The closing of Forensic Psychiatric Hospitals and the opening of "Residences for the Execution of Safety Measures" (REMS) in Italy poses several questions to psychiatric care. The following topics are discussed: the patient’s consent to treatment and the psychiatrists’ legal responsibility for crimes committed by their patients, insanity and danger to society, the risk that the psychiatrists’ role becomes mere social control and prevention of danger. It is emphasized the danger for psychiatrists of treating forensic patients in custody.
Keywords: Forensic Psychiatric Hospitals, psychiatrist’s legal responsibility, social control, relationship between care and custody, safety in psychiatry