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Biomedical subjects

R J Menzies

Publications and source records attributed to R J Menzies.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1982

Forensic psychiatric assessment in selected Canadian cities.

Forensic psychiatrists in six Canadian municipalities completed a single-page form following each court-ordered assessment conducted during the month of July 1978. A total of 248 cases accumulated during the study period. During the following 18 months researchers collected court dispositions on the sample. With data from all six cities pooled, 85% of patients were found fit to stand trail. Almost all, 96%, were accorded a diagnosis with 39% classified as psychotic. Overall the examining psychiatrists considered 36% to be dangerous to others in the future. When psychiatrists recommended a custodial setting, in 73% of cases the person was incarcerated. Recommendations for hospitalization were observed in 59% of cases. Although the data would seem to suggest that judges take psychiatrists' recommendations into account, the investigators were nonetheless struck by the general lack of communication between clinic and court. They offer a number a number of suggestions for improvement.

Canada↗
PubMed1982

The nature and consequences of forensic psychiatric decision-making.

Data collected from the Metropolitan Toronto Forensic Service (METFORS) were examined to determine factors affecting psychiatric assessments completed for the courts. Psychiatric history is found to be a salient factor for fitness to stand trial decisions; prior violence and the type of charge influence dangerousness to others determinations. Variables affecting whether or not a patient is recommended for further assessment include fitness: 78% of those found fit and 100% of those for whom fitness was unclear were recommended for further assessment in 68% of the cases. Patients who were threatening or acting out were not for the most part hospitalized. Relatively high correlations between psychiatric recommendations derived from these assessments and the actual judicial dispositions suggest that knowledge of the extra legal factors and biases which enter into the decisions should be more widely considered in the legal setting.

Canada↗