Diversion versus liaison: psychiatric services to the courts, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract

Abstract A Court Liaison Service was established, in December 1992, to provide psychiatric advice to the Wellington region's District and High Courts. The service was attached to the regional Forensic Psychiatric Service of the Wellington Area Health Board serving a catchment area of about 850 000. The authors describe the first year of operation of the service and then discuss some of the important issues in providing such a service, with particular reference to the concept of diversion of mentally ill offenders. The concept of liaison between the courts and regional forensic psychiatric services is discussed and the proposition put forward that perhaps the current court liaison services in New Zealand combine the best aspects of ‘diversion’ and ‘liaison’ schemes. Copyright © 1996 Whurr Publishers Ltd.