Psychiatry and justice searching for truth

The moralizing security conceptions, based on the maintaining of a social cohesion as well as on the principal of punishing the criminal according to his degree of responsibility, have had an inefficient criminal policy. This policy sometimes could even be quite harmful. The delinquents, who would be in opposition to social norms as a consequence of their mental anomalies, are hence not very responsive to criminal repression. The way that the policy is applied actually develops anti social tendencies. The anti-criminal policies proposed in this text aim to socialize anew these delinquents with mental abnormalities by placing them in specialized treatment and re-adaptation centres. These centres will work on transforming their personalities and neutralize their antisocial tendencies to facilitate their reinsertion in society. Concerning pre-delinquents, preventive actions by creating a social networking are also necessary. This criminal policy has a restorative objective. It is a very satisfactory method on a human and economical level. Indeed, it diminishes coasts of recidivists spending time in prisons as well as the social coasts due to a criminality that is inefficiently fought. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.