Global Perspectives in Forensic Psychiatry

Global Perspectives in Forensic Psychiatry: International Approaches to Practice, Policies, and the Law is an essential guide to understanding the international landscape of forensic mental health systems.

This book presents global perspectives in forensic psychiatry and research, highlighting how national contexts and legal frameworks shape mental health care systems across multiple continents. Contributors from over 25 countries describe national approaches to the assessment, treatment, and management of justice-involved individuals with mental disorders. In doing so, the contributors encourage policymakers to draw from both well-established and developing forensic psychiatric systems to inform international discourse, interpret research, and enhance the ongoing evolution of best practice approaches. Key topics include historical and cultural principles, training and quality assurance, and contemporary policies and procedures.

This volume is an essential resource for forensic mental health professionals, clinicians, and researchers. It will inform training, service delivery, and future research on justice-involved individuals with mental disorders.

Author Biography

Gary Chaimowitz is a professor of psychiatry at McMaster University, Canada, and the Head of Service for the Forensic Psychiatry Program at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton in Hamilton, Ontario. He holds the Forensic Psychiatry founder designation with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, an MBA, and is a Certified Physician Executive.

Mini Mamak is a senior psychologist in the Forensic Psychiatry Program at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, Canada, and an associate professor (part-time) in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University. She is a co-developer of the electronic Hamilton Anatomy of Risk Management (eHARM) and the Aggressive Incidents Scale (AIS), two innovative methods of assessing and documenting risk.

Heather Moulden is a psychologist in the Forensic Psychiatry Program at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, Canada, and an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University, where she is also an associate member in the Neuroscience Graduate Program and the Department of Psychology.

Drew Kingston is the executive clinical director and director of research of the HOPE program, a statewide agency in California, United States, that provides services to individuals who have committed a sexual offence. He is licensed as a psychologist in California and Ontario, Canada. Dr. Kingston is a senior scientist at the Royal Ottawa Hospital’s Institute of Mental Health Research, Canada, and an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McMaster University, Canada.