Forming “affective communities” and narrative forms of affection: Damon Galgut’s Arctic Summer

This article examines Arctic Summer (2014) by Damon Galgut, a biographical novel focused on a period in the life of British author E.M. Forster. My inquiry is concerned with narrative form and aesthetics that limn affiliations between the two authors’ creative and sexual sensibilities and struggles, and how forms of affective affiliations are forged through narration and narrative stylistics. I discuss critical responses to Galgut’s oeuvre and trends in South African literary production post-1994, to introduce ideas about his non-conformist creative impulses. I reflect on hybrid narrative form, generic ambiguities, and aesthetics to consider how affective affiliations are fashioned in Arctic Summer and beyond the boundaries of the text when compared to Galgut’s In a Strange Room (2010). Leela Gandhi’s thoughts on “affective communities” inform my argument that the representation of sexuality and bonds of affection in Arctic Summer enables formal and nonconformist affinities across temporal and spatial registers.     

现实与理想:检察机关智能建设现状考察与未来展望——以Z市G区检察院智慧检务试点为分析样本

最高人民检察院检察长张军强调“要紧紧抓住信息化建设带来的机遇,大力加强智慧检务建设。”检察机关人工智能建设的成效值得深入调研。以S省Z市G区检察院人工智能与智慧检务建设为样本进行实证研究,从类案大数据检索、文书智能生成、程序智能预警、办案质效提升等方面进行数据分析,破解基层检察院人工智能建设进程中存在的盲目追求智能范围广度而忽略深度、忽视司法活动的多元化与差异性、技术开发与一线需求断层等问题,从增强顶层设计,明确法律人工智能的限度、专门化技术创新、法律人参与度及人才培养等方面对法律人工智能未来的发展方向和举措进行探究。     

Women and Men who Committed Murder: Male/Female Psychopathic Homicides

The present study was designed to compare gender differences in psychiatric diagnosis with the dimension of psychopathy in women and men who had attempted or committed homicide. The study samples consisted of 39 homicidal females and 48 homicidal males who were confined in one of Italy’s REMS or prison facilities in two southern provinces of Italy (Puglia and Basilicata). Assessment instruments included the SCID-5, the PID-5 IRF, and the PCL-R. Each gender group was stratified according to the level of criminal responsibility for the homicidal offense (full, partial, absent), and after assessments, according to the degree of the psychopathic dimension. There were clear gender differences in homicidal individuals. Female offenders were less likely to have had a record of criminal charges/convictions or imprisonment, and their homicides were more often intrafamilial, victimizing especially of their children, whereas males targeted intimate partners and extrafamilial victims. In the entire group, there was an inverse relationship between the level of psychopathy and the personality disorder on one side, and the psychotic disturbance on the other. Factor 2 (lifestyle/antisocial dimension) of the PCL-R was higher among the homicidal males, whereas females tended to score higher on Factor 1 (the interpersonal/affective dimension). Finally, if the psychopathic dimension is a qualifier for antisocial personality disorder, as indicated in DSM-5, this appears to be less true for females who tend to have other personality disorders.     

房地产市场“乱象”的体制根源及整治之法

我国房地产市场出现重重乱象，市场上房价节节攀高，政府进行宏观调控收效并不显著。主要原因在其深层次的体制根源：就是“政企不分或政资不分”，即政府仍具有双重身份和双重职能的问题没有解决。为此，双重身份、双重职能的改革，应成为政府体制改革的重点。     

大学生健康人格的培养

人格障碍是大学生心理健康中比较突出的心理问题,对大学生的健康成长构成了很大的威胁,越来越引起人们的重视。大学生人格障碍的成因比较复杂,受个人、家庭、学校和社会等几个方面因素的影响。预防是减少大学生人格障碍的有效手段,自我调适是大学生人格障碍矫治的有效方法。要加强大学生的心理健康教育,组织系列团体行为训练,改变其问题行为,通过美育教育培养大学生的健康人格。     

Claims of amnesia for criminal offenses: psychopathology, substance abuse, and malingering

The forensic psychiatric examiner often encounters defendants who deny memory for their offense. Past research proposes a variety of factors to account for offense amnesia. To date there have been few systematic studies of offense amnesia in relation to psychiatric diagnosis, either alone or in combination with other known factors such as substance use and malingering. We studied 53 pretrial felony defendants who had been referred for psychiatric examination; 40% claimed amnesia for their offense. Examinees with psychotic disorders in general, and schizophrenia in particular, were relatively less likely to claim amnesia than were examinees with other diagnoses. Substance use at the time of the offense and associated substance use disorder diagnoses were positively associated with offense amnesia. Malingering diagnosed by general clinical criteria was a poor predictor of amnesia claims. These data suggests that two prominent reasons for referral for forensic psychiatric evaluation include the presence of psychotic symptoms and claims of amnesia for the offense.     

Social and emotional detachment in Dutch children

Characteristics associated with psychopathy were, along with the symptoms of aggressive and antisocial behaviour, rated by parents in a community sample of 2535 four-to-eighteen-year-old Dutch children in 2003. An analysis of principal components suggested two dimensions of psychopathic characteristics. The first dimension comprised egocentric characteristics and the second unemotional characteristics. Regression analyses further showed that antisocial behaviour could be predicted by egocentric characteristics, while aggressive behaviour could be predicted by the interaction of egocentric and unemotional characteristics. To avoid unnecessary stigmatisation of youngsters, it is proposed to label the egocentric dimension as the 'social detachment' factor and the unemotional dimension as the 'emotional detachment' factor.     

刑事责任能力评定中“待分类的精神病性障碍”的诊断分析

目的探讨"待分类的精神病性障碍"诊断在刑事责任能力鉴定中的形成原因、判定原则及处理措施。方法分析比较四川西南司法鉴定中心2006年1月至2007年7月刑事责任能力鉴定案例中12例诊断为"待分类的精神病性障碍"的鉴定资料。结果形成此诊断的主要原因是鉴定资料不充分,描述的被鉴定人精神异常表现不具体、不典型(83.3%),或鉴定资料描述的精神异常与鉴定检查时发现的情况不一致。但是即使诊断为"待分类的精神病性障碍",仍可以从作案动机、有无逃逸等评定其刑事责任能力。12例诊断为"待分类的精神病性障碍"的被鉴定人9例(75%)判定为具有限制刑事责任能力,3例(25%)判定为无刑事责任能力。结论"待分类的精神病性障碍"是一种暂时性诊断,在一定程度上可以在司法精神病鉴定中使用,但应慎用。     

Taking Stock of Drug Courts: Do They Work?

ABSTRACT

Although researchers, policymakers, and practitioners alike have long known about the established link between substance abuse and criminal behavior, criminal justice agencies in the United States are still tasked with managing an influx of individuals who display symptoms of abuse and dependence. By the late 1980s, the drug court model emerged as an innovative response to this problem, and this reform has since proliferated to such an extent that it is the most common type of problem-solving court in America. Still, there remains much variation in how drug courts are implemented across jurisdictions, which can have strong implications for the outcomes among the courts’ participants. In this review, we summarize the key research on drug court implementation, followed by an assessment of whether they can be said to “work” in terms of reducing criminal behavior and relapse among adults. We conclude that the model remains an evidence-based practice and suggest some directions for future work, including increased emphasis on theory and causal dynamics and key measurement issues.     

Is PCL-R psychopathy associated with either type or severity of personality disorder?

The extent to which assessment of personality disorders (PDs), and trans-diagnostic measures of PD severity, can capture the variance in psychopathy measured by the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) was examined in 100 forensic patients with a history of violent offending. Correlational and linear regression analyses were carried out to establish whether (i) combinations of PDs would predict PCL-R scores for each of its two factors, interpersonal–affective (F1) and antisocial deviance (F2); (ii) ‘acting out’, a putative measure of externalising maladjustment that transcends PD categories, would predict PCL-R scores. Results showed that narcissistic and avoidant PDs contributed significantly to the prediction of F1, but only antisocial PD contributed to the prediction of F2. ‘Acting out’ predicted both F1 and F2, suggesting that core features of PCL-R psychopathy are embedded within and across different PD diagnoses. Results are discussed in relation to different sub-types of psychopathy described in the literature.