The scope of forensic psychiatry as a field is defined by the application of psychiatry to questions of justice. Its mission is to study and evaluate the relationships between mental illness and criminalityand violence. In the narrow sense of the term, it refers to the clinical evaluation of the mental stateof defendants or victims in the context of criminal trials or civil lawsuits (e.g. private insurancecompanies). In the wider sense, the term refers to questions of care and evaluation within prisons,special hospitals or ordinary contexts - although the meaning varies according to country.
