Psychiatry and Criminal Law

I ask my readers for their indulgence for my lack of familiarity with many American laws, procedures and institutions. Although I shall deal primarily with the European methods of combatting the enemies of society, it is likely that the difference between European and American points of view on this subject may not be too divergent. In the relations between psychiatry and criminal law the psychiatrist always faces a very difficult situation: it is a common prejudice that the psychiatrist tries to save as many criminals as possible from punishment. Even in 1896 the high court of New York declared: "It is generally safer to take the judgment of unskilled jurors than the opinion of hired and generally biased experts." Though in this audience this erroneous and dan-