title: [A call for immediate abolishment of the Medical Treatment and Supervision Act].
abstract: The author demonstrates that Japan's Medical Treatment and Supervision Act of 2005 is meaningless and harmful from the perspective of psychiatric treatment, and worthless in terms of enhancing public safety. He goes on to propose a step-by-step process for reforming both the practice of psychiatry in general and that branch of the justice system that deals with defendants who have psychiatric disorders. The author suggests that the cost of reforms can be offset by abolishing the law in question and reducing the number of psychiatric hospital beds, and argues that it is possible to immediately halve the number of those beds. The author emphasizes that, while it is possible to immediately abolish the law, there will be anxiety associated with the progression of reforms.
authors.affiliation: Tama-Aoba Hospital.
authors.forename: Naoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nakajima
mesh_terms: D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000191:economics; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D007298:Insanity Defense; D007564:Japan