| This comparative research concerns the cultural, historical, political, economic, and legal conditions that make possible the differential trajectories of the mentally ill offenders and the forensic psychiatric in the U.S. and Taiwan. While in Washington the mentally ill offenders were under the supervision of the state, those in Taiwan answer to their families. Among the four parties involved in the disposition and treatment of the mentally ill offenders, the court and the individual are expected to be responsible in the U.S., but in Taiwan the agency is given to the family and the hospital.;This research argues that the idea of probabilistic risk---which differs from the idea of dangerousness---and the notion of cost-efficiency have come to dominate the mental health services in both societies. In the balance between risk and cost, different issues and locations are emphasized and invested in the two societies. These differences are both the products and the conditions for the rights discourse in Washington and the family discourse in Taiwan.;In the name of human rights, the American system has assumed freedom of individuals but at the same time becomes increasingly punitive toward those who fail the test of freedom. On the other hand, in Taiwan the notion of its traditional culture that treasures the family serves as an excuse for the Taiwanese system to continue overusing the family. It is therefore easy for patients without a supporting family to fall out of the system. Ironically, the rights discourse in the U.S. and the Family discourse in Taiwan become triage of inclusion and exclusion. |
