Factors related to suicide in New York state prisons

OBJECTIVE: Examine factors related to prison suicides to aid prevention. METHOD: Review the mental health records of all 76 suicides that occurred between 1993 and 2001 in New York State Department of Correctional Services (NYSDOCS) prisons that had some contact with mental health services during their incarceration. (This represented 84% of all NYSDOCS suicides.) Extract data from the psychological autopsies for a sample of 40 of these suicides. RESULTS: Of the suicide victims with some mental health contact, 95% had a substance abuse history, 70% displayed agitation or anxiety prior to the suicide, and 48% had a behavioral change. Common stressors preceding the suicide were inmate-to-inmate conflict (50%), recent disciplinary action (42%), fear (40%), physical illness (42%), and adverse information (65%) such as loss of good time or disruption of family/friendship relationships in the community. Forty-one percent had received a mental health service within 3 days of the suicide. Compared to the about 7200 inmates actively receiving mental health services in state prison, African-Americans and patients with a Major Mood (Bi-polar or Major Depression) were under-represented. Adjustment Disorder, Schizophrenia, and Personality Disorder diagnoses were over-represented. Suicide victims were more likely to have been incarcerated for a violent crime. CONCLUSION: Mental illness, anxiety/agitation, behavior change, stressors, history of substance abuse, and non-African-American were important risk factors.     

A comparison of adjustment methods to test the robustness of an STR DNA database comprised of 24 European populations

An aim of the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) is to produce a DNA database of second generation multiplex (SGM) STR profiles that is representative of the resident cosmopolitan populations. To achieve this, data were collected from 24 different populations. All of the data were combined to form one database of 5700 profiles from which allele proportions were calculated. The robustness of this combined European database was tested by estimating parameter d for every DNA profile, where d=log(10)(Pm(c)/Pm(E)) Pm(c) is the match probability of the profile calculated from its cognate database and Pm(E) is the match probability of the combined European database. Overall there was a small tendency for Pm(c)>Pm(E) primarily because of sampling bias. This bias was removed by the simple expediency of applying an adjustment factor to the calculation of Pm(E). These were selected from the Balding size bias correction, the Balding and Nichols Fst correction, a minimum allele proportion (between 0.01 and 0.02), an upper bound of a 95% confidence interval (CI) and a lower bound on the genotype match probability. It was demonstrated that a single European database is a feasible proposition. A combination of different adjustment methods can be used to ensure that the result is conservative relative to the cognate database, and their effect measured by parameter d.     

Public visibility and policy relevance: assessing the impact and influence of Canadian policy institutes

Abstract: Policy research institutes, or think-tanks, as journalists and scholars often label them, are attracting considerable exposure in the print and broadcast media. The Fraser Institute, the C.D. Howe Institute, and the Canadian Tax Foundation are among a handful of Canadian think-tanks whose studies are frequently referred to in the press. Yet, despite the increased public visibility of these and other think-tanks, few scholars have considered whether the most frequently cited think-tanks play an important role in other critical stages of the policy-making process. By measuring the relative visibility and policy relevance of a sizeable cross-section of the think-tank population in Canada, this paper demonstrates that not only do think-tanks wield different types of policy influence, but they elect to exercise it at different stages of the policy-making process. More specifically, think-tanks may share a common desire to shape and mould public opinion and public policy, but the priorities they assign to accessing particular stages of the policy cycle vary considerably. Sommaire: Les institute de recherche politique font I'objet de beaucoup d'attention de la part de la presse et des autres média. L'lnstitut Fraser, l'lnstitut C.D. Howe et I'Association canadienne d'études fiscales figurent parmi les quelques instituts dont les études sont souvent citées dans la presse. Malgré la visibilité publique de plus en plus grande de ces instituts, et d'autres encore, très peu d'académiciens se sont pourtant interrogés pour savoir si les instituts les plus souvent cités jouent un rôle important dans d'autres étapes critiques du processus de décision politique. En mesurant la visibilité relative et la pertinence politique d'un gros échantillon de la population d'instituts de ce genre au Canada, cet article démontre qu'en plus d'avoir des effets de types différents sur les politiques, ces instituts choisissent d'exercer leur influence à divers moments du processus de définition des politiques. Plus précisément, ces instituts partagent peut-être le désir commun de former et de moduler I'opinion publique et les politiques gouvernementales, mais la priorité qu'ils accordent aux étapes particulières du cycle d'élaboration des politiques varie de manière considérable.     

Taking lawyers’ ethics seriously

Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility R. Cranston (Ed.) Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1995

Legal Ethics and Legal Practice: Contemporary Issues S. Parker & S. Sampford (Eds.) Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1995     

Perpetrator Personality Effects on Post-Separation Victim Reactions in Abusive Relationships

Previous research has examined the influence of the abusive personality (Dutton, 1994a,b) on relationship dynamics. Men with high scores of abusive personality (borderline personality organization, anger and MCMI8: Negativity) generate more frequent and extreme forms of physical and emotional abuse in intimate relationships. Other lines of research have examined the role of these relationship features in influencing post-separation adjustment in women. The current study combines two data sets; one bearing on the first of these issues, the other on the second issue, in order to connect characteristics of the perpetrator's personality to post separation aspects of victim reaction. Substantial associations are found between abusive personality and relationship dynamics and between the latter and persistent attachment, trauma symptoms, and lowered self esteem in battered women.     

Implausible hypotheses in the directional theory of issue voting

Abstract Two implausible hypotheses implied by the directional theory of issue voting were tested using six Swedish national election studies, 1979–1994. The hypotheses that (a) centrists are indifferent toward parties, and that (b) people leaning slightly in one direction prefer an extremely intense party on the same side were not supported. However, alternative hypotheses from proximity theory were also not supported consistently. Self–placement on the left–right dimension and liking for a party form a logistic function. Party set and latitudes of acceptance, rejection, and noncommitment are concepts that may prove useful in understanding this relationship.     

Cutting the bars: thoughts on ‘prisoners and escapees’ in Bangladesh

The idea that problems in governance have deep roots in social structure has been revisited by Geof Wood in a recent article in this journal. His article takes a position in relation to an ongoing debate about how to improve public administration and management in Bangladesh, a debate that seems to be almost as ‘imprisoned’ in incompatible values and premises as, he argues, are the various Bangladeshi actors in society. But behind this debate are some very practical issues about how the administration there might be persuaded to work better. Key to his contribution is the idea of ‘room for manoeuvre’ or conditions for ‘escape’. This article argues that embedded institutions and values matter but that behaviour is also responsive to opportunity. ‘Old’ values can be put together into new institutional complexes if given a chance. The key to successful institutional change is effectiveness. ‘Escape’ is not only, or even primarily, a matter of changing values but of responding to circumstances and changing institutions—cutting the bars. A close look at institutional and organizational reform in any country, including the UK, shows that, whatever moral language and posture inform the reform agenda, it is constructive compromise that produces the structure that works. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Environmental lobbying and political posturing: the role of environmental groups in Ontario's debate over NAFTA

Abstract: This paper examines the involvement of Ontario-based environmental organizations in the debate over NAFTA and their relationship with various ministries at Queen's Park responsible for developing policy on the agreement. More specifically, this study seeks to explain why and how the Ontario government relied on a select group of environmental organizations to advance its anti-NAFTA campaign. The paper concludes by arguing that while a handful of environmental organizations played an important role in increasing public awareness about the potential environmental implications of NAFTA, these organizations also served as effective vehicles for conveying Ontario's opposition to the agreement. Sommaire: Dans cet article, nous examinons la participation des organismes environ-nementaux de I'Ontario au dkbat concernant l'ALENA ainsi que leur rapport avec divers ministères ontariens chargés d'élaborer les politiques relatives à cet accord. Plus particulièrement, cette étude cherche à expliquer pourquoi et comment le gouvernement de l'Ontario a utilisé divers organismes environnementaux dans sa campagne anti-ALENA. L'article conclut que, si certains organismes environnementaux ont joué un rôle important dans la sensibilisation du public au sujet des répercussions environnementales potentielles de l'ALENA, ils ont aussi, par contre, véhiculé l'opposition de l'Ontario à cet accord.