Introduction to this issue: international perspectives on delusional disorders and the law.
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Culture↗
Biomedical subjects
Alan R Felthous
Publications and source records attributed to Alan R Felthous.
A hypothetical clinical vignette of delusional disorder: how potential legal issues could be addressed in the United Kingdom and the United States.
One of the major difficulties in presenting an international perspective on delusional disorders and their impact on offending or violent behaviour is that no two legal systems are quite the same, and there are substantial differences between some of them; in addition, there is international variation in relevant service provision or use. We therefore invited several experts practising in forensic mental health services or the law to consider the following case and to use relevant literature, statute and case law to draw out similarities and differences in process and management of the following case. Annie Smith is not a real person; the things that happened really occurred.
Adult↗
Introduction to this issue: malingering.
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Forensic Psychiatry↗
Carceral suicides--some exceptions and paradoxes.
Beginning with Daniel's findings and recommendations regarding prison suicides, this commentary extends the discussion to include jail suicides. Some paradoxes and exceptions to general trends and recommendations are highlighted to advance the discussion on demographic correlates, screening methods, and interventions intended to prevent suicide in jails and prisons.
Humans↗
Warning a potential victim of a person's dangerousness: clinician's duty or victim's right?
The legal duty of a psychiatrist or psychotherapist to warn an identifiable victim of a patient's serious threat of harm has been well recognized in U.S. jurisprudence and clinical practice since the Tarasoff decision of the Supreme Court of California in 1976. Warning practices vary over a spectrum ranging from those that are essentially legally required duties of clinicians to those based on rights of actual or potential victims to be warned of a specific event. These practices can be categorized as follows: (1) warning of the risk of violence; (2) warning of the threat of violence; (3) requested warning; and (4) criminal victims' warning mandated by statute. As legal requirements and clinical standards for Tarasoff-type warnings continue to evolve, it behooves mental health professionals to recognize these four different types of warnings. Although not all are equally supported in law, all four practices can appear to carry some measure of legal obligation.
Crime Victims↗
Court responses to Tarasoff statutes.
Twenty-three states have enacted Tarasoff statutes applicable to psychiatrists. Since the first such statute was enacted in California in 1985, a significant number of courts in states with this and similar statutes have reviewed Tarasoff-type claims. This article reviews courts' analyses in 76 such cases. There were five basic categories identified, including cases that (I) did not reference the statute; (2) referenced the statute, but did not analyze it; (3) referenced the statute, analyzed it, and found it created a duty; (4) referenced the statute, analyzed it, but found it did not create a duty; and (5) referenced the statute in the context of testimonial privilege. Review of these cases revealed that even in states that have Tarasoff statutes, clinicians must continue to rely on their clinical and ethical judgment, rather than statutory guidance, when considering potential protective disclosures or future drafts of protective disclosure statutes.
California↗
Impulsive versus premeditated aggression: implications for mens rea decisions.
Science can provide more information about the nature of aggressive acts, and therefore the mens rea of criminal offenses, than is commonly assumed. For example, progress has been made in classifying aggression as impulsive or premeditated within the context of the role of conscious experience in controlling behavior. This review of the status of the scientific ability to distinguish conscious from unconscious acts and more specifically impulsive from premeditated aggressive acts is organized around four themes: (i) How is aggression defined and measured in general? (ii) How does the distinction between impulsive and premeditated aggression relate to the legal concept of mens rea? (iii) How do various scientific disciplines contribute to the mind/body discourse? (iv) What risk factors are associated with impulsive and premeditated aggression respectively? The authors conclude that the most promising approach to researching the nature of behavioral intention and motivation is to apply a discipline neutral model that integrates the data from multiple disciplines, collectively designated the cognitive neurosciences.
Aggression↗
Introduction to this issue: security hospitals: policies, practices, and programs.
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Forensic Psychiatry↗
Animal cruelty and psychiatric disorders.
Animal cruelty in childhood, although generally viewed as abnormal or deviant, for years was not considered symptomatic of any particular psychiatric disorder. Although animal cruelty is currently used as a diagnostic criterion for conduct disorder, research establishing the diagnostic significance of this behavior is essentially nonexistent. In the current study, investigators tested the hypothesis that a history of substantial animal cruelty is associated with a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder (APD) and looked for associations with other disorders commonly diagnosed in a population of criminal defendants. Forty-eight subjects, criminal defendants who had histories of substantial animal cruelty, were matched with defendants without this history. Data were systematically obtained from the files by using four specifically designed data retrieval outlines. A history of animal cruelty during childhood was significantly associated with APD, antisocial personality traits, and polysubstance abuse. Mental retardation, psychotic disorders, and alcohol abuse showed no such association.
Adult↗