A profile of mentally disordered offenders admitted to inpatient psychiatric services in the United States

This research note presents data about mentally disordered offenders (MDOs) treated in inpatient psychiatric services. Data are derived from 1980 admission surveys by the Survey and Reports Branch, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). These data report for the first time inpatient services provided to MDOs by non-Federal general and private hospitals. A total of 31,773 MDOs were admitted, with 85% going to state and county mental hospitals. The largest group, including admissions for evaluation, was ISTs (58%), followed by mentally disordered prisoners (32%), NGRIs (8%), and MDSOs (3%). Women and whites tended to be overrepresented among MDOs as compared to prison and jail inmates. Clear diagnostic differences by legal status were found, with schizophrenia predominant among NGRIs (81%) and alcohol and drug abuse disorders more frequent among ISTs. Overall, state and county hospitals in both 1967 and 1980 were the primary locus of care for mentally disordered offenders.     

Book Reviews

Caring and Coping: A Guide to Social Services. By Anthony Douglas and Terry Philpot. Routledge, 1998. Pp.259. £14.99 pb.

The Personal Social Services: Clients, Consumers or Citizens? By Robert Adams. Longman, 1996. Pp.290. £13.99 pb.

Social Services: Working Under Pressure. Edited by Susan Balloch, John McLean and Mike Fisher (eds.). The Policy Press, 1999. Pp.216. £45 hb; £16.99 pb.

Managing State Social Work: Front‐line Management and the Labour Process Perspective. By John Harris. Ashgate, 1998. Pp.152. £32.50 hb.

Health Policy in Britain. By Christopher Ham. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 4th edn 1999. Pp.237. £16.99 pb.

Community Care: Policy and Practice. By Robin Means and Randall Smith. Macmillan, 2nd edn, 1998. Pp.285. £13.99 pb.

Community Care, Ideology and Social Policy. By Harry Cowen. Prentice Hall Europe, 1999. Pp.246. £13.95 pb.

Children and Social Welfare in Europe. By Keith Pringle. Open University Press, 1998. Pp.218. £45 hb; £14.99 pb.

The Politics of Old Age in Europe. Edited by Alan Walker and Gerhard Naegele. Open University Press, 1999. Pp.230. £50 hb; £16.99 pb.

Developments in European Social Policy: Convergence and Diversity. Edited by Rob Sykes and Pete Alcock. The Policy Press, 1988. Pp.318. £18.99 pb.     

Forecasting the Political Economy of the Inner Solar System

Social structural methods are applied to forecast the political economy of the inner solar system to the 22nd century. One method considers structural indicators, specifically, population, social organization, environment, and technology. Another method examines the Tongan diaspora as an analog of human expansion into space. This future political economy could emerge as a consequence of user strain on a global electrical power grid that develops by 2050. Alternative energy needs could turn to space-based sources. If on-orbit space-based energy infrastructure provides the rationale, capability, and allure to see humans routinely living and working in space, their presence on the Moon and among the near-Earth asteroids can lead to a human diaspora to Mars and its moons. These events will build the multi-planet economy, the multi-world system of societies, and the transnational state. The development of Mars will reach a maturity of settlement from 2130 onward. As these potential events become history, capital would be transformed, and higher-order space logistics in a multi-world system of societies with its multi-planet economy would lay the foundation for a Solar System Federation. This federation constitutes transnational states among off-world human societies that could fill the vacuum of a fading Westphalian nation-state system on Earth.     

Externalities in comparative guise

For those working with social science presumptions, ethical principles can seem to come out of nowhere. This paper wonders whether they operate like the positive externalities Callon wishes to derive from economists. In exploring the question, it is forced to consider different models of internal and external positioning. It does this through taking up two manifestations of the technological economy concerned with information management, following examples drawn from Callon's own work (competitive patenting and ethical deliberations on biotechnology).