Actions taken in response to mental health screening at reception into prison

Screening for mental health problems on reception into custody has been criticised. However, there have been few studies on care pathways through custody as a result of screening identification. We aimed to identify what actions were taken as a result of screening positive for suicidal ideation and mental health problems. Case records for 2166 prisoners newly received into five prisons in England and documented contact with health care professionals in the following month were examined by hand over a four-month period. Altogether, 3% of prisoners were screened as having current suicidal ideas, of whom 30% had no contact with mental health services or risk assessment documentation. Another 21% of new receptions received psychotropic medication, for whom over 60% received no primary mental health assessment, and only 36% received psychotropic medication in prison. Care pathways need to be defined, and screening needs to be delivered as originally intended by initial screen for life-threatening matters, followed by a later, comprehensive assessment of health needs.     

Regulatory harmonization and agricultural biotechnology in Argentina and China: Critical assessment of state‐centered and decentered approaches

The international harmonization of technology‐related regulations seeks certain norms across diverse contexts. Harmonization efforts are based primarily on the promulgation of state‐centered command and control forms of regulation, though they may also be accompanied by the diffusion of more plural approaches that are decentered from the state. We contrast the ways in which the “proper” use of transgenic cotton seed technologies is understood in harmonizing regulations with the way this technology is used in practice in regions of Argentina and China. We find divergence that poses challenges for both state‐centered and decentered approaches to harmonization. While state‐centered approaches are blind to some critical processes on the ground, decentered strategies are found wanting in situations where norms remain deeply contested amongst actors situated in very uneven power relations. In both cases, we find that establishing and securing norms that are socially just and environmentally sustainable means attending much more explicitly to the political economies in which technological practices actually take root.