Assessing competency to waiveMiranda rights in defendants with mental retardation

Criminal defendants with mental retardation face special problems in the process of interrogation and confession, particularly with regard to the knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver ofMiranda rights. Despite this, little attention has been paid to empirical measurement of this form of competency in mentally retarded adults. The present research uses scales originally developed by Grisso (1981) to measure competency to waive such rights in juveniles. Two samples of mentally retarded adults, one in a sheltered workshop setting and the other composed of current probationers, were tested. Both samples scored substantially lower on measures ofMiranda comprehension than Grisso's samples of juveniles and adults. There were also differences between the samples that appear attributable to differential levels of criminal justice experience. It is concluded that the Grisso scales may be helpful in determining competency to waiveMiranda rights in defendants with mental retardation. In addition, the present data raise strong concerns about the ability of many such defendants to make intelligentMiranda waivers. Policy recommendations are discussed.     

Human rights of persons with mental disabilities. The European Convention of Human Rights

It is not necessary to recount the numerous charters and declarations ... to understand human rights.... All persons are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Everyone ... is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the international human rights instruments without discrimination, such as the rights to life, liberty, security of the person, privacy, health, education, work, social security, and to marry and found a family. Yet, violations of human rights are a reality to be found in every corner of the globe.     

The third way in mental health policy: negative rights, positive rights, and the Convention

Mentally disordered patients may be said to have rights in two senses: negative rights to freedom from arbitrary detention or interference with their person; and positive rights to expect a certain minimum standard of service, be that in terms of treatment as an in-patient, or as a patient in the community. The Labour government has appointed a 'scoping group' to carry out a root-and-branch review of the Mental Health Act 1983. The 1983 Act was mainly concerned with in-patient treatment. The group is to look at the scope for introducing further compulsory powers in the community, enhancing the rights of carers and relatives, and is to take account of recent British and Strasbourg case law. The primary impact of the Convention on psychiatric patients has been in relation to protection against arbitrary detention under Article 5, unsoundness of mind being one of the permitted grounds of deprivation of liberty under Article 5(1)(e). This article explores the potential impact of Convention rights in developing what Gostin referred to in the early 1980s as a 'new legalism'. The new legalism linked concern for traditional rights to due process and review by the courts or other external bodies with the 'ideology of entitlement' to adequate treatment and services. The article outlines the current policy context of mental health services and looks at the development by the European Court of Human Rights of positive Convention rights to services out of Article 5, whose purpose seems at first sight to be the protection of due process rights. It examines the relevance of Convention rights to community powers.     

女精神病人性自我防卫能力鉴定的几个问题

最高人民法院、最高人民检察院、公安部在1984年颁布的<关于当前办理强奸案件的具体应用法律的若干问题的解答>(以下简称<解答>)指出:明知妇女是精神病患者或者痴呆者(程度严重的)而与其发生性行为的,不管犯罪分子采取什么手段,都应以强奸论处.     

Liberty: human rights and mental health

In this paper, Lord Phillips reflects on the present state of the law relating to mental health; he considers the place of the common law doctrine of necessity as the basis for the detention of patients; he reviews a number of issues arising from the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and a number of recent decisions of the Court of Appeal. Finally, he considers the prospects for change in the law foreshadowed in the Government's White Paper on the Reform of Mental Health Law (2000).     

基层民警心理问题的深层原因

面对常用的心理治疗措施难以解决民警群体特有心理问题的困境,课题组把弗洛伊德的潜意识观点与心理动力学原理相结合,在基层民警心理健康状况调查数据的基础上,对民警心理能量的形成和转化过程进行分析,从中寻找心理问题形成的深层原因。     

试论高校法治管理中权利义务不对等问题

高校法治管理的基本问题是教师、干部、学生的权利义务关系问题,这是高校法治管理的过程中不能回避的问题;权利义务的对等性是高校法治管理的基本原则,要实行有效的高校法治管理必须遵循这一基本原则;高校法治管理中教师、干部、学生的权利义务不对等有多种表现和复杂原因;在高校法治管理过程中,贯彻落实权利义务对等性原则,必须坚决克服官本位和等级特权思想,牢固树立以人为本的观念,同时,还要在组织、制度、措施上加以保障。