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The marks of double exclusion: nursing experiences with the pyschotic offender

In the 21st Century the notion of danger as a symbol of madness would transform itself into an instrument to be used by those who were well-learned in law in order to execute their power over insanity. Guilty orinsane? Such a question would be placed infront of the justice system, to which the budding psychiatrist would attempt to respond. This study describes the attitudes of the nursing team towards the psychotic offender and identifies the consequenceswhich result from the care offered such clientele.It is a qualitative-descriptive study with 20 nursing professionals from the nursing staff of the County Hospital for Pyschiatric Careand Treatment, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Hospital de Custódia e Tratamento Psiquiátrico no Município de Niterói, RJ). The results presented three categories: fear, limits in the definitions of insanity and crime, and institutional control. We conclude that the reformulation of the judicial system with respect to psychotic offenders must be revised. This would permit a new psychiatric and judicial perspective to be redirected towards the clientele, as well as capacitate the nursing team towards a function based more closely on human care.

Psychiatric nursing; Criminal law; Forensic psychiatry


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