The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
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J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law · Jan 2012
Review Comparative StudyMental illness in homicide-suicide: a review.
Homicide followed by suicide (H-S) is a lethal event in which an individual kills another individual and subsequently dies by suicide. This article presents a review of research carried out in Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, and the United States of America over the past 60 years on the prevalence of mental illness among the perpetrators of H-S. ⋯ This review, therefore, indicated that mental illness plays an important role in H-S. The prevention of these events depends on the identification and treatment of psychiatric disorder in potential perpetrators.
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Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been offered as a basis for criminal defenses, including insanity, unconsciousness, self-defense, diminished capacity, and sentencing mitigation. Examination of case law (e.g., appellate decisions) involving PTSD reveals that when offered as a criminal defense, PTSD has received mixed treatment in the judicial system. Courts have often recognized testimony about PTSD as scientifically reliable. ⋯ S. jurisdictions as a valid basis for insanity, unconsciousness, and self-defense. However, the courts have not always found the presentation of PTSD testimony to be relevant, admissible, or compelling in such cases, particularly when expert testimony failed to show how PTSD met the standard for the given defense. In cases that did not meet the standard for one of the complete defenses, PTSD has been presented as a partial defense or mitigating circumstance, again with mixed success.
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J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law · Jan 2012
CommentCommentary: Pursuing justice in death penalty trials.
The capital trial, by its nature, is fraught with emotionally disturbing elements that jurors must face when deciding the ultimate fate of a guilty defendant. A confluence of mitigating and aggravating factors influences a capital jury's decision to impose a sentence of death. ⋯ This commentary examines the onerous emotional toll encountered by capital jurors in light of the findings of Corwin and colleagues regarding defendant remorse and juror's need for affect. The commentary also presents practical and ethics-related considerations that should be kept in mind when reflecting on their study.
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J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law · Jan 2012
CommentCommentary: Perception of remorse by mock jurors in a capital murder trial.
The study by Corwin et al. adds to the emerging but limited data on the impact of defendant remorse on sentencing decisions. The authors studied verbal and nonverbal expressions of defendant remorse and whether they were perceived as remorseful by mock jurors. They found that incongruent verbal and nonverbal behavior, as well as mock jurors' willingness to approach emotional situations, resulted in more lenient sentences for defendants. An overarching and as yet unanswered validity concern regarding this line of research in general is whether the use of undergraduate mock jurors reliably models real jurors in actual courtroom settings.
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J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law · Jan 2012
Peer review committees and state licensing boards: responding to allegations of physician misconduct.
Although physicians tend to be more concerned about malpractice actions, adjudication of complaints of alleged physician misconduct by peer review organizations and state licensing authorities can have equally serious consequences. Unlike medical malpractice, no patient injury is necessary to support the claim of alleged misconduct. ⋯ Unlike malpractice, where the standard of care is what the average prudent practitioner would be expected to do in similar circumstances, in peer review, the standard of care is the code that the organization has endorsed and to which the individual practitioner has agreed by choosing to join the organization. Forensic psychiatrists who may serve either as experts for a peer review or state board investigation or as peer review committee members must understand the legal foundation of the process and the attendant psychological and sociopolitical forces affecting the different parties.