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This study examined the role of character evidence and other issues in criminal appeals of child sexual abuse (CSA) convictions. Character evidence includes uncharged acts and character witnesses who testify to another's reputation or opinion and is offered to prove an individual's propensities. Examining 168 appellate court opinions reviewing CSA convictions between 2005 and 2015 in Maricopa County, Arizona, we found that when specific types of evidence were at issue, they were most often character evidence issues (49%). However, appellate courts virtually never reversed convictions ( n = 5), and when defendants did obtain relief, the reduction in charges or in sentences was minor. Of the small number of opinions that were published ( n = 4), all focused on character evidence, including the single case reviewed by the Arizona Supreme Court. However, close examination of the published cases suggested they effected only modest change., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

According to Norwegian legislation, "sexual activity with a person who is unconscious or for other reasons incapable of resisting the act" constitutes sexual assault. Our task in this article is to identify the kind of sexual harms that are (un)protected by this paragraph and to discuss the boundaries of rape that are set by legal practice. We do so through a systematic analysis of all verdicts on incapacity and sexual assault at appellate court levels through 2019 and 2020. The analysis strengthens our concern for victims' right to equality before the law and for the quality of courts' legal veridiction and interpretation of both law and sexual assault., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Introduction: To guide improvements in treatment for pregnant persons with substance use disorders within the criminal legal system, treatment programs must first determine the primary substances of concern for this population. The objective of this study is to compare trends in specific substance use upon admission to treatment in pregnancy, based upon whether referrals originated from the criminal legal system or from another referral source., Methods: This research accessed data on perinatal substance use (1995-2021) and referral sources from the Treatment Episode Data Set-Admissions (TEDS-A). Analyses use multiple logistic regressions to evaluate trends in primary substance use leading to treatment admission during pregnancy., Results: Approximately 1 % (N = 536,948) of all substance use treatment admissions in TEDS-A were for pregnant people. Between 1995 and 2021, the percentage of treatment admissions increased for primary methamphetamine use (10 % to 27 %), primary opioid use (21 % to 38 %), and primary cannabis use (9 % to 18 %), and decreased for primary cocaine use (32 % to 6 %) and primary alcohol use (26 % to 11 %). By 2021, treatment admissions referred from criminal legal agencies were more likely to primarily be for primary methamphetamine use (33 % vs 25 %) and less likely to be for primary opioid use (22 % vs 42 %) compared to other referral sources., Conclusions: Trends in substance use treatment during pregnancy have changed substantially over the past few decades and emphasize the unique needs of patients referred to treatment by the criminal legal system. Treatment programs must therefore adapt to fluctuating trends in perinatal substance use. In particular, it is important to expand programs that prioritize treatment of methamphetamine use disorder for pregnant people referred through criminal legal agencies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Procedural justice literature proposes that when individuals perceive their treatment by criminal justice authorities as more procedurally just, they will be more likely to view those authorities as legitimate and, in turn, show more compliant behavior. Knowledge on potential determinants of procedural justice is, therefore, crucial. Research suggests that prior perceptions of procedural justice may influence later judgements of procedural justice. The current study used data from the Prison Project, including information on detainees' perceptions of their treatment by the police, the judge, the prison staff, the probation officer, and the lawyer. The findings show that detainees perceive the treatment by the lawyer as most procedurally just, while they evaluate the treatment by the police as least procedurally just. Further, how detainees experience the procedurally just treatment by the police is associated with how they feel treated by other authorities at a later stage in the criminal justice system., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

This paper analyses the normative framework governing the punishment of community service in Serbian criminal legislation. In this legislation, community service is prescribed as a criminal sanction. Accordingly, the paper has analyzed the provisions of every law that regulates this criminal sanction as well as statistics. A good normative framework is a precondition for the proper implementation of all legal institutes, including community service. Comprehensive analysis of the substantive, procedural, and executive regulations related to the punishment in question, seeks to identify certain failures in its regulations, as well as to give certain suggestions de lege ferenda ., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

The present study surveyed judges to examine how they consider and apply scientific information during sentencing determinations. Judges in criminal courts are increasingly asked to assess and make decisions based on evidence surrounding psychiatric disorders, with unclear results on sentencing outcomes. We qualitatively interviewed 34 judges who have presided over criminal cases in 16 different states and also administered vignette surveys during the interviews. We asked them to make sentencing decisions for hypothetical defendants in cases presenting evidence of either no psychiatric disorder, an organic brain disorder, or past trauma, as well as to rate the importance of different goals of sentencing for each case. Results indicated that the case presenting no evidence of a mental health condition received significantly more severe sentences as compared to either psychiatric condition. Judges' ratings of sentencing goals showed that the importance of retribution was a significant mediator of this relationship. Trauma was not deemed to be as mitigating as an organic brain disorder. These results provide unique insights into how judges assess cases and consider sentencing outcomes when presented with scientific information to explicate defendants' behavior. We propose ways forward that may help better integrate scientific understandings of behavior into criminal justice decision-making., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Child justice systems are specialized jurisdictions set up for the purpose of providing justice related services to children. In an effort to resolve many of the systemic injustices expereinced by justice involved children, Kenya recently legislated the Children Act 2022. This new law is viewed as a paradigm shift from previous children acts as it incorporates constitutional provisions, UN conventions, minimum rules and other international protocols that Kenya is a state party to. The Act seeks to transform the child justice system into a jurisdiction which is more amenable to prioritising the mental wellbeing of children. The current study sought to examine the practices applied by state child justice agencies and whether these were therapeutic or non- therapeutic. This would clarify areas where the Act may need to be amended or reviewed to further its own goals. The findings revealed that the most non-therapeutic procedures centred on the courtroom such as the formal court environment and children facing perpetrators in court as well as limited access to mental health services. Therapeutic practices included ensuring children access treatment, use of child friendly interviewing techniques and testifying in camera. These may guide justice actors as to how they apply the Children Act 2022 within their own contexts whilst developing rules and standards that embody the principles of therapeutic jurisprudence., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Concerns over the legal treatment of women who kill in response to domestic abuse have driven several jurisdictions to reform their homicide laws in recent years. This article examines how abused women are currently treated within the Australian legal system by analyzing homicide cases involving women prosecuted for killing an abusive partner in Australia from 2010 to 2020. The findings reveal the limitations of legal reforms to improve access to justice for abused women. Instead, there needs to be an increased focus toward pre-trial stages of criminal proceedings and to address persistent misconceptions and stereotypes associated with domestic abuse., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Objective: Aim: This article is aimed at raising awareness and stimulating scientific discussion on the necessity of involving qualified medical professionals in conducting criminal procedural actions that involve intervention in human somatic rights, in order to further improve the legal instruments ensuring compliance with the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as the ECHR) standards in this field., Patients and Methods: Materials and Methods: In preparing the article, the following issues were worked out: the provisions of international legal acts; legal positions of the ECHR related to the use of medical knowledge in the criminal process; scientific studies of various aspects of the use of medical knowledge in the criminal process. The methodological basis of the research is dialectical, comparative-legal, systemic-structural, analytical, synthetic, complex research methods., Conclusion: Conclusions: The use of medical knowledge in the criminal process generally takes two forms: (a) expert and (b) ancillary. The expert form, particularly forensic medical examination, must adhere to a set of criteria reflected in the practice of the ECHR. Personal searches involving penetration into human body cavities generally align with the requirements of the he European Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as the Convention), provided certain conditions are met, including medical considerations. The criterion for the admissibility of coercive collection of biological samples for examination is the existence of samples independent of the individual's will.

Introduction: Drug detection dogs are utilised across multiple settings, however existing literature focuses predominantly on festival-based encounters. We compare drug dog encounters in non-festival settings among two samples of people who regularly use drugs, and investigate factors associated with witness only versus stop and/or search encounters., Methods: Australians who regularly (i.e., ≥monthly) use ecstasy and/or other illegal stimulants (n = 777; Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS)) or inject illegal drugs (n = 862; Illicit Drugs Reporting System (IDRS)) were surveyed between April-June, 2019. Univariable regression analyses were used to test for differences in drug dog encounters between samples, and to identify factors associated with a more intensive drug dog encounter (namely those that involved a stop and/or search)., Results: People who inject drugs were less likely to witness drug dogs than those who regularly use ecstasy and/or other illegal stimulants (odds ratio (OR) 0.46; 95 % CI 0.30-0.69). They were significantly more likely than EDRS participants to report being stopped and searched (3.29; 1.68-6.44) however. Among those carrying drugs at their last stop and/or search encounter, the majority of both samples reported that their drugs were not detected by police. IDRS participants aged 35-49 were more likely to report a stop and/or search encounter than those aged 17-34; no significant associations were found among the EDRS sample., Conclusions: Despite participants who use ecstasy and/other stimulants being more likely than those who regularly inject drugs to report encountering drug dogs in non-festival settings, participants who inject drugs were more likely to report an intensive or invasive drug dog encounter and/or receiving a formal criminal justice consequence. This study reinforces questions about the efficacy and appropriateness of drug dog operations., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest R.S. has received untied educational funds from Seqirus. A.P. has received untied educational grants from Seqirus and Mundipharma for study of opioid medications. Funding from these organisations has now ceased for both authors, funding was for work unrelated to this project, and the funding bodies had no role in study design, analysis and reporting All other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Despite the pervasiveness of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Canada, research examining IPV in the context of Asian Canadians is scarce. Our study examined whether and how Canadian judges consider culture when determining a sentence in IPV cases involving an Asian offender and/or an Asian victim. We systematically searched for publicly published cases through CanLII. A total of 50 cases met the inclusion criteria. Cultural themes were identified using a direct content analysis approach to capture a priori themes in the literature, as well as identify any other factors considered. Our findings indicated culture was most often considered in only a superficial way ( n  = 31, 62.0%), where judges only made statements that simply identified the ethnicity of the offender and not how culture may have impacted the case. When examining cases where culture was meaningfully considered there were no prominent culture themes identified (all themes present in <14% of cases). We suggest this may not only reflect the heterogeneity of Asian Canadians, but could also reflect the lack of cultural consideration by the judges. Cultural factors were also rarely considered explicitly as an aggravating or mitigating factor in a case ( n  = 2; 4.0% and n  = 7; 14.0% of the total sample, respectively). The findings reveal the current lack of meaningful consideration of culture in IPV legal cases involving Asian Canadians. We outline how this contrasts the increased attention to the meaningful consideration of culture in the Canadian legal arena and prompt all professionals involved in assessing and managing IPV risk to consider racial, ethnic, and cultural factors in these cases.

Lay Abstract: Most autistic people will never experience being arrested or charged with a crime, however for those who do tend to be less satisfied with the way they were treated. The purpose of this study was to find out if autistic people are being disadvantaged by the criminal justice system if they are arrested. Previous research has shown that autistic people may have difficulties communicating with the police. This study builds on this knowledge by uncovering why autistic people may not feel able to communicate with the police and whether the police made any adjustments to help them. This study also measures the impact of being involved with the criminal justice system on autistic people's mental health, such as stress, meltdowns and shutdowns. The results show that autistic people were not always given the support they felt they needed. For example, not all autistic people had an appropriate adult with them at the police station who could help to make sure they understood what was happening around them. Autistic people were also more likely to feel less able to cope with the stress and more likely to suffer meltdowns and shutdowns because of their involvement with the criminal justice system. We hope this study will help police officers and lawyers to better support autistic people if they become involved with the criminal justice system.

Abstract: Justice-involved veterans are more likely to experience myriad mental health sequelae. Nonetheless, examination of personality psychopathology among justice-involved veterans remains limited, with studies focused on males within correctional settings. We examined Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) electronic medical records for 1,534,108 (12.28% justice-involved) male and 127,230 (8.79% justice-involved) female veterans. Male and female veterans accessing VA justice-related services were both approximately three times more likely to have a personality disorder diagnosis relative to those with no history of using justice-related services. This effect persisted after accounting for VA use (both overall and mental health), age, race, and ethnicity. Augmenting and tailoring VA justice-related services to facilitate access to evidence-based psychotherapy for personality psychopathology may promote optimal recovery and rehabilitation among these veterans., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

In 1954, the Canadian government established the Royal Commission on the Law of Insanity as a Defence in Criminal Cases. While its final report had little impact at the time, the creation of the commission points to the emergence of insanity as a newly complex problem within the context of postwar Canada. Spurred on by the growing psychiatric profession and the destabilization of capital punishment as a viable sentence, the commission quickly realized that the building blocks of its solution - legal and psychiatric expertise - were largely incompatible. This article explores the commission's problematization of insanity, which, far from providing solutions, highlighted the difficulties surrounding the integration of both psychiatric and legal knowledges of the day. The commission played an important role in upholding the status quo, and it provides an early example of the stasis that would characterize this area of the law until the early 1990s.

Federal and state enforcement authorities have increasingly intervened on the criminal overprescribing of opioids. However, little is known about the health effects these enforcement actions have on patients experiencing disrupted access to prescription opioids or medication-assisted treatment/medication for opioid use disorder. Simultaneously, opioid death rates have increased. In response, the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) has worked to coordinate mitigation strategies with enforcement partners (defined as any federal, state, or local enforcement authority or other governmental investigative authority). One strategy is a standardized protocol to implement emergency response functions, including rapidly identifying health hazards with real-time data access, deploying resources locally, and providing credible messages to partners and the public. From January 2018 through October 2019, MDH used the protocol in response to 12 enforcement actions targeting 34 medical professionals. A total of 9624 patients received Schedule II-V controlled substance prescriptions from affected prescribers under investigation in the 6 months before the respective enforcement action; 9270 (96%) patients were residents of Maryland. Preliminary data indicate fatal overdose events and potential loss of follow-up care among the patient population experiencing disrupted health care as a result of an enforcement action. The success of the strategy hinged on endorsement by leadership; the establishment of federal, state, and local roles and responsibilities; and data sharing. MDH's approach, data sources, and lessons learned may support health departments across the country that are interested in conducting similar activities on the front lines of the opioid crisis.

Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

The use of DNA as evidence in judicial trials in Pakistan is fraught with issues and challenges, including sampling, profiling, analysis, inclusion and exclusion criteria, insight and oversight mechanisms, invasion of personal privacy, constitutional safeguards and court admissibility issues. These problems have diminished the significance of this robust forensic evidence and hindered the creation of a central database in the country. This paper discusses these issues and introduces suggestions for the inclusion of DNA as significant evidence in the criminal justice system of Pakistan.

Background: In the recent case of R v. Taj, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales upheld the conviction of a defendant who, in a psychotic delusional state, mistook his non-threatening victim to be a terrorist, violently attacking him. The law typically allows honest mistakes (even if unreasonable) as a basis for self-defence (in this case the defence of others). However, because Taj's delusions were found by the court to have been caused by voluntary alcohol consumption, special legal (prior-fault) intoxication rules were applied to block his defence; Taj was convicted and sentenced to 19 years imprisonment for attempted murder., Argument: We focus here on the simple question-what does it mean to be intoxicated? On the facts, Taj did not have drugs active in his system at the time of the attack, but the court nonetheless insisted that Taj's delusional mistake was 'attributable to intoxication'; namely, to drink- and drug-taking in the previous days and weeks. This extended conception of intoxication was questionably distinguished from psychosis induced by withdrawal. Furthermore, the court was unreceptive to evidence of a long-standing, underlying mental health disorder. We argue that the court's expanded view of intoxication is problematic, in that intoxication-induced psychosis cannot be sharply distinguished from other causes such as mental disorders; and even if it could be distinguished, it should not give rise to blame and punishment in the same way as does conduct induced by chemically active intoxicants ('drug-on-board')., Conclusion: The courts' expansion of the definition of intoxication is both legally and forensically problematic, introducing legal vagaries where the clinical science is already vague; and with intoxication frequently interlocking with historic intoxication and secondary or comorbid mental health conditions, the decision risks inappropriately and/or over-criminalizing defendants., (© 2020 Society for the Study of Addiction.)

This study examines effects of court and community contextual factors on sentencing outcomes for individuals convicted of sexual crimes using indicators from two perspectives-focal concerns and populist punitiveness. Sourced from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing, the sample includes 9,431 persons convicted of sexual crimes and a precision-matched sample of persons convicted of non-sexual violent crimes for comparison. Based on multilevel hurdle regression models for both incarceration and sentence length decisions, results indicate that individuals convicted of sexual crimes face enhanced sentence severity in judicial districts with smaller courts, increased jail capacity, stronger political competition, and higher religious homogeneity. The results also suggest statistically significant differences between effects for persons convicted of sexual crimes and a matched sample of persons convicted of violent crimes. Overall, results suggest that specific contextual factors have a distinguishable impact on sentencing of individuals convicted of sexual crimes.

Objective: We examined efforts by a Mississippi court to base pretrial release decisions on risk assessment rather than primarily on bond., Hypotheses: (a) Pretrial detention will be shorter than that associated with prevailing bond practices in the same counties. (b) Rearrest rates will be lower than a similar pretrial population in a nearby southern state. (c) False positive rates for predicting rearrests will be higher for African American than Caucasian participants. (d) Pretrial detention will be longer for African American participants because of higher risk scores or assessment overrides., Method: Pretrial defendants (N = 521) completed the Risk and Needs Triage (RANT) within 2 weeks of arrest, and outcomes examined included the length of pretrial detention, index case dispositions, and rearrest rates., Results: (a) Pretrial detention averaged approximately 60 days compared with prevailing detentions averaging approximately 90 and 180 days in the same counties. (b) Pretrial rearrest rates were 17 percentage points higher than a similar pretrial population; however, representative comparison data are unavailable to confidently measure recidivism impacts. (c) Positive predictive power did not differ by race in predicting pretrial rearrests, SE = .04, 95% CI [.11, -.06], z = .61, p = .54, d = .08. (d) Despite comparable risk scores, African American participants were detained significantly longer than Caucasian participants (M = 60.92 vs. 45.58 days), p = .038, d = .18, 95% CI [.01, .36], and were less likely to receive a diversion opportunity (11% vs. 23%), p = .009, V = .17., Conclusion: The observational design precludes causal conclusions; however, risk assessment was associated with shorter pretrial detention than prevailing bond practices with no racial disparities in risk prediction. Greater attention to risk assessment may reduce racial inequities in pretrial conditions. Representative comparison data are needed to measure the recidivism impacts of pretrial reform initiatives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Los Angeles County's Office of Diversion and Reentry (ODR) has removed over 3800 people from the largest jail system in the country. Across various diversion programs, ODR's fundamental goal is to provide permanent, lifetime care for each diverted person. This article describes ODR's various diversion programs, and elucidates the types of elaborate clinical and court-related interventions that are necessary to remove persons with serious mental disorders from jail custody. As Los Angeles continues to build the necessary community-based continuum of mental health care, ODR's model proves that thoughtfully removing persons with serious mental disorders from jail is possible and necessary for the health of both patients and community.

In this paper we aim to offer a balanced argument to motivate (re)thinking about the mental illness clause within the insanity defence. This is the clause that states that mental illness should have a relevant causal or explanatory role for the presence of the incapacities or limited capacities that are covered by this defence. We offer three main considerations showing the important legal and epistemological roles that the mental illness clause plays in the evaluation of legal responsibility. Although we acknowledge that these advantages could be preserved without having this clause explicitly stated in the law, we resist proposals that deny the importance of mental illness in exculpation. We argue, thus, that any attempt at removing the mental illness clause from legal formulations of the insanity defence should offer alternative ways of keeping in place these advantages., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Forensic mental health services are a necessity for individuals involved in the criminal justice system. Such services involve two generally independent functions: assessment and treatment. A jurisdiction's legal system is a determinant of how such services are provided and to whom. In our study, we identified the Lebanese laws that address the rights and protections given to a mentally disordered defendant in the criminal justice system. We then analyzed how the Lebanese judicial system interprets and applies the written law in cases where the mental health of the defendant was brought up as an issue. We found that Lebanon's insanity test has a cognitive and a volitional component. However, there does not seem to be a uniform process regulating the use of the insanity defense: statutes do not address the procedural details and the cases we reviewed used various processes to reach their decisions. Based on our findings, we explored avenues for potential improvement in the Lebanese forensic mental health system., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None reported., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Issues: Methamphetamine use is a problem for health and criminal justice systems (CJS) worldwide. Methamphetamine is used at higher rates in CJS-involved populations than the general community. This systematic review synthesises the evidence for health and CJS outcomes post-CJS contact for people reporting pre-CJS methamphetamine use., Approach: Academic databases were searched to identify peer-reviewed original studies using a longitudinal design that investigated associations between pre-CJS methamphetamine use and health and criminal justice outcomes after CJS contact. Identified studies were screened in two stages: title and abstract, then full-text. Data from the included studies were extracted and analysed. Results are reported in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement., Key Findings: Nine studies met the inclusion criteria: five investigated health and four investigated CJS outcomes. Pre-CJS methamphetamine use was associated with subsequent hospitalisation for drug-induced psychosis, increased risk of recidivism and higher crime costs after CJS contact. Pre-CJS methamphetamine use was not associated with subsequent hospitalisation for non-drug induced psychosis or post-release mortality., Implications: Current evidence suggests that pre-CJS contact methamphetamine use increases the risk of subsequent drug-induced psychosis and recidivism. There is a need for more longitudinal research that measures mediators and moderators of health and criminal justice outcomes after CJS contact, to inform targeted prevention., Conclusion: Methamphetamine use is a major problem that is contributing to serious mental illness and recidivism among CJS-involved populations. Prioritising treatment during CJS contact is recommended. Further research to identify key opportunities during health service and CJS contact for intervention is needed., (© 2020 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.)

This article focuses on the preferred disposition for an individual charged with a serious crime against another person, adjudicated incompetent to stand trial and not restorable to competence, whose original criminal charges are dismissed without prejudice, and who is regarded by the state as dangerous to the general public. Three current models used today in California, Oregon, and Ohio are described. All three rely on modifications of various aspects of civil commitment law. We then propose a fourth model based on a modified version of the 1989 American Bar Association (ABA) Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards, in which individuals who are found incompetent to stand trial and not restorable to competence and are considered dangerous would be committed under the same special procedures governing the management and treatment of insanity acquittees., (© 2020 American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.)

The relationship between dementia and criminal behavior perplexes legal and health care systems. Dementia is a progressive clinical syndrome defined by impairment in at least two cognitive domains that interferes with one's activities of daily. Dementia symptoms have been associated with behaviors that violate social norms and constitute criminal actions. A failure to address a gap in policies that support appropriate management of individuals with dementia reflects a failure in our social obligation to care for those who are most vulnerable amongst us. Categorical protections, informed by precedent models applied to juveniles and individuals with psychiatric illness, could help meet a social obligation to provide protections to individuals with dementia. We propose an approach that integrates affirmative defenses to mitigate criminal liability and sentencing restrictions to prevent cruel and unusual punishment.

It is frequently claimed that artificial wombs (AWs) could alleviate the burdens placed exclusively on women in reproduction. In this article, I demonstrate how AWs used for the partial gestation of preterm neonates could introduce new choices for women by changing perceptions of tolerable risks in gestation. In light of advancing medical technology, it is necessary to consider whether the current legal framework in England and Wales would support increased choice for women about alternative forms of gestation. I examine the ill-defined offence of 'unlawfully procuring miscarriage' in the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and demonstrate that different conclusions about the legal significance of ending a pregnancy are evident, depending on the analytical lens adopted in interpreting ambiguities. Furthermore, I demonstrate that the defences available to pregnancy termination under the Abortion Act 1967 are too narrow to support choices about alternative forms of gestation, even if they become physically and medically possible. Therefore, we should decriminalise termination of pregnancy, or, if it is assumed that gestation is the business of the criminal law, specific reforms to the legal framework are necessary. The offence of unlawfully procuring miscarriage is too uncertain and broad, and the defences available are too restrictive., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press.)

In March 2020, two cases of attempted murder were opened against people who had tested positive for COVID-19 and had not remained in quarantine. Criminal law has previously been used to criminalise intentional transmission of HIV in both South Africa (SA) and other countries. However, it has been found that criminalisation laws undermine public health and measures to control outbreaks by stigmatising those infected and deterring testing. This article explores whether SA's existing HIV criminalisation laws can be applied to the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and the potential effect such measures could have on efforts to control the COVID-19 epidemic.

Introduction: Timely medical attention could decrease mortality following drug or alcohol overdose events, but overdose victims and witnesses often delay or fail to seek professional help because they fear police involvement. Statutes that provide immunity from criminal action can have an important impact on seeking timely treatment., Methods: We systematically collected and reviewed medical amnesty laws (MALs; commonly known as "Good Samaritan laws") that are designed to encourage bystanders and others to contact authorities for assistance during overdose emergencies. Each law was coded to analyze (1) who receives statutory protections and under what circumstances; (2) what factors undercut the credibility of statutory protections; and (3) whether statutory language is easily attainable and understandable., Results: Forty-seven states plus the District of Columbia have MALs, but provisions differ widely in their scope of protection. Some laws may be less effective than others in prompting calls for professional assistance because they either lack protections, allow overly broad discretion, or prove difficult to research., Conclusions: Some statutes may be ineffective in encouraging calls for professional assistance following overdose events. Narrow immunity provisions with complex language may not be easily understood by the general population.

Objective: The present study examined how mothers' personal characteristics, experience with, and attitudes toward the juvenile justice system are associated with their knowledge of the juvenile justice system over time., Hypotheses: We hypothesized that additional exposure to the system (via sons' rearrests) would be associated with greater legal knowledge. We predicted that White women, women with higher educational attainment, and women who had been arrested would experience greater gains in legal knowledge over time, relative to non-White women, women with lower educational attainment, and women who had not been arrested. Finally, we predicted that mothers' attitudes toward the legitimacy of the justice system would not be associated with their change in legal knowledge., Method: Mothers ( N = 234) of male youth (majority non-White) completed a questionnaire of their knowledge about the juvenile justice system after their sons' 1st arrest (T1) and again 2.5 years later (T2)., Results: Knowledge did not improve over time, regardless of whether the youth was rearrested. Black mothers displayed less knowledge of the juvenile justice system when their sons were rearrested multiple times. Attitudes toward the justice system were not associated with legal knowledge., Conclusions: These results illustrate the importance of a family educational component to juvenile probation, especially as a vehicle to reduce disproportionate minority contact with the juvenile justice system. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Following the advent of sexually violent predator (SVP) legislation in the early 1990s, forensic evaluators began to apply diagnostic labels related to a paraphilic interest in rape as a mental condition predisposing individuals convicted of sexual offenses to recidivate. The most recent iteration of the concept, other specified paraphilic disorder (non-consent) (OSPD (non-consent)), is a commonly utilized diagnostic entity in SVP proceedings. Research on paraphilic interest in coercive sex has failed to define a valid methodology or set of criteria to make a diagnosis of OSPD (non-consent) and has repeatedly demonstrated that the diagnostic construct has poor interrater reliability. The state of the science pertaining to OSPD (non-consent) thus raises serious concerns regarding its admissibility in SVP proceedings. Indeed, there are recent cases in which courts have deemed it inadmissible. The forensic expert involved in SVP proceedings should understand admissibility concerns related to OSPD (non-consent) and how to address them in court., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Since the landmark case of Roper v. Simmons in 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a series of cases on sentencing for juvenile criminal offenders. Emphasizing that children are different for the purposes of criminal punishment, the Court has incrementally held that it violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment to impose death or life without parole for most juvenile offenders. Although the Supreme Court rulings establish minimum standards, they do not prescribe a clear framework for implementation. States have, accordingly, responded differently in interpreting and implementing the Supreme Court precedent. One area where a split exists between states is in juvenile term-of-years sentences that amount to de facto life sentences without parole. The case of People v. Contreras f rom California is one of the most recent state cases to address this problem. Reviewed here are Contreras , the historical precedent supporting juvenile justice reform, and jurisdictional responses to the notion of sentencing juveniles to de facto life sentences. Also discussed is a call for meaningful periodic opportunities for juveniles to be considered for release., (© 2020 American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.)

This study of attrition compares the prosecution of child sexual offenses reported while the complainant was still a child with those in which the report was delayed into adulthood; it also compares matters involving adult and young (under 18 years) suspects/defendants. It is based on an analysis of police and court administrative data in New South Wales, Australia over a 14-year period (2003-2016). Only one in five (21.6%) proceeded beyond the investigation stage. Criminal proceedings were more likely to commence when the alleged victim was 7-12 years old at the time of the incident, when the suspect was an adult and at least 10 years older than the victim, and also when the report to police was made when the victim was an adult. Just over half (55.5%) of the matters finalized in court resulted in a conviction. Cases in the higher courts were less likely to be dismissed and more likely to feature guilty pleas and convictions at trial than cases in the lower courts. The overall estimate is that only 12% of offenses reported to police resulted in a conviction, at a relatively stable rate over 14 years. These findings are consistent with those of comparable studies.

Objective: The Miranda v. Arizona (1966) decision was intended to protect individuals' rights in custodial situations. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate Miranda abilities of individuals with intellectual disability and evaluate the utility of intelligence in predicting these abilities. Additionally, we aimed to provide an updated resource for forensic examiners regarding the performance of individuals with intellectual disability on the Standardized Assessment of Miranda Abilities (SAMA)., Hypotheses: We hypothesized that IQ, particularly verbal intelligence and working memory, would significantly predict abilities related to recall, vocabulary, knowledge, and acquiescence in a sample with intellectual disability., Method: Sixty-two individuals diagnosed with intellectual disability completed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-4th ed. (WAIS-IV), the SAMA, and a background questionnaire., Results: Participants demonstrated significantly worse Miranda abilities when compared to the normative sample of the SAMA apart from acquiescence, which they demonstrated at significantly higher rates. Participants exhibited limited existing knowledge of Miranda rights and showed minimal improvement following exposure to a Miranda warning. Verbal abilities were a significant predictor of recall and vocabulary abilities with large effect sizes on average (i.e., d s > 1). IQ was not predictive of misconceptions about Miranda or acquiescence., Conclusions: Verbal intelligence was an important contributor to understanding Miranda. This study provided data related to performance on the SAMA by a sample of individuals with intellectual disability. It may serve as a reference for evaluators, legal professionals, and law enforcement officers when working with justice-involved persons with suspected intellectual disability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

More than 10 million people are imprisoned around the world, with many more who encounter the justice system. However, most studies examining the mental health burden in the justice system have examined only incarcerated individuals, with few looking at both criminal offending and victimization at the population-level. This study aimed to describe the population-level prevalence of mental disorders among the entirety of justice-involved individuals in a Canadian sample. The study was conducted using linked health and justice administrative data for all residents of Manitoba, Canada ages 18-64 between April 1, 2007 and March 31, 2012. All justice involvement (crime accusations and victimizations) and inpatient and outpatient mental disorder diagnoses (mood/anxiety, substance use, psychotic, personality disorders and suicidal behavior) were retrieved. Five-year age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of mental disorders and suicidal behaviour among those with any crime accusation and any victimization were compared to the general population of Manitoba. The study found that age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of any mental disorder was significantly higher among both adults accused of a crime and those victimized (38.9% and 38.6%, respectively) compared to the general population (26.1%). Rate ratios for specific mental disorders and suicidal behaviour were 1.4-3.6 among those accused of a crime, and 1.4-3.7 among those who were victims, compared to the general population. These findings highlight the need for urgent and expanded attention to this intersection of vulnerability. Victimization is especially an area of justice-related health that requires more attention., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Criminalizing young people, particularly Black- and Brown-identified young people, has increasingly been a feature of US rhetoric, policies, and practices. Thus, the domains in which young people are exposed to the legal system have continued to expand, encompassing their communities, schools, and homes. Importantly, public health researchers have begun exploring links between legal system exposure and health, although this literature is primarily focused at the interpersonal level and assesses associations within a single domain or in adulthood.Using critical race theory and ecosocial theory of disease distribution, we identified potential policy-level determinants of criminalization and briefly summarized the literature on downstream health outcomes among young people. Our analysis suggests that policy decisions may facilitate the targeting of structurally marginalized young people across domains.Future research should (1) position these legislative decisions as primary exposures of interest to understand their association with health among young people and inform institutional-level intervention, (2) measure the totality of exposure to the criminal legal system across domains, and (3) use theory to examine the complex ways racism operates institutionally to shape inequitable distributions of associated health outcomes.

The prevalence of intellectual disabilities amongst adult prisoners in Ireland is higher than international estimates. There is little evidence that the development of diversion services has impacted such prevalence. The authors argue that Ireland's ratification of the UNCRPD presents a timely opportunity to address this problem through an awareness programme aimed at frontline law enforcement officials., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest GG is Chair of the Faculty of Forensic Psychiatry at the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland. The views expressed are his own. AC, SK and CPD have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study was designed to examine the effects of arrests for low-level criminal activity on key features of police-community relations and the capacity of the neighborhood to regulate behavior of residents. Multilevel mixed-effects modeling was used with residents (N = 826) living in police beats (N = 51) in Chicago to test the hypotheses that higher arrest rates were associated with less police legitimacy, less willingness to work with the police and less neighborhood informal social control. The results indicated that more aggressive enforcement was associated with less capacity for informal social control. The findings also suggested that higher arrest rates were directly related to more legitimacy and indirectly related to less legitimacy through residents' negative experiences with police. For residents affected by crime and disorder but not burdened by aggressive enforcement, the use of arrests to reduce incivilities may be viewed positively and related to stronger beliefs about legitimacy. In contrast, trust and confidence in police may be reduced for those residents who experience the costs associated with low-level arrests. Regardless of the short-term effects, if aggressive low-level policing undermines the effectiveness of social control systems in the neighborhood, communities will be less safe in the long term., (© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The two main legal models governing abortion provision, indications for abortion and time limits on the number of weeks of pregnancy, both limit recognition of women's reproductive autonomy. Each model restricts the circumstances under which women can access abortion. Yet, in most of the world these have been the main political goals for the feminist movement in the fight to make abortion legal and safe. Other strategies have also been incorporated into these goals. But in each case, abortion remains a crime, causing pervasive and profound damage for the providers and for women, and maintaining abortion as a part of an exceptionality regime suspended in its own illegality. This article discusses such limitations. It then focuses on Colombia and the experiences of feminist collective La Mesa por la Vida y la Salud de las Mujeres, which is campaigning to have abortion removed from the criminal law. In particular, this article examines a double standard in Colombian law: while abortion has been declared a fundamental right, it remains a crime in the penal code., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: None declared., (Copyright © 2019 González-Vélez, Melo-Arévalo, and Martínez-Londoño.)

Considering the numbers of children and adolescents in conflict with the law, there is a concern about the ways in which they are being dealt with in the criminal justice system. This paper examines issues relating to the minimum age of criminal responsibility, the differences across countries, and the broad principles and international guidelines in this regard. Additionally, the rebuttable presumption of doli incapax , which is included in many legal systems, is discussed. This is done specifically with concerns regarding the psychological evaluation of criminal capacity, considering the lack of valid and reliable measures, as well as the vagueness of the concept of criminal capacity. An examination of the neurodevelopment evidence in relation to children's criminal behaviour, risk taking, and impulse control are discussed. The latest research evidence raises doubt about the extent to which adolescents can be held criminally responsible. The responsibility of expert witnesses to enlighten courts on this matter is crucial to avoid unnecessarily criminalising children and adolescents who may not have the requisite capacity to be held criminally liable.