Der Sachverständige im Straf- und Vollstreckungsverfahren. Auftrag, Qualifikation, Kompetenzabgrenzung

Abstract

The amendment to the law of forced detention in psychiatric hospitals has strengthened the role of experts in criminal law proceedings. Experts have specific specialist knowledge and exert a guarantor function in relation to the court. These interdisciplinary processes hold risks that have to be encountered by critical interaction preserving boundaries between different disciplines and competencies. Transgressing competencies and violating boundaries can result in intrusions upon fundamental rights of those affected that may also raise liability questions. This article discusses the framework of this interdisciplinary cooperation, in particular the relevance of competence boundaries in criminal court proceedings

Expert opinions on criminal law cases in Switzerland – an empirical pilot study

“…However, the diagnostic classification and assessment of the risk of recidivism were -apart from the question of culpability, which was not examined herein -core questions of the forensic psychiatric reports. These two topics were inadequately addressed, leading to the conclusion that the study hypothesis -most criminal forensic psychiatric reports meet published formal and content-related quality criteria [9,[27][28][29][30] -must be rejected.…”

“…These four questions must be answered appropriately within extensive forensic psychiatric/psychological reports [9,[27][28][29][30]. H owever, not all experts are required to answer questions about culpability and treatability.…”