Texas will grant $5 million to nine of its universities, including UT Austin, for a forensic psychiatric training program, Gov. Greg Abbott announced on March 23.
The Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program aims to train licensed physicians for careers at the crossroads of mental health and the justice system. The University will receive $555,555 as part of the initiative to fund a one-year forensic psychiatric fellowship.
“Texas remains steadfast in increasing access to mental healthcare across our state,” Abbott wrote in a news release. “These grants will create opportunities for our renowned higher education institutions to develop the next generation of healthcare leaders.”
Forensic psychiatry is a relatively small subspecialty, with about 3,000 practitioners in the United States, said William Reid, professor of psychiatry and behavioral health at Dell Medical School.
“(The fellowship) should involve substantial hands-on work with experienced forensic psychiatrists who work with lawyers, judges, prisons, jails, law enforcement and occasionally with treatment of people in ordinary hospitals,” Reid said.
Forensic psychiatrists can play an important role in criminal justice outcomes by neutrally assessing if the defendant truly intended to commit a crime.
“Some severely mentally ill people at the time that they commit their act don’t understand what they’re doing, or don’t understand that it’s wrong,” Reid said. “In many states, including Texas, they may be found not guilty by reason of insanity.”
Nevertheless, forensic psychiatry is nothing like how it’s depicted in the media, Reid said.
“Forensic cases are fairly rare in the law,” Reid said. “On TV, they’re up all the time. But really, very few civil or criminal cases involve mental health issues in a serious way.”