and treatment of mentally disordered offenders in the European Union Member States: EC-funded study presents detailed comparison and synopsis of legislations and practices

Although placement and treatment of mentally disordered offenders and the issues of health, legal affairs and human rights are almost permanently on the public and political agenda, there is a shortage of basic information and evidence about the major characteristics of the legal approaches and their effectiveness (identification of "good models) in European countries. To bridge this gap Dr. Joachim Salize and Dr. Harald Dressing, experts at the Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany, have conducted a European Commission funded study aimed at gathering and analyzing information about differences and/or similarities across fifteen European Union Member States - published in their book "Placement and Treatment of Mentally Disordered Offenders - Legislation and Practice in the European Union. In fifteen chapters, each of them dedicated to a Member State, the editors and a number of European experts describe their national forensic systems and relevant legal frameworks and provide a synopsis and analysis of the current legislations and practices across States.

Among others, the authors found major differences in Service Provision, e.g. in "Preventive Detention which is a legal option only in Belgium, Denmark and Germany as well as in "Lifelong Placement in Forensic Care which according to their study is theoretically possible in Austria, Belgium, England & Wales, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherland and Sweden - but not possible in Portugal and Spain.

"Reassessment and Discharge Procedures, for example, also vary across Member States:

Post-trial assessment of Mental State is usually done every six months in Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and England & Wales whereas usual time-frame is every one to two years in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherland and Portugal.
Obligatory Assessment of Mental State prior to discharge is not stipulated by law in England & Wales, Italy and Spain whereas it is in all the other Member States.
Legal regulations for Conditional Discharges or Discharges on Licence also vary between States: Ireland, Italy and Sweden do not provide specific regulations whereas laws in the remaining Member States include this procedure as an option. In Portugal, for example, conditional discharge is linked to the duration of the sentence whereas only in Austria and Germany discharges from forensic care are always conditional.

Placement and Treatment of Mentally Disordered Offenders – Legislation and Practice in the European Union
Salize, H.J.; Dressing, H. (Eds.)