October 2017 - Page 12 of 22 - searchfortruth.info

Law & Psychiatry: Mental Illness, Police Interrogations, and the Potential for False Confession

November 20, 2018October 14, 2017 by admin

Recently, an alarmingly high incidence of wrongful convictions has been documented in the United States, in large part because of "Innocence Projects" that use DNA analyses from crime scenes to exonerate innocent persons. The best-known Innocence Project, administered through the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, has helped to free 138 people who had been wrongfully incarcerated. Approximately 25 percent of these cases involved false confessions arising from inappropriate police interrogations. Among these false confession cases, persons with mental impairment appear to be disproportionately represented. The Innocence Project's Web site notes, "Truly startling is the number of false confession cases involving the mentally impaired and the mentally ill. Police interrogation in the [false confession] cases reveals a lack of training and a disregard for mental disabilities" (1).

An example of where this situation can lead is the case of Eddie Joe Lloyd, who spent 17 years

Psychological Debriefing: Theory, Practice and Evidence

November 20, 2018October 14, 2017 by admin

The history of psychological trauma is littered with episodes of knowledge and forgetting, just as post-trauma memory is scattered with episodes of remembering and amnesia. This authoritative text goes some way towards the prevention of the threatened but premature death-knell for psychological debriefing. Few issues in mental health are as controversial as psychological debriefing, with polarised views common. The term ‘psychological debriefing’ has been used for different types of intervention, and this book highlights the range of conceptualisations, methodologies and interventions that constitute the area of debriefing, with single sessions superseded by critical-incident stress management (the Cochrane Collaboration review examined only randomised controlled trials incorporating one-off sessions (Rose et al, 2001)).

The editors, Raphael & Wilson, have an impressive track record in their International Handbook of Traumatic Stress Syndromes (1993), a seminal text on psychological trauma. Here, they precede each chapter with an editorial commentary, which provides a helpful overview.

Debt and Deliberate Self-Poisoning.

November 20, 2018October 14, 2017 by admin

Abstract

This study is a descriptive survey of financial difficulties in a consecutive series of patients who deliberately poisoned themselves. Over three months 160 such patients presented to the liaison psychiatry service at Leeds General Infirmary. Information was available on 147 of these patients, of whom 54 (37%) had problem debts. Patients in debt were more likely to harm themselves with greater suicidal intent and, after the episode, to report more symptoms of depression and hopelessness. Psychiatrists were more likely to diagnose mental illness in those in debt...

Psychostimulants in Psychiatry.

November 20, 2018October 14, 2017 by admin

Abstract

The use of the psychostimulants in psychiatry is reviewed. A brief historical perspective on dextroamphetamine is presented, and a brief review of the psychopharmacology of dextroamphetamine, methylphenidate and magnesium pemoline is given. The literature on the use of stimulants in the treatment of resistant depression, apathetic geriatric patients and patients medically ill with a secondary depression is summarized and two case histories given to illustrate the clinical usefulness of the stimulants. The literature on the use of stimulants as an adjunct to antidepressant therapy and as a diagnostic test is also discussed. Finally the use of stimulants in obsessional illness and adult attention deficit disorder is summarized. The writer concludes by commenting that the stimulants have a very useful role in the treatment of certain categories of depression...

The Case of the Confidential Confession: Psychiatry

February 21, 2019October 14, 2017 by admin

The law, medicine, and theology trilogy uniting these Essays, addressing the ethical response to information a professional gains in confidence about a wrongful conviction and an impending execution, raises an overarching question: How does the role of a professional affect our ethical duties as members of society? Likely, few would seriously argue that if the same disclosure about an impending wrongful execution were made to a friend wearing no professional garb that we would find an ethical duty to prevent the friend from disclosing a confidence, rather than an ethical duty compelling the friend to come forward to avoid the wrongful execution. Does the role of a professional displace personal moral standards? Implicit in the problem is the assumption that professionals should act differently. Attempts to articulate a profession's sense of its unique ethical responsibilities are contained, in part, in its ethical code. Psychiatric ethics draw from the field of medical ethics...

Deception And Self-deception In Shamanism And Psychiatry.

November 20, 2018October 14, 2017 by admin

Abstract

The author argues that both shaman and psychiatrist are obliged to use a degree of self-deception in assuming their roles. The shaman must rationalize his use of trickery to impress his patients, and the psychiatrist deceives himself that his psychotherapeutic techniques have specific healing properties in the face of evidence which suggests that he often merely mobilizes the general effects of placebo and suggestion. Shaman and psychiatrist appear to use the same mental mechanisms in deceiving themselves. Inadequate method and theory may be supported by reference to personal experience and unrelated data or defended by circular reasoning or comparison with an even more inadequate system. The practitioner may also allow his perception of his abilities to be moulded by social consensus...

Handgun Wounding Factors and Effectiveness

February 10, 2019October 14, 2017 by admin

FORWARD

The selection of effective handgun ammunition for law enforcement is a critical and complex issue. It is critical because of that which is at stake when an officer is required to use his handgun to protect his own life or that of another. It is complex because of the target, a human being, is amazingly endurable and capable of sustaining phenomenal punishment while persisting in a determined course of action. The issue is made even more complex by the dearth of credible research and the wealth of uninformed opinion regarding what is commonly referred to as "stopping power".

In reality, few people have conducted relevant research in this area, and fewer still have produced credible information that is useful for law enforcement agencies in making informed decisions. This article brings together what is believed to be the most credible information regarding wound ballistics. It cuts through the haze and confusion,..

To Flee or Not: Postkilling Responses Among Intimate Partner Homicide Offenders in Hong Kong

November 20, 2018October 14, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Among 112 homicides involving sexual intimates that occurred in Hong Kong between 1989 and 2002, 38% ( n = 42) of offenders remained voluntarily at the homicide scene, 21% (n = 24) committed suicide, 20% (n = 22) escaped and denied involvement, 13% (n = 14) disposed or hid the body of their victim, and 9% (n = 10) escaped but later voluntarily surrendered. This study used police investigation reports, coroner’s reports, witness statements, and other relevant documents to compare these five types of postkilling behavior. The type of response was explained by the offender’s characteristics, the strength of attachment to the victim, and situational factors. The offender’s prior criminal conduct or history of violence was not significant in predicting the type of postkilling response...

A Typology of Multiple-Perpetrator Rape

November 20, 2018October 13, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Some consistency in existing typologies of rape has been found, which have extended from lone to multiple perpetrator offenses. The current study sought to explore the facets of multiple-perpetrator rape (MPR) in a sample representative of one geographical area. Seventy-five victim statements of MPR reported to an urban police force in the United Kingdom were classified into a qualitative model denoting offender actions in MPR. Four types from pathways through the model were produced: violence, criminality, intimacy, and sexuality. Analysis of the crime scene variables provided additional evidence of the four types. Finally, the associations between the four types and offense characteristics, such as victim and perpetrator age, were explored. Implications of these findings for the prevention and investigation of MPR are discussed along with suggestions for future research directions....

The Role of Marijuana in Homicide

November 20, 2018October 13, 2017 by admin

Abstract

In this paper we examine the relationship between marijuana use and homicide. Data derive from interviews with 268 individuals incarcerated in New York State correctional facilities for homicides that occurred in 1984. We found that in terms of lifetime use, marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug in this sample; that about one-third of respondents who had ever used marijuana used the drug in the 24-hour period before the homicide; and that almost three-quarters of those respondents were experiencing some type of effect from the drug when the homicide occurred. A total of 18 respondents (7% of the total sample) said that the homicide was related to their marijuana use. We examine the reasons these respondents gave for this relationship and the other substances they reported using at the time of the homicide. We also demonstrate that from the perspective of a conceptual framework that specifies the ways...

Establishing the Victim–Offender Relationship of Initially Unsolved Homicides Partner, Family, Acquaintance, or Stranger?

November 20, 2018October 13, 2017 by admin

Abstract

This analysis examines the extent to which homicides initially reported as unknown offender in end-of-year reports, once cleared, are more likely to have been perpetrated by strangers than other cleared homicides. Using solved and unsolved homicides in Indianapolis (N = 829), we determined victim–offender relationships in homicides reported as unsolved in year-end reports, when solved, were not significantly different from homicides reported as having a suspect in year-end reports. Indianapolis homicides were classified disproportionately as acquaintances. Findings help negate the ongoing myth that unsolved homicides are disproportionately stranger homicides. Results suggest decreased homicide clearance rates are not due to increased stranger homicides....

Personality Disorders And Psychoses Form Two Distinct Subgroups Of Homicide Among Female Offenders

November 20, 2018October 13, 2017 by admin

Abstract

This study examined circumstances of homicide by women in relation to their subsequent diagnoses. We investigated the written reports of forensic psychiatric examinations on 125 Finnish women who committed murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, or attempted manslaughter during 1982-92. In 86% of the cases the victims were adults, in 15% children. Intimate partners were the victims in 54% of the cases. Stabbing was the most frequent method and a quarrel the most frequent motive. The diagnoses of personality disorders and psychoses formed distinct subgroups. Psychotic women attacked proportionally more children than the personality disordered, who mainly attacked adults. Personality disordered women were more likely to have been intoxicated with alcohol at the time. Future treatment programmes and studies are suggested....

What’s the ROI on Cold Case Investigations?

November 20, 2018October 13, 2017 by admin

The field of forensics has grown by leaps and bounds over the past several years, so much so that decades-old crime cases can sometimes be solved with DNA testing and other modern technology. In an effort to increase case clearance rates (and catch bad guys long gone) police departments have slowly opened more ‘cold case’ units over the last 20 years; a phenomenon that has been documented and dramatized on TV.

In a new RAND paper, researchers Robert C. Davis, Carl Jensen, and Karin E. Kitchens set out to measure the effectiveness of cold case units by posing a simple question, though one that’s rarely asked of police work: What’s the return on investment? They write:

[D]espite the increasing number of cold-case units and the expenditure of significant resources to fund them, we know virtually nothing about the return on this investment. Does it make sense...

Relational Distance and Homicide: The Role of the Stranger

November 20, 2018October 13, 2017 by admin

I. INTRODUCTION

When the actions of one individual cause the death of another, a homicide has occurred. While that initial statement is simple, homicide is a multi-faceted act involving numerous possible causes and circumstances. As Nettler suggests, there are many routes that lead to culpable killing.' Given the diverse nature of the acts described as homicide, it is little wonder that theoretical writing on the subject as a whole has been spartan. The first step in explaining any phenomenon is adequate classification of the groups of acts sought to be understood.3 In the case of homicide, a number of strategies have been tried in classifying those acts that result in death. Some authors have concentrated on causes of homicide, including psychological imbalance (mental illness, psychiatric disorders), motivations (political, religious, sexual, self-defense, conflict) and methods (poison, shooting, beating). By far the most common tactic has been to study the...

Homicide And Allied Inquiries: In Whose Best Interests?

November 20, 2018October 13, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Over a decade ago the present author presented some comments on homicide inquiries in this journal. Since then there have been a number of important developments, including the increase in the number of such inquiries and changes in their constitution and functions. A somewhat neglected area has been soliciting the views of those who chair such inquiries. The present contribution endeavours to remedy this deficiency.

Psychotropic Drugs And Homicide: A Prospective Cohort Study From Finland

November 21, 2018October 13, 2017 by admin

After a high-profile homicide case, there is often discussion in the media on whether or not the killing was caused or facilitated by a psychotropic medication. Antidepressants have especially been blamed by non-scientific organizations for a large number of senseless acts of violence, e.g., 13 school shootings in the last decade in the U.S. and Finland [1]. In September 2014, there were more than 139,000 hits from Google for the search terms “antidepressant, homicide”, and more than 1,050,000 hits for the terms “antidepressant, violence”. It is likely that such massive publicity in the lay media has already led a number of patients and physicians to abstain from antidepressant treatment, due to the perceived fear of pharmacologically induced violence.

What is the scientific evidence for an association between psychotropic drugs and homicidal behavior? Most of the available studies are case reports that only suggest a coincidental link between violence or homicide and antidepressants...