A Founding Father of Forensic Psychiatry
A Founding Father of Forensic Psychiatry
Jonas R. Rappeport evaluated thousands of criminal defendants.
By
Jonas R. Rappeport (faculty, psychiatry, 1964–2020).
In his four-decade career, Rappeport assessed the mental state of Arthur Bremer, who shot Alabama Governor George Wallace while he was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972; studied Sara Jane Moore, who tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975; and interviewed John W. Hinkley Jr. after he shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
Considered among the founding fathers of forensic psychiatry as the first president of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, which he helped create in 1969, Rappeport trained many future forensic psychiatrists at Johns Hopkins during his tenure as an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
Protecting the mental health of Maryland police officers
Photo by raymondclarkeimages with Flickr Creative Commons License
BY JACOB STEINBERG
ANNAPOLIS, Md. Maryland police officers who are dealing with stressors such as family issues, substance abuse or mass protests will have access to confidential mental health aid under a bill progressing in the state Legislature.
The Police Officers Mental Health Employee Assistance Program, sponsored by Del. Benjamin Brooks, D-Baltimore County, and Sen. Mary Washington, D-Baltimore, would require each law enforcement agency to provide its officers with access to an employee assistance or mental health program at a minimal cost to the officer.