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The trials and tribulations encompassing the care and control of the socially undesirable - the criminal, the dangerous, and the mentally ill - have historically burdened society and continue to challenge the collective wisdom of the international community. Similarly, the challenges in providing mental health services for this population are fraught with enduring contradictions, and public and political animosity frequently prevails (Peternelj-Taylor, 1998).
This issue of the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services is devoted to forensic psychiatric nursing, and features the contributions of forensic psychiatric nursing experts from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
In an attempt to bridge the gap between the mental health care system and the criminal justice system, forensic psychiatric nursing is defined as
the integration of mental health nursing philosophy and practice within a socioculturai context that includes the criminal justice system to provide comprehensive care to individual clients, their families, and their communities (PeterneljTaylor & Hufft, 1997, p. 772).
Forensic psychiatric nursing occurs across a continuum of controlled environments that may be part of the mental health system, the criminal justice system, or both. Osborne (1995) reminds us "that in these times of radical capitalism and individualism, there is a blurring of the mission of corrections and mental healüS facilities" (p. 5).
The Social Necessity-Social Good Mandate
Regardless of the practice setting, nurses who specialize in forensic psychiatric nursing face a dual obligation, one of social necessity and one of social good, one of custody and one of caring. This debate is framed within doing what is beneficial for the community versus what is most therapeutic for the individual client.
Social necessities are those services deemed necessary to community existence. Correctional facilities, forensic psychiatric institutions, special hospitals, mental health facilities, and community outpatient treatment programs have become social necessities in the form of social control of criminal and mentally ill populations. The protection of society is seen as a direct cori' sequence of the processes of control and custody.
A social good, on the other hand, is a service that is kind and beneficial. These same forensic settings provide social goods in the form of treatment, health care, and rehabilitation (Osborne, 1995; Peternelj -Taylor & Johnson, 1995). Comprehending and confronting this paradox is essential...