A preliminary investigation into uxoricide.
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Criminal Psychology↗
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Criminal DNA databank statutes and medical research.
Every state and the federal government collects DNA from convicted individuals for certain crimes. Furthermore, most states participate in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Combined DNA Identification System, which allows states to share criminal DNA records for solving crimes. Some commentators claim that the statues that authorize this practice also would allow the government to use criminal DNA samples or records in medical or behavioral research. A careful reading of the statutes reveals that these assertions are either wrong or exaggerated. Only one state allows for medical research with records, and no state allows medical or behavioral research with DNA samples. This note explains that the DNA samples, not the DNA records, are needed in order to conduct medical or behavioral research. Moreover, this note shows that the statutory phrases "law enforcement purposes," "other humanitarian purposes," and "research" into quality control or protocol probably do not authorize medical or behavioral research.
Access to Information↗
Does drug abuse lead to criminal behavior? An analysis based on criminal registers of 117 drug-related deaths, examined in 1992 at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Vienna, Austria.
That there is a link between drug abuse and criminal behavior has been established. However, explaining the nature of this relationship has proven difficult. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the traditional view that drug abuse leads to future criminal behavior holds true in case of the drug-related deaths examined in 1992 at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Vienna, Austria. For this purpose postmortem reports and criminal registers of 117 drug-related deaths were analyzed. A total of 43% of the examined sample had no criminal register. Regarding age at time of death there was no difference between those with or without a criminal register. A total of 57% had at least one conviction. A minority committed about one third of offenses. Property offenses were the most frequent type. Those who started their criminal history with a property offense were younger at time of first conviction and committed more offenses during their life. In summary, the traditional view that drug abuse leads to future criminal behavior does not seem to hold true in case of the drug-related deaths examined in 1992 at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Vienna, Austria. The results of this retrospective study speak in favor of a view that drug abuse may be a part of contemporary delinquent behavior, rather than the cause of criminality.
Adolescent↗
Violence of young criminals predicts schizophrenia: a 9-year register-based followup of 15- to 19-year-old criminals.
Violent and aggressive behavior in preschizophrenia adolescents has been described in several studies. Our aim was to investigate the extent to which violent conviction in late adolescence predicted later schizophrenia in a cohort of young criminals. We performed a 9-year register-based followup of a complete national cohort of young convicted criminals. A total of 780, 15- to 19-year-old subjects identified in 1992 were followed up in 2001 with register linkage of the Danish Psychiatric Central Register, the Danish National Criminal Register, and the Danish National Cause of Death Register. Analyses with Cox regression were performed to identify predictors of later schizophrenia. We found at followup that 3.3 percent of the cohort had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and 4.5 percent with any psychosis. Conviction of violence in late adolescence was significantly associated (odds ratio = 4.59 [95% confidence interval (1.54; 13.74)]) with future diagnosis of schizophrenia. Violent behavior can thus be seen as part of the preschizophrenia phase of young criminals.
Adolescent↗
Physical and sexual abuse, salivary cortisol, and neurologic correlates of violent criminal behavior in female prison inmates.
BACKGROUND: Both physical and emotional traumas have been related to neurologic and neuroendocrine abnormalities that may be associated with violent behavior. METHODS: A modified case-control design was used for blinded comparison of 113 female inmates convicted of violent and nonviolent crimes. History of having been physically or sexually abused, neurologic history and physical examination, basal salivary cortisol levels, and associated variables were investigated to identify possible risk factors for violent compared to nonviolent criminal convictions. RESULTS: Of all inmates studied, 95% had neurologic histories predating the current crime and/or neurologic examination abnormalities. Logistic regression revealed morning cortisol levels, number of years since last abuse, number of prior suicide attempts, and traumatic brain injuries with loss of consciousness to be significantly associated with current violent convictions, with a mean of two brain injuries with loss of consciousness per subject in the violent group. CONCLUSIONS: A greater number of traumatic brain injuries with loss of consciousness and suicide attempts, more recent abuse, and low morning basal salivary cortisol levels could be associated with dangerous violent criminal behavior, including murder, in female prison inmates. Future research should investigate neuroendocrine challenges, more psychiatric and violence measures, and different populations with longitudinal designs.
Brain↗
Relationship of criminality to endogeneity and anxiety in patients with unipolar depression.
The relationship between criminal behavior on the one hand and endogeneity and anxiety on the other hand was investigated in a sample of patients with unipolar depression to help elucidate factors influencing the criminality rate in this population. A lower criminality rate in patients with higher ratings of endogeneity and anxiety was predicted. Clinical records of 179 male and 99 female psychiatric inpatients were retrospectively evaluated using the Newcastle Scale II and Hamilton Anxiety Scale. A full account of conviction records served as a measure of criminal behavior. Forty per cent of male patients and 7% of female patients were criminally registered. A lower criminality rate was indeed found in male and female patients with endogenous type of depression and in male patients with higher anxiety ratings. In a multivariate evaluation, however, sociodemographic variables in terms of age and social class seem to be more important predictors of criminality and all variables we assessed contributed only marginally to the explanation of the criminality variance. Thus, in patients with unipolar depression, sociodemographic factors seem to be of a greater even though still limited importance regarding criminal behavior compared with the clinical variables of endogeneity and anxiety.
Adolescent↗
Parent participation in community activities and the persistence of criminality.
This study assessed whether the lack of parental participation in community activities during late childhood is significantly related to the persistence of criminal activity from adolescence to adulthood. A prospective, longitudinal investigation of a representative cohort of 548 boys from a middle-sized Swedish community was employed. A pattern-oriented analysis identified five configurations of boys who showed different profiles of social and academic competence at the age of 13 years. The configurations were compared with respect to persistent criminality among the boys for parents who did, and who did not, show stable participation in a community activity when their sons were in late childhood. Fathers engaged in a community activity had sons with significantly lower rates of persistent criminality. This result was most marked for youth with low school achievement, and multiple problem profiles of social and academic disadvantage. The findings held after controlling for family socioeconomic status. Mother's participation in community activities was statistically dependent on father participation but was not related to persistent offending among multiple problem boys. Results are discussed in terms of the different impact associated with mother and father community activity participation on persistent offending, and the holistic perspective to development guiding this research.
Adolescent↗
[Morphologic studies in criminal justice--requirements and reality].
A critical analysis is given of the investigation and examination of fatalities for the public prosecution office and for the courts. Rationalistic simplifications in legal quarters, changes in legal procedures and bureaucracy have had negative effects on the field of forensic medicine. It is questionable whether forensic science today can fulfil the scientific demands with regard to a complete and thorough explanation of the cause of death. The reduced interest in expert opinions concerning the pattern of injuries that can help in the reconstruction of the act or in judging the intention and guilt of the perpetrator is a striking and alarming development in criminal justice. Medical examinations in the somatic field are no longer used enough in forensic cases; with regard to the administration of justice, the role of the forensic expert is limited to the postmortem findings and the cause of death. On the other hand, there is increased interest in the expert opinion of psychologists, psychiatrists and specialists in the field of drugs and alcohol. The fact that the number of autopsies and histological as well as toxicological examinations ordered by the public prosecutor is rather small has serious and negative implications for establishing the truth. Such orders are merely dependent on the circumstance of death and the situation in which the body was found. However, the external circumstances can be misleading or they can be manipulated. That is why some crimes are not revealed. In the Federal Republic of Germany, if there is no suspicion of external violence permission is granted for corpses to be buried without the cause of death being clarified by autopsy. However, the fact that the opinions of forensic specialists differ regarding this development in the administration of justice must also be criticized. There is an increasing tendency for investigations to be carried out only if they are ordered by the prosecutor and for questions to be answered only if they are asked officially. Even our colleagues are influenced too much by external circumstances and consider an autopsy unnecessary if the cause of death seems to be clear (for instance in cases of hanging, drowning or bleeding to death). Second autopsies have shown that the thoroughness and the quality of the first autopsy often leave much to be desired. It is, for instance, unforgivable if organs are described without being examined. Special interest is afforded to the necessity for the significance of histological examinations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Autopsy↗
The international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the forensic pathologist: ethical considerations.
Since 1991, war crimes in the former Yugoslavia have been the subject of several international medico-legal investigations of mass graves within the framework of inquiries led by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Forensic pathologists involved in the ICTY missions could be subjected to ethical tensions due to the difficulties of the missions, the emergent conflicts between forensic scientists of the investigating teams and the original nature of the ICTY proceedings. In order to study the nature of such ethical tensions, we sent a questionnaire to 65 forensic pathologists who have been involved in the ICTY missions. The rate of response was 38%. The majority of forensic pathologists questioned (n=18) did not know how the medico-legal data was exploited by the ICTY. Three of them have been subjected to pressures. Three of them were aware of mass grave sites knowingly not investigated by the ICTY. Fifteen considered that the ICTY respected the elementary rules of the law and four of them questioned the impartiality of the justice led by the ICTY. Two conflicting types of ethics can be drawn from these results: conviction ethics, which are shared by most of the forensic pathologists questioned, and responsibility ethics. In the former, the forensic pathologist completely agrees with the need for an international war crimes tribunal, even if such justice can be challenged regarding the respect of human rights and impartiality. In the latter, he or she needs to conduct him or herself in ways that do not infringe impartiality. As medical deontology duty requires impartiality ethics, discursive ethics are needed to ease ethical tensions and to suggest ethical guidelines. Alternatives to international justice, through a truth and reconciliation commission and by way of humanitarian missions combining victims' identification with forensic investigations for historical purposes, could be considered.
Forensic Pathology↗
Attitudes towards criminal and other patients.
Staff attitudes towards mentally abnormal offenders were investigated on a forensic psychiatric assessment ward as reflected in a drug trial. The attitude towards drug trials was negative in 79% of the personnel, in contrast to 71% positive in three Swedish mental hospitals. Of the respondents 75% considered that drug treatment did not benefit the patients. Then the attitudes of 21 general physicians towards assessment and drug treatment of mentally abnormal offenders as well as towards 10 illnesses were measured by self-rating scales employing a 10-cm line technique. Both the assessment and drug treatment of mentally abnormal offenders were the least favoured as compared with somatic illnesses. Other neuropsychiatric disorders ranked with them were also very significantly (P less than 0.001) less favoured than pneumonia. They considered that these attitudes were shared in general by medical and nursing staff
Antisocial Personality Disorder↗
Relationships between attempted suicide, temperamental vulnerability, and violent criminality in a Swedish forensic psychiatric population.
The relationship between suicide attempts and different vulnerability factors was investigated in 61 male subjects during forensic psychiatric examination. Personality traits and psychopathy were determined by means of the Karolinska Scales of Personality (KSP) and the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). Clinical diagnoses were determined by the use of Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID). Platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity was investigated in 58 subjects. Suicide attempters had extremely low socialization and high impulsive aggression. This was independent of a history of repeatedly criminal violence or not. They had higher PCL-R scores and lower levels of platelet MAO activity than non-attempters. No relationship was found between suicide attempts and repeated violent criminality. However, among the subjects with repeated criminal violence there was a highly significant difference between suicide attempters and non-attempters, indicating different personality profiles in violent offenders with and without suicidal behavior. Suicidal behavior was significantly associated with borderline personality disorder, but not with any other single DSM-III-R disorder. The results show a far more severe personality disturbance in suicide attempters than in other violent patients in this type of population. Suicidal behavior should therefore be evaluated and treated per se.
Adolescent↗
Specific reading retardation, hyperactive child syndrome, and juvenile delinquency.
The purpose of the study was to ascertain the extent to which a specific reading retardation leads to criminal development in adolescent and to what factors such development is due in these cases. For this purpose, 224 adolescents with a specific reading retardation were investigated. A relatively large number of these (12.1%) were prone to criminality between the ages of 15 and 20 years, whereas the severity of the specific reading retardation did not seem to contribute to this propensity. Symptoms of hyperactivity, on the other hand, seemed to contribute to criminal behaviour.
Adolescent↗
The efficacy of methadone maintenance interventions in reducing illicit opiate use, HIV risk behavior and criminality: a meta-analysis.
AIMS: To provide empirically based evaluation data regarding the efficacy of psychopharmacological interventions in opiate substance abuse, the present study employed meta-analytic statistical procedures to determine the effectiveness of methadone hydrochloride as a pharmacotherapeutic agent. DESIGN: Empirical research findings from 11 studies investigating the effect of methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) on illicit opiate use, and eight and 24 studies investigating the effect of MMT on HIV risk behaviors and criminal activities, respectively, by individuals in such treatment were addressed. FINDINGS: Results demonstrate a consistent, statistically significant relationship between MMT and the reduction of illicit opiate use, HIV risk behaviors and drug and property-related criminal behaviors. The effectiveness of MMT is most apparent in its ability to reduce drug-related criminal behaviors. MMT had a moderate effect in reducing illicit opiate use and drug and property-related criminal behaviors, and a small to moderate effect in reducing HIV risk behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Results clarify discrepancies in the literature and are useful in predicting the outcomes of individuals in treatment. The treatment's effectiveness is evident among opiate-dependent individuals across a variety of contexts, cultural and ethnic groups, and study designs.
Crime↗
Drug dependence, crime and personality among female addicts.
Female drug addicts and female criminals have received relatively little research attention. This study investigates the personality correlates of female addicts attending a London drug clinic convicted for drug-related, violent and other offences. More than half of the sample had at least one conviction, and fourteen out of thirty-seven had convictions for non-drug-related offences. Convicted subjects were more extraverted than non-convicted subjects. This result may reflect some relationship between impulsivity and criminal behaviour, though other personality factors may interact with extraversion.
Adolescent↗
Using criminalization and due process to reduce scientific misconduct.
The issue of how to best minimize scientific misconduct remains a controversial topic among bioethicists, professors, policymakers, and attorneys. This paper suggests that harsher criminal sanctions against misconduct, better protections for whistleblowers, and the creation of due process standards for misconduct investigations are urgently needed. Although the causes of misconduct and estimates of problem remain varied, the literature suggests that scientific misconduct-fraud, fabrication, and plagiarism of scientific research-continues to damage public health and trust in science. Providing stricter criminal statutes against misconduct is necessary to motivate whistleblowers and deter wrongdoers, and the provision of basic due process protections is necessary for ensuring a fair and balanced misconduct investigation.
Crime↗
Criminal justice system behavior.
Much has been written recently about the underlying motivation of criminals and about the behavior of the criminal justice system itself. Typically, such studies have shown negative correlations between crime rate, probability of apprehension and probability of conviction. However, in addressing the behavior of the system, the present study examines measures of workload for the criminal justice system rather than performance indicators such as those above. Preliminary evidence is examined over several provinces of Canada and is used to investigate the hypothesis that there is adaptation by different subsystems in the criminal justice system to changing workloads in other parts. The initial findings show that present upstream, i.e., toward the beginning of the system, workload affects future behavior of the system downstream, i.e., toward the end, rather than the reverse, especially for the more serious crime types.
Canada↗
Anti-kickback laws and safe harbor protections: brief review for surgeons.
The objective of this review is to provide surgeons basic knowledge regarding the Anti-kickback Statute (AKBS) and safe harbors available for legitimate business activities. The rising costs associated with fraudulent activities have led Congress to demand accountability, fiscal responsibility, and reduction of error rates. To deter and prosecute fraud and abuse, the government currently has available an array of civil and criminal remedies, supported by a number of statutes, investigated by multiple agencies and enforced by the Department of Justice. One such statute is the AKBS. This law makes it a crime to exchange any remuneration for patient referrals. Congress has also issued 23 "safe harbors", which are activities that are protected from prosecution and allow physicians to participate, invest, recruit, joint venture, and refer patients under certain conditions. It is necessary for surgeons to have some knowledge of the AKBS, as well as the various safe harbors provided by the legislature, for lawful business relationships.
Fraud↗
Enhancing law enforcement identification and investigation of child maltreatment.
OBJECTIVE: Data from two independent studies is presented, representing the investigators' ongoing work with faculty from a state criminal justice academy to analyze existing knowledge and skill levels among veteran law enforcement officers and recruits, as well as to enhance future training. METHOD: Through an anonymous questionnaire, the first of these studies examined officers' perceptions of maltreatment, including those factors that do and do not influence a determination of whether a particular act constitutes child maltreatment and assessments of whether particular acts constitute abuse or neglect. The second study also utilized an anonymous questionnaire to examine officers' knowledge of the developmental strengths and limitations of children relative to their ability to provide accurate information in suspected cases of child maltreatment. RESULTS: As hypothesized, several gaps both in law enforcement officers' knowledge of certain characteristics that can serve to denote a case of maltreatment and their knowledge of fundamental developmental issues and interview techniques that could assist them in the performance of their professional duties are identified. CONCLUSIONS: Suggestions for enhanced law enforcement training programs are presented and discussed.
Adult↗