Characteristics and offences of women with borderline personality disorder in forensic psychiatry: a multicentre study

Although female forensic patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are generally considered taxing in clinical practice, little is known about their specific characteristics or offences. In this study, 156 female forensic psychiatric patients diagnosed with BPD were compared to 113 diagnosed otherwise. Information on demographic and psychiatric characteristics, victimization, index offences, and incidents during treatment was gathered from patient files. Risk factors for recidivism were assessed using the PCL-R and historical items of the HCR-20, including items from the new Female Additional Manual (FAM). Compared to non-BPD women, BPD women were more likely to have been abused as children and to have a history of outpatient treatment. While less likely to be convicted for (attempted) homicide, a higher percentage of BPD women was convicted for arson. Comorbid substance abuse was more frequent in the BPD group and incidents towards others and themselves were more violent in nature. The PCL-R and the H-scale of the HCR-20/FAM indicated several risk factors especially important for BPD women, such as poor behavioural control, impulsivity, and irresponsibility. The results support the clinical impression that women diagnosed with BPD are a subgroup within the female forensic psychiatric population, with specific focus points for treatment and management.     

Feature reviews

Portraits of Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro: Nothing Can Stop the Course of History. Edited by Jeffrey M Elliott and Mervyn M Dymally. New York: Pathfinder Press. 1986. 258pp. £5.75pb

Fidel and Religion: Castro Talks on Revolution and Religion with Frei Betto. Frei Betto. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1987. 314pp. $19.95hb

Fidel: A Critical Portrait. Tad Szulc. London: Century Hutchinson. 1987. 585pp. £14.95hb. New York: William Morrow. 1986. 703pp. $19.95hb

Castro. Peter Bourne. London: Macmillan. 1986. 332pp. £14.95hb

Kwame Nkrumah and African liberation

The Closest of Enemies: A Personal and Diplomatic History of the Castro Years. Wayne S Smith. New York: W W Norton. 1987. 308pp. $19.95hb

The Rise and Fall of Kwame Nkrumah: A Study of Personal Rule in Africa. Henry L Bretton. London: Pall Mall Press. 1967. 232pp. n/p

Black Star: A View of the Life and Times of Kwame Nkrumah. Basil Davidson. London: Allen Lane. 1973. 225pp. n/p

Ghana's First Republic 1960–1966. Trevor Jones. London: Methuen. 1976. 366pp. £3.95pb

The likelihood of coups.

The Likelihood of Coups. Rosemary H T O'Kane. Aldershot, England: Avebury. 1987. 162pp. £18.50hb

The Iran‐Contra Affair

The Iran‐Contra Connection: Secret Teams and Covert Operations in the Reagan Era. Jonathan Marshall, Peter Dale Scott and Jane Hunter. Boston, Massachusetts: South End Press. 1987. 313pp. $11.00pb

The Tower Commission Report: The Full Text of the President's Special Review Board. John Tower, Edmund Muskie and Brent Scowcroft. New York: Bantam Books and Times Books (distributed in the UK by. Transworld). 1987. 550pp. £4.95pb

Perspectives on terrorism

Terrorism, Ideology and Revolution: The Origins of Modern Political Violence. Edited by Noel O'Sullivan. Brighton, England: Harvester. 1986. 224pp. n/p

Terrorism and the Liberal State. Paul Wilkinson. London: Macmillan Educational. 1986. 322pp. £20.00hb/£7.95pb

Terrorism: How the West Can Win. Edited by Benjamin Netanyahu. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson. 1986. 239pp. £14.95hb

Terrorism and International Order. Lawrence Freedman, Christopher Hill, Adam Roberts, RJ Vincent, Paul Wilkinson and Philip Windsor. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul for Royal Institute for International Affairs. 1986. 111pp. £5.95pb

Holy Terror: The Inside Story of Islamic Terrorism. Amir Taheri. London: Century Hutchinson. 1987. 301pp. £12.95hb

Invisible Annies: Terrorism into the 1990s. Stephan Segaller. London: Michael Joseph. 1986. 311pp. £15.95hb

Food, famine and future prospects for Africa

World Hunger: Twelve Myths. Frances Moore Lappé and J Collins. New York: Grove Press for Food First. 1986. 208pp. $7.95pb

World Recession and the Food Crisis in Africa. Edited by Peter Lawrence. London: James Currey/African Review of Political Economy. 1986. 314pp. £25.00hb/£9.95pb

Food in Sub‐Saharan Africa. Edited by Art Hansen and Delia E McMillan London: Frances Pinter. 1986. 410pp. £30.00hb

Drought and Aid in the Sahel: A Decade of Development Cooperation. Carolyn M Somerville. Boulder, Colorado: Westview. 1986. 306pp. n/p

Rural Vulnerability to Famine in Ethiopia, 1958–77. Mesfin Wolde Mariam. London: Intermediate Technology Publications. 1986. 191pp. £7.95pb

The Ethiopian Famine. Kurt Jansson, Michael Harris and Angela Penrose London: Zed. 1987. 196pp. £25.95hb/£6.95pb

South African history

South Africa: A Modern History. T R H Davenport. London: Macmillan. 1987 (third edition). 692pp. £45.00hb/£16.95pb.

History of Southern Africa. J D Omer‐Cooper. London: James Currey. 1987. 298pp. £25.00hb/£9.95pb

Hidden Struggles in Rural South Africa: Politics and Popular Movements in the Transkei and Eastern Cape 1890–1930. William Beinart and Colin Bundy. London: James Currey. 1987. 326pp. £25.00hb/£9.95pb

Rural Transformations in Industrialising South Africa: The Southern Highveld to 1914. Timothy J Keegan. London: Macmillan. 1987. 302pp. £29.50hb

Our common environmental future

Environment and Development. Peter Bartelmus. London: Allen and Unwin, 1986. 96pp. £5.95pb

Our Common Future. The World Commission on Environment and Development Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1987. 383pp. £5.95pb

Learning from China? Development and Environment in Third World Countries. Edited by Bernhard Glaeser. London: Allen and Unwin. 1987. 282pp. £30.00hb     

Gender differences in violent offending: results from a multicentre comparison study in Dutch forensic psychiatry

ABSTRACT

The past two decades, a disproportionate growth of females entering the criminal justice system and forensic mental health services has been observed worldwide. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the background of women who are convicted for violent offenses. What is their criminal history, what are their motives for offending and in which way do they differ from men convicted for violent offenses? In this study, criminal histories and the offenses for which they were admitted to forensic care were analyzed of 218 women and 218 men who have been treated between 1984 and 2014 with a mandatory treatment order in one of four Dutch forensic psychiatric settings admitting both men and women. It is concluded that there are important differences in violent offending between male and female patients. Most importantly, female violence was more often directed towards their close environment, like their children, and driven by relational frustration. Furthermore, female patients received lower punishments compared to male patients and were more often considered to be diminished accountable for their offenses due to a mental illness.     

Costa Rica's biodiversity law: Sharing the process 1

Abstract

This article assesses the prospects for Costa Rica's new Biodiversity Law. We believe that this analysis could also provide a valuable case study of national implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The article is not intended to be a primer on the CBD, nor will it defend its precepts. The authors believe that each nation must formulate a legal framework to regulate biodiversity that reflects their unique national circumstances.     

Ethno-nationalism in process: ethnicity,atavism and indigenism in Riau,Indonesia

Fifty-five years ago the Republic of Indonesia was founded on the motto Bhinneka tunggal ika (unity in diversity). Today unity has all but disintegrated as separatism and ethnic conflict tear at the nation's political and social fabric. This paper explores the historical foundations of ethno-nationalism with reference to the perspectives of Riau Malays. It argues that current conflict is not the result of recent phenomena, as is so often reported in the media, but is the surfacing of fault-lines that have long lain beneath the seemingly unified nation-state. Since 1945 and the declaration of Indonesian independence, unity has been achieved by Jakarta's imposition of order on the periphery. By analysing the relationship between the centre and periphery through the eyes of Riau Malays, a much clearer account of power emerges. This paper briefly highlights Riau accounts of the struggle for independence (1945–65), shows how atavism and indigenism have been symbolically and ritually realized on the ground (1965–97) and examines some key developments in Riau after the fall of Suharto (1997–2001). Despite recent changes, the politics of diverse peripheries have become localized, indigenized and fragmented, and alternatives to a Jakarta-centred vision for Indonesia's future are as marginalized as ever.     

Law, Space, and Place: Reframing Comparative Law and Legal Anthropology

In her book Mapping Marriage Law in Spanish Gitano Communities (2006) , Susan Drummond challenges the disciplinary perspectives of comparative law and legal anthropology in her study of Gitano marriage practices. By reframing the way in which the "local" or "locale" is viewed—through an ethnographic study of Gitanos—she displaces the traditional boundaries ascribed to comparative law, with its focus on taxonomy and structure, and with legal anthropology's approach to culture. Her study not only elucidates how national and transnational law intersect, but highlights the complex interconnections between local law and the larger systems of law that attempt to regulate it. This detailed interdisciplinary depiction of the spatial and temporal dimensions of law demonstrates the importance of taking account of scale, projection, and representation that requires both comparative law and legal anthropology to rethink the nature of space and place and their relationship with law from both their macro- and microperspectives.