Psychiatry, Psychology and Law articles

Recent articles from Psychiatry, Psychology and Law

Liability for failure by police to detain potentially suicidal and dangerous persons: Kirkland-Veenstra v. Stuart.
July 1, 2008... The author scrutinises the ramifications of the important decision by the majority of the Victorian Court of Appeal in Kirkland-Veenstra v Stuart [2008] VSCA 32 against the backdrop of the New South Wales Court of Appeal decision in Hunter Area Health Service v Presland [2005] NSWCA 33. He...

Risk assessment and sentencing of serious sex offenders: Buckley v. R.
July 1, 2008... In Buckley v R [2006] HCA 7; (2006) 224 ALR 416; (2006) 80 ALJR 605, the High Court of Australia heard an appeal from the decision of the Queensland Court of Appeal which considered the sentencing of a serious sex offender. The principal issue for the High Court was whether, in imposing an...

On being an expert witness: it's not about you.
July 1, 2008... Expert testimony, for many mental health professionals, is fraught with anxiety. In this article, the authors attempt to alleviate this anxiety with a simple recipe for professional, ethical, and economic success as an expert witness. Because experts are essentially getting paid for their...

Determinations of malingering: evolution from case-based methods to detection strategies.
July 1, 2008... Methods for the classification of malingering have advanced from idiosyncratic case studies to systematic research. As an outgrowth of individual feigning scales, detection strategies have been developed and validated that are conceptually based and tested across measures. This article...

Child and adolescent psychopathy: stability and change.
July 1, 2008... This article introduces the concept of child and adolescent psychopathy and discusses the reasons why the concept might be developmentally appropriate. Past research has suggested that child psychopathy might be inapplicable to youth because the symptoms cannot be reliably distinguished from...