Mission impossible? Assessing the veracity of a mental health problem as result of a road traffic accident: a preliminary review of UK experts’ practices

The number of people claiming for personal injury after being involved in a road traffic accident (RTA) in the UK continues to soar. In April 2015, the UK Government intervened to implement measures aimed at reducing the prevalence of fraud within such personal injury claims. However, these reforms did not include claims for mental disorder that arise because of a RTA despite being responsible for substantially larger payouts in comparison with claims for whiplash. The present study examines the assessment practice for detecting fraudulent claims of this nature using a mixed methods survey analysing UK medico-legal professionals’ assessment methodologies (N = 37). The findings suggest comprehensively that assessment practices in this field are idiosyncratic. The findings evidence limitations in all aspects of the assessment process from medico-legal assessors being asked to undertake examinations without the presence of medical records to 44% of examiners being unaware of the three types of malingering. The article concludes with recommendations for improving both assessments and the assessment process for assessing RTA claimants in the UK.     

The Word Memory Test in medicolegal assessment: a measure of effort and malingering?

The Word Memory Test (WMT) is claimed to measure effort and to detect cognitive response bias. Archival data from n = 2526 cases referred in 2009–2016 for medicolegal assessment were analyzed. Each participant underwent a medical and a psychological examination including a cognitive test battery and several validity measures including the WMT. The WMT validity test scores do not approximately follow a normal distribution. Thus, parametric statistics for WMT validity scores may not be appropriate. WMT performance explains 0–20% of the variance in cognitive test performance. This is more than what substantial brain damage accounts for. The standard uniform cutoff indicating a ‘fail’ in all three WMT effort subtests (equal or less than 82.5% correct responses) seems not supported by the data. Taking into account the context of the testing, cutoffs may be chosen according to the desired sensitivity or specificity. ROC-statistics with modified Slick criteria as gold standard for malingering look alike for the three WMT effort subtests, with a AUC between 0.86 and 0.88. The WMT seems a good indicator of both effort and (Slick) malingering, however, little is gained by administering the entire test.     

The Balanced Approach [Revisited]

The authors of the original Balanced Approach, Dennis Maloney, Dennis Romig, and Troy Armstrong, outlined a philosophy of balanced attention to the principles of community protection/public safety, youth accountability, and competency development through individualized assessment and treatment and holding the system accountable to the community and the youth served. A majority of states’ juvenile code purpose clauses reflect this approach, later known as Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ). Presented here are excerpts from the 1988 Juvenile & Family Court Journal issue 39 (3) that first presented the Balanced Approach and a brief overview of key features of juvenile justice at the time to lay a foundation for the other articles in this special issue.     

Differences in intimate partner homicides perpetrated by men and women: evidence from a Norwegian National 22-year cohort

Most of our knowledge about intimate partner homicide (IPH) is based on studies of men, as they outnumber women as perpetrators. From a total cohort of IPHs in Norway from 1990 to 2012 (N?=?177), we investigated differences between male (n?=?157) and female (n?=?20) perpetrators in terms of (a) IPH characteristics and sentencing issues, (b) sociodemographic, contextual and clinical factors, and (c) previous intimate partner violence. Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated that, in comparison to male perpetrators, female perpetrators were more often in intimate partnerships without mutual children, had a greater number of accumulated welfare deficiencies, and tended to be ascribed different motives (fear and revenge) for their crimes.     

Evaluating the utility of ‘strength’ items when assessing the risk of young offenders

There is emerging recognition that positive or pro-social characteristics may lessen criminal propensity. There are now several adult and youth forensic instruments that include protective or strength components. Yet evidence supporting the protective capacities of these instruments with youth offending populations is still developing. This study aimed to identity the prevalence of strength items on the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory tool, and their relationships with risk and re-offending for a cohort of 212 multi-cultural Australian juveniles in custody. The prevalence of strengths in the sample was low, and differed by cultural group. Young people who possessed a strength yielded lower instrument total and domain scores and were more likely to be afforded a lower level of risk compared to youth without a strength. Moreover, youth who possessed a strength were significantly more likely to desist from re-offending. This association remained after controlling for level of risk. Findings point to the importance of strengths when assessing a young person’s risk for re-offending.     

Research Progress on Function Evaluation Standard and Method of Lower Extremity ImpairmentCSCD

The lower extremity impairment can be caused by illness, accident, work-related injury, traffic accident and fighting, etc. The injuries of lower extremity joint, nerve, muscle and tendon may lead to lower extremity dysfunction. So far, there is no unified standard for international and domestic function evaluation of lower extremity impairment, the evaluation standards in the same field are also different, and function evaluation of lower extremity impairment has no complete research system. However, the degree of lower extremity impairment has great influence on personal damage compensation. Therefore, the function evaluation of lower extremity impairment often becomes a dispute issue in forensic medicine identification. This article summarizes the function evaluation standards, methods and status quo of lower extremity impairment, so as to provide a new insight into the research on standardization of lower extremity impairment. © 2018 by the Editorial Department of Journal of Forensic Medicine.     

Public Figures and Stalking in the European Context

The paper presents a brief overview of the international scientific research regarding stalking, threats and attacks on public figures. A special focus lies on European research and its tradition. Particular attention is directed towards the concept of pathological fixations on public figures which covers different forms of harassment and aggressive behaviour. A closer look at the history of scientific research and relevant case examples in this area reveals that pathological fixation on public figures is a phenomenon which was described by psychiatrists as early as 150 years ago. As stalking can affect various kinds of public figures, the research presented here covers stalking of celebrities, politicians, corporate figures and royals who become the victim of harassment or violent attacks. Finally, the state of the art regarding the management of public figure stalking and harassment and the prevention of assassinations by fixated persons in Europe is reviewed.     

伤残鉴定中智能障碍评定的多因素分析

目的探讨智力测验在智力损伤与伤残鉴定中的适应性。方法对366例在精神损伤或伤残鉴定中进行韦氏智力测验的结果及其影响因素进行分析,并与鉴定专家评定结论进行比较。结果①韦氏智力测验结果与专家鉴定结论之间存在明显差异（P〈0．01）,不一致率为68．8％,但二者呈现显著正相关（r=0．431,P〈0．01）。②影响韦氏智力测验的客观因素包括多种身体功能障碍及精神障碍,分别占32．2％（118例）和23．8％（87例）。③在智力测验时表现有主观不合作者为61．5％,而在专家检查中表现有主观不合作者仅为38．8％。结论智力测验受多种主客观因素的影响,不能直接引用评定智力伤残等级,需要结合脑外伤的严重程度、临床检查及社会功能等综合评定智力伤残的等级。     

《人体损伤程度鉴定标准》研制的基本思路

对《人体损伤程度鉴定标准》研究和制定过程中有关问题的思考进行了全面、系统的总结,包括标准制定的基本原则、基本结构、主要内容以及重点关注的几个问题。重点介绍了标准制定的基本原则,即充分体现标准的法律性和适用性、系统性和完整性、科学性和先进性、客观性和实用性以及符合性和关联性。简要介绍了标准的基本结构和主要内容,即损伤程度的分级以颅脑、脊髓、头面、颈、胸、腹、盆、脊柱、四肢、体表等解剖部位,并按重伤一级、重伤二级、轻伤一级、轻伤二级和轻微伤为序罗列出人体组织结构破坏和功能障碍损伤程度鉴定的具体条款,并以附录的形式规定组织器官功能障碍的评定技术和方法。并对标准关注的几个主要问题,如伤病关系、医疗干预、内源性疾病、多部位同性质损伤等处理原则进行了深入的讨论．对于法医临床鉴定人及有关法律工作者进一步学习和理解标准,具有重要的现实意义和指导意义。     

八二宪法实施状况评析

评价八二宪法实施状况在理论上是一个非常复杂的系统工程,它涉及到评价方法、评价对象、评价标准等等因素的影响。从总体上来看,八二宪法的绝大多数条款在立法实施层面都得到了比较好的体现,全国人大及其常委会已经通过制定具体法律的形式将现行宪法中的主要条文加以细化,故考察现行宪法具体条文的实施状况应当从考察这些具体法律入手。应当对八二宪法实施状况建立一个兼具客观标准和主观评价相结合的科学评估机制,还应当引进诸如宪法时刻、宪法阻却等等可以明显判定宪法实施状况的基础性概念,才能更有效地来评价八二宪法实施的真实状况,从而为完善宪法实施制度、加强对宪法实施的监督提供准确和有效的分析数据。