A 4-Year Review of Psychiatrists' Participation in Prosecutorial Workshops on Criminal Capacity (Report)
South African Journal of Psychiatry 2011, Dec, 17, 4
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Publisher Description
For many centuries there has been an interface between psychiatry and the law, and although both the law and forensic psychiatry have undergone significant changes and progression, considerable misunderstandings remain between the two fields. (1) Many of these misunderstandings became evident to psychiatrists from the Weskoppies Hospital Forensic Psychiatry Unit (WHFPU) during participation in prosecutorial workshops. Psychiatric participation has been requested at prosecutorial workshops on criminal capacity from 2004 until the present. This request for participation came from the Justice College, a branch of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. The workshops were attended by prosecutors from all provinces in South Africa. From the onset the psychiatrists from WHFPU questioned the psychiatrist-prosecutor collaboration as presenters and facilitators at the workshops. During yearly WHFPU preparation for these workshops the presentation methods, content and topics were addressed. The needs of the attending prosecutors, how they understood and applied the information presented and the suitability of the training were also considered during the yearly preparation. Furthermore, it was observed that the psychiatric input in the workshops had increased significantly and that the presentation format had changed over the years. Because of these observations and the misunderstanding and differences noted, it was decided in 2009 to review all formal and informal knowledge that was derived from this participation.