Forensic Science International Mind and Law最新文献

Rates (where recorded) of mental illness, intellectual disabilities and co-morbidities are disproportionately high and rising among global prison populations. There is little data on the extent of mental illness and/or mental incapacity in prison populations in the Global South. Criminal justice systems are generally under-resourced, with a lack of adequate forensic monitoring, availability of specialist psychological and psychiatric expertise, and system coordination with mental health treatment and support services.

Very little is known with regard to the judiciarisation of the mentally ill and/or mentally incapacitated in African criminal justice systems. In this Commentary we focus on Malawi, as a least developed country in sub-Saharan Africa. We present the international human rights framework pertinent to the judiciarisation of people with disability, the global discourse around disability-neutral doctrines and the contentiousness of the link between mental and legal capacity. We discuss challenges and procedural complexities in the Malawi criminal justice system as it relates to how people with mental illness and/or mental incapacity navigate the process and to what extent their basic human rights are upheld.

Mental health legislation and policies to uphold the rights of the mentally ill and/or mentally incapacitated in the criminal justice system are underdeveloped (and under-resourced). There are backlogs in forensic assessments to determine competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility; inadequate availability of forensic beds; and insufficient coverage of community and prison based mental health services. Lengthy detention periods in overcrowded unsafe conditions are common, with little or no access to specialist medical care.

We present medico-legal and clinical recommendations for enhanced human rights monitoring and protections cognisant of the various challenges in ensuring the implementation of human rights and of due process in Malawi. We encourage the government to consider formal diversion options via mental health courts and invest in the capacity of forensic specialists and hospitals to support court assessments and community care. Oversight mechanisms preventing human rights abuses of these very vulnerable individuals are crucial in all mental health settings in Malawi, not limited to police custody, remand detention facilities and prisons. Ratification of the Optional Protocol of the Convention against Torture is imperative.

Studies have sought to understand the experiences of litigants who use the court system. However, very few have looked at their specific interactions with court actors in Sub-Saharan African countries. In this study, we sought to explore the interactions that litigants have with lawyers, judges, and court workers during the process of civil litigation in Ghana. The study used a qualitative phenomenological design and a criterion sampling technique to select seventeen litigants involved in civil litigation in a Ghanaian court. Using thematic analysis, we found that litigants had confidence in the judicial system. In terms of lawyers and court actors, the participants were ambivalent about their interactions with them. Whereas some had been supportive, others drained their resources and were not altogether altruistic. We discuss these findings and make recommendations for improving litigant experiences.

We live in a reciprocating world – we smile when someone smiles at us, get angry when we perceive injustice, and support the social norm even when we cannot explain why. This paper sheds light on one of the most unlikely explanatory mechanisms of crime: cooperation. By combining knowledge from neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and behavioural economics, this theoretical paper presents the evidence that could help us understand crime and organises it into a Retribution and Reciprocity Model (RRM). RRM has the potential to help us take a step back and see how criminal acts may be an outcome of evolutionary mechanisms that the field of criminology should not overlook.

Introduction

Aircraft-assisted suicide is a rare but serious event, with immediate consequences for the pilot, crew, and passengers. The overt linkage between mental illness and suicidal behaviour is well-known, however, the infrequency of these events in the context of aviation, coupled with poor record-keeping and reluctance to disclose, likely disguises the true extent of mental illness among pilots. One critical research gap in Canada has been the lack of investigation of crashes linked to suicide or a mental disorder. Research on aircraft-assisted suicide will address the key issues of pilots’ reluctance to disclose, report, and seek mental health services. Our study investigates the frequency of aircraft-assisted suicide in Canada, reviews current medical standards, and discusses preventative interventions to manage future risk.

Materials and methods

Our study examined investigations and reports conducted by the Transport Safety Board to explore the frequency of aircraft-assisted suicide over a ten year period.

Results

Aircraft-assisted suicides in Canada are rare, however, mentally ill pilots involved in fatal crashes are likely underestimated. Our study highlights key barriers in aviators’ disclosure of mental health symptoms, an ineffective screening process, and a consequence-based system that deters pilots from their duty to report.

Discussion

our investigative analysis addresses key limitations in screening of mentally ill pilots, explores current medical standards and aeromedical exams, infrequency of fitness assessments, and demonstrates the critical need for continuous evaluation of pilots in this safety-sensitive occupation.

Conclusion

The current paper addresses the need for continuous evaluation of pilot’s mental health and a more rigorous screening process to accurately identify suicide risk in pilots and prevent aircraft-assisted suicide.

Background

To date, there is little evidence on the characteristics of defendants with intellectual disability when presenting to the criminal court system. This study was developed to recognise and examine the characteristics related to gender, ethnicity, mental health and index offences of defendants with intellectual disability and compare these to defendants without intellectual disability within Court Liaison & Diversion Services in London, England.

Methods

This is a retrospective data analysis of routine administrative data collected by the Liaison and Diversion services across five Magistrates courts in London, England. Data were analysed on defendants identified through screening to have an intellectual disability and compared to defendants without an intellectual disability.

Results

9088 defendants were identified, of these 4%, (349) were screened as having an intellectual disability. The study found an overrepresentation of defendants of black ethnicity along with high rates of comorbid mental illness and personality disorder amongst both non-intellectual disability and intellectual disability defendants. Defendants with intellectual disability self-reported self-harm and suicidal behaviour at higher rates. For neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD), those with intellectual disability were over 4 times more likely to have comorbid ADHD and over 14 times more likely to have ASD. Index offences were mostly similar although defendants with intellectual disability had elevated rates of being charged with sexual offences and breach of the peace.

Conclusion

The findings confirm the presence of a small but significant number of defendants with intellectual disability presenting to the Court Liaison & Diversion services who have significant needs in terms of comorbidity and risk for suicide and self-harm behaviour. Further research is needed to understand the experiences of defendants with intellectual disability presenting to the Court including how best to deliver service models to improve recognition and respond to their high rates of health needs.

The United States Supreme Court in Jones vs. Mississippi (2021) reinforced the Miller decision to allow sentencing judges the discretion to determine whether individuals convicted of murder under age 18 warrant a life sentence. The Miller decision dictates individualized sentencing, citing psychosocial disadvantages, immaturity, potential evolving risk, and how these qualities differ for each defendant. Since the Miller decision, mental health professionals routinely submit forensic reports as part of prisoners’ petitions to courts for reconsideration of their life sentences, either at the request of defense attorneys or prosecutors. This tracks a well-established practice of pre-sentencing evaluations. The expressions of immaturity in crime are not; however, accounted for in the same way that expressions of major mental illness reference years of crime-specific research and diagnostic standardization. For this reason, forensic assessments in this emerging area remain unguided and vulnerable to bias. Here, we present a guide containing 38 questions in seven developmental domains for individualized assessment and 50 questions spanning five domains that relate to the details of the crime. Our qualitative guidelines for assessment of the relevant domains of criminal maturity and offender prognosis draw on the forensic psychiatry, forensic pathology, developmental psychopathology, and criminological literatures, our experiences in comparative research of murder, sex assault and other crimes, as well as decades of experience in forensic assessment. A complete assessment of the offender should include questions in the developmental, scholastic/vocational, social, interpersonal, traumas, antisocial history, and psychiatric/medical domains. We also present recommended questions for assessing the details of the crime to more fully and accurately inform the individualized sentencing requirement in Miller cases.

This study investigated correlates of domestic homicide (DH) and other violent crimes. Data were collected retrospectively from criminal justice files on 617 persons in Switzerland (DH = 47). Multinomial logistic regressions revealed that, overall, DH perpetrators were more likely to be older, female, married, to have a psychiatric hospitalization history, and to be under the influence of delusions when they committed the crime. In addition, they were less likely to have prior convictions. Furthermore, the characteristics associated to DH perpetrators were more similar to domestic violence perpetrators than those of persons who committed non-domestic offenses. Based on the current sample, data, and methods, DH appears to be better explained by specialist theories than generalist views of crime, suggesting that DH and the homicide of non-family members are different phenomena. Therefore, domestic offenders may require specific assessment and intervention methods. However, replications of this study are necessary to generalize the current findings.