Contents

Acknowledgements
Preface
1 Executive discretion and the rule of law
Introduction
Executive discretion and public policy
Operational differences
Separation of powers
The role of forensic psychiatry
Risk and dangerousness
The changing role of victims in policy and practice
Political sensitivities
2 Care and control
Introduction
Restricted patients
On legal decision-making: the origins of a research culture
Methodology
3 The operation of executive discretion
Introduction
The restricted patient population in England and Wales
Monitoring in the restricted patient system
Oversight and the independence of the Tribunal
The decision frame of executive discretion
The symbolic politics of public protection
4 Relationships in the system of executive discretion
Introduction
Rights versus control
Getting risk right
Making it legal
Same data, different story
A question of risk
5 Constructing ‘the public’
Introduction
The changing roles of victims in decision-making
Conceptualizing ‘the public’ within executive discretion
Responses to victim involvement
The relationship between patients and the public
Politics, policies and protection
6 Human rights and the restricted patient system
Introduction
Safeguarding human rights
Constructing patients’ rights
Practicing a rights-based approach
The symbolic value of human rights
7 Patient rights and public protection
Control through containment
The patient/public divide
The exercise of discretion
Rights versus protection
Conclusion
References
Index