Forensic Psychiatry in the GDR: An overview

In the discussion of medical history of psychiatry in the GDR, little attention has been paid to the subfield of forensic psychiatry. In the following literature-based overview, essential aspects of this specific topic are therefore presented. The content-related discussion in this field took place in particular in the area of forensic psychiatric expertise in criminal law, to which, among others, the most well-known forensic psychiatrist of the GDR, Hans Szewczyk, made important contributions. After the introduction of the Criminal Code in 1968 and the accompanying legal changes regarding reduced or abolished criminal responsibility of delinquents, a discourse took place until the beginning of the 1980s on various questions on the improvement of the quality of expert opinions and further development of their work. The focus was on the assessment of criminal responsibility rather than on the assessment of prognosis, which probably resulted from the abolition of the "Massregelvollzug" in 1968. Only a few sources refer to the placement and treatment of forensic psychiatric patients. Mentally ill offenders were hardly ever accommodated in specific departments, which were apparently established in a few clinics from the mid-1970s onwards. There was also a lack of specially developed structural treatment concepts specifically for forensic psychiatric patients. Especially for mentally ill lawbreakers with a high level of delinquency, inpatient placement was apparently hardly possible due to a new legislation after 1968. In the area of civil law, only a few sources indicate that the topics of incapacitation and guardianship were addressed.