Social Correlates of Delinquency for Youth in Need of Mental Health Services: Examining the Scope Conditions of Criminological Theories

While both traditional criminological inquiry and mental health research have identified internal and external constellations of risk factors associated with juvenile offending, interdisciplinary discourse has been limited. This paper takes a step in bridging the gap between criminological literature and work in the field of children’s mental health by evaluating the combined effects of social and mental health predictors on juvenile delinquency in a sample of youth with diagnosed clinical disorders. Results of multivariate analyses indicate that both traditional social risk factors as well as indicators of the nature and severity of youths’ mental health disorders contribute to delinquency. Moreover, the influence of one well-established risk factor, self-control, on delinquency is moderated by the presence of oppositional defiant disorder. The results of this study suggest that researchers and practitioners should consider the cumulative influence of social risk factors and psychological impairment in the etiology of delinquency.     

社会法的社会语境:人民社会的政治观念——兼与公法、私法社会语境的比较

社会语境是介于社会需求事实与上层建筑之间的媒介场景,作为第三法域或是部门法的社会法也应该有自己特殊的社会语境系统。当代西方国家因社会内部压力对市民社会自由性和自利性的有限改造,促成了"律他、利他"的人民社会初级语境形成,体现出"协调市场竞争与进行社会保护"的政治观念,西方国家的社会法是对该政治观念的法制反映。"以人为本、谋求社会成员共同幸福"是中国特色社会主义人民社会语境的政治观念,中国的社会法建设除应具有"协调市场竞争与进行社会保护"之相同经济、社会功效外,还具有制度自觉的政治功效。人民社会不同层次的政治观念决定了两种不同的社会法立法目标与任务和其在法律体系中不同的实体地位。     

The Professionalization of Public Accounting: A Social Dilemma Perspective

This study uses a social dilemma model of auditing and a model of cooperative regulatory enforcement to provide a framework within which the evolution of self-regulation in the U.S. accounting profession is studied. From a social dilemma perspective, individual public accounting firms are best off, in a single period sense, by providing a low quality audit product, which is defined in terms of the degree of auditor acquiescence to managers' accounting method discretion. However, firms' collective welfare is maximized by high quality auditing. The cooperative regulatory model employed is premised on the existence of a plausible government threat of punishments and invasive regulations, which motivates self-regulation in an industry. We argue that prior to enactment of the securities acts, public accounting firms faced a social dilemma in which there were limited incentives for high quality auditing either voluntarily or through the establishment of self-regulation. The securities acts provided a plausible threat to which the accounting industry responded by implementing self-regulation in order to avoid invasive and costly government regulation. After the emergence of the accounting profession, there occurred a long period of cooperative regulation with the SEC. Management discretion over accounting methods increased during this time period and audit quality correspondingly decreased, suggesting possible inefficient capture of the SEC. Evidence of an evolution towards a tripartite form of regulation appeared in the 1970s when the SEC and public accounting began to be critically reviewed by Congress. From this time to the present, new regulatory threats have motivated a series of self-regulatory responses by public accounting to improve audit quality.     

A Comparison of Forensic and Nonforensic Malingerers: A Prototypical Analysis of Explanatory Models

Explanatory models of malingering strive to understand the primary motivation underlying attempts to feign. Rogers, Sewell, and Goldstein (1994) provided empirical support for the conceptualization of pathogenic, criminological, and adaptational models. In the current study, a prototypical analysis of 221 forensic experts results in a slightly refined formulation: the adaptational model was decomposed into its two broad dimensions (cost–benefit analysis and adversarial setting). An important finding is that the factor structure for the explanatory models remained stable when applied to both forensic and nonforensic cases. As a first investigation, significant differences were observed in prototypical cases of malingering by the category of referral (forensic or nonforensic) and by type of feigning (mental disorders, cognitive impairment, and medical syndromes). Surprisingly, the feigning of medical syndromes appeared to play a relatively prominent role in both forensic and nonforensic cases and to be influenced by the apparent adversarial context of the assessment. Finally, important gender differences were observed, especially with nonforensic prototypical cases of malingering.     

Racial Discrimination and Hirschi's Criminological Classic: A Chapter in the Sociology of Knowledge

In Causes of Delinquency, Travis Hirschi attempted to falsify the strain theory claim that racial discrimination might contribute to the delinquency of African American youths. A reanalysis of the Richmond Youth Project data used in his classic study, however, reveals that perceived racial discrimination is a robust predictor of delinquent involvement. This finding suggests that Hirschi missed a historic opportunity to focus the attention of a generation of criminologists on how the unique experiences of African Americans may shape their criminality. Given the salience of perceived racial bias in the lives of many African Americans, the subsequent neglect by scholars of discrimination as a potential source of crime is a remarkable omission—so much so that it constitutes a significant and as yet untold chapter in the sociology of knowledge.     

Acute Bacterial Meningitis with Coincident Methamphetamine Use: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Methamphetamine is a synthetic stimulant that can adversely affect the central nervous system and the immune system. Through various mechanisms, methamphetamine is toxic to neurons, endothelial cells, lymphocytes, granulocytes, and macrophages resulting in systemic damage. Reported is the sudden demise of an otherwise healthy 31‐year‐old woman with a history of stimulant abuse. At autopsy, acute bacterial meningitis was identified. Microbiology cultures grew a single isolate of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Toxicology was positive for amphetamine (0.13 mg/L) and methamphetamine (0.8 mg/L). The cause of death was classified as acute bacterial meningitis with methamphetamine use. Either the acute bacterial meningitis or the methamphetamine toxicity would have been sufficient to result in death; however, the concurrent pathophysiology of the two entities must be understood. A review of the current literature assesses the mechanisms of injury attributed to acute and chronic methamphetamine use, bacterial meningitis, and the synergy between the two.     

Comparison of Factors Associated with Parricide in Adults and Adolescents

Despite high revalence rates of intimate partner violence in the lives of extremely poor women with depenent children, few studies have investigated the patterns of violence that occur over time, and the characteristics of women that serve as risk markers for partner violence. This study compared 43 adult parricides and 12 adolescent parricides. Several statistically significant differences were observed. Adults suffer from severe mental disorders, have a history of violent behavior and psychiatric antecedents, and are more likely to threaten their parents. Less predictable in their acting out, adolescents present several profiles as a function of victims’ sex, number of victims, diagnostic elements, and being witness to or victim of intrafamilial violence. Results suggest different approaches should be used to understand the dynamics and course of these two groups.     

Criminal Justice Models As A Function of Ideological Images: A Social Learning Alternative To Packer

A theoretical anlaysis demonstrates that the crime control and due process models or perspectives (Packer, 1968) can be derived from the dominant images of persons that are embedded in ideological belief systems. The images are of the criminal and the citizen. The analysis represents a further application of a social learning model (Reed & Gaines, 1979, 1981) that conceptualizes ideological images as discriminative stimuli with drive and cue properties. Theoretically, these stimulus properties elicit and shape individual and system responses as a function of prior and preferred outcomes. Within the model a third image, persons-with-needs, helps to explain a number of practices that lie barely within or beyond the domain of Packer's perspectives. Discussion suggests that the three images provide a more comprehensive and heuristic approach to understanding and evaluating the criminal process than is afforded by Packer's relatively atheoretical formulation that is limited to two ideological belief systems.     

Manual and Automated Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR): A Comparison of Associated Injury Patterns,

The purpose of this study was to identify and compare patterns of trauma associated with AutoPulse^® CPR and manual CPR. Finalized autopsy records from 175 decedents brought to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences were reviewed, 87 received manual‐only CPR, and 88 received AutoPulse^® CPR (in combination with manual CPR as per standard protocol). The characteristic pattern observed in manual‐only CPR use included a high frequency of anterior rib fractures, sternal fractures, and midline chest abrasions along the sternum. The characteristic pattern observed in AutoPulse^® CPR use included a high frequency of posterior rib fractures, skin abrasions located along the anterolateral chest and shoulder, vertebral fractures, and a few cases of visceral injuries including liver lacerations, splenic lacerations, and hemoperitoneum. Knowledge of the AutoPulse^® CPR injury pattern can help forensic pathologists differentiate therapeutic from inflicted injuries and therefore avoid an erroneous assessment of cause and manner of death.     

Revictimized Adult Women: Perceptions of Mental Health Functioning and Associated Services

In this study, using a sample of adult women (N = 418) from various environments, mental health outcomes and perceptions about different types of support following childhood and adulthood sexual and physical violence were assessed. The respondents were from three locations: general community, state prison, and sexual assault and domestic violence service providers. A cluster analysis based on victimization experiences was conducted; subsequent analyses showed that women who endured more types of abuse had more self-reported mental health difficulties. Somewhat paradoxically, women who utilized more therapeutic services held more negative perceptions of their mental health functioning, while use of tangible services had no significant association. Those who found therapeutic services helpful had significantly higher self-reported concurrent mental health functioning.     

Mental Health Court Outcomes: A Comparison of Re-Arrest and Re-Arrest Severity Between Mental Health Court and Traditional Court Participants

Mental health courts have been proliferating across the country since their establishment in the late 1990's. Although numerous advocates have proclaimed their merit, only few empirical studies have evaluated their outcomes. This paper evaluates the effect of one mental health court on criminal justice outcomes by examining arrests and offense severity from one year before to one year after entry into the court, and by comparing mental health court participants to comparable traditional criminal court defendants on these measures. Multivariate models support the prediction that mental health courts reduce the number of new arrests and the severity of such re-arrests among mentally ill offenders. Similar analysis of mental health court completers and non-completers supports the prediction that a "full dose" of mental health treatment and court monitoring produce even fewer re-arrests.     

Constitutional Rights and Social Welfare: A Comment on the Canadian Chaoulli Health Care Decision

Chaoulli v Quebec (A.G . ) may be the most controversial Supreme Court of Canada decision to date. The Court used social science evidence of foreign health care systems to justify its finding that a provincial ban on private health care insurance unjustifiably violated the right to security of the person. The decision could lead to fundamental structural changes in the way Canadian provinces deliver health care services. Given the importance of Charter jurisprudence in the United Kingdom, and recent debate about the wisdom of incorporating social rights, the case raises a number of pertinent issues for British lawyers. This comment advances two general arguments. First, that the case was wrongly decided because of its poor characterisation of the legislative objective of the ban, unprincipled approach to judicial deference, and poor treatment of expert and social science evidence. Second, far from justifying suspicion of constitutional social rights, the case illustrates precisely why such rights can make a positive difference.