Mental Health and Social Correlates of Reincarceration of Youths as Adults.

The rise in the U.S. prison population over the past 40 years has heightened scrutiny of the incarceration of children and adolescents.

Mute by Visitation of God, Competency to Stand Trial and Fitness to Plead.

Laws on competency to stand trial and fitness to plead are said to derive from "mute by visitation of God," a medieval English legal term referring to the inability to speak through no fault of one's own. The paper describes the relevant historical background, illustrative cases, and legal commentaries. Muteness by visitation of God arose to address a particular set of difficulties caused by the need to have medieval defendants agree to be tried.

Victimization in schizophrenia and its relation to violence.

Background: People with schizophrenia are frequently victims of violence. Previous attempts to examine the reasons for this have mostly used cross-sectional designs that limit the ability to distinguish, among the correlates they identify, potential causes of victimization from its consequences.

Method: We studied patients with schizophrenia participating in the NIMH-funded Clinical Antipsychotic Treatment for Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) trial.

Psychosocial function, legal involvement and violence in mental disorder.

Background: The correlates of legally significant outcomes that have been identified in people with mental disorders are of limited value in understanding the mechanisms by which these outcomes occur.

Aims: To describe the relationships between mental disorder, impaired psychosocial function, and three legally significant outcomes in a representative sample of the US population.

Methods: We used a population survey, the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC-III, sample size 36,309), to identify people who self-reported serious trouble with the police or the law over the past 12 months and two lifetime outcomes, being incarcerated and engaging in violence to others.

Logic Model of the Department of Veterans Affairs' Role in Veterans Treatment Courts.

Veterans Treatment Courts (VTCs) grew exponentially in the last decade with more than 550 courts, dockets and tracks operating in the U.S. Eligibility criteria and operating practices of VTCs vary widely.

Correlates of Future Violence in People Being Treated for Schizophrenia.

Objective: Violent behavior is infrequent among individuals with schizophrenia but is clinically important. The purpose of this study was to provide data on the correlates of violence, which may allow better risk assessment and care.

Methods: A total of 1,435 individuals with schizophrenia who participated in the National Institute of Mental Health's Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) study and were followed for 18 months were examined.

Psychiatric Disorders and Crime in the US Population: Results From the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions Wave III.

Objective: Current knowledge regarding the intersection of psychiatric disorders and crime in the United States is limited to psychiatric, forensic, and youth samples. This study presents nationally representative data on the relationship of DSM-5 psychiatric disorders, comorbid substance and mental health disorders, and multimorbidity (number of disorders) with criminal behavior and justice involvement among non-institutionalized US adults.

Methods: Data were drawn from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions Wave III (NESARC-III; 2012-2013; N = 36,309).

Correlates of Reduced Violent Behavior Among Patients Receiving Intensive Treatment for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been linked to violent behavior, especially among military personnel returning from service in a war zone. Little is known, however, about whether the extent of violent behavior among persons with PTSD changes in response to intensive treatment or about the predictors and correlates of any such change.

Methods: The study examined data from over 35,000 U.

A Consultation and Supervision Model for Developing the Forensic Psychiatric Opinion.

Receiving feedback on one's work from colleagues is an essential part of clinical and forensic psychiatric practice. Often the material on which feedback is sought concerns past cases. When the material relates to current cases, particular safeguards are needed to protect important interests.

Who needs capacity?

The UK Law Commission's Discussion Paper, Criminal Liability: Insanity and Automatism, recommends introducing the concept of capacity to the insanity defence. The concept of capacity has an established role in those parts of the law that concern the validity of the decisions that people make, for instance in composing a will or entering into a contract. Making mental capacity a criterion for criminal responsibility in a mentally disordered defendant, however, is potentially problematic.

Respect for dignity and forensic psychiatry.

Respect for persons is one of forensic psychiatry's ethical principles. It is a principle that is usually laid down without conditions, raising the question of what aspect of someone's "personhood" might deserve our unconditional respect. This paper nominates dignity.

So you're sorry? The role of remorse in criminal law.

The role of remorse in judicial decisions in the criminal justice system has been addressed in scholarship and remains controversial. The purpose of this qualitative research was to examine the views of sitting criminal judges on remorse, its assessment, and its relevance in their decision-making. After approval of the study design by the institutional review board, 23 judges were interviewed in an open-ended format.

Rates of violence in patients classified as high risk by structured risk assessment instruments.

Background: Rates of violence in persons identified as high risk by structured risk assessment instruments (SRAIs) are uncertain and frequently unreported by validation studies.

Aims: To analyse the variation in rates of violence in individuals identified as high risk by SRAIs.

Method: A systematic search of databases (1995-2011) was conducted for studies on nine widely used assessment tools.

Risk factors of violence during a 4-week period in a psychiatric outpatient population.

The clinical impact of structured risk assessment instruments has been limited by a lack of information regarding a) their short-term accuracy and b) the relationship between change as measured by the instrument and a change in the risk for harm. Data were collected every 4 weeks on a) variables designed to resemble the items of a structured risk assessment instrument, b) substance use, c) social circumstances and mental state, and d) violent behavior. Scores on the variables designed to resemble the items of a risk assessment instrument were associated with violence during the ensuing 4 weeks.

The forensic evaluation and report: an agenda for research.

The written report is a central component of forensic psychiatric practice. In the report, an evaluator assembles and organizes data, interprets results of an evaluation, and offers an opinion in response to legal questions. The past 30 years have seen substantial development in principles and practice of forensic report writing.

Costs of criminal justice involvement among persons with serious mental illness in connecticut.

Objective: This study sought to describe patterns and costs of criminal justice involvement among adults with serious mental illness who received services across public agencies within a single state. Costs were examined from the perspective of state agencies providing mental health, substance abuse, and criminal justice services.

Methods: Administrative records for 25,133 adults who were served by the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) during fiscal years 2006 and 2007 and who had a diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder were matched with records of the state Medicaid program, Judicial Branch, Department of Correction, and Department of Public Safety.

Violence risk assessment in clinical settings: being sure about being sure.

Psychiatrists and psychologists have available structured risk assessment instruments to assess the risk of patient violence. These instruments are also used to help make important legal decisions, including which prisoners will be evaluated for continued detention at the end of their sentence. The predictive validity of structured instruments has been demonstrated in operationally defined groups.