Twenty years of forensic aftercare in Hessen, Germany

In Germany, the Forensic Hospital in Haina/Germany has a tradition of more than two decades of continuously outpatient treatment of mentally ill offenders. In our system, patients were conditionally released after a successful hospital order treatment. Time under parole for these patients normally spread between two to five years. In nower days, after a reform of penal law, time under parole can be unlimited.Since 1988 far more than 1000 patients were released from the forensic hospital and treated under parole conditions in the community.The paper will describe the careers of these patients, demonstrate rates of success and failure, and explain our treatment and risk-management approach.