Alleged brain damage, diminished capacity, mens rea, and misuse of medical concepts.

As focus on the insanity defense diminishes, defendants may place emphasis on a lack of knowing or purposeful behavior in order to negate a criminal charge. This use of a mens rea defense in accord with Model Penal Code principles is exemplified by the current New Jersey statute. Such a defense may result in a lesser charge or a finding of not guilty. In addition to reviewing applicable law, this report presents a sex offense case in which remote brain damage was invoked as a purported basis for incapacity to formulate the required intent; the study also raises the issue of the inappropriate or questionable use of medical principles, a practice that diminishes professional credibility in the courts and in the community.     

Medication noncompliance in schizophrenia: codification and update

Risk of relapse and recidivism makes the failure to take antipsychotic medication as prescribed a significant issue in forensic psychiatry. This question may arise in such contexts as the setting of bail, plea bargaining, the insanity defense, and sentencing. We have reviewed the literature on medication noncompliance in schizophrenia and present here the results, organized by topics relevant for the work of forensic mental health experts. Reported rates of noncompliance vary widely, reflecting major differences in the populations studied and the methods used as well as the complexities involved in defining noncompliant behavior. A noncompliance rate of 50 percent has been attributed globally to chronic patients, both medical and psychiatric. The tendency of significant factors to interact precludes a simple typology of noncompliance. However, environmental security and supportiveness correlate positively with adherence; whereas anxiety, paranoia, grandiosity, depression, and side effects correlate negatively. Clinicians' assessments of whether medication is being taken have proven to be unreliable. Although monitoring by chemical measurement, particularly a radioreceptor assay for urine samples, can be useful, depot injection ensures that prescribed medication is being taken. Less invasive means of promoting compliance are described; psychodynamic and ethical issues to be considered in the monitoring and promotion of compliance over extended time periods are presented. We also probe the link between medication noncompliance and behavioral relapse. The time between default and relapse is most often measured in weeks. Whether due to medication withdrawal or not, the relapse pattern of each individual tends to repeat, allowing its recognition before recidivism occurs. Restarting medication at this stage, especially with a dosage increase, is usually effective. In sum, the forensic mental health expert can now readily use a large and diverse literature to assist with a variety of significant issues.     

The ineffective police leader: Acts of commission and omission

The consequences of ineffective leaders and leadership practices, both in policing and in other occupational contexts, are well-established. Though ineffective leadership is often lamented, it has been subjected to limited scholarly inquiry. This study seeks to understand the traits and habits a group of police supervisors perceived in leaders they characterized as ineffective. Mid-career police supervisors attending the FBI National Academy completed open-ended surveys assessing their experiences with and perceptions of a variety of leadership matters. Based upon a consensus approach, the findings provide a framework to link negative leadership traits with individual and organizational outcomes. Respondents identified a number of traits and habits that were common among the ineffective police leaders participants had observed. In particular, five acts of commission (focus on self over others, ego/arrogance, closed mindedness, micromanagement, and capriciousness) and five acts of omission (poor work ethic, failure to act, ineffective communication, lack of interpersonal skills, and lack of integrity) emerged as recurrent themes in the survey responses.     

Approaches to Gender and the Law: Research and Applications

Three paradigms for gender research are reviewed, illustrated by examples from employment discrimination law to highlight issues in research on gender and the law. Next, an agenda for research on gender, social science, and the law is outlined, and the five articles in this special issue are reviewed in terms of that agenda. Finally, research ideas for the future and practical applications of the research presented in the five articles are considered, specifically, the use of the reasonable woman standard and expert testimony in sexual harassment cases, and the influence of sex roles and sex stereotypes in producing gender effects.     

国际法的哲学之维:内涵、功能与路径

国际法哲学是国际法学和法哲学的新兴领域,在这一初级阶段,应当采取积极鼓励和多元发展、大胆尝试、积极讨论的态度。由于国际法本身不成体系,以及国际法历史发展的轨迹,国际法对于法哲学的需求更大。国际法哲学的探索有利于引领国际法的理论化进程,解决国际法实践中的困惑,促动国际法学与部门法学的沟通,推进法理学的全面均衡发展。国际法哲学所包含的内容可以从不同角度和广度进行分析,其研讨路径包括超越分析法学而拓展法哲学的各种方法在国际法上的适用;构建国际法哲学的基本体系;以跨学科的视角进行国际法具体问题的研讨;并由此建构一般法哲学(法理学)。     

The Human Transplantation (Wales) Act 2013: an Act of Encouragement,not Enforcement

The Human Transplantation (Wales) Act became law in Wales in September 2013. The Act aims to increase deceased donor organ and tissue donation in Wales by introducing a ‘soft opt‐out’ system to replace the previous requirement of express ‘appropriate’ consent under the Human Tissue Act 2004. Adults dying in Wales (with certain exceptions) will be ‘deemed’ to consent to donation, unless evidence of their objection is produced, and a duty is imposed on Ministers to promote transplantation and inform the public through awareness campaigns about how to choose the deemed status or opt out. Although a welcome development, these campaigns may obscure the effects of deemed consent, especially in the context of generally rising UK donation rates. There may also be problems of legal interpretation and of integration with the ‘opt‐in’ laws in the rest of the UK. In the absence of any statutory duty to retrieve all lawfully donated organs, the apparently restricted influence of donor relatives is likely to remain effectively dominant.     

Woman's Right to Know Act: a legislative history

This article provides a comprehensive legislative history of North Carolina's Woman's Right to Know Act of 2011. The Act requires informed consent and a mandatory twenty-four hour waiting period for abortion, thus protecting a woman's right to make an informed choice. Informed consent provisions and mandatory waiting periods give individuals making decisions the information and time necessary to make informed choices. The Act further provides that an ultrasound be performed and explained no less than four hours and no more than seventy-two hours before the abortion. The article first provides a brief overview of sources of legislative history recognized in North Carolina. It then details the history of the Woman's Right to Know Act, from the first informed consent bill introduced in 1981, to the passage of the 201l law, and to the federal court case that followed. Finally it provides specific objections that were raised against the bill and responses to each. Legislators considering similar legislation need to be aware of the opposition they inevitably will encounter when passing such a bill. The author expects that this history and the ultimate success of North Carolina will encourage other states' legislators and lawyers and give them the tools to make their case effectively.