Forensic psychiatry in Belgium in 2021: An overview of the current situation

Abstract

Forensic psychiatry is a discipline dating from Antiquity. A discipline, which is in Belgium a relatively recent development, forensic psychiatry is focussed on two distinct areas, namely the care of detained patients and expertise. Care concerns those detained patients as defined by the Law of May 5, 2014, specifically those who have been diagnosed with mental illnesses and for whom the faculty of judgement, and therefore criminal responsibility, is deemed to be affected. These patients must therefore be treated and not punished. They have thus been hospitalised for an indeterminate period in specialised centres, which are distributed across Belgium.Forensic psychiatry is recent in the way that it is structured and has acquired professionalism.In a general way, only by making the discipline more academic will allow it to be recognised and thus improve the training of future experts in Belgium.This article will describe in a structured and exhaustive manner the position of forensic psychiatry in Belgium.

Keywords

• Forensic psychiatry
• Detained patient
• Mental health expertise
• Law of May 05, 2014 relating to psychiatric internment
• Belgium