Dødsstraf-et emne af psykiatrisk relevans

Abstract

Health professionals play an important role in implementing codes of ethics which prohibit their involvement in capital punishment. Psychiatrists have a central position in trials evaluating the mental health of the accused and may find themselves in several dilemmas. Should psychiatrists accept treating prisoners evaluated medically unfit for execution, with the consequence that they are executed? Should psychiatrists take a stand on the question of future danger, and risk that their testimony becomes the decisive factor for the recommendation of the death penalty? Despite the forensic psychiatric principle that the psychiatrically ill should not be judged by the same principles as the mentally fit. several prisoners on death row have a history of severe mental illness.

Key Words:

• Capital punishment
• Ethics