Stone's views of 25 years ago have now shifted incrementally

Abstract

Twenty-five years ago, a major article by Professor Alan Stone on ethics in forensic psychiatry was published. It caused reverberations on a national scale. After the seismic shocks that he had provoked settled down, several thoughtful forensic psychiatrists set out to take serious stock of his critique and to articulate ways in which corrective actions could be taken. Indeed, slightly more than a decade later, I critiqued Stone's ideas in my Presidential Address to the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. It is a unique privilege now to evaluate what Stone currently says about ethics in forensic psychiatry. While his present positions are slightly different from his arguments of 25 years ago, Stone still holds dearly to his ivory tower, which remains almost impermeable to the voices of those working in the trenches.