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PubMed2005

Evaluating the efficiency and community safety goals of the Broward County Mental Health Court.

Mental health courts have developed as one response to persons with mental illness who are involved with the criminal justice system. This study investigated the efficiency and safety goals of one such court in Broward County, FL. Mental health court (MHC) clients spent significantly fewer days in jail for the index arrest associated with study enrollment than a comparison group. MHC clients had similar survival time to re-arrest up to one year after study enrollment. MHC clients did not significantly differ from the comparison group in self-reported aggressive acts over an 8 month follow-up period, while they did self-report significantly fewer acts of violence than the comparison group at the 8 month follow-up. These findings suggest that some of the benefits associated with the MHC reported in prior studies were not achieved at the expense of efficiency and safety.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Sexual sadism and sadistic personality disorder in sexual homicide.

Controversies exist about the diagnostic validity of sexual sadism and its relation to sadistic personality disorder in sex offenders. The aim of this study was to investigate which diagnostic, developmental, and criminal characteristics differentiate sexual sadistic from non-sadistic sexual homicide perpetrators. Psychiatric court reports on 166 men who had committed a sexual homicide were evaluated regarding psychiatric, sexual and criminal history. Sixty-one offenders (36.7%) with sexual sadism (SeSd) were compared with 105 (63.3%) offenders without this diagnosis (NSeSd). Besides the sexual sadistic symptoms, there were seven factors that discriminated best between the two groups (sexual masochism, sadistic personality disorder, isolation in childhood, multiple sexual homicide, previous rape, previous tendencies for similar behavior, and long duration of the homicidal act). Sexual sadism is connected with circumscribed other characteristics and has to be considered in risk assessment and treatment of sex offenders.

Antisocial Personality Disorder↗

PubMed1999

William R. Maples, forensic historian: four men, four centuries, four countries.

Prior to 1984, William R. Maples, Ph.D. worked primarily with Medical Examiners in the State of Florida in investigation of and testimony in criminal cases. In 1984 the Republic of Peru requested him to identify skeletal remains thought to be those of Francisco Pizarro, conqueror of Peru and the Incas in the early 16th Century. Dr. Maples made a positive identification of those remains as Pizarro, resulting in their substitution in a glass-sided coffin in the Cathedral of Lima, where other remains had been displayed as those of Pizarro for a hundred years. In addition, it was proved that the remains removed could not have been those of Pizarro. In 1988, Dr. Maples examined the skeletal remains of Joseph Merrick ("The Elephant Man") at Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, and made photographic studies of them for comparison with death casts of limbs and skull to ascertain depth of tissue by video-superimposition. In 1991, Dr. Maples, headed a team which removed President Zachary Taylor (1779-1842) from his tomb in Louisville, Kentucky. The purpose was to determine if he had been poisoned, as had been proposed by some at the time. Test results showed that he had not been. In 1992, Dr. Maples and a team of forensic specialists went by invitation to Ekaterinburg, Russia to study skeletal remains which the Russians had tentatively identified as the Russian Royal Family, and entourage, murdered in 1918. The American team identified them as Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, three of his children, his physician, and three of his servants. William Ross Maples died in Gainesville, Florida, 27 February 1997.

Forensic Anthropology↗

PubMed2003

Preparing for evil.

How can you plan for every crisis that might occur, even for ones you can't imagine? The task seems so daunting and so limitless that many firms don't even start. In fact, as the authors' 20 years of research shows, three out of four Fortune 500 companies are prepared to handle only the types of calamities they've already suffered, and not even all of those. That's unfortunate because the research also shows that crisis-prepared companies fare better financially, have stronger reputations, and ultimately stay in business longer than their crisis prone counterparts. Crisis-prepared companies use a systematic approach to focus their efforts. In addition to planning for natural disasters, they divide man-made calamities into two sorts--accidental or "normal" ones, like the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and deliberate or "abnormal" ones, like product tampering. Then they take steps to broaden their thinking about such potential crises. They consider threats that would be common in other industries, for instance. And they seek input from outsiders such as investigative journalists and even reformed criminals. But if these companies think broadly about possible threats, they think narrowly about implementation. Each year, smart companies focus their resources and attention on a few facilities picked at random, just as airlines conduct detailed security checks on just a few passengers for each flight. That reduces the probability of an attack on the entire organization even as it allows the business to migrate steadily to a higher level of crisis readiness. Crisis-prepared companies know that disasters cannot be managed through cost-benefit analyses. It is precisely because the effects of a disaster cannot be predicted or controlled that smart companies focus their efforts on preventing crises rather than containing them after the fact.

Commerce↗

PubMed1992

Automatisms--the current legal position related to clinical practice and medicolegal interpretation.

The interface between medicine and the law is an area which demands further investigation. There can be no criminal capability for an act unless the perpetrator had both the will to so act and the capacity to differentiate and choose whether or not to conform the particular behaviour to that dictated by the law. The capacity for choice must remain the fundamental issue. The range of conditions which can raise volition as a defence include: Somnambulism; post-traumatic syndromes; epilepsy; arteriosclerosis; or acts secondary to cerebral neoplasia. There is need to differentiate between reflex actions and automatisms and it is imperative that terms such as automatism or automatic behaviour are not perverted to allow an excuse for that which is inexcusable. Cases such as that of Cogdon, who was acquitted of murdering her daughter; Ramsbottom who was found guilty of causing a traffic accident despite having a stroke; Dennison in which a driver was found guilty despite epilepsy or Jenkins where the driver was initially found innocent of dangerous driving because of the unpredictable nature of diabetes are discussed. Special attention will be focused upon the case of Sullivan, a landmark in consideration of automatism in epilepsy. The paper examines insane verses non-insane automatism and the Australian legal system as it affects modern neurological practice. Suggestions are proffered as to how the law should be modified to better reflect justice as required within the context of modern medical knowledge. 'The social and psychological pressures that shape our criminals also shape-those who make and remake the laws which aim to control, punish or rehabilitate them, and those who try to change their behaviour.'

Australia↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Dismemberment and mutilation (2)].

31 cases of criminal dismemberment or mutilation were investigated in the period from 1959 to 1987 at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Hamburg. With regard to all legal autopsies the average frequency was about 1:500. A distinct increase of the number of cases is noticeable within the last years; i.e. 1984 there were 6 victims. Our study enclosed the autopsy findings, the police investigations and the available court records. 12 cases were classified as defensive and 14 cases as offensive dismemberment of bodies; 2 cases of necrophilous dismemberment occurred after stealing the corpse and 3 victims were killed by intravital decapitation or mutilation. The victims were of all ages, but mainly between 20 and 60 years old; 22 of them were female and 9 male. 23 perpetrators could be identified; 18 of them were male and 5 female, most of them were between 30 and 40 years of age. The psychiatric expertises classified 17 of the perpetrators as "normal", 3 as abnormal and 3 as psychotic. Many morphological and criminological details concerning victims, perpetrators, used instruments for killing and dismembering, elimination and identification of the dismembered bodies and some juridical aspects are presented.

Homicide↗

PubMed2006

Medical examiners, coroners, and public health: a review and update.

CONTEXT: Traditionally, the emphasis of work done by medical examiners, coroners, and the death investigation community has been viewed as serving the criminal justice system. During the last several decades, however, an important role for these 3 groups has emerged within public health. OBJECTIVE: To provide important background information on death investigation systems, the evolution and framework of public health entities that rely on information gathered by medical examiners and coroners, and the role of medical examiners and coroners in epidemiologic research, surveillance, and existing public health programs and activities. DATA SOURCES: Previous articles on epidemiologic aspects of forensic pathology and the role of medical examiners and coroners in epidemiologic research and surveillance; a review of the Web sites of public health and safety agencies, organizations, and programs that rely on medical examiner and coroner data collected during medicolegal investigations; and a review of recent public health reports and other publications of relevance to medical examiner and coroner activities. CONCLUSIONS: The role of medical examiners and coroners has evolved from a criminal justice service focus to a broader involvement that now significantly benefits the public safety, medical, and public health communities. It is foreseeable that the public health role of medical examiners and coroners may continue to grow and that, perhaps in the not-too-distant future, public health impact will surpass criminal justice as the major focus of medicolegal death investigation in the United States.

Coroners and Medical Examiners↗

PubMed2003

Perinatal substance abuse and human subjects research: are privacy protections adequate?

Privacy incursions in the clinical care of substance abusing pregnant women have gained lay and professional attention recently as the result of a high-profile Supreme Court finding in Ferguson vs City of Charleston et al. In March, 2001 the Supreme Court determined that nonconsensual drug screening of pregnant women by clinicians in a public hospital violated the women's Fourth Amendment rights to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure. Coercive or punitive policy approaches to perinatal substance abuse are often based on mistaken assumptions about the nature of addiction and the outcomes of punitive interventions. Much attention has been given to efforts to criminalize pregnancy for drug using women, and civil laws are also coming under increasing scrutiny. Although no state has passed a law criminalizing pregnancy and drug use, an estimated 250 women in more than 30 states have been prosecuted around the country on theories of "fetal abuse." A growing number of states (eighteen to date) have amended their civil child welfare laws to address specifically the subject of a woman's drug use during pregnancy. No one has examined how these laws and social policies could affect research that includes pregnant and parenting women; women (and their families) who stand to lose a great deal should their drug use be brought to the attention of child welfare or criminal justice authorities. We examine the adequacy of current protective mechanisms, such as federal certificates of confidentiality, in protecting research subjects (and investigators) who may be subject to punitive civil or criminal sanctions. We determine that current protective mechanisms may be insufficient to protect research subjects and that investigators and IRB members are often ignorant of the risks imposed by punitive policy approaches to perinatal substance abuse or fall prey to the same mistaken assumptions that inform punitive policies. We conclude that investigators and IRB members have a moral responsibility to understand local, state and national policies and laws governing perinatal substance abuse. Investigators and IRB members should balance the harms of punitive interventions against the protections that may, or may not be afforded to prospective research subjects as well as the prospective benefits, individual and social, of the research. In situations where criminal or punitive policies are in effect, investigators and IRB members should consider whether adequate protections can be achieved. In the context of inadequate protections, potential risks to prospective research subjects and their families may outweigh the individual or social benefits that accrue from the research. Clinical researchers are professionally obligated to work toward amending laws and policies that are not in the best interests of prospective research subjects.

Confidentiality↗

PubMed2001

Obstetric complications, parenting, and risk of criminal behavior.

BACKGROUND: The results of studies that have examined the relationship between prenatal and perinatal complications and adult criminality and violence are contradictory. Supporting evidence for this relationship comes from studies of samples drawn from a single cohort. The present study was designed to examine the associations between prenatal and perinatal complications and criminality, defining more precisely than past investigations subject characteristics and the types of offenses. METHODS: The cohort includes the 15 117 persons born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1953 and followed up to age 30 years. Information was extracted from obstetric files, health, social, work, and criminal records. Obstetric complications were defined as deviations from normal development occurring at any point from conception through the neonatal period. Inadequate parenting was indexed by social intervention. RESULTS: Inadequate parenting was experienced by 19.1% of the men and 18.1% of the women, and was shown to increase the risk of offending (men, 1.39 times [95% confidence interval [CI], 1.28-1.50]; women, 2.09 [95% CI, 1.70-2.56]) and of violent offending (men, 2.02 times [95% CI, 1.67-2.44]; women, 2.09 [95% CI, 1.70-2.56]). Obstetric complications in the absence of family problems did not increase the risk of offending. A combination of pregnancy complications and inadequate parenting affected 3.1% of the men and 4.0% of the women, and increased the risk of offending (1.64 times [95% CI, 1.43-1.89]; 1.79 times [95% CI, 1.16-2.75], respectively) and violent offending (2.86 times [95% CI, 2.09-3.91]; 1.81 times [95% CI, 0.57-5.79]). CONCLUSIONS: A combination of pregnancy complications and inadequate parenting increased the risk of violent and nonviolent offending only slightly more than inadequate parenting alone. However, inadequate parenting was experienced by 5 times more cohort members than was the combination of inadequate parenting and pregnancy complications.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

The use of forensic botany and geology in war crimes investigations in NE Bosnia.

From 1997 to 2002 the United Nations International Criminal Tribune for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) undertook the exhumation of mass graves in NE Bosnia as part of the war crimes investigations aimed at providing evidence for the prosecution of war criminals in The Hague. This involved the location and exhumation of seven former mass graves (primary sites) dug following the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995. These primary mass graves were secretly and hurriedly exhumed three months later and most of the bodies or body parts transported and reburied in a large number of secondary sites many of which were subsequently exhumed by ICTY. The aim of the pollen and soil/sediment studies was to provide an 'environmental profile' of the original site of the samples and use this to match the relocated bodies to the original mass graves. This was part of completing the chain of evidence, providing evidence of the scale and organization of the original atrocities and the subsequent attempts to conceal the evidence related to them. All the primary sites were located in areas of contrasting geology, soils and vegetation, and this allowed matching of the sediment transported in intimate contact with the bodies to the original burial sites, which in some cases were also the execution sites. In all, over 24 sites were investigated, over 240 samples collected and analyzed under low power microscopy and 65 pollen sub-samples fully analyzed. The pollen and sediment descriptions were used in conjunction with the mineralogy (using XRD) of primary and secondary sites in order to provide matches. These matches were then compared with matching evidence from ballistic studies and clothing. The evidence has been used in court and is now in the public domain. It is believed this is the first time 'environmental profiling' techniques have been used in a systematic manner in a war crimes investigation.

Bosnia and Herzegovina↗

PubMed2005

Criminal prosecution arising from medical mishaps: a Japanese perspective.

In Japan, the number of physicians being investigated on suspicion of medical malpractice has increased. Specifically, the criminal prosecutions arising from professional negligence resulting in bodily injury or death have also increased. Article 21 of the Japanese Physician's Act compels a doctor to notify the district police when he diagnoses a death to be 'unnatural'. Originally this provision was to increase public safety through crime detection, but one recent criminal case broadened the application of this article to include the death from a mishap during medical treatment. This criminal case made a tremendous impact on physicians, as the convictions and sentences forced physicians to notify the police even when it is not certain the patient died of the malady or of the medical misconduct itself. Besides, we wonder if such obligation of doctors to notify such 'unnatural' death from medical mishap may be against a person's privilege against self-incrimination which is assured by Japanese Constitutional Law (article 38).

Female↗

PubMed2000

Forensic assessment of juvenile delinquents: prevalence of psychopathology and decision-making at court in the netherlands.

Dutch juvenile criminal law, concerning minors between 12 and 18 years old, is marked by its pedagogical character. In cases of serious psychosocial problems or psychiatric disorders, the juvenile court may request a forensic examination in order to be able to impose a measure of restraint. This study was aimed at investigating to what extent the juvenile criminal law achieves the aim enhancing professional help in those cases for which such assistance is indicated. One hundred and eight juveniles who were brought before the court were assessed multidisciplinarily. Sixty-five per cent of the youngsters were qualified for 'definite caseness'. For less than half of them a forensic assessment was ordered by the court. In conclusion, young delinquents should be screened for psychiatric disorders more adequately as soon as they are taken into custody.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Substance involvement and the trajectory of criminal offending in young male.

The current study investigated the influence of substance involvement on the trajectory of delinquency. Data were from 625 Buffalo, NY males aged 16-19, interviewed three times at 18-month intervals. Hierarchical linear models were fit separately for respondents with increasing and declining delinquency. In the increasing group, aIcohol involvment was associated with a higher starting point (intercept), and alcohol dependence and drug consequences were associated with a faster increase. In the declining group, alcohol dependence and drug consequences were associated with a higher starting point, and frequency of drug use was associated with a slower decline. Alcohol involvement is important in the early delinquent career whereas illicit drug use delays maturing out of delinquency. In a further analysis, substance involvement variables were time-varying covariates in the within-subjects model and controls in the between-subjects model. Respondents' alcohol and other drug use varied across time in sync with their criminal offending.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

The effects of criminal justice contact on employment stability for white-collar and street-level offenders.

Criminologists increasingly have studied the effects of criminal justice contact on a broad range of offenders' adult outcomes. However, virtually all of this research focuses exclusively on street-level offenders. With the use of a unique data set that includes street-level and white-collar offenders, we investigated the odds of regaining steady employment following criminal justice contact by offender type. Specifically, we investigated the effects of age of onset, number of prior arrests, total time sentenced, timing of first arrest, and timing of first incarceration on employment stability for both types of offenders, while controlling for family background factors, race, educational attainment, and age. Overall, we found that white-collar offenders are better able to rebound following contact with the criminal justice system. However, when the accrue multiple arrests and are arrested or incarcerated before the age of 24, white-collar offenders face the same obstacles to employment stability as their street-level counterparts.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Differentiation of truthful and deceptive criminal suspects in Behavior Analysis Interviews.

The Behavior Analysis Interview (BAI) is a commonly used procedure designed to assist investigators in distinguishing between suspects who are concealing their involvement in a criminal event (deceptive) from those who are not (truthful). During a BAI a protocol of questions is asked and suspects' verbal responses and accompanying nonverbal behaviors and attitudinal characteristics are assessed. Based on this assessment the likelihood of involvement in the criminal event is determined. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness with which trained evaluators were able to distinguish between truthful and deceptive suspects undergoing BAIs. Sixty videotaped interviews, 30 of truthful and 30 of deceptive suspects, were observed by four evaluators, each of whom independently scored suspect's behaviors and attitudes and judged the suspect's truthfulness. The results showed that, excluding inconclusive decisions, evaluators' average accuracy on truthful suspects was 91% and on deceptive suspects, 80%. Suspects' status did not affect confidence of evaluators' decisions but confidence was greater when correct as opposed to incorrect calls were made. Deceptive suspects manifested "theoretically" predicted behaviors and attitudes of "deceptiveness" to a significantly greater degree than did truthful suspects. The BAI appears to be useful for investigative purposes in order to differentiate between suspects who are concealing involvement in a criminal offense from those who are not.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Enrollment in a drug-free detention program: the prediction of successful behavior change of drug-using inmates.

Factors predicting the behavior change of drug-using detainees were investigated in detainees in two penitentiaries in The Netherlands. Subjects attended either a standard program or a Drug-Free Detention Program (DFDP) and were assessed at the beginning of detention, at release/transfer, and at 2 years after the end of detention. Predictors of postprogram contact with treatment agencies and changes in criminal recidivism, substance abuse, and psychosocial functioning were investigated using regression analysis. Detainees who started drug use early, without previous DFDP detention, and who frequently expressed self-esteem and who had many family problems realized meetings with drug treatment agencies more often. Those with a legal source of income showed decreases in addiction severity and in the number of days in which hard drugs were used. Comparison of the normal program and the DFDP showed that only for the normal wing could changes in substance use and psychosocial functioning be predicted. Results show the value of multiple-outcome criteria in criminal recidivism research and call for more studies investigating change processes.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Methadone maintenance treatment, criminality and overdose-related deaths. An ecological study, 1983-1999.

BACKGROUND: Methadone maintenance treatments (MMTs) are the commonest substitution treatments offered to opiate addiction in Switzerland, in order to reduce criminal behaviour, infectious disease transmission and overdose death. METHOD: To investigate the relationship between the increase in the number of methadone maintenance treatments, criminal activity of addicts and overdose-related deaths, an ecological study was undertaken in the Canton of Geneva, from 1983 to 1999. RESULTS: The regular and extensive increase in the number of MMTs is not significantly associated, during the 1983-1999 period, with a fall either in drug addict incarcerations or in overdose-related deaths. However, a slight decrease is observed in the number of imprisoned opiate addicts since 1994, and a marked decrease is seen in overdose deaths from 1997 on. An important and stable number of these deaths is due to methadone itself. CONCLUSION: Public health objectives to diminish delinquency and overdose deaths cannot solely be fulfilled by extensive use of MMTs. A positive result could appear when access to MMT is highly favoured. This hypothesis must be proved correct by observational studies conducted on a general population.

Crime↗

PubMed2005

The influence of brain abnormalities on psychosocial development, criminal history and paraphilias in sexual murderers.

The aim of this study was to investigate the number and type of brain abnormalities and their influence on psychosocial development, criminal history and paraphilias in sexual murderers. We analyzed psychiatric court reports of 166 sexual murderers and compared a group with notable signs of brain abnormalities (N = 50) with those without any signs (N = 116). Sexual murderers with brain abnormalities suffered more from early behavior problems. They were less likely to cohabitate with the victim at the time of the homicide and had more victims at the age of six years or younger. Psychiatric diagnoses revealed a higher total number of paraphilias: Transvestic fetishism and paraphilias not otherwise specified were more frequent in offenders with brain abnormalities. A binary logistic regression identified five predictors that accounted for 46.8% of the variance explaining the presence of brain abnormalities. Our results suggest the importance of a comprehensive neurological and psychological examination of this special offender group.

Adolescent↗