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Adversarial hearings in hospital commitment and de novo treatment proceedings, or court hearings, delay psychiatric treatment in many jurisdictions. In Massachusetts, the "treatment over objection" process requires a court petition. For state hospital patients, the delay to treatment is an initial 34 day waiting period in addition to continuances of court hearings that extend treatment delays. This study examined the frequency of adverse medical events due to delayed court hearings within a forensic state hospital in the US. The study reviewed all (n = 355) treatment petitions filed by a Massachusetts forensic hospital from 2015 and 2016. The incidence and nature of adverse events (e.g. patient/staff assaults, milieu disruptions) and acute medical symptoms (e.g. catatonia, acute psychosis), before and after the Court granted a petition for treatment, were analyzed by two raters. Adverse events included patient and staff assaults, acute psychiatric symptoms, and milieu problems. 82.6 % of treatment petitions led to involuntary treatment, 16.6 % were withdrawn by the medical petition filer, and only 0.8 % petitions were denied by the judge. Adversarial hearings occasioned an average delay of 41 days from treatment petition filing to receipt of standing treatment in addition to statute required delays. Once treatment was court-approved, all types of adverse events were significantly reduced. Results established that the court treatment hearing scheme exacerbates health and safety risks to patients with serious mental illness. Increasing physician and court personnel awareness of these risks is likely key to enhancing a patient-focused, rights-oriented approach to these matters. This and other recommendations is proposed for jurisdictions that deal with this problem around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Forensic Psychology continues to expand as an independent field, professionals regularly resort to psychological assessment tools to assess people involved within the justice system. The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is a 344-item, self-report inventory that aims to provide meaningful information for diagnosis and clinical decision-making, specifically relating to psychopathology, personality, and psychosocial environment. Its applicability in forensic settings has been increasingly recognized on account of its benefits in comparison to other self-report inventories (e.g., MMPI-2, MCMI-III), since it includes scales that are relevant to forensic settings (e.g., violence risk levels, psychopathy, substance abuse), and the existence of profile distortion indicators is useful when dealing with highly defensive and/or malingering populations. The goal of this paper is to conduct a thorough review of the PAI's utility in forensic settings, by focusing on the relevant forensic constructs assessed by the PAI (e.g., personality disorders, psychosis, substance abuse, aggression, recidivism risk, and response distortion), as well as its application to offender and inmate populations, intimate partner violence contexts, family law cases, and forensic professionals. Overall, the PAI continues to gather international recognition and its relevance and usefulness in forensic settings is generally accepted and acknowledged. • The PAI has great applicability in forensic settings. • The PAI includes scales related to violence, psychopathy, and substance abuse. • The PAI'S profile distortion indicators are useful in forensic settings. • The PAI is applicable to offender and victim samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Psychotherapy is a form of treatment intervention targeting problematical human behaviour, emotion, and cognition using various psychological techniques and approaches. In Malaysia, the application of psychotherapy in ameliorating criminality among forensic populations is developing and evidence shows that some therapies like Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy and Reality Therapy have been practiced in many correctional institutions. Objective: This paper aims to review the role of psychotherapy for help in correctional settings as a means to ameliorate criminal behaviour and reduce recidivism rates. Method: An archival research was utilised, where articles and books regardless of the year of publication from different countries, including Malaysia were examined. Several keywords were used for the purpose of retrieval of related articles. Results and Discussion: Three different approaches of psychotherapies, i.e. Behavioural Therapy, Cognitive Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy and their principles and effectiveness in rehabilitating the forensic populations were elaborated in this review. The principle behind the effectiveness of the psychotherapy was different, and this influences the choice of treatment that should be used in dealing with the forensic populations. Conclusion: Forensic populations have rights to obtain treatment, and the choice of therapy has to be relevant within the context of cost-effectiveness to ensure optimum effectiveness in ameliorating criminal tendencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study covers a systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of self-reported deviant or disruptive personality traits: anger, aggression, hostility, antisocial traits, psychopathy, and impulsivity in forensic populations worldwide. A computer-based search of titles was carried out using the PubMed electronic database for articles published in English that included a self-report instrument for personality characteristics in combination with a forensic population (i.e. detained in remand, sentenced and/or in enforced treatment, or on parole). The final sample consisted of 39 studies (N = 11,716) that together used 17 different instruments and reported on 32 subscales or constructs that fitted our current interest. Results showed significantly higher levels of self-reported antisocial and psychopathic features in forensic samples, including a significant effect of the assessment instrument and subscale used. No significant differences were found for self-reported impulsivity, anger, aggression, or hostility in forensic populations compared to norm scores of non-forensic samples. Possible explanations, including suggestions that forensic populations are prone to providing socially desirable answers on self-report questionnaires, possibly to gain advantages such as a lower prison sentence or to avoid enforced treatment, are discussed, as well as limitations, and suggestions for future research and clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Wilson Sex Fantasy Questionnaire (WSFQ; Wilson, 1978) is a 40-item self-report questionnaire that assesses 4 types of sexual fantasies: Exploratory, Intimate, Impersonal, and Sadomasochistic. The goal of the present study was to examine the differences between child molesters (n = 64) and nonsexual offenders (n = 41) on the WSFQ. Comparisons included the four underlying factors, 2 factors associated with the fantasizer's role in the fantasy (active vs. passive), and 2 items most closely related to sexual molestation behavior. Results found that molesters reported higher scores on the Exploratory and Intimate subscales, as well as overall fantasy. Scores on the Impersonal and Sadomasochistic subscales were not significantly different. Molesters also reported higher scores on fantasies where they were the actor, and higher scores on fantasies most closely related to sexual molestation behavior. Subsequent analyses found that both offender groups reported significantly lower levels of fantasies than college comparison subjects and noncriminal sexual deviants. Differences among the 2 study groups are discussed in terms of social and cognitive characteristics of molesters. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Studies of homicide offenders that engage in repeat, non-serial homicide offending are scarce and most studies lack comprehensive criminal career data that include convictions for 1st degree murder. Drawing on archival data on 682 male convicted felons from the Florida Department of Corrections, the current study examined the prognostic association between prior 1st degree murder convictions and various specifications of subsequent homicide offending. Negative binomial and logistic regression models found that prior 1st degree murder convictions were significantly associated with current/instant homicide offending and multiple homicide offending despite controls for five forms of serious felony violence, age, and race. Suggestions for future research are proffered regarding the forensic and criminological value of 1st degree murder convictions., (© 2019 The Authors.)