Prediction of institutional aggression among personality disordered forensic patients using actuarial and structured clinical risk assessment tools: prospective evaluation of the HCR-20, VRS,Static-99, and Risk Matrix 2000

A minority of men and women with intellectual disabilities at times engage in, and are suspected, or convicted, of illegal activity. Recent policy developments in England and Wales emphasise the need to respond appropriately to putative offending risk through the provision of safe and effective community management, treatment, and support services. In line with these concerns, research has focused increasingly on testing the utility of an evolving variety of risk assessment procedures. Here, the authors set out to challenge the repertoire of a number of prominent and/or recently developed risk assessment procedures and the scope of an associated research literature, on the basis that contextual risk factors are receiving insufficient attention in relation to offending among people with intellectual disabilities. Drawing on the wider criminological literature, a novel study is reported that compares key contemporary proximal social and environmental circumstances in the lives of offenders and non-offenders with intellectual disabilities. A contextual risk score is derived, providing statistical support for increased consideration of the impact of relevant social and environmental circumstances. Increased emphasis on key contextual risk factors is recommended to strengthen community service responses to offenders with intellectual disabilities.     

The effect of respondents' just world beliefs and target person's social worth and awareness-of-risk on perceptions of a person with AIDS

The present research examined how individuals' just world beliefs affected their perceptions of a person with AIDS who was depicted as having contracted the HIV virus while either aware or unaware of health risks, and who was defined as either high or low in general social deservingness or worth. Dependent variables included respondents' affective reactions to the person with AIDS, their willingness to allocate resources to him, and their perception of the fairness or the unfairness both of his general plight and that various types of resources be given to him. Results indicated that those who were higher in just world beliefs were more emotionally negative to the other with AIDS, they were less willing to contribute resources to him, and they felt that it was less fair that such resource transfers be required. Similar response patterns were found when the other with AIDS was described as lower in social worth and when he was depicted as having contracted AIDS with full awareness of health risks. Implications of the findings were discussed in terms of how psychological theories of justice might inform health care policy.     

The effects of marital status and social isolation on adult male homicides in the United States: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study

With data from the 1979–1985 Longitudinal Mortality Study, we examine the effects of marital status and social isolation on adult male homicide (ICD-9 Codes E960-E978). Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to a 1979–1981 population cohort of approximately 200,000 adult men and their mortality experiences were followed until 1984–1985. Multivariate hazards regression analysis showed that marital status and social isolation are associated with significantly higher risks of homicide victimization. Controlling for age and other socioeconomic covariates, single persons were 1.9 times, and divorced, separated or widowed persons were 1.7 times, more likely to die from homicide than married persons. Socially isolated persons were 1.6 times more likely to become homicide victims. Other adult males with increased risk of homicide victimization were African Americans and those who lived in the inner city.     

平安建设的价值理论和原则

当前,对平安建设的价值,学界和政界均有不同考量,这与社会转型时期新事物、新现象的纷至沓来是密切相关的。但是,这并不妨碍我们在复杂的社会现象中,抽出平安建设过程中一些较为客观的价值和原则作些探索;而其核心在于,平安建设既是现实社会问题的中式治理工具,也是构建未来和谐社会不可或缺的系统工程之重要部分。     

The mourning process and “living with the dead”: Two case reports and a review of the literature

The discovery of mummified bodies in domestic settings is not unusual in the medico‐legal context. It is often a marker of social isolation, even in our urban modern society, and usually occurs among elderly people living alone or in precarious conditions. However, bereaved subjects can sometimes be found managing their grief by deliberately keeping the corpses of their loved ones at home. Investigation of these atypical cases can be challenging and often requires a multidisciplinary effort by different forensic specialists. We report two cases of people who lived for several months with the mummified remains of a relative. In both cases, the judge ordered a forensic psychiatry assessment of the survivors’ competency and the reasons for this peculiar behavior, which is regarded as abnormal in our society. Case 1 describes a shared psychosis, which developed out of a condition of extreme seclusion of the entire family. Case 2 shows that even a mild personality disorder on which a series of traumatic events operates can trigger psychotic decompensation, causing extreme denial of the reality of death. The analysis of these cases contributes to our knowledge of the scantly studied phenomenon of “Living with the Dead” and raises questions about the psychopathology behind it. It is useful to identify subjects who are more prone to developing this “deviant” behavior, in order to distinguish people with mental illness from those who merely want to profit from the death of a loved one.     

环境法学研究范式变革的基础与导向

环境法学研究范式的确立对环境法学理论体系的建构、指导环境问题的解决有重要的意义.当下"主客一体"的革命性范式,彰显了相关论者范式建构的自觉,并推动了环境法理论的多元化发展.但是,这种范式由于一定程度上忽视"人"的价值序位而遭遇同样的困境,以理论建构为重心同样忽视了对应对环境问题实践的有用性的追求.环境法学研究范式变革应以"以人为本"、协调发展为指导,在一定限度内完成向"实践导向"的转变.重建现代环境法学方法论应该从主体要求、价值观要求、技术要求及规范要求四个维度展开,社会工程哲学基础上的创新恰恰涵盖了这四个方面的规定性.因此我们的任务就是如何将社会工程的系统论哲学恰当地应用于环境法学研究范式的变革中.