About the Law and Psychiatry Division

The Law & Psychiatry Division promotes excellence and innovation in forensic psychiatry by educating and nurturing a diverse, multidisciplinary community of leaders and practitioners.

Our practice is thorough, objective, and scientifically based, while striving to enhance the dignity, health, and legal outcomes of all people.

We advance the field through partnerships across the university, our local community, and the world.

In the early 1970s, Dr. Howard Zonana began his career as a junior faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry. During a time of rapid legislative change for individuals with mental illness, Dr. Zonana provided consultation to Yale Law School faculty and students, who had begun to represent patients at the state psychiatric hospitals. These early consultations eventually launched the Law & Psychiatry Division.

A half century later, the Division is a premier forensic psychiatry center where excellence in education, research, forensic evaluation, patient care, and mental health policy converge. In Connecticut, Law & Psychiatry faculty have consulted on all major legislation regarding mental health law. Nationally, faculty members have served as experts in high-profile criminal and civil cases.

Through the forensic psychiatry fellowship program, which began in 1979, the Division has educated nearly 150 forensic psychiatrists who have since become fellowship and residency directors, heads of state forensic mental health systems, internationally renowned expert witnesses, and exemplary providers of psychiatric care in the nation’s prisons, jails, and forensic hospitals.

After nearly 50 years leading the Law & Psychiatry Division, Dr. Zonana became a Professor Emeritus in July 2023, though he continues to maintain an active role in teaching and forensic evaluation. The Department of Psychiatry conducted a national search for a new Division Director, and Dr. Reena Kapoor was appointed to the role on November 1, 2024. Dr. Kapoor's expertise in forensic psychiatry is nationally and internationally recognized, making her well suited to lead the Division into its next chapter.