Psycholegal Assessment of Co-occurring Chronic Pain and Schizophrenia Post-MVC: Analysis of Causation Using Two Case Examples

The key aspect of any psycholegal assessment is the analysis of causation, which requires consideration of important legal constructs such as the but for test, material contribution test, thin skull, and crumbling skull. An analysis of causation can be especially helpful in determining overall liability when evaluating the impact of two major co-occurring conditions. This paper focuses on the utility of conducting an analysis of causation using two case examples in which chronic pain and schizophrenia co-occurred following a motor vehicle collision (MVC). Collision-related injuries often lead to the development of chronic pain and could result in permanent and serious impairment and disability. Schizophrenia is a rare psychological occurrence in the collision context and is associated with its own unique and overwhelming physical, psychological, and cognitive challenges. In the psycholegal context, evaluating the impact of two major co-occurring conditions can be problematic and lead to conceptual challenges. In the two cases presented, some assessors attributed nearly all post-collision changes to schizophrenia as if it were pre-existing or in a latent state and failed to assess or even consider the contribution of MVC-related sequelae to the onset of schizophrenia. As part of addressing these conceptual challenges, we present a model of psycholegal assessment that takes into account the pre-, peri- and post-MVC variables that best explain the occurrence of these two conditions. The model also allows the assessor to determine the current and future needs of injured persons, the permanent physical, psychological, and cognitive sequelae that impact quality of life and/or work, and prognosis for the near and distant future.     

The case for a victimology of nonhuman animal harms

For the last twenty years ‘victimology’, the study of crime victims and victimisation has developed markedly. Like its ‘parent’ discipline of criminology, however, very little work has been done in this field around the notion of environmental victimisation. Like criminology itself, victimology has been almost exclusively anthropocentric in its outlook and indeed even more recent discussions of environmental victims – prompted by the development of green criminology – have failed to consider in any depth the victimisation of nonhuman animals. In this paper, we examine the shortfall in provision for and discussions of nonhuman animal victims with reference to Christie’s notion of the ‘ideal victim’ and Boutellier’s concept of the ‘victimalization of morality’. We argue that as victimology has increasingly embraced concepts of victimisation based on ‘social harms’ rather than strict legalistic categorises, its rejection of nonhuman victims from the ambit of study is no longer conceptually or philosophically justified.     

Using typologies of victimization worry to create strategies for reducing fear of crime

The purpose of this paper is to develop actionable strategies designed for law enforcement agencies seeking to reduce fear of crime among those living within their jurisdictions. A conjunctive analysis of case configurations is conducted on data collected from residents living in southeast Queensland (Australia) (N = 713) in order to identify context-specific typologies of victimization worry. Main effects for each component of the typologies are examined in order to identify the impact each has on reducing negative attitudes towards crime. Current findings suggest that agencies will likely reduce fear of crime among community residents the most by focusing on decreasing concerns related to the consequences of victimization. Results are consistent for both crimes against persons and property offenses.     

An ethics ensemble: abortion, Thomson, Finnis and the case of the violin-player

Abstract.  This paper considers approaches to the ethics of abortion and putative links to "rights" debates. In particular, it revisits two papers on the topic from the early 1970's, written by Judith Jarvis Thomson and John Finnis respectively. Consideration of the discourse produced by these papers to some extent reveals the strategic importance of linguistic and conceptual organisation—the rhetorical forces underlying claims to disinterested, analytical standing. In particular, the paper reviews the practical ethics analogy proposed by Thomson; the deployment of "Hohfeldian" rights analysis by John Finnis, the link to the abortion debate and the broader implications of such deployment in its relation to current "rights" discourse.     

A note on portraying the accuracy of violence predictions

We discuss two major reviews of the accuracy of dichotomous (yes/no) violence predictions (Monahan, 1981; Otto, 1992), which reported rates offalse positive errors that were calculated using conceptually and mathematically dissimilar methods. We outline potential problems that result from analyzing data in the form of 2×2 contingency tables and offer some recommendations for future research on the prediction of violence.     

Adolescents with Psychopathic Characteristics in a Substance Abusing Cohort: Treatment Process and Outcomes

Psychopathy is a condition with important consequences both for individuals who experience it and for the communities in which they live. Although the assessment of psychopathy among adolescents remains controversial, some evidence suggests that the affective and behavioral traits of adult psychopathy begin to emerge in childhood (B. B. Lahey & A. Kazdin, 1990) and continue across the lifespan (A. E. Forth, S. D. Hart, & R. D. Hare, 1990). The present study used the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV; A. E. Forth, S. D. Kosson, & R. D. Hare, in press) to retrospectively assess psychopathic characteristics, treatment process, and outcomes of 64 individuals referred for treatment to a substance abuse program for adjudicated adolescents. This study focused on the relationship between psychopathic characteristics and treatment process and outcome variables, including attrition rates, quality of participation, substance use throughout treatment, clinical improvement, and 12-month recidivism rates. Psychopathic characteristics were negatively related to treatment process and outcome variables, including attrition, participation, substance use, and clinical improvement. Psychopathic characteristics were positively related to the number of arrests in the 12 months following treatment completion. Implications for treatment and future research with adolescents displaying psychopathic characteristics are discussed.