Interprofessional and interagency training for working with young people with harmful sexual behaviours: An evaluation of outcomes

Abstract

This study evaluates the outcomes of short interagency training courses provided by six Local Safeguarding Children Boards in England. The aim was to develop practical skills in recognising and responding to the needs of children with harmful sexual behaviour in an interagency context. The courses all employed interactive learning and teaching methods as well as presentations of case studies, research findings and statutory guidance. Professionals (n=147) from a range of agencies participated in the evaluation. Their attitudes, knowledge and self-confidence were assessed using a specially designed 20-item self-report scale. Scores at registration 6 weeks in advance and at the start and end of the course were compared in a double-baseline, time–series design. There was strong evidence of overall improvements in scores on most of the scale items, which are attributable to the course. However, concerns are also raised about the small numbers of criminal justice professionals participating compared to child welfare professionals.     

A National Survey of Mental Health Services Available to Offenders with Mental Illness: Who Is Doing What?

The purpose of this study was to examine the national practices of psychotherapy services for male offenders with mental illness (OMI) in state correctional facilities. Participants consisted of 230 correctional mental health service providers from 165 state correctional facilities. Results indicated that mental health professionals provided a variety of services to OMI that can be conceptualized by six goals considered important in their work: mental illness recovery, emotions management, institutional functioning, re-entry, risk-need, and personal growth. Mental health professionals in this study generally viewed mental illness recovery, institutional functioning, and personal growth as significantly more important and spent more time focused on these goals than emotions management, re-entry, and risk-need. Mental health professionals tended to believe the services they provided were effective across four key treatment foci including mental illness, skill development, behavioral functioning, and criminogenic needs with more progress perceived in areas related to mental illness and skill development than their ability to effectively change behavioral functioning. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

Psychological resilience of Western Australian police officers: relationship between resilience,coping style,psychological functioning and demographics

This study examines the relationships between resilience, coping style, psychological functioning and the demographic variables of gender, age, rank and length of service in a sample of 285 Western Australian Police officers. Regression analysis indicated that resilience was predicted by greater use of rational coping and less use of emotional coping, but not psychological functioning. Increased age, rank and length of service were all correlated with significantly lower resilience scores. Significant differences in coping styles were found for all demographic variables. Implications of these findings and recommendations for future research are discussed.     

强制医疗保障性制度的困境与出路

强制医疗的制度体系在精神病鉴定、保护性约束、法律监督、案件审理、判决执行等诸多环节存在问题。精神病鉴定制度存在鉴定启动权的官方垄断、鉴定人责任不够明确、鉴定人中立性存疑、鉴定羁押制度缺失等问题;临时约束性保护措施存在"临时措施"名不副实、缺乏程序正义的公正外观、滥用措施缺乏法律责任、适用标准相对较低等问题;法律监督缺乏针对性的制度与合理的奖惩机制;辩护权保障不足,法律援助生成较晚;法院审理程序与普通案件审理程序有重大差异;法院强制医疗的决定缺乏有效执行的保障。困境成因是多元的、复杂的,既有主观上认识能力、价值取向、部门利益等因素,也有客观上精神病复杂性、资源稀缺、法治环境欠佳等限制。国家只有真正重视精神病人的权利保护,提供制度的物质基础,投入大量资源才有条件健全各项制度,从而保障强制医疗制度的有效运行。     

论行政强制执行的法律救济

行政强制执行,作为行政强制的一方面,关系到行政相对人的人身、财产等重要权利。在强调法治和人权的今天,这些属于公民的重要权利越来越受到统治者的重视。同时,行政权存在被滥用的危险,行政强制执行中也可能出现不法或不当情形。因此,法律应当对行政强制执行进行有效控制,从而维护公民合法权益。为实现此目的,法律应运用多种调整方法,法律救济就是其中的重要部分。在很多行政法治国家,行政强制执行的法律救济制度都比较完善,并各具特色。对于国外的一些成功经验,我国应当在立法过程中予以关注和参考。鉴于我国目前的法律救济制度存在某些方面的问题和不足,提出相关的立法构想。     

强制医疗程序的实施与反思

＂强制医疗程序＂的＂社会防卫功能＂,不仅受到限制刑事责任能力精神病人和接受过治疗精神病人社会危害性的抑制,还会因＂被精神病＂现象而打折扣。破解此困境需从三方面入手：一是参照《精神卫生法》,将涉嫌犯罪的限制刑事责任能力精神病人,纳入＂非自愿性住院治疗＂范围;二是增加精神病治疗资源投入,强化＂强制医疗＂适用与解除的风险防范意识;三是堵塞《精神卫生法》中＂非自愿性住院治疗＂的漏洞,防止其成为＂被精神病＂新生代的寄生区。     

Compulsory Licensing in Canada and Thailand: Comparing Regimes to Ensure Legitimate Use of the WTO Rules

This paper examines two recent examples of compulsory licensing legislation: one globally embraced regime and one internationally controversial regime operating under the same WTO rules. In particular, we consider Canadian legislation and the use of compulsory licensing for HIV/AIDS drugs destined for a developing country. This is then contrasted with the conditions under which Thai authorities are pursuing compulsory licenses, the outcomes of their compulsory licenses, as well as the likely impact of the Thai policy. Finally, we construct a rubric to evaluate characteristics of a successful regime. This is used to analyze the Canadian and Thai regimes and frame the expected implications of each national policy. It is hoped that the assessment will guide changes to compulsory licensing design to ensure that legitimate regimes are embraced while illegitimate ones are disallowed.     

Organizational structures of Knowledge Transfer Offices: an analysis of the world’s top-ranked universities

Universities are central actors in the production and delivery of new knowledge, and they play a unique role in National and Regional Innovation Systems. Almost all research universities have established Knowledge Transfer Offices (KTOs) to pursue their so-called ‘third mission’. This paper analyses the organizational structure of KTOs by discussing how universities organize their knowledge transfer activities, and by considering what factors may impact on the choice of specific organizational structures. We examine the KTO structures of the top 200 ranked universities in the world and highlight the presence of three knowledge transfer organizational models (internal, external, and mix) and six configurations of these models.     

Reporting health care professionals to state licensing boards--VA. Final rule

It continues to be the policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to report to State Licensing Boards any separated physician, dentist, or other licensed health care professional whose clinical practice so significantly failed to meet generally accepted standards of clinical practice as to raise reasonable concern for the safety of patients. This document provides that, in addition, VA will report to State Licensing Boards any currently employed physician, dentist, or other licensed health care professional (one who is on VA rolls) whose clinical practice so significantly failed to meet generally accepted standards of clinical practice during VA employment as to raise reasonable concern for the safety of patients. Some health care professionals who are VA employees also provide health care outside VA's jurisdiction. Accordingly, the reporting of currently employed licensed health care professionals who meet the standard for reporting is necessary so that State Licensing Boards can take action as appropriate to protect the public. Examples of actions that meet the criteria for reporting are set forth in the text portion of this rulemaking. Also, nonsubstantive changes are made for purposes of clarity.     

A potential young murderer.

Longitudinal study of six people who committed homicides or exhibited a potential for homicidal behavior was undertaken over a period of ten years. The data were obtained through psychiatric interviews, psychological testing, and examination of all available records. The material thus obtained was analyzed from the psychoanalytic point of view. Three specific points were identified as being common and applicable to a lesser or greater degree in all six cases studied. First, as children each of these six people suffered actual physical abuse perpetrated by their parents. Second, they actually saw during childhood violent and destructive behavior by their parents. Third, the sequelae of such exposure to violence interfered with the phase specific resolution of the basic conflicts of childhood, specifically Oedipus complex. These traumata of violence set up a predisposition for regression to the preoedipal levels of psychic organization and functioning. From the structural point of view, ego functions of impulse control were lacking due to profound states of regression whenever these patients experienced extreme anger, which in turn would precipitate homicidal behavior. None of the patients had childhood history of pyromania, enuresis, nor cruelty to animals. On the basis of the aforegoing material, one may conclude that in some instances it is possible to establish "homicidal proneness" as a clinical entity. Homicidal proneness can be anticipated in people who as children suffered from physical and emotional abuse, witnessed violence, and were sexually traumatized through incestuous experiences or their equivalents.     

MP Transparency,Communication Links and Social Media: A Comparative Assessment of 184 Parliamentary Websites

Parliamentary websites (PWs) can potentially enhance the quality of government by providing information and communication links that stimulate political awareness, deliberation and participation. This article focuses on two particular uses of PWs that can facilitate communication between constituents and their Members of Parliament: provision of MP contact and background information; and links to social media. Through a seminal empirical examination of all 184 functioning lower house and unicameral PWs around the world, this study found that although PWs in wealthy democracies generally provide more MP information, the majority of PWs are deficient in providing basic MP information to citizens and utilizing linkages to social media. By contrast, some non-democratic states and newly democratized countries, especially those with compulsory voting, display a relatively high level of MP transparency and social media connectivity.     

The role of the forensic pathologist in the investigation of fatal traffic accidents — The Finnish system

In Finland about one-half of the fatal traffic accidents are investigated by special Boards of Inquiry. The cumulating data serves multidisciplinary sciences, juridical and insurance purposes and legislation. The participating physicians benefit from the systematic work of the Boards in many ways. As an example of the results a list of causes of accidents is shown.     

Either or? Reconciling Findings on Mental Health and Extremism using a Dimensional Rather than Categorical Paradigm

The background for this paper is the debate over what role mental illness plays in radicalization to violent extremism. While one camp points to cases of abnormal functioning of perpetrators, another argues that normal psychological mechanisms are central. Through a review of these perspectives, it becomes clear that mental illness cannot be ruled out as an epi‐phenomenon, but is not a necessary condition either. The paper draws on work in psychiatric nosology on dimensional and categorical conceptions of illness and argues that the perspectives in this literature reflect a categorical approach to normal and abnormal functioning. Under a dimensional perspective, findings converge. The paper concludes by showing how this new dimensional approach to the role of mental illness in radicalization has implications for the design of risk assessment tools and leads to the recommendation for stronger inter‐agency cooperation between mental health professionals, social services, and police and intelligence services.     

The descriptive epidemiology of unnatural deaths in Oregon's state institutions: a 25-year (1963-1987) study. II. Analysis of the incidence rate and its many variations.

We have analyzed suicide data of the Forensic Psychiatric Program of the Oregon State Hospital in terms of the various ways of expressing occurrence rates that are found in the literature. All of these rates are ultimately based upon either (a) the average daily population, computed from occupancy rates of institutional beds, or (b) a measure of the total number of individuals at risk (that is, all who were in the study population during the time frame of the study). We discuss reasons for the use of these different rates. We have also calculated the risk of suicide for each of two factors: (a) the primary psychiatric diagnosis and (b) the type of legal commitment under which these patients were admitted to the Forensic Psychiatric Program. We discovered that virtually the entire risk of suicide in this program was borne by patients whose primary diagnosis was that of chronic schizophrenia and who were committed there because of diminished criminal responsibility for a crime of which they were found guilty in a court of law.     

论信赖利益损害的民法救济

损害赔偿作为公认的信赖利益损害的主要救济手段,在理解其构成要件时应注意:首先应考虑信赖关系是否存在,其次要求责任承担者须有主观过错,第三不必要求受害人完全善意。在理解赔偿计算的问题上,可以对信赖利益损害给予超出履行利益的赔偿,同时应当承认信赖利益中的非财产损害事实,并予以相应赔偿。在对强制缔约理论适当改造的前提下,可以应用强制缔约措施以救济信赖利益损害。     

Legal duties of psychiatric patients

Psychiatric practice involves an implied contract in which each party fulfills a specialized role and incurs corresponding duties and obligations to be discharged as best able. Patients incur duties at three levels. First are specific duties that arise from patients' specialized role in their own health care: (1) to provide accurate and complete information, and (2) to cooperate with treatment within the bounds of informed consent. Second are general duties that apply to all citizens, but are especially relevant within the mental health context: (1) to respect the physical integrity of self, others, and property, and (2) to obey the law. The controversial "duty to protect" is at a third level, a transcendent duty that is specific to the context at hand, but in principle can apply to more than one party. Advantages of enforcing patients' duties include better care by treating professionals, optimum level of functioning of patients, and improved systems-wide morale and safety. Breach of patients' duty has many potential consequences in the forensic sphere: termination of care, malpractice defense, criminal prosecution, and tort liability. Complicating factors include the degree and effect of patients' psychiatric impairment, patients' legal status, and the role played by psychotherapeutic transference.     

Occupational workplace and traffic fatalities in Alsace, France (2000–2005): Results of toxicological investigations

France ranks as leader country in Europe for the consumption of cannabis as well as of psychoactive medications. Whereas the relationship between psychotropics and road accidents is now well-established, few data are still available on the influence of drugs on occupational accidents. The purpose of the present study was to measure the prevalence of psychoactive drug intake (alcohol excepted) among victims of occupational fatalities (including workplace accidents + traffic accidents, i.e. on the way to and from work) occurred in the region Alsace over the period 2000–2005. Data were collected by compiling files on occupational accidents from two different public agencies (CRAM, Regional Sickness Fund Alsace-Moselle; DRTEFP, Regional Department of Work, Employment and Professional Training) together with those from the Medico-Legal Institute of Strasbourg over the period tested. Data analysis showed that 3% of the victims of workplace fatalities were under the influence of drugs (alcohol excluded) at the time of accident, as well as 5% of the victims of occupational traffic accidents. Our results also highlight a low rate of toxicological analyses, since these investigations were requested by the authorities in 41% of traffic victims and only 15% of workplace victims. In France, the relevance of psychoactive drug intake in occupational deaths is much better targeted in the case of traffic fatalities (due to the existence of specific regulations, e.g. compulsory urinalysis for drugs of abuse in drivers involved in a road accident) than in those occurred at workplace (no specific regulations).     

Mental Health Review Tribunals

This paper is concerned with the operation of the Mental Health Review Tribunal system and summarizes the findings of an empirical investigation of tribunal decision making. The tribunals constitute an independent body which reviews the necessity for the continued compulsory detention of patients in psychiatric hospitals. The research focuses on the interpretation and application of mental health legislation by individual tribunal members and the manner in which these individual approaches are qualified in the group context. The study comprises three stages: a self-report questionnaire, a national statistical analysis of decisions, and a simulation study of decision making using a videotape of a hypothetical case. The research establishes considerable inconsistency in tribunal decision making at both an individual and group level and attributes some of this inconsistency to individually based factors isolated by the research. The findings further indicate that these factors remain influential within the group decision-making context.     

WTO成员方认可《TRIPs协议修正案》的法经济学分析

与一般强制许可相比,《TRIPs协议修正案》下的强制许可,其生产成本更高。由于受到竞争、竞售药品、生产成本、风险、市场大小、药品捐赠等经济因素的影响,许多通用药品制造公司不愿意援引《修正案》及其所涉强制许可制度生产并且出口药品。多个经济因素的存在,都会影响到WTO成员方对《修正案》的认可。     

强制侦查的法律控制与司法审查

为了把强制侦查控制在合理的必要限度以内,法治国家普遍要求强制侦查必须贯彻比例原则、法定原则和司法审查原则,但我国的强制侦查在这几个方面都存在不同程度的问题;解决这些问题的基本思路应当是“以法限权”、“以权制权”和“公平救济”。其中,建立对强制侦查的司法审查制度,不仅仅是解决我国强制侦查实际存在的问题的重要对策,更是基于调整侦查权与审判权之间的相互关系、建立健全宪法权利的程序保障机制的战略需要;在合法性审查的范围内,建立强制侦查司法审查制度也是可行的。在具体设计强制侦查的司法审查制度时,既要体现刑事司法国际准则的基本要求,又要从我国实际情况出发,在司法审查的范围、内容、方式以及违法救济等方面做出适当的规定。