International Journal of Law and PsychiatryThis is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader, such as GoogleReader, or to display this data on your own website or blog. Subscribe to this data using MyMedWorm.Subscribe to this data using GoogleReader.Subscribe to this data using Bloglines.Subscribe to this data using MyYahoo.

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Neurocognitive deficits and psychiatric disorders in a NSW prison population.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The objective of this study was to investigate the utility of a computerized battery in the assessment of inmates within the criminal justice system. Thirty male inmates were assessed. Data were compared to matched controls. The custodial sample was characterized by an increase in the prevalence of previous trauma; high levels of depression, anxiety and stress and neurocognitive deficits, including sustained attention, impulsivity and executive dysfunction. PMID: 19922999 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry)
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - November 16, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Kavanagh L, Rowe D, Hersch J, Barnett KJ, Reznik R Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Current legislation on admission of mentally ill patients in China.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
CONCLUSIONS: A more comprehensive and enforceable national mental health act is needed in order to ensure the rights of persons suffering mental illness in terms of admission and treatment procedures. In addition, more research is needed to understand how the current municipal regulations of mental health services in these cities are implemented in routine practice. PMID: 19913300 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry)
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - November 11, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Shao Y, Xie B, Good MJ, Good BJ Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

New legislation for offenders with mental disorders in Japan.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article describes the recent law reform on forensic mental health and its background in Japan, focusing on the enactment of the Medical Treatment and Supervision Act in 2005. The new system-under which a person who commits a serious criminal offence in a state of insanity or diminished responsibility shall be referred by the public prosecutor to the District Court-aims to provide intensive psychiatric treatment to offenders with mental disorders, attaching great importance to their reintegration into society. The court panel, which consists of a judge and a specially qualified psychiatrist, plays a key role in the tre...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - November 10, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Nakatani Y, Kojimoto M, Matsubara S, Takayanagi I Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Psychiatrists' views of compulsory psychiatric care of minors.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study was set up to find out whether the Finnish child and adolescent psychiatrists agree with the need for defining broader commitment criteria for minors, and why. Semi-structured, reflexive dyadic interviews were carried out with 44 psychiatrists working with children and adolescents. The data was analysed using qualitative and quantitative content analysis. The analysis showed that broader commitment criteria for minors were favoured referring to developmental needs related to childhood and adolescence, prevention of mental illnesses and inadequacy of descriptive diagnosis in childhood and adolescence. The commitm...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - November 9, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Turunen S, Välimäki M, Kaltiala-Heino R Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Staff and prisoner perceptions of physical and social environmental factors thought to be supportive of bullying: The role of bullying and fear of bullying.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The current study explored the relationship between social and physical environmental factors supportive of bullying, levels of bullying and fear of bullying. Participants were 261 adult male prisoners. All completed the Direct and Indirect Prisoner Checklist-Scaled Version Revised (DIPC-SCALED-r ((c))Ireland, 2007), the Prison Environment Scale (PES ((c))Allison, 2007), and a Brief Measure of Fear of Bullying Scale (BMFBS). The PES was explored initially using 100 male prisoners randomly selected from the main sample and 100 prison officers. It was predicted that increased bullying would be associated with increased e...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - November 7, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Allison MD, Ireland JL Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

The concept of free will and forensic psychiatry.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This text examines how conceptions of free will impact on legal systems and forensic psychiatry: free will is generally regarded as a prerequisite for responsibility, criminal responsibility included, while forensic psychiatry to a large extent deals with the limits imposed on responsibility by mental disorder. First we discuss the question of whether there is and has been such an impact. The answer is yes: different conceptions of free will have inspired different systems of law and forensic psychiatry, as becomes clear when looking at the accountability doctrine as compared to the unique Swedish system rejecting this...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - November 6, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Juth N, Lorentzon F Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Seclusion: The perspective of nurses.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study describes personal experiences of nurses throughout the seclusion process. The emotions which came to surface in semi-structured interviews with 8 nurses were categorized in three main themes (Tension, Trust and Power) and a stress response curve was identified in the seclusion process, with specific feelings in each phase. Feelings denied in former studies such as feeling superior, anger and disgust were found in the interviews in this study. PMID: 19837459 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry)
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - October 15, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Vandernagel JE, Tuts KP, Hoekstra T, Noorthoorn EO Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Accountability and psychiatric disorders: How do forensic psychiatric professionals think?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Swedish penal law does not exculpate on the grounds of diminished accountability; persons judged to suffer from severe mental disorder are sentenced to forensic psychiatric care instead of prison. Re-introduction of accountability as a condition for legal responsibility has been advocated, not least by forensic psychiatric professionals. To investigate how professionals in forensic psychiatry would assess degree of accountability based on psychiatric diagnoses and case vignettes, 30 psychiatrists, 30 psychologists, 45 nurses, and 45 ward attendants from five forensic psychiatric clinics were interviewed. They were aske...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - October 4, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Höglund P, Levander S, Anckarsäter H, Radovic S Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Intimate partner violence and immigration laws in Canada: How far have we come?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Immigrant women face numerous, and sometimes insurmountable, barriers in reporting and seeking services for intimate partner violence (IPV). A number of these obstacles relate to immigration laws, policies and legal processes they encounter due to their immigration status and sponsorship relationship. The present study was conducted in Canada, in an urban centre that boasts one of the largest immigrant populations in the world. Using a focus group methodology within a participatory action research framework, this investigation sought to identify factors that facilitate or impede women from coming forward and disclosing...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - October 2, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Alaggia R, Regehr C, Rishchynski G Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Social capital, individual disorders and property offences.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper examines the relevance to delinquency of social capital that is directly embedded in the relationships that teenagers have with peers, parents, and those in positions of authority and those indirect social capital that teenagers may benefit due their parents' relations with their school or friends. The analysis employs data from the Canadian National Survey of Children. The study shows that personality traits are the most important predictors of property offences. Nevertheless, we also show the importance of social relationships embedded directly in individuals themselves and these are more important than th...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - October 1, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Nakhaie MR, Sacco VF Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Mental disorder is a cause of crime: The cornerstone of forensic psychiatry.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The assumption that mental disorder is a cause of crime is the foundation of forensic psychiatry, but conceptual, epistemological, and empirical analyses show that neither mental nor crime, or the causation implied, are clear-cut concepts. "Mental" denotes heterogeneous aspects of a person such as inner experiences, cognitive abilities, and behaviour patterns described in a non-physical vocabulary. In psychology and psychiatry, mental describes law-bound, caused aspects of human functioning that are predictable and generalizable. Problems defined as mental disorders are end-points of dimensional inter-individual differ...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - September 29, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Anckarsäter H, Radovic S, Svennerlind C, Höglund P, Radovic F Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

The precarious practice of forensic psychiatric risk assessments.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The development of forensic psychiatric risk assessments is discussed from a clinical point of view using the example of Sweden. A central task in forensic psychiatry has traditionally been to identify dangerous, mentally disordered subjects considered to be prone to commit violent acts. Over time, "dangerousness" has been reworded into "risk". Nevertheless, such assessments have generally been based on the psychiatric factors characterising the individual patient, while group interaction, situational factors, or social and cultural circumstances, such as the availability of alcohol and drugs, have been largely overloo...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - September 29, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Nilsson T, Munthe C, Gustavson C, Forsman A, Anckarsäter H Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Criminal insanity in 19th-century Ireland, Europe and the United States: Cases, contexts and controversies.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article provides a concise, comparative background to the evolution of criminal insanity legislation and institutions for the mentally ill in the nineteenth century, with particular reference to Ireland and the United States. Three key themes are identified and explored: (a) the emergence of the insanity defence in the nineteenth century (e.g. the McNaughtan Rules); (b) conditions in nineteenth-century asylums and institutions for the 'criminally insane' (with particular reference to overcrowding, physical illness and asylum deaths); and (c) nineteenth-century considerations of criminal responsibility in women with me...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - September 28, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Kelly BD Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Protecting mental health clients' dignity - The importance of legal control.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Protecting human beings' dignity is a fundamental value underlying the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as several recommendations and conventions derived from this, among them the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), a declaration that also takes precedence over Norwegian legislation. Still, clients' stories inform us that their dignity is not always protected in the mental health service systems. The aim of the study has been to investigate violations of dignity considered from the clients' points of view, and to suggest actions that may ensure that practice is brought in line with human righ...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - September 28, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Kogstad RE Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Recent life events and subjective well-being of personality disordered forensic outpatients.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
CONCLUSIONS: Forensic psychiatric outpatients seem to experience a relatively stable 'load' of stressful life events, that does not influence change in subjective well-being. We did not find unequivocal support for General Strain Theory. In line with the dynamic equilibrium model, forensic outpatients seemed less used to positive controllable life events, which influenced positive change in subjective well-being. In outpatient forensic treatment, attempts to limit negative life events together with enhancing behaviour which results in positive events should be targeted. This might result in better lives for patients and in...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - September 27, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Bouman YH, de Ruiter C, Schene AH Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Extra information about treatment is too much for the patient with psychosis.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
CONCLUSIONS: Giving extra information made an extra 15% unable to choose. Clinical judgement must be exercised concerning the amount of information disclosed. Deciding what is material to the individual is arbitrary when so few items of information can be processed. Greater use of guardianship and independent second opinions is recommended. PMID: 19793614 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry)
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - September 27, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Kennedy M, Dornan J, Rutledge E, O'Neill H, Kennedy HG Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Mentally disordered criminal offenders: Legal and criminological perspectives.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Legal research in Sweden has traditionally focused on a systematization of the legal rules and their practical application, while the task of studying the effects of the application of the laws has been handed over to other branches of the social sciences. In contrast, new legal theories focusing on proactive and therapeutic dimensions in law have gained increasing attention in the international arena. These approaches may be better suited for evaluating legislation governing compulsory psychiatric care. Theoretical discussions and studies of causal mechanisms underlying criminal behaviour, as well as the implementatio...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - September 27, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Dahlin MK, Gumpert CH, Torstensson-Levander M, Svensson L, Radovic S Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Patterns of prior offending by child abductors: A comparison of fatal and non-fatal outcomes.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Our study examines the prior offending of 750 individuals who are known to be responsible for the abduction of a child under the age of 18 years. The first group comprised of 311 offenders (42%) who had abducted a child that was later located alive (found alive, referred to as FA). The second group was comprised of 439 offenders (58%) who had abducted a child that was either found murdered or was still missing and presumed dead (found murdered, referred to as FM). While males perpetrated the majority of the abductions, women perpetrated 31 (10%) of the offenses in the FA group and 10 (2%) of the offenses in the FM grou...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - August 26, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Beasley JO, Hayne AS, Beyer K, Cramer GL, Berson SB, Muirhead Y, Warren JI Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

A study of amnesia in homicide cases and forensic psychiatric experts' examination of such claims.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
About one third of defendants in homicide cases claim amnesia during the time of their alleged act. Examining the authenticity of claimed amnesia is a special challenge for forensic experts. Because the experts' conclusions have legal implications, it is useful to study the characteristics of defendants who claim amnesia regarding a homicidal act and how forensic experts assess these defendants' claims. The forensic psychiatric reports from 2001 to 2007 on 102 Norwegian defendants charged with homicide were assessed quantitatively with a structured rating form. Due to multiple comparisons p of .003 was chosen. Twenty-s...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - August 6, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Grøndahl P, Værøy H, Dahl AA Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Pornography, public acceptance and sex related crime: A review.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A vocal segment of the population has serious concerns about the effect of pornography in society and challenges its public use and acceptance. This manuscript reviews the major issues associated with the availability of sexually explicit material. It has been found everywhere it was scientifically investigated that as pornography has increased in availability, sex crimes have either decreased or not increased. It is further been found that sexual erotica has not only wide spread personal acceptance and use but general tolerance for its availability to adults. This attitude is seen by both men and women and not only in...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - August 5, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Diamond M Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Evidence-based practice in group work with incarcerated youth.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
As a result of the Youth Criminal Justice Act's increased focus on restorative justice, treatment, rehabilitation, and reintegration of youth, many more juvenile offenders require mental health services while resident in youth detention facilities [Youth Criminal Justice Act (2002, c.1). Ottawa: Department of Justice Canada. Retrieved September 19, 2008 from http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/Y-1.5]. Several common characteristics such as violence, aggression, and other antisocial behaviors, associated with criminal behavior, have been identified among male and female offenders. Dialectical behavior therapy, originally devel...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - July 30, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Quinn A, Shera W Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

A comparison of memory for homicide, non-homicidal violence, and positive life experiences.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Defendants commonly claim amnesia for their criminal actions especially in cases involving extreme violence. While some claims are malingered or result from physiological factors, other cases may represent genuine partial or complete amnesia resulting from the psychological distress and/or extreme emotion associated with the perpetration of the crime. Fifty Canadian homicide offenders described their memories of their homicide, a non-homicide violent offense, and their most positive adulthood life experience. Self-reported and objective measures of memories for these events revealed that homicides were recalled with th...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - July 29, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Woodworth M, Porter S, Ten Brinke L, Doucette NL, Peace K, Campbell MA Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Supreme Court of Canada's "Beautiful Mind" case.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article describes Starson's situation, Ontario's law with respect to consent to treatment and relevant Canadian constitutional and criminal law. It provides an analysis of the Consent and Capacity Board decision and the court appeals. Implications from Starson's case are analyzed in relation to what happened to Starson, human rights and comparative law pertaining to involuntary patients' refusal of treatment, especially their relevance to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and laws in some other countries. Many Canadian and foreign jurisdictions where laws apparently accord with human rights codes do not all...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - July 27, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Gray JE, O'Reilly RL Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Doing time: A qualitative study of long-term incarceration and the impact of mental illness.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Once convicted, the perpetrator of serious crime embarks upon a new journey: the challenge of adjusting to long-term imprisonment. Prisoners' views of incarceration and the meaning of this experience may affect their later adjustment to life in the community. On the basis of brief narrative responses collected during an epidemiological survey of the psychological health of prisoners in France, this study examined the impact of incarceration on psychological state in a group of 59 inmates serving long sentences. Qualitative content analysis and computer-assisted linguistic analysis (using ALCESTE software) were performe...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - July 17, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Yang S, Kadouri A, Révah-Lévy A, Mulvey EP, Falissard B Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

The prevalence of violence and relation to depression and illicit drug use among incarcerated women in Recife, Brazil.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
CONCLUSION: Reports of lifetime violence victimization among this incarcerated sample of women were extremely prevalent and relevant to women's depression and illicit drug use. Prison efforts to address women's depression and illicit drug use may be most effective by incorporating aspects related to women's history of victimization, especially given the high rates of violence experienced by women in this sample. PMID: 19615747 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry)
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - July 14, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Reed E, Raj A, Falbo G, Caminha F, Decker MR, Kaliel DC, Missmer SA, Molnar BE, Silverman JG Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Understanding human aggression: New insights from neuroscience.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The present paper reviews and summarizes the basic findings concerning the nature of the neurobiological and behavioral characteristics of aggression and rage. For heuristic purposes, the types of aggression will be reduced to two categories - defensive rage (affective defense) and predatory attack. This approach helps explain both the behavioral properties of aggression as well as the underlying neural substrates and mechanisms of aggression both in animals and humans. Defensive rage behavior is activated by a threatening stimulus that is real or perceived and is associated with marked sympathetic output. This yields ...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - July 10, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Siegel A, Victoroff J Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Aggression, science, and law: The origins framework.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Human societies have formalized instincts for compliance with reciprocal altruism in laws that sanction some aggression and not other aggression. Neuroscience makes steady advances toward measurements of various aspects of brain function pertinent to the aggressive behaviors that laws are designed to regulate. Consciousness, free will, rationality, intent, reality testing, empathy, moral reasoning, and capacity for self-control are somewhat subject to empirical assessment. The question becomes: how should law accommodate the wealth of information regarding these elements of mind that the science of aggression increasin...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - June 17, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Victoroff J Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Contributions to the special issue: How the science of aggression fleshes out the evolutionary framework.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19520431 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry)
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - June 9, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Victoroff J Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Homo ferox: The contribution of functional brain studies to understanding the neural bases of aggressive and criminal behavior.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19477522 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry)
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - May 25, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Pietrini P, Bambini V Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

The testosterone-cortisol ratio: A hormonal marker for proneness to social aggression.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19446881 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry)
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - May 13, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Terburg D, Morgan B, van Honk J Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Continuity of aggressive antisocial behavior from childhood to adulthood: The question of phenotype definition.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Aiming to clarify the adult phenotype of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), the empirical literature on its childhood background among the disruptive behaviour disorders, such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD), or hyperkinetic conduct disorder (HKCD), was reviewed according to the Robins and Guze criteria for nosological validity. At least half of hyperactive children develop ODD and about a third CD (i.e. AD/HD+CD or HKCD) before puberty. About half of children with this combined problem constellation develop antisocial personality diso...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - May 7, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Hofvander B, Ossowski D, Lundström S, Anckarsäter H Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Female juvenile murderers: Biological and psychological dynamics leading to homicide.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article reviews the arrests of female juveniles for violent crime and then focuses specifically on their involvement in homicide. Arrests of girls for murder, unlike arrests for assault, have not risen over the last 30 years, suggesting that the dynamics that propel female juveniles to engage in lethal violence differ from those contributing to assaultive behavior by this same group. A review of the literature indicates that theories as to why female adolescents kill do not take into account recent scientific findings on brain development and the biological effects of early trauma in explaining serious violent behavio...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - May 3, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Heide KM, Solomon EP Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

The nature of human aggression.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Human aggression is viewed from four explanatory perspectives, derived from the ethological tradition. The first consists of its adaptive value, which can be seen throughout the animal kingdom, involving resource competition and protection of the self and offspring, which has been viewed from a cost-benefit perspective. The second concerns the phylogenetic origin of aggression, which in humans involves brain mechanisms that are associated with anger and inhibition, the emotional expression of anger, and how aggressive actions are manifest. The third concerns the origin of aggression in development and its subsequent mo...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - April 30, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Archer J Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

The relation of ADHD and violent aggression: What can we learn from epidemiological and genetic studies?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Disruptive behavior includes psychopathological and behavioral constructs like aggression, impulsivity, violence, antisociality and psychopathy and is often closely related with diagnostic categories like conduct disorder (CD), attention deficit disorder (ADHD) and antisocial personality disorder (ASP). There is now clear evidence that neurobiological and environmental factors contribute to these phenotypes. A mounting body of evidence also suggests interactive effects of genetic and environmental risks. In this selective review we give an overview over epidemiological aspects of the relation between ADHD and antisocia...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - April 30, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Retz W, Rösler M Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Psychopathy and instrumental aggression: Evolutionary, neurobiological, and legal perspectives.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In the study of aggression, psychopathy represents a disorder that is of particular interest because it often involves aggression which is premeditated, emotionless, and instrumental in nature; this is especially true for more serious types of offenses. Such instrumental aggression is aimed at achieving a goal (e.g., to obtain resources such as money, or to gain status). Unlike the primarily reactive aggression observed in other disorders, psychopaths appear to engage in aggressive acts for the purpose of benefiting themselves. This is especially interesting in light of arguments that psychopathy may represent an alter...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - April 28, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Glenn AL, Raine A Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Aggression, psychopathy and brain imaging - Review and future recommendations.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19409616 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry)
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - April 28, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Wahlund K, Kristiansson M Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Psychopathy among prisoners in England and Wales.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study aimed to measure the prevalence of psychopathy, and the distribution and correlates of psychopathic traits in a representative national sample of prisoners. Psychopathy was measured using the revised Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) in a second stage, cross-sectional survey of prisoners in England and Wales in 1997 (n=496). Poisson regression analysis was carried out to examine independent associations between correlates and PCL-R total and factor scores. The prevalence of categorically diagnosed psychopathy at a cut off of 30 was 7.7% (95%CI 5.2-10.9) in men and 1.9% (95%CI 0.2-6.9) in women. Psychopathic traits w...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - April 2, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Coid J, Yang M, Ullrich S, Roberts A, Moran P, Bebbington P, Brugha T, Jenkins R, Farrell M, Lewis G, Singleton N, Hare R Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Effects of advanced age and dementia on restoration of competence to stand trial.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this study, we attempted to better identify predictors of successful RTC by building upon previous research correlating increased age with decreased likelihood of RTC. We identified elderly non-demented defendants (n=31) and defendants diagnosed with dementia (n=47) from a state database of 1380 individuals hospitalized for competence restoration from 1988-2004. Using regression analysis and correcting for demographic variables and common admission psychiatric diagnoses, we studied the relationship of age at hospital admission and dementia diagnosis on the likelihood of successful RTC. Both advanced age and dementia dia...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - March 23, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Morris DR, Parker GF Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Mental disorder as the cause of a crime.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
An offender's punishment can be reduced when a court decides that his mental disorder reduces his responsibility for what he did. Courts have sought to establish whether a mentally disordered offender's responsibility is reduced by asking whether his disorder caused the crime. Acceptance of this "causation by mental disorder" criterion has fluctuated, however this may be because causal explanations are not the types of explanations we are accustomed to offering for the kinds of acts that bring defendants, and psychiatric witnesses, to court. More often, we offer what philosophers have called "possibility" explanations ...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - March 20, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Buchanan A, Zonana H Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

When is a capitally charged defendant incompetent to stand trial?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article discusses competence in the context of capital trial cases. There are serious potential pitfalls for the client when raising incompetence and the decision to do so must be based on the specific ways in which the client's mental illness interferes with specific abilities to communicate with counsel and understand the proceedings. This article addresses counsel's duties in the context of assessing competence, but focuses on the little addressed issue of what abilities a client must have and what tasks a client must participate in so as to be engaged in a competent manner. It also discusses the types of condition...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - March 19, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Freedman D Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Prevalence and demographic correlates of intimate partner violence in Asian Americans.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study provides the first national estimates of the prevalence and correlates of intimate partner violence (IPV) among Asian Americans. Population estimates are based on data from 1470 Asian Americans interviewed for the National Latino and Asian American Study. Interviews were conducted in English, Chinese, Tagalog, or Vietnamese. Results suggest that rates of IPV among Asian Americans are low compared to the general U.S. population. Minor violence victimization by a current intimate partner was reported by 10.2% of women and 12.0% of Asian American men. Notably, a greater proportion of participants admitted having pe...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - March 19, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Chang DF, Shen BJ, Takeuchi DT Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Patients' rights to complain in Finnish psychiatric care: An overview.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Cuts in resources for Finnish psychiatric care may jeopardize the realization of patients' rights in mental health settings. The right to complain is a basic right of all patients in Finland, and is especially important to patients treated involuntarily and also to those who have experienced coercive treatment methods during their hospitalizations. In Finland, a patient's right to complain is guaranteed by law, both in legislation and in national quality recommendations. The complaint process in Finland is very complex, and there are several ways to make a complaint that are not always familiar to patients with severe ...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - March 19, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Välimäki M, Kuosmanen L, Kärkkäinen J, Kjervik DK Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

A comparison of mental health legislation from diverse Commonwealth jurisdictions.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
DISCUSSION: Explanations for deviation from the standards include differing value perspectives underpinning approaches to balancing conflicting principles, failure to keep pace with changing attitudes to mental disorder, and variations in the resources available for providing treatment and undertaking law reform. Current good practice provides examples of ways of dealing with some of these difficulties. PMID: 19299015 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry)
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - March 18, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Fistein EC, Holland AJ, Clare IC, Gunn MJ Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Psychologists abandon the Nuremberg ethic: Concerns for detainee interrogations.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article discusses the history, wording, rationale, and implications of the ethical standard that U.S. psychologists adopted 7 years ago, particularly in light of concerns over health care professionals' involvement in detainee interrogations and the controversy over psychologists' prominent involvement in settings like the Guantánamo Bay Detainment Camp and the Abu Ghraib prison. It discusses possible approaches to the complex dilemmas arising when ethical responsibilities conflict with laws, regulations, or other governing legal authority. PMID: 19299016 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Internati...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - March 17, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Pope KS, Gutheil TG Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Making sense of 'consent' in a constrained environment.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
CONCLUSIONS: We conclude by outlining a number of emergent issues relevant to the current development of new Mental Health legislation. These include: mechanisms to allow collaboration with user groups; a more consultative role for users in their own treatment decisions; formal training and support for those conducting competency assessments; and more flexible and transparent legislative frameworks. PMID: 19299017 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry)
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - March 17, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Larkin M, Clifton E, de Visser R Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Prevalence and correlates of psychopathic traits in the household population of Great Britain.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study aimed to measure prevalence and correlates of psychopathic traits, based on a two-phase survey using the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL: SV) in 638 individuals, 16-74 years, in households in England, Wales and Scotland. The weighted prevalence of psychopathy was 0.6% (95% CI: 0.2-1.6) at a cut score of 13, similar to the noncriminal/nonpsychiatric sample described in the manual of the PCL: SV. Psychopathy scores correlated with: younger age, male gender; suicide attempts, violent behavior, imprisonment and homelessness; drug dependence; histrionic, borderline and adult antisocial personality disor...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - February 23, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Coid J, Yang M, Ullrich S, Roberts A, Hare RD Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders among male detainees in Italy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper presents data on the prevalence of co-occurring substance use and psychiatric disorders among newly imprisoned males in Italy. Interviewers conducted semi-structured clinical interviews with n=302 male detainees seven days after their admission to the prison of Perugia from August 2005 through July 2006. Over half of male detainees (54.3%) had either a substance use disorder or another psychiatric disorder. One of every five detainees (20.9%) had comorbid substance use and psychiatric disorders. Compared to detainees with psychiatric disorder only, substance use disorder only, or no disorder, detainees with ...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - February 21, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Piselli M, Elisei S, Murgia N, Quartesan R, Abram KM Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Psychiatric disorders and personality characteristics of prisoners at regular prison wards.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
CONCLUSIONS: The Dutch 'behavioural approach' seems to be quite accurate in detecting prisoners with psychotic disorders. Most prisoners with other mental disorders on regular wards, however, did not receive professional help. The current study suggests that self report scales such as the SCL-90 and the NEO-PI-R may be helpful in screening detainees on important DSM-IV disorders. PMID: 19217664 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry)
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - February 12, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Bulten E, Nijman H, van der Staak C Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Principles, patient welfare and the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article describes briefly the pre-2000 Act situation in Scotland, discusses the main provisions of the Act, reviews the use of principles in incapacity legislation in Britain, and discusses issues relating to patient welfare. The use of principles to extend patient autonomy into incapacity is demonstrated and compared with the English and Welsh Mental Capacity Act 2005 (the 2005 Act) through a discussion of how the principles in each of those Acts promotes particular ideologies of decision making. Finally, the article examines recent Scottish case law relating to the 2000 Act and discusses how the courts are currently...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - February 11, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Stevenson GS, Ryan T, Anderson S Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals

Impulsivity, attribution and prison bullying: Bully-category and perpetrator-victim mutuality.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The current study explores bullying behaviours among adult male prisoners, examining its relationship with aggression attribution and impulsivity. Employed are two separate methods of analysis to determine how this may influence results. Participants were 102 prisoners. All completed a revised version of the Direct and Indirect Prisoner behaviour Checklist (DIPC-R), the Barratt Impulsivity Scale: Version II (BIS-12) and the Expressive Aggression Scale (EXPAGG). Analysis included categorical analysis with prisoners placed into one of four groups (pure bully, pure victim, bully/victim and not-involved), and factorial ana...
Source: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry - February 9, 2009 Category: Medical Law Authors: Holland D, Ireland JL, Muncer S Tags: Int J Law Psychiatry Source Type: journals