title: Overview of child forensic psychiatry.
abstract: The subspecialty of child forensic psychiatry has come into existence relatively recently. The first text on the subject was not published until 1980. This field emerged slowly as a recognized subspecialty separate from general child psychiatry and adult forensic psychiatry because child forensic psychiatry could not exist until children gained legal rights, and courts needed to know the impact of a child's mental state on those rights.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA. drleehaller@aol.com
authors.forename: Lee H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Haller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000296:Adolescent Psychiatry / Q000639:trends*; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002651:Child Advocacy / Q000639:trends; D002665:Child Psychiatry / Q000639:trends*; D005544:Forecasting; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D013038:Specialization / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States