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Abstract
People who have committed crimes as a result of a serious mental disorder and who continue to be dangerous as a result of this disorder can be placed in a psychiatric correctional facility for the purpose of improvement and security in accordance with Sections 63 and 64 of the Criminal Code (StGB). In Germany, around 9,000 patients are currently being treated as inpatients in clinics for forensic psychiatry and psychotherapy on the basis of Section 63 of the Criminal Code and in detoxification facilities on the basis of Section 64 of the Criminal Code. The treatment of patients in psychiatric correctional facilities is regulated by state law, so that the general conditions of treatment differ in the individual federal states. While minimum requirements have already been published for the preparation of reports on criminal responsibility and legal prognosis, there are currently no agreed standards for treatment in psychiatric correctional facilities. Against this background, the DGPPN commissioned an interdisciplinary working group in 2014 to develop professional standards for treatment in forensic psychiatry. The legal, ethical, structural, therapeutic and prognostic standards were to be described in accordance with the current state of science. After a three-year processing phase, the results of the interdisciplinary working group were presented in spring 2017 and agreed upon by the board of the DGPPN. The standards for treatment in psychiatric correctional facilities are intended to initiate a discussion with the aim of standardizing the treatment conditions and establishing professionally justified recommendations.
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