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Ethnic and racial minorities are often under-represented in research. There is considerable speculation that Blacks, in particular, are discouraged from research participation because of researcher improprieties in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Syphilis Study at Tuskegee (aka the Tuskegee Syphilis Study [TSS]), a 40-year (1932-1972) study in which investigators withheld medical treatment from African-American men infected with syphilis. We debriefed 281 offenders who declined participation in a research study to assess the extent to which knowledge of the TSS impacted their decisions not to enroll. Relatively few (44/281; 15.6%) reported awareness of the TSS. Half (n = 22) of these "aware" individuals could cite factually accurate information about the TSS, and only four individuals indicated that awareness of TSS had "somewhat" influenced their decision to not participate. Findings suggest that the legacy of the TSS played a relatively minor role in these offenders' decisions to decline research participation., (2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Questions on multiple modes of mandated community treatment (e.g. outpatient commitment, advance directive, representative payee, and special housing) were included in two studies of persons with mental illness, using a mail survey of Medicaid enrollees receiving SSI and interviews conducted as part of an evaluation of a specialty mental health court. Results indicate that the majority of individuals reported no experience with any forms of mandated community treatment. However, respondents from the two samples who had been subject to community mandates reported comparatively similar experiences. Additional studies of the prevalence of mandated community treatment are necessary to garner expanded information regarding the use of such mandates. In addition, future studies must assure that the language employed to query individuals regarding such mandates is clearly understood by respondents, as certain terms (e.g. "outpatient commitment") may mean different things to different respondents., (Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Procedural justice theory posits that the process by which disputes are resolved influences perceptions of fairness and satisfaction with outcomes, even if the outcomes are unfavorable. Within the context of civil commitment, Tyler (1992) has suggested that enhancing respondents' perceptions of procedural justice (i.e., participation, dignity, and trust) during commitment proceedings might facilitate accommodation to an adverse judicial determination (i.e., commitment) and subsequently enhance therapeutic outcomes. The study reported here used videotapes of mock commitment hearings to examine whether patients committed for involuntary treatment are sensitive to procedural justice manipulations. Results suggest that patients are sensitive to procedural justice manipulations and, further, that such manipulations are likely to influence the patients' attitude toward psychiatric care. These findings suggest that the development of strategies to enhance patients' perceptions of procedural justice in commitment hearings may indeed have positive therapeutic implications and warrants further investigation., (Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Poythress, Edens, and Lilienfeld (1998) recently reported a moderately strong correlation between Hare's (1991) Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) and a newly developed self-report measure of psychopathy, the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) of Lilienfeld and Andrews (1996), in an ethnically diverse sample of 50 inmates from a youthful offender prison. The present study reports follow-up data regarding disciplinary infractions in this sample and examines the utility of the PCL-R and PPI for identifying those at risk for institutional misbehavior. Generally modest, but statistically significant, correlations were obtained between both measures and indices of aggressive institutional behavior. Multiple regression analyses revealed that both measures accounted for common variance in the criterion but that neither accounted for significant unique variance. Results are discussed in terms of the clinical utility of these measures in populations of young offenders., (Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

A set of measures assessing abilities related to legal standards for competence in the adjudicative process were administered to mentally-disordered criminal defendants with diagnoses of schizophrenia, affective disorder, other psychiatric disorders, and to criminal defendants without diagnosed mental disorder. Mentally-disordered defendants were recruited from two groups: those who had been committed for restoration of competence and those who had been identified by jail personnel as mentally ill. Significant impairments in competence-related abilities were found for approximately half of the defendants with schizophrenia. Defendants with schizophrenia scored lower on measures of understanding, reasoning, and appreciation related to the adjudication process. The association between symptoms and competence-related abilities was explored within diagnostic groups. Conceptual disorganization was found to be inversely correlated with performance on all measures in both defendants with schizophrenia and those with affective disorders. For other psychotic symptoms, differing patterns of correlations were found in the two major diagnostic groups. The implications for policy designed to safeguard the rights of defendants to be tried while competent are discussed.