Special judicial psychiatric hospitals in Italy and the shortcomings of the mental health law

Abstract

Since the introduction of Law 180 in 1978, the Italian Mental Health Act has engendered intense discussion, appraising its positive points, criticizing its negative ones and disputing its sociopolitical implications. But the international debate has never questioned what Law 180 has done to improve the fate of mental persons who commit crimes. The Italian experience illustrates how, when no convenient solutions are to hand, difficult issues may be sidestepped. Italian legislation has created a dichotomy in mental health treatment: to its credit it has given law-abiding mentally ill persons the right to refuse treatment and has stopped all further hospitalization of psychiatric patients; at the same time, it allows law-breaking mentally ill persons to be confined in special institutions on indeterminate sentences, thus depriving them of all civil rights.