Japan needs more forensic psychiatrists

In recent years increased consideration has been given to the human rights of Japanese psychiatric patients and there have been significant improvements in the care afforded to them. It is argued that mentally disordered offenders have not yet benefited to the same extent as general psychiatric patients and further improvements could be achieved. This paper describes the forensic mental health system in Japan and institutions which provide services for mentally disordered offenders. At present there are no hospital units specifically designed to care for mentally ill offenders and most are detained within general psychiatric facilities. There is no equivalent to Part III of the English Mental Health Act 1983 enabling courts and prisons to transfer people to hospital, so that offender patients are detained by the use of civil sections as defined in the Japanese ‘Mental Health Law’ of 1987 (translated by the Mental Health Division of the Health Service Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan,1988). Some mentally abnormal offenders are incarcerated in prison or medical prisons where they can be treated against their will and where they do not have effective access to an independent appeal system. It is the author’s view that the development of forensic psychiatry would be an important stimulus to improving the care given to mentally disordered offenders both within institutions and in the community.