Law and Psychiatry: Scandinavia in the 1980s

The major policies and practices with regard to the civil and criminal commitment of the mentally ill in the Scandinavian countries during the 1970s and 1980s are described and discussed. Deinstitutionalization, community work, and outpatient treatment within geographically defined sectors have been introduced in all the Nordic countries. At the same time, criminally committed mental patients constitute an increasing proportion of the involuntarily hospitalized population. The special defense of insanity and tests such as McNaughtan are not used in the Scandinavian countries. The handling and disposition of severely mentally ill criminal defendants is closer to the notions of guilty but mentally ill in some U.S. jurisdictions, although in Scandinavia such persons are hospitalized and do not receive penal sentences. Even though forensic psychiatry has come under much criticism, there is still a need for psychiatric evaluations for courts and there is still a need for the provision of mental health treatment, rehabilitation, and follow-up for mentally disordered offenders.

Assad's Syria

The Syria of Hafez alAssad comes steadily closer to the society of contradictions portrayed by George Orwell in 1984. The official slogan of the ruling Ba'ath party is “unity, freedom, and socialism.” Yet as one Western diplomat stationed in Damascus recently pointed out, the salient characteristics of Syrian life are the antithesis of these high ideals.Power is concentrated in the hands of a clan of Alawites, a Shi'ite offshoot considered heretical by the Suu ni Muslim majority. The most overt opposition is that of the fanatical, fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which has attempted to assassinate Assad and has succeeded in killing hundreds of officials and supporters of the regime. The government has unleashed the special Defense Brigades, under the command of Assad's brother Rifaat, and allowed the Mukhabarat, the secret police, to conduct a reign of terror and intimidation, including searches without warrant, detention without trial, torture, and summary execution. The result has been increased resentment against the regime among the majority of the population.

The Lawyer's Role at Intake and Detention Stages of Juvenile Court Proceedings

The coming increase in attorney representation of children in juvenile court cases requires careful analysis of the lawyer's role at each major stage of the juvenile court process. Intake and detention are preliminary stages of considerable importance, in volving determinations as to which cases shall be referred for formal disposition and which cases require secure custody of the child pending hearing. Lawyers can play both traditional and special "defense counsel" roles in these stages.