Matters of preventive detention are important for forensic psychiatry, but so far rarely discussed. Preventive detention can be accommodated, if a repeat offender shows a disposition for further significant delinquency. Court requires expert opinion to reveal information about the personal foundations of this disposition. But currently a consensus about this topic and studies concerning the delinquents are still missing: An analysis of more than 100 expert testimonies should redress this deficiency.

Amongst others the data was collected with the PCL-R, HCR-20, SVR-20 and the Static 99.

The data indicates that the inmates are part of a high risk population. Most are social desintegrated; some of them show noticeable personality problems or personality disorders. This indicates an overlap between preventive detention and the treatment possibilities of forensic psychiatric hospitals. This requires careful diagnostic and criminal prognostic proceedings, but in a large number of expert testimonies the diagnostic and criminal prognostic approach remained unclear. Psychiatrists don´t use standardized prognostic tools, which leads to the loss of relevant information.

The use of especially prognostic instruments can enrich the information content of expert testimonies in the context of preventive detention. Thus they can serve as a tool to assure the quality of the expert opinion.