The Application of Psychiatric Expertise In Law Enforcement

Abstract

The correlation between the psychiatric state and crime is widely known. The presence of a mental illness can often be observed in criminal cases and it has been proven that psychiatric disorders increase the risk of deviance. Given this knowledge, the question arises, whether law enforcement agencies can benefit from the experience and scientific achievements of psychiatric professionals. In the present paper we try to find the answer to this question. After a brief introduction of the psychiatric discipline the field of law enforcement reviewed where psychiatric expertise can be applied: criminal profiling and the most important methods of it, crime scene profiling, interrogation strategy and proactive media communication strategy. We demonstrate the advantages of psychiatric knowledge in law enforcement activity mainly through two mental disorders: schizophrenia and personality disorder.