ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the scientific and gray literatures regarding the provision of forensic mental health services around the world. It examines the fundamental system-level principles for organizing forensic mental health systems. Forensic mental health services generally function to assess and treat the mental health and criminogenic needs of individuals who intersect with the legal and criminal justice systems, including those who are found unfit to plead, found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder. The chapter explains an international review of the academic and nonacademic literature to examine how forensic services are organized around the world. It overviews a forensic services and provisions across four general legal frameworks are provided, including: common law, civil law, the legislation of former Communist countries, and Islamic law. The chapter also summarizes how they address the main issues of fitness to plead, the mental disorder defense, diminished responsibility, hospital discharge provisions, forensic population composition, and forensic service provision.
