title: Closing forensic psychiatric hospitals in Italy: a new revolution begins?
abstract: On 30 May 2014 the Italian Parliament approved a new law regarding forensic psychiatric hospitals. Forensic psychiatric hospitals are facilities that admit individuals who have committed a criminal offence but lack criminal responsibility because of a mental disorder and are deemed as dangerous to public safety. Here we report the key aspects of the new legislation together with some critical considerations.
authors.affiliation: Corrado Barbui, MD, WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health and Service Evaluation, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Section of Psychiatry, University of Verona, Verona, Italy; Benedetto Saraceno, MD, Gulbenkian Global Mental Health Platform, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Corrado
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barbui
authors.affiliation: Corrado Barbui, MD, WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health and Service Evaluation, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Section of Psychiatry, University of Verona, Verona, Italy; Benedetto Saraceno, MD, Gulbenkian Global Mental Health Platform, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Benedetto
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Saraceno
mesh_terms: D003416:Criminal Law / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D057237:Criminals; D003617:Dangerous Behavior; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006271:Health Facility Closure / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006291:Health Policy; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D016743:Mental Competency / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*