Models of mental health service delivery to correctional institutions

The mentally disordered offender falls into the "no man's land" between prison and mental health systems. A number of reasons are given to explain why mental health service to this special group is in crisis again, and to lay the base for understanding the advantages and disadvantages of five different models of service delivery. The authors conclude by favoring small psychiatric units attached to major prisons.     

The effects of statutory change on the civil commitment of the mentally ill

Several states have revised their civil commitment statutes in recent years. A majority of the recent revisions reflect judicial directives to provide more explicit commitment criteria, but in some instances, criteria have been broadened in reaction to the difficulty of getting some individuals hospitalized under strict criteria. Such statutory changes have impacted considerably on both process and outcome of the civil commitment system. Adoption of explicit commitment criteria has resulted most visibly in substantial reduction of hospital admissions and census. The present study examines the impact of explicit changes in commitment criteria in Florida following the 1982 enactment of amendments to the Baker Act. A total of 80 commitment hearings are reviewed before and after the law took effect to determine procedural effects of the law on degree of defense counsel advocacy, client dispositions, and on the court's adherence to more explicit criteria. State hospital admissions, discharge, and census information is examined in order to identify the larger impact of 1982 statutory changes on the commitment system. Evidence from hearings and state data suggests that changes in the Florida law impacted significantly on both process and outcome of the civil commitment system. Clients referred to commitment hearings are more dangerous, and may represent a new hard-core group remaining after more explicit eligibility criteria are applied by local intake, and emergency detention facilities. State hospital admissions and census in Florida declined significantly following enactment of the 1982 law, consistent with findings from other states enacting similar statutory reforms. Implications for deinstitutionalization policy and administration are discussed.     

A paradigm shift for ethics committees and case consultation: a modest proposal

In conclusion, the expert-consultation model of ethics consultation is deeply imbedded in modern health care. The paradigm of consultant as expert rather than as community-enabler shapes the expectations and behaviors of healthcare personnel and institutions. This paradigm has also shaped the early stages of HEC development and ethics case consultation. It is time to shift paradigms and adopt one that derives more from the nature of ethics than from the nature of scientific medicine: the role of HECs should be to enable key professionals to carry out the ethical dimensions of patient care. When the HEC does review cases, it should be with the purpose of improving the institution, not of resolving individual cases. One consequence of this is that there will be more individual case reviews than before, but the function, emphasis, agents and locations will shift substantially. A second consequence is that the HEC will function more as an agent of social change by helping to harness the institution's resources. We judge both of these to be a welcome evolution in healthcare ethics.     

Accusatorial and information-gathering interview and interrogation methods: a multi-country comparison

Suspect interviewing and interrogation practices have been studied in many different countries, including those in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. These studies have produced useful and interesting findings, while also leaving an opening for future inquiry. Specifically, previous research has noted that we might expect interrogation and interviewing practices to vary among different countries or regions, due to distinct approaches to suspect questioning. However, to our knowledge, few previous studies have examined the comparative use of tactics, techniques, and procedures employed to elicit confessions and information from criminal suspects across multiple countries. In the present study, using a consistent survey, we contrasted the interviewing and interrogation practices of 185 practitioners from America, Canada, and Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. In large part, we found that American and Canadian interrogators were similar to one another, and conformed to an accusatorial approach (in both deception detection and questioning techniques). In contrast, interviewers from Europe, Australia, and New Zealand conformed more to an information-gathering approach.     

Evaluation of Four Fingerprint Development Methods for Touch Chemistry Using Matrix‐Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization/Time‐of‐Flight Mass Spectrometry,

Four preparation techniques for MALDI/TOF mass spectrometry were compared to determine the ability to gather intelligence for investigations through the chemical analysis of latent fingerprints, defined as “touch chemistry.” Compatible fingerprint development processes used for identification along with new techniques are necessary to evaluate touch chemistry. Ten volunteers deposited fingerprints from solvent residues containing drugs and explosives onto microscope slides. The developers included (A) fingerprint powder, (B) MALDI matrix, (C) fingerprint powder and lifting, and (D) cyanoacrylate fuming with fingerprint powder. Qualitative identification was based on ion images and spectra. The highest average detection rates (88%) were found using methods A and B. Methods C (52%) or D (18%) had limited success. Results demonstrate the importance of imaging coupled to extracted mass spectral data in detecting analytes in deposited fingerprints. Overall, the results suggest continued development of touch chemistry applications could prove useful for gathering intelligence and forensically relevant information.     

Beach boys or sexually exploited children? Competing narratives of sex tourism and their impact on young men in Sri Lanka??s informal tourist economy

Sex trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) are widely identified as global social problems, but each remain politically charged, especially given the disproportionate emphasis on sexual slavery. The current investigation is a case study of CSEC within the context of Sri Lanka??s international tourism industry. I draw from data collected during a multi-year field study to analyze and compare those understandings of sex tourism and CSEC driven by local ??moral crusaders????which dominated policy and public discussion??with the experiences of adolescent boys and young men who participated in these markets. Moral claims-making, focused as it was on cultural purity, morality, Western perversions, sexual slavery, and deviance, shifted attention away from the global political and economic contexts in which transactional sex took place. This resulted in both distortions and harms to marginalized youth in tourism communities, and a failure to address the economic realities of those involved in the informal tourism economy, including transactional sex with tourists. The current study thus adds additional support to the concerns raised by scholars and activists about the scope, nature, and impact of efforts to ameliorate commercial sexual exploitation, including the harms that result from narrow foci on individual deviance and sexual slavery.