bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An introduction to organic brain syndromes
Authors: Elliott Richard L. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractOrganic brain syndromes are of forensic interest for several reasons. First, patients with organic brain syndromes may require judicial determination of competence in any of a number of areas, e.g., testamentary capacity, need for financial guardianship, or competence to make medical decisions. Second, any patient whose mental state is of legal interest will need evaluation for contributing organic factors; uncovering these factors may have considerable medical and legal consequence. Third, the discovery of organic factors may be decisive in the outcome of a judicial proceeding, where “hard” biological data are often accorded more weight, and are thus more persuasive, than “soft” psychological data. This article provides an introductory overview of the organic brain syndromes. For each syndrome, the clinical features are described and are illustrated with a case vignette, the more common etiologies are presented, and selected aspects to the evaluation are highlighted. In addition, since the detectian of malingered mental illness is a key component in many forensic contexts, characteristics are described which help to distinguish actual from malingered mental illness.
Crime and amnesia: A review
Authors: Kopelman Michael D. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe present article reviews amnesia for criminal offenses. It discusses the organic disorders most likely to be implicated, and the nature and differentiation of psychogenic amnesia. With the exception of alcohol and drug intoxication, organic dysfunction is a rare (though important) cause of amnesia for crime. Likewise, fugue states may occasionally be triggered by an offence, but are a very rare cause of the amnesia claimed by offenders. Amnesia is most commonly seen in homicide cases, in which it is claimed by 25% to 45% of offenders, but it occurs also in other types of violent crime, and occasionally in nonviolent crime. It arises in states of extreme emotional arousal, in alcoholic intoxication, and in states of florid psychosis; and it is also associated with depressed mood. Various methods have been advocated for the differentiation of genuine amnesia from deliberate simulation: this distinction can be difficult, but it is noticeable that many amnesic subjects either have reported the crime themselves or have made no attempt to conceal it. The nature of the deficit in this type of amnesia, and its implications for assessment, are also discussed.
Major legal and ethical issues in behavioral treatment: Focus on institutionalized mental patients
Authors: Bentley Kia J. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractProponents of behavior therapies advocate expanded use of this approach based on its pragmatics and clinical successes. Critics, however, point not only to abuses in implementation, but charge that the behavioral approach is inherently unethical, especially when used with institutionalized mental patients. This article will review these arguments as well as provide an updated exploration of relevant court decisions impacting behavioral treatment in mental institutions. Suggested courses of action are then provided.
The mental illness defense in the capital penalty hearing
Authors: White Lawrence T. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractSeveral defense strategies are available to the capital defendant who is arguing for life in the penalty phase, including a mental illness (MI) defense. An MI defense presents psychiatric testimony to the effect that the defendant was mentally disturbed at the time of the offense and, therefore, should not be held completely responsible. The few studies available suggest that an MI defense will be ineffective because (1) death‐qualified jurors do not respond favorably to purely psychological explanations of criminal behavior and (2) an MI defense may erroneously mislead the jury regarding the defendant's unpredictability and dangerousness. Analagous studies of insanity acquittals suggest certain factors that may be associated with a succesful MI defense.
Boundary maintenance and capital punishment: A sociological perspective
Authors: French Laurence A. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractCapital punishment represents a sociolegal dilemma in the United States. While there is seemingly popular support in the country for the death penalty, a clear discriminatory bias exists challenging the foundation of American justice–that of fair treatment before the law. A review of sentencing practices and executions indicates major regional (south/non‐south) differences regarding the proportion of executions in terms of both numbers and race. This social process is explained in terms of societal reaction/boundary maintenance model. One means of avoiding these regional biases and to ensure a more objective adjudication process would be to make capital crimes a federal offense.
The juvenile death penalty: A frustrated society's attempt for control
Authors: Ogloff James R. P. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe United States is alone among western industrialized nations in allowing a provision for the juvenile death penalty. Specifically, 92% of the juveniles presently sentenced to death were convicted under a felony‐murder doctrine which eliminates the state's burden of proving the mens rea requirement for murder. The high rate of felony‐murder convictions of juveniles on death row is highly inconsistent with theories of punishment which have traditionally been used to support the death penalty.
Legal schizophrenia and the mental health lawyer: Recent trends in civil commitment litigation
Authors: Brakel Samuel Jan 
Published: May 2007

AbstractMental disability law is among the most conflicted fields in American jurisprudence, whose essential adversarial structure has accentuated a natural degree of tension between the interests of the disabled and those of society at large, and created a largely needless division between legal rights and human needs. Practitioners in this field, whether lawyers or mental health services providers, exhibit the deleterious symptoms of this conflicted state of things which range from an indiscriminate hyperactivity to nearcatatonia. This overview of recent developments in commitment‐related litigation traces the persisting conflicts over admission criteria, outpatient treatment alternatives, conditional release, transfer procedures, remedies for inappropriate commitment, and the scope of confidentiality rights. It draws a picture of practitioners who continue to be at the mercy of the law's contradictory pushes and pulls. While a degree of conflict in mental disability law is inevitable, the article suggests that by focusing on the best particular interests of the disabled client, practitioners can do social good and avoid the damage that results when other interests are allowed to dominate.
Civil commitment: A review of empirical research
Authors: Hiday Virginia Aldigé 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThis article presents a comprehensive review of empirical micro‐level research which has attempted to evaluate changes in civil commitment law in the United States. It groups studies by category of the general question they address: Who are being processed through civil commitment and who are being committed? How dangerous are civil commitment candidates on admission, in the hospital, and after release? To what extent are court officers adhering to procedural protections in form and in intent? To what extent have restrictive criteria influenced the behavior of medical professionals in processing individuals through civil commitment? and What happens to individuals after their civil commitment experience and their involuntary hospitalization? The article points to needed research and concludes by summarizing existing research from the perspective of finding a balance between civil liverty and benevolence.
Civil commitment laws in nineteenth‐century New York
Authors: Dwyer Ellen 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe roots of nineteenth‐century American civil commitment law lay in English common law, in particular poor law, with its mixed motives of helping lunatics and of protecting the community from them. As state institutions assumed an increasingly large share of the burden of restraint in the 1840s and 1850s, such confinement decisions became subject to greater public scrutiny. This can be seen particularly clearly in New York State, which in 1842 passed a law requiring that two physicians examine each alleged lunatic and report their findings to a judge who then made the final commitment decision. After the Civil War, a number of legal decisions limited the state's power to initiate civil commitments to cases of clear social danger, though families were not so confined. An 1874 statute further tightened procedural guidelines for civil commitments. A State Commissioner in Lunacy was appointed to oversee the internal workings of lunatic asylums. Yet such legal “reforms” failed to slow the increasing tendency of both families and communities to use such institutions as long‐term holding places for the socially marginal or threatening.
An experimental analysis of the civil commitment recommendations of psychologists and psychiatrists
Authors: Thompson Judith S. , Ager Joel W. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractLegal and nonlegal factors influencing the civil commitment recommendations of psychologists and psychiatrists separately and as a whole were investigated using an experimental design. One hundred and seventy‐six psychologists and psychiatrists made recommendations for or against commitment for a series of clinical vignettes wherein the five facets of commitment criterion, legal committability, clinical treatability, alternative resources and presence of psychosis were systematically varied. Results revealed that all facets contributed independently and in combination to the commitment decisions of participants as a whole. It was concluded that mental health professionals may utilize a variety of types of information, beyond the relevant legal criteria, in making actual decisions to initiate civil commitments.
Some characteristics of inmates transferred from prison to a state mental hospital
Authors: Edwards K. Anthony 
Published: May 2007

AbstractForty‐four inmates transferred to a state mental hospital from a maximum‐security prison and its adjacent trusty unit were compared with a randomly selected group of thirty‐seven inmates from the same prison. Transferred inmates were found over‐represented in terms of assignment to restrictive housing units, sentences of life or some form of life imprisonment, prior hospitalization in a state mental hospital, and conviction for murder. The two groups were not statistically different in terms of age, race, conduct, or prior incarcerations. Implications for planning psychological services in prisons are discussed.
Combining cognitive‐behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of pedophilic incest offenders
Authors: Stermac Lana , Hucker Stephen 
Published: May 2007

AbstractTreatment programs for incest offenders traditionally do not differentiate between pedophilic and nonpedophilic perpetrators. This oversight has failed to meet the specialized needs of pedophilic incest offenders, who differ from other incest as well as nonfamilial sex offenders in important ways. This paper describes a treatment intervention combining cognitive‐behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy for the specialized treatment needs of the pedophilic incest offender. A case report is presented to illustrate the use of combined treatment and to highlight indicators for this strategy.
An overview of the law of juvenile delinquency
Authors: Whitebread Charles , Heilman John 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe juvenile justice system as we know it today evolved in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a result of reformers' desires to create separate juvenile courts designed to rehabilitate delinquent youths. The first step of the current system is the intake phase where a probation officer decides whether a petition should be filed against the juvenile or whether the juvenile should be diverted to a social service agency. If a petition is filed, the next issue that arises is whether the juvenile will be detained pending the hearing on the petition. In most instances, the minor will be released to the custody of his or her parents unless there is evidence that the juvenile will flee or engage in additional criminal conduct prior to the hearing. The juvenile court, in most states, will also determine whether the juvenile will benefit from the rehabilitative treatment offered by the juvenile court. If not, the matter will be transferred to adult court. If the juvenile court retains jurisdiction, an adjudicatory hearing will be held to determine whether the minor engaged in criminal conduct. After the adjudicatory hearing, those juveniles who are found to be delinquent receive a disposition. A wide range of dispositions are available to juvenile court judges, with the most common being probation.
Advancing knowledge about delinquency and crime: The need for a coordinated program of longitudinal research
Authors: Farrington David P. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractPast research on delinquency and crime has provided convincing data about correlates but not about causes, because it has been largely cross‐sectional in design. Whereas cross‐sectional research focuses on variations between subjects, longitudinal research can provide information about changes within subjects, which are more important for causes, prevention, and treatment. Many of the most important results in criminology have been obtained in longitudinal or experimental studies, and the major studies of these types are reviewed here. It is now desirable to combine the two methods in a new coordinated program of longitudinal studies including experimental interventions or quasi‐experimental analyses. Such projects could study several overlapping cohorts, extend from birth to adulthood, have frequent data collection, and obtain data from a variety of sources about many different types of antisocial behavior.
Treatment of juvenile offenders: Study outcomes since 1980
Authors: Basta Joanna M. , Davidson William S. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractPast reviews of the treatment of juvenile offenders have concluded that “nothing works.” More recently, some reviewers have concluded that treatment concepts are not necessarily ineffective, but, instead, research methodology and treatment integrity have been inadequate. The present review looks at the treatment of adjudicated juvenile offenders from a computer‐data‐based search of the literature published from 1980 to 1987. Research outcome and methodology are summarized and critiqued. The conclusions are that treatment outcomes were positive, but that serious methodological weaknesses still exist in the literature. Improvements still need to be made in sample sizes, use of appropriate and multiple measures of recidivism, random assignment and/or use of appropriate control groups, and long‐term follow‐up assessment.
Delinquency, substance abuse, and risk taking in middle‐class adolescents
Authors: Levine Murray , Singer Simon I. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractRisk‐taking attitudes are strong predictors of delinquency and substance abuse among male and female middle‐class adolescents. Risk‐taking measures make strong and independent contributions to predicting self‐reported delinquency and drug and alcohol use, even taking into account bonding to family and school and attitudes toward one's religious faith and employment. A measure of involvement with a delinquent peer group also predicts delinquency and drug and alcohol use. Moreover, those adolescents who are more likely to be involved in delinquent activity, or to be heavier users of substances, are less likely to turn to parents or formal helpers (e.g., counselors, teachers, etc.), and more likely to turn to peers for help. Delinquency and substance abuse prevention programs should take into account adolescent risk taking and should affect peer group norms if they are to be effective.
MMPI profiles of adolescents charged with homicide
Authors: Cornell Dewey G. , Miller Carolee , Benedek Elissa P. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractStudy of adolescent violence has been impeded by failure to distinguish among the circumstances in which youth engage in violent behavior. The present study investigated MMPI profiles of 36 adolescent murderers and a control group of 18 adolescents charged with larceny. Homicide cases were subgrouped into those who committed homicide secondary to another crime (e.g., robbery or rape) and those who acted in the context of interpersonal conflict with the victim. While there were no significant differences between homicide and larceny groups, crime and conflict subgroups were significantly different on scales F, Hs, Hy, and Sc.
Neuropsychological perspectives on delinquency
Authors: Miller Laurence 
Published: May 2007

AbstractNeuropsychological studies of delinquents have revealed characteristic deficits in skills that require verbal mediation, conceptual integration, impulse control, anticipation of consequences of actions, and the utilization of feedback from behavior to modify maladaptive response patterns. Formulations of this impairment pattern in terms of frontal lobe and left hemisphere dysfunction are reviewed. The role of verbal mediation in the development of a stable personality and the capacity for self‐control is discussed. It is proposed that the neuropsychodynamic profile of the delinquent is dominated by an inability to form a self‐referential conceptual classification system and that this predisposes to behavioral disinhibition under conditions of stress or interpersonal conflict. The relationship between language development, moral cognition, and social behavior is examined and therapeutic and dispositional implications are discussed. Finally, the general role of neuropsychological models in personality and social theory is addressed.
Homicide without an apparent motive
Authors: Holcomb William R. , Daniel Anasseril E. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractFifty‐two defendants who allegedly killed without apparent motive were compared to 154 homicide defendants with clear motives on demographic and psychiatric variables. Individuals who killed without motive were more likely to have: (1) no history of alcohol abuse: (2) a recent release from prison: (3) claims of amnesia for the crime; and (4) denial of the crime. They also tended to exhibit psychotic behavior following the crime and to be assessed as not guilty of the crime due to mental illness.
Fixing forensic patients: Psychiatric recommendations for treatment in pretrial settings
Authors: Menzies Robert J. , Webster Christopher D. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThis article is concerned with psychiatric recommendations for treatment at the Metropolitan Toronto Forensic Service (METFORS), a clinical assessment agency providing both 1‐day and 30‐day evaluations of criminal defendants in Toronto, Canada. Analysis of both psychiatric reports and quantitative research instruments demonstrated the saliency of treatment as a central forensic issue at METFORS. Among a sample of 592 defendants, 134 were considered in need of outpatient care. Persons recommended for hospitalization were most likely to exhibit histories of mental health rather than criminal justice contacts; to be arrested for nonviolent offenses; to manifest psychotic behavior while at METFORS; to be found unfit for bail, incompetent to stand trial, in need of further assessment and dangerous to self; and to experience higher rates of hospitalization, but lower levels of criminalization during the two years following their initial forensic assessment. Psychiatric reports at METFORS tended to merge recommendations for treatment and assessment; to suggest prison or probation as means for securing clinical treatment; and to provide little written support for judgments about the need for intervention. Along with competency and dangerousness, treatment is a key issue in forensic practice, and warrants further attention in the psycholegal literature.
An empirical approach to the classification and treatment of maximum security psychiatric patients
Authors: Rice Marnie E. , Harris Grant T. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractTreatment approaches with forensic patients have traditionally been nonspecific and have been based primarily on legal or diagnostic categories. The current study, stimulated by the need to reorganize treatment and assessment services, examined the incidence among 189 maximum security psychiatric patients of 70 problems commonly exhibited either in the community prior to admission or within the institution. Through a series of factor and cluster analyses, a model for the placement and treatment of these patients was developed that included assaultiveness, level of functioning, social withdrawal, and active psychotic symptoms.
Predicting outcome of insanity acquittees released to the community
Authors: Cohen Marcia I. , Spodak Michael K. , Silver Stuart B. , Williams Katherine 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThis research developed a model for forensic release decisions that incorporated actuarial and psychiatric predictors. The model was based on research that compared 127 insanity acquittees in the State of Maryland with a matched control group of 127 convicted felons and a comparison group of 135 mentally disordered prison transfers. The three cohorts were followed for an average of 10 years after release from hospital or prison. Findings on two outcome indicators are reported in this article: rearrests within 5 years after release and overall functioning in the community during 2½ years after release. Discriminant analysis was performed on the outcome variable of rearrest; it was found to accurately predict the outcome of 75% of the subjects with the following six variables: adjustment in hospital, clinical assessment of hospital staff, Global Assessment Scale score at release, functioning prior to instant offense, heroin addiction, and birth order. A second discriminant analysis identified seven variables that accurately predicted the overall functioning of 80.4% of the insanity acquittees.
Predictors of improvement in maximum security forensic hospital patients
Authors: Rodenhauser Paul , Khamis H. J. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractIn a maximum security forensic hospital population (n= 376), relationships between three groups of patient factors (diagnostic data patient histories, and hospital course) and two indicators of treatment effectiveness (length of hospitalization [LOH] and restoration of competency to stand trial) were analyzed. Schizophrenia, previous hospitalizations, felony charges, drug treatment refusal, involuntary medication, physical restraint, and absence of personality disorders were associated with increased LOH. Nonschizophrenic patients without histories of previous incarceration, and, paradoxically, drug treatment refusers were relatively successful with competency restoration. Implications of these findings and questions for future research are discussed.
Guidelines are not enough: The need for written sentencing opinions
Authors: Miller Professor Marc 
Published: May 2007

AbstractGuideline sentencing systems, including the new federal guidelines, have not settled on a clear conception of when and how a trial judge should explain sentences. Indeterminate sentencing systems did not have a tradition of written sentencing decisions and recent sentencing reforms do not focus on the trial judge's role. This article suggests the many advantages of written sentencing opinions. Initial experience under the federal sentencing guidelines bolsters the conclusion that written sentencing opinions in appropriate cases—including both sentences “within” guidelines and guideline “departures”—are the next step in the evolving law of sentencing and the best way to recognize trial judges as an essential engine of principled change.