Using the Referral Decision Scale to Screen Mentally Ill Jail Detainees: Validity and Implementation Issues

The prevalence of serious mental illnesses in jail populations is significantly greater than in the general population. Identifying individuals who warrant psychiatric evaluations is important and benefits correctional staff as well as detainees. One widely used screening instrument intended for this task is the Referral Decision Scale (RDS). This paper reviews the development and validation of the RDS. Using data from a multisite study which assessed postrelease outcomes for detainees with mental illness, various types of validity are addressed. The results confirm that the RDS has some inherent characteristics that seriously limit its practical application as a screening instrument for use by correctional staff.     

Internal strategies against corruption: Guidelines for preventing and combating corruption in police authorities

While corruption is not an entirely new phenomenon in Germany, the number of cases suggests that proactive measures should be taken to strengthen prevention and detection. This article proposes a number of measures which, used separately and in combination, aid prevention and detection. It then proposes a wider management approach to dealing with corruption which ranges from general to specific strategies and actions that are intended to prevent corruption, to design out the circumstances in which it may occur and to provide means of detecting areas of risk and vulnerability. The article particularly focuses on police organisations but has applied relevance to all public sector organisations. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Determination of group specific component phenotypes in dried bloodstains by immunofixation on cellulose acetate.

Group specific phenotypes in dried bloodstains can be rapidly and reliably determined by immunofixation on cellulose acetate membranes. Up to 16 samples, can be analyzed simultaneously in less than 60 min, and the cellulose acetate electrophoretogram is retained as a permanent record.