DSM-5 and Malingering: a Modest Proposal

The DSM criteria for identifying malingering are reviewed and found to be flawed on both conceptual and practical grounds. Alternative models for diagnosing feigned psychiatric, physical, and neuropsychological symptoms are presented. A number of useful features of these systems are highlighted for potential contributions to modified DSM criteria. It is recommended that the present DSM text on malingering be replaced with feigned psychiatric, physical, or neuropsychological symptoms and suggestions for developing criteria for this condition are made.     

Bureaucrats and Indians in a Contemporary Colonial Encounter

This article investigates the effects of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 in structuring an encounter over a decision about building a dam in central Arizona. From the vantage point of three groups with deepinvestments in the outcome of this decision, it analyzes how the interests and identities of these parties were transformed as a result of this encounter. In defining standing and the terms of relevance, in providing a political forum, and in requiring these groups to explain themselves to others, this law powerfully mediated the politics surrounding this controversial decision.     

The Right to Be Racist in College: Racist Speech,White Institutional Space,and the First Amendment

Throughout the post–civil rights era, colleges and universities across the United States have periodically experienced explicitly racist incidents on their campuses. From the hurling of racial slurs at students of color, to the hanging of nooses on campus, to students donning Ku Klux Klan outfits or throwing “ghetto” parties that caricaturize communities of color, these incidents challenge the notion that modern racism has changed to a more subtle form, referred to as color‐blind racism. We place these incidents within a broader context of race and institutions, suggesting a connection between overt racist expressions and the more covert elements of neoliberal color‐blind racism. Through a critical discourse analysis of news stories about these incidents, the website of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and the controlling legal cases involving racist expression on campuses, we suggest that explicitly racist incidents operate in tandem with neoliberal educational policies and color‐blind racism to mark and reinscribe colleges and universities as white institutional spaces.     

Integration of Pre-Employment Polygraph Screening into the Police Selection Process

The authors provide a polygraph primer for police psychologists involved in law enforcement personnel selection. Law-enforcement pre-employment polygraph examinations are a decision-support tool intended to add incremental validity to the personnel selection process. Problems stemming from the use of the polygraph may be related to misunderstanding of the polygraph test and to field practices surrounding the use of polygraphy in the police selection process. Potential problems can result from ineffective selection of test issues, poorly constructed test questions and misguided policies surrounding the use of the polygraph. The authors review the history of polygraph screening, research, and field practices, and suggest that using polygraph results alone to disqualify a candidate from employment is a misguided field practice. Suggestions are offered for maximizing the decision-support value of the polygraph. Polygraph examination targets are discussed, with emphasis on selecting actuarially derived predictors associated with increased success in law enforcement training and job performance. The authors provide recommendations for field practice, and propose that police psychologists may be most suited to effectively integrate the polygraph results and information into the hiring recommendation process.     

Reduction in Recidivism in a Juvenile Mental Health Court: A Pre‐ and Post‐Treatment Outcome Study

A review of an evaluation of the Court for the Individualized Treatment of Adolescents (a prototype Juvenile Mental Health Court in Santa Clara, California) is presented along with admission criteria. Participant demographics are described. McNemar Test and Paired T Test results show that study participants committed violent, aggressive, and property crimes in significantly lower numbers in the 23 months following court admission than in the 18 months preceding court admission, despite escalating patterns of antisocial behavior prior to court involvement. The importance of developing multidisciplinary models to address moderately severe offenders with serious mental illness is discussed.     

Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: Trajectories and the Role of Familial Factors

Prior empirical research on intimate partner violence (IPV) in adolescence and young adulthood often focuses on exposure to violence in the family-of-origin using retrospective and cross-sectional data. Yet individuals’ families matter beyond simply the presence or absence of abuse, and these effects may vary across time. To address these issues, the present study employed five waves of longitudinal data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS) to investigate the trajectory of IPV from adolescence to young adulthood (N = 950 respondents, 4,750 person-periods) with a specific focus on how familial factors continue to matter across the life course. Results indicated that family-of-origin violence and parent-child relationship quality were independent predictors of IPV. The effect of parent-child relationship quality on IPV also became greater as individuals aged. These results have implications for policies targeted at reducing IPV.     

Who’s going to leave? An examination of absconding events by forensic inpatients in a psychiatric hospital

Absconding is a potentially risky event that has wide reaching consequences both for the institution and greater community; however, few studies have examined the characteristics of clients who abscond, their motivations, and details about their absconding event, especially within a forensic context. The purpose of this research was to determine if risk factors could be identified that might predict absconding behavior. A retrospective chart review was conducted of all reported absconding events between 1 January 2012 and 31 August 2015 by clients on forensic units in a public psychiatric hospital in Ontario, Canada. In addition, these clients were matched with a comparison group. Categories of motivations for absconding including goal-directed, frustration/boredom, symptomatic/disorganized, and impulsive/opportunistic were identified. The best indicator of a client’s risk for absconding was having experienced a stressful, significant event in the two weeks prior to the absconding event. Additionally, total scores on the HCR-20 and the presence of a co-occurring substance use disorder differentiated the absconders from the comparison group. This research contributes to our knowledge base regarding absconding events by forensic psychiatric patients and highlights specific targets for clinical staff in assessing risk for absconding and managing privileges leading to more effective care planning.