The law of 25 February 2008 on safety retention: legal bearings and clinical questions]

The authors review the new provisions from the law of 25 February 2008 on security measures on retention for safety and on reporting of criminal irresponsibility related to mental disorder. In doing so, they aim to bring a medical perspective to the discussion. Issued after a long process of reflection which began in 2005 with the report from the Health Justice Committee, the law provides for the possibility of keeping offenders considered dangerous detained after the end of the term of their sentence. It also amends the reporting procedure for excluding criminal responsibility due to mental disorder. The concept of dangerousness, as the foundational definition of security measures, is discussed and the difficulties of its evaluation are outlined. Finally, the paper attempts to clarify the role of the psychiatrist in this new schema and to reaffirm the principles of care.