Abstract
Belgium has always had a special tradition in forensic care. Some public institutions have always been drawn to the special population of forensic patients, going as far back as the nineteenth century.
In 1930 the Belgian government approved a law to ‘protect society against criminal behavior’. Since then, severely mentally disturbed people, who have committed criminal acts, have not got punished for their criminal acts but are declared criminally insane. This law has been the basis for the regulation of forensic psychiatric care for a long time but underwent a major reform starting in 2007. A new law was eventually adopted in 2016.
In addition to the reform of the law, the Belgian government invested greatly in the development in forensic psychiatric care. Starting in the late 1990s, different initiatives have been undertaken to provide internees with the necessary care. Both forensic and general psychiatric facilities have been upgraded with the intention to create a forensic psychiatric care trajectory.
Today, (almost) all of the ingredients are present as single initiatives. Future efforts will focus on the coherence of those initiatives to provide a structured forensic trajectory.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Justice children are children who are placed under some kind of judicial system, e.g. a juvenile delinquent centre.
- 2.
In Belgium, every internee is placed under supervision of a Board, called the Commission of Protection of Society (CPS). This Board decides on the modality, the execution and the ending of the measure. Up to 2016, five CPS were active in Belgium. Since then, a new law concerning forensic psychiatric care has been installed, placing the supervision of internees under the so-called Chambers of Protection of Society.
- 3.
A time out bed is intended to admit patients for a short period of time because the treatment is subject to difficulties. Because of those difficulties, a further stay in the facility is no longer possible and the patient needs to be moved to somewhere for some time. In such cases patients will be admitted to the medium secure time out unit.
References
Federal Department of Health Care: organization and financing mental health care in Belgium, 2010.
WHO-EU 2008. European pact for mental health and well-being.
Cartuyvels Y, Champetier B, Wyvekens A. La défense sociale en Belgique, entre soin et sécurité. Une approche empirique. Déviance Soc. 2010;4(34):615–45.
Zorgnet Vlaanderen. Geen opsluiting, maar sleutels tot re-integratie. 2012.
Samenwerkingsakkoord inzake de begeleiding en behandeling van daders van seksueel misbruik. 1998.
Strategisch Plan Hulp en Dienstverlening aan Gedetineerden. 2000.
Jeandarme I. Medium security units: recidivism & risk assesment. (PHD), Tilburg University, Tilburg, 2016.
Cornu PJ, Mercenier S, Giovagnoli O. Analyse de huit années de prise en charge de patients internés libérés à l’essai au sein de deux unités de psychiatrie médico-légale. J Med Leg Droit Med. 2011;54(4):183–96.
Federal strategic plan Onckelinx-Demotte (2007) and Vandeurzen – Onckelinx. 2009.
Wet van 1 juli 1964 tot bescherming van de maatschappij tegen abnormalen en gewoontemisdadigers, BS 17 juli 1964.
Wet van 21 April 2007 betreffende de internering van persoon met een geestesstoornis, BS 13 juli 2007.
Van Gorp L. De nieuwe interneringswet van 5 mei 2014: Doelstellingen en Verwachtingen. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2015.
Wet van 5 mei 2014 betreffende de internering van personen, BS 9 juli 2014.
Wet 4 mei 2016,betreffende de internering, BS 13 mei 2016.
Press statement 16.09.15 UPC Sint Kamillus – Brothers of Love.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pesout, K., Pham, T. (2019). Forensic Psychiatric Care in Belgium. In: Völlm, B., Braun, P. (eds) Long-Term Forensic Psychiatric Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12594-3_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12594-3_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-12593-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-12594-3
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)