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Neuropsychology has become an increasingly active participant in forensie issues over the past decade. This has been the result of increased recognition by psychologists of the potential role they can play in evaluating patients involved in lawsuits and the increasing sophistication of lawyers who have recognized that damages can go beyond claims of physical and motoric impairment. However, this increase in involvement has not always been matched by a more sophisticated recognition of how the client (whether plaintiff or defendant) can best be served by the neuropsychologist. I have personally seen or reviewed many cases in which the psychologists involved did not effectively present their case. This partially occurred because they failed to recognize the difference in presentations aimed at clinical audiences and those aimed at a legal proceeding. It also occurred because they failed to recognize that the standard of proof necessary is very different in a hospital and in a courtroom. Finally, it occurred because they rarely recognized what the unique role of the psychologist can be in either countering or supporting the testimony of medical specialists. The purpose of this volume is to bring some light on these questions. The presentations here are write-ups of the work presented at the Third Annual Conference on the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery held in Omaha during May, 1985. All of the papers emphasize the role of the Luria-Nebraska but the ideas can be used with almost any test.

The purpose of the World Psychiatric Association is to coordinate the activities of its Member Societies on a world-wide scale and to advance enquiry into the etiology, pathology, and treatment of mental illness. To further this purpose, the Association organizes mono- or multi thematic Regional Symposia in different parts of the world twice a year, and World Congresses dealing with all individual fields of psychiatry once every five or six years. Between these meetings the continuation of the Association's scientific work is assured through the activities of its specialty sections, each covering an important field of psychiatry. The programs of the World Congresses reflect on the one hand the intention to present the coordinating functions of the Association and on the other to open a broad platform for a free exchange of views. Thus, the VII World Congress of Psychiatry, held in Vienna from July 11 to 16, 1983, was composed of two types of scientific events - those structured by the Association and those left to the initiative of the participants. The first type comprised Plenary Sessions, planned by the Scientific Program Committee, and Section Symposia, organized by the WPA sections; the second embraced Free Symposia, free papers, video sessions, and poster presentations prepared by the participants. Altogether, 10 Plenary Sessions, 52 Section Symposia, and 105 Free Symposia took place, and 78 free papers and poster sessions and 10 video sessions were held.

This volume is a contribution to the continuing interaction between law and medicine. Problems arising from this interaction have been addressed, in part, by previous volumes in this series. In fact, one such problem constitutes the central focus of Volume 5, Mental Illness: Law and Public Policy [1]. The present volume joins other volumes in this series in offering an exploration and critical analysis of concepts and values underlying health care. In this volume, however, we look as well at some of the general questions occasioned by the law's relation with medicine. We do so out of a conviction that medi­ cine and the law must be understood as the human creations they are, reflect­ ing important, wide-ranging, but often unaddressed aspects of the nature of the human condition. It is only by such philosophical analysis of the nature of the conceptual foundations of the health care professions and of the legal profession that we will be able to judge whether these professions do indeed serve our best interests. Such philosophical explorations are required for the public policy decisions that will be pressed upon us through the increasing complexity of health care and of the law's response to new and changing circumstances. As a consequence, this volume attends as much to issues in public policy as in the law. The law is, after all, the creature of human deci­ sions concerning prudent public policy and basic human rights and goods.

I continui mutamenti normativi che caratterizzano il nostro Paese e i progressi scientifico-culturali, in ambito sia giuridico sia medico-scientifico e psico-sociale hanno reso necessaria la realizzazione della nuova edizione di Psichiatria forense, criminologia ed etica psichiatrica. Vittorio Volterra ha coinvolto nella realizzazione di questa seconda edizione 44 prestigiosi Opinion Leader del settore. Punti di forza Sono stati inseriti più di venti nuovi argomenti e tutti i capitoli sono stati rivisti e aggiornati. L'impostazione grafica è stata completamente rinnovata. Il sito web, al quale il lettore può accedere attraverso l'attivazione del PIN CODE stampato all'interno del volume, permette di consultare: tutti i capitoli in versione elettronica, gli aggiornamenti che periodicamente verranno inseriti nei contenuti online dei capitoli, una selezione di leggi e sentenze, molte delle quali con link diretto ai contenuti dei capitoli, e documenti di particolare importanza in ambito psichiatrico-forense. Inoltre, le voci bibliografiche conterranno il link agli abstract di Medline.