Psychiatry, Psychology and Law articles from July 2008

Psychiatry, Psychology and Law archives from July 2008

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Stress in the courtroom: call for research.
July 1, 2008... Recent acts of violence against judges highlight the growing number of occupational stressors that judges encounter. In addition to threats of violence, judges often deal with substantial workloads, traumatic cases, and the pressure of making...

Capacity to stand trial: old and new in New Zealand.
July 1, 2008... The law of fitness (or capacity) to stand trial is, in many jurisdictions, comprised of a mixture of older common law principles and more recent statutory rules. The key to understanding the area is appreciating how the principles drawn from...

People with an intellectual disability in the Australian criminal justice system.
July 1, 2008... Intellectual disability (ID) is not accurately identified early enough in the criminal justice system. The extent to which each jurisdiction addresses the needs of persons with ID is inconsistent. Magistrate Court diversion programmes aiming to...

Investigative interviewers' perceptions of the value of different training tasks on their adherence to open-ended questions with children.(Australia)
July 1, 2008... Prior research has highlighted the considerable difficulties investigative interviewers have in adhering to open-ended questions in child abuse interviews. Although improvements in interviewing can be achieved by providing training that...

Deductive thematic analysis of a female paedophilia website.(Australia)
July 1, 2008... The role of the Internet and other technologies in sexual offending has recently received much attention. The literature, however, has focused largely on male sexual abusers and much has to be learned about deviant female arousal patterns. The...

Decisions to participate in restorative justice conferences: effects of convenor identity and power-distance. (Australia)
July 1, 2008... One procedural feature on which restorative justice conferencing models differ is the identity of the convenor, with some conferencing models being administered by police. This study investigates how convenor type affects decisions to...

The effect of diversion from court: a review of the evidence.
July 1, 2008... Diversion from court has become a popular solution to perceived weaknesses in the traditional justice system, particularly in recent years with the advent of family group conferences. But evidence for the detrimental effect of court is weak....

Evolution of a treatment programme for sex offenders: changes to the NSW custody-based intensive treatment (CUBIT).
July 1, 2008... As a result of a high treatment attrition rate two significant changes were made from August 2005 to the New South Wales Department of Corrective Services custody-based intensive treatment programme for sexual offenders (CUBIT) that directly...

Are graphic media violence, aggression and moral disengagement related?
July 1, 2008... It is well established that violent media can increase levels of aggression. The aim of the present study was to examine whether cognitive distortions mediate the relationship between enjoyment of violent media and the frequency in which people...

Brainwash: The Secret History of Mind Control.(Book review)
July 1, 2008... Brainwash: The Secret History of Mind Control, by D. Streatfield London, Hodder & Stoughton, 2006, (paperback) 440pp Dominic Streatfield is a writer and documentary-maker who specialises in military and security issues. His television...