Prisoners with psychosis in England and Wales: diversion to psychiatric inpatient services?

The prevalence of psychosis among prisoners in England and Wales is ten times that in the household population and UK government policy is that prisoners should receive equivalent care to those in the community. This study investigated the implications of policy to divert more from the criminal justice system for psychiatric treatment. Psychotic prisoners were compared with psychotic persons in households and with other prisoners in two surveys of psychiatric morbidity in representative samples of the UK population. Psychotic prisoners were younger, more from ethnic minorities, with comorbid anxiety, substance misuse, ASPD, and childhood behavioural problems compared to psychotic persons in households. Less than a third had received previous inpatient treatment. Psychotic prisoners had similar criminal histories and higher psychopathy scores than non-psychopathic prisoners. Diversion is unfeasible without improved screening for psychosis and increasing bed numbers at higher levels of security to accommodate more patients who would pose high risk to the public. Future research should investigate why UK psychiatric services fail to identify psychotic prisoners and provide aftercare.     

Diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder and criminal responsibility

The present study empirically investigates whether personality disorders and psychopathic traits in criminal suspects are reasons for diminished criminal responsibility or enforced treatment in high security hospitals. Recently, the tenability of the claim that individuals with personality disorders and psychopathy can be held fully responsible for crimes has been questioned on theoretical bases. According to some interpretations, these disorders are due to cognitive, biological and developmental deficits that diminish the individual's accountability.The current article presents two studies among suspects of serious crimes under forensic evaluation in a Dutch forensic psychiatric observation clinic. The first study examined how experts weigh personality disorders in their conclusions as far as the degree of criminal responsibility and the need for enforced forensic psychiatric treatment are concerned (n = 843). The second study investigated associations between PCL-R scores and experts' responsibility and treatment advisements (n = 108).The results suggest that in Dutch forensic practice, the presence of a personality disorder decreased responsibility and led to an advice for enforced forensic treatment. Experts also take characteristics of psychopathy concerning impulsivity and (ir)responsibility into consideration when judging criminal accountability. Furthermore, they deem affective deficiencies sufficiently important to indicate suspects' threat to society or dangerousness and warrant a need for forensic treatment.     

溺死诊断中浮游生物检验方法的研究现状及进展

法医学实践中,判断是否为生前溺死是法医学尸检及鉴定工作中的一个重点和难点,目前尚无能明确诊断溺死的生物学和法庭化学指标。在溺死案件的诊断中,浮游生物检验是常见的方法。尽管目前还存在一些争议,但国内法医工作者认为,器官组织中浮游生物的存在仍然是判断生前溺死的重要证据之一。本文就国内外有关浮游生物的检验方法、检验标准及检验结果的判定等研究现状作一综述,旨在使人们更加清晰地认识浮游生物检验在溺死诊断中的作用。     

Discordance at D3S1358 locus involving SGM Plus™ and the European new generation multiplex kits

During the course of routine database sample analysis in the Israel Police DNA database, an off-ladder D3S1358 allele, calculated to be >22.1, extending into the adjacent vWA locus was observed using Applied Biosystems SGM Plus™ kit.To verify the size of this D3S1358 long allele and to ensure it was not part of a trialle pattern in the neighboring locus, the sample was amplified using three of the European new generation STR multiplex kits: NGM^TM (Applied Biosystem), Powerplex™ ESX and ESI (Promega). The results of these amplifications determined the variant to be a 22 allele. Subsequent sequencing confirmed this designation and revealed a nucleotide polymorphism. Ten additional SGM Plus™ profiled samples with D3S1358 alleles larger than 19, were re-analyzed using NGM^TM and Powerplex™ ESX which also showed discordance in the calculated results between original SGM Plus™ designations and those obtained with the European new generation multiplexes.     

医疗过错鉴定规则体系研究

当前对医疗过错认定的原则讨论和研究比较多,也比较明确,但是医疗过错认定的规则却缺乏,且由于医疗过错鉴定规则的缺位,导致无论是医学会的医疗鉴定,还是法医开展的医疗过错司法鉴定,都处于一种混沌不清的状态．由此也导致多次鉴定且结论各异的现象。构建科学合理的我国的医疗过错鉴定规则体系乃当务之急。我国的医疗过错鉴定规则体系包括医疗过错认定的一般规则、医疗过错认定的特殊规则和医疗过错认定的排除规则三部分。医疗过错鉴定规则体系需要不断在实践中总结、检验、完善和扩展。     

The reincorporation and redistribution of trace geoforensic particulates on clothing: An introductory study

Two experimental studies were undertaken to investigate the processes of reincorporation and redistribution of trace evidence on garments when worn by a suspect or a victim (reincorporation) or after the garments have been seized and packaged for subsequent forensic analysis (redistribution). The first experiment utilised UV powder, an established proxy for geoforensic trace particulates and the second experiment utilised daffodil pollen transferred onto garments under conditions that mimicked forensic reality. It was demonstrated that reincorporation of trace particulates occurs from upper to lower parts of the same garment and also from upper garments to lower garments. Reincorporation also occurred to all areas of the lower garments, however the highest concentration of particulates was found to be the lap area of the jeans. Particulates also tended to be preserved around technical details such as stitching or relief design features of the garments. Thus the decay of particulates after a contact has been made does not necessarily involve a loss of those particulates from the entire system. These findings have implications for the interpretation of trace evidence when seeking to establish the source of initial contacts or the chronology of pertinent events. The second study demonstrated that folding and packaging items of clothing leads to a redistribution of any trace particulate evidence that is present thereby eliciting an alteration in the spatial distribution of that evidence. There is therefore a necessity to take the context of trace evidence into account and also to follow protocols that are sensitive to these aspects of trace evidence behaviour as a failure to do so may have consequences for the correct interpretation of such evidence.     

二元制抑或一元制：医疗纠纷鉴定模式的选择

医疗（事故）纠纷因专门性问题源于医疗事故技术鉴定和司法鉴定的＂二元制＂鉴定模式,致使纠纷解决的法律在选择适用上出现不同的结果,并造成了同一事实的处理结果尤其是赔偿的数额差异甚巨。《侵权责任法》的实施能否终结＂二元制＂鉴定模式,使冲突的相关规定、解释、解答等相关文本在法律适用上归于统一再次成为颇具争论的问题。基于医疗事故技术鉴定与司法鉴定结果在证据性质上的同一,有必要将医疗事故技术＂鉴定＂仅作为行政程序的内容,并进一步建立解决医疗纠纷的鉴定机制,体现鉴定作为证据的＂认定＂功能,以便实现医疗行为共担风险以及利益平衡的基本目标。     

司法鉴定结论使用中存在问题及解决途径——兼论我国诉讼专家辅助人制度的建构和完善

鉴定结论是司法工作中经常使用的重要证据形式,但在使用中存在诸多问题。这主要是因为当事人及其司法人员缺乏相应的科学技术知识和专门知识不能对鉴定结论进行科学评判。通过建构和完善我国诉讼中的专家辅助人制度就可以从根本上解决鉴定结论运用中存在的那些问题。     

The use of bacteria for the identification of vaginal secretions

We have used the 16S–23S rRNA intergenic spacer region for identifying vaginal specific bacteria. Lactobacillus crispatus and Lactobacillus gasseri were detected in vaginal secretions but not in semen, blood or saliva. Our data indicated that both L. crispatus and L. gasseri were detected in vaginal secretions from women with different levels of expression of hormonal genes including pregnant, pre- and post-menopausal women, and a woman who has had a hysterectomy. Therefore, we have demonstrated that these Lactobacilli are promising new markers for the forensic identification of vaginal secretions. We have incorporated the Lactobacilli markers into a mRNA multiplex system to produce an 11-plex assay that can identify circulatory blood, menstrual blood, saliva, semen (in the presence and absence of spermatozoa) and vaginal secretions.     

论我国刑事司法鉴定启动权的重新配置

司法鉴定的启动是指由谁决定是否进行鉴定的问题。它是整个司法鉴定程序的起点,同时也是整个司法鉴定制度的核心。在分析我国现有法律对刑事司法鉴定启动权的规定以及相关司法实践的基础上．剖析了我国刑事司法鉴定启动存在的问题,同时借鉴域外法中对于刑事司法鉴定启动权分配的成功经验,提出了我国刑事诉讼中司法鉴定启动权重新配置的初步构想。