Detecting inconsistent responding on the youth psychopathic traits inventory-short form

The Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory-Short Form (YPI-S) is a convenient measure for assessing psychopathy in settings with constraints on resources. However, the YPI-S does not contain a means of detecting careless or random response styles. The present study describes the development and evaluation of an inconsistent responding scale for the YPI-S using five archival samples that vary in language (English, German, Italian, Dutch) and other participant characteristics (juvenile offenders, adolescent students). Inconsistency scores resulting from the new scale effectively distinguished genuine participant responses from randomly generated cases (area under the ROC curve [AUC] = .85-.90) and from cases in which 50% of original responses were replaced with random data (AUC = .75-.82). The associations between the YPI-S and theoretically relevant correlates were reduced among participants exceeding proposed cutoff scores for profile validity compared with associations among more consistent respondents

Analysis and characterization of heparin impurities

This review discusses recent developments in analytical methods available for the sensitive separation, detection and structural characterization of heparin contaminants. The adulteration of raw heparin with oversulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS) in 2007–2008 spawned a global crisis resulting in extensive revisions to the pharmacopeia monographs on heparin and prompting the FDA to recommend the development of additional physicochemical methods for the analysis of heparin purity. The analytical chemistry community quickly responded to this challenge, developing a wide variety of innovative approaches, several of which are reported in this special issue. This review provides an overview of methods of heparin isolation and digestion, discusses known heparin contaminants, including OSCS, and summarizes recent publications on heparin impurity analysis using sensors, near-IR, Raman, and NMR spectroscopy, as well as electrophoretic and chromatographic separations

Prevalence of Mental Disordersamong Youth in the Juvenile Justice System

Despite increasing interest in the mental health needs of children involved in the juvenile justice system, relatively little is known about the base rates of specific mental disorders in this population due to the absence of any national prevalence data. In 1992, two reviews of the existing empirical literature (Otto, Greenstein, Johnson, Friedman, 1992; Wierson, Forehand, & Frame, 1992) both concluded that relatively few well-controlled epidemiological studies had been conducted that could inform our knowledge of the prevalence of mental disorders in the juvenile justice system. Factors commonly cited that limited the generalizability of much of the existing research included: (a) failure to use random or comprehensive sampling procedures, (b) use of differing assessment instruments across studies or reliance on file information rather than structured diagnostic interviews, (c) assignment of only one diagnosis and failure to assess for multiple diagnoses/comorbidity, (d) samples being drawn from only one site or state, and (e) failure to consider how diagnostic rates might be affected by relevant demographic and historical variables such as age, gender, and length of detainment. Since the publication of these two reviews, few studies have been conducted that have significantly improved our knowledge of the prevalence of mental disorders in juvenile justice populations and national prevalence estimates of mental disorder still have not been established

Prevalence of Mental Disordersamong Youth in the Juvenile Justice System

Despite increasing interest in the mental health needs of children involved in the juvenile justice system, relatively little is known about the base rates of specific mental disorders in this population due to the absence of any national prevalence data. In 1992, two reviews of the existing empirical literature (Otto, Greenstein, Johnson, Friedman, 1992; Wierson, Forehand, & Frame, 1992) both concluded that relatively few well-controlled epidemiological studies had been conducted that could inform our knowledge of the prevalence of mental disorders in the juvenile justice system. Factors commonly cited that limited the generalizability of much of the existing research included: (a) failure to use random or comprehensive sampling procedures, (b) use of differing assessment instruments across studies or reliance on file information rather than structured diagnostic interviews, (c) assignment of only one diagnosis and failure to assess for multiple diagnoses/comorbidity, (d) samples being drawn from only one site or state, and (e) failure to consider how diagnostic rates might be affected by relevant demographic and historical variables such as age, gender, and length of detainment. Since the publication of these two reviews, few studies have been conducted that have significantly improved our knowledge of the prevalence of mental disorders in juvenile justice populations and national prevalence estimates of mental disorder still have not been established

Release Decision Making and Planning

The authors provide an overview of issues germane to mental health professionals who are involved in the release decision-making process for offenders with special needs. The authors briefly discuss some of the history and limitations of prediction and release decision making. Then the authors provide an overview of strategies and methods to improve mental health professionals\u27 decision making for offenders with special needs. Included in this discussion is a review of factors that clinicians must be aware of when making release decisions, including relevant base rates of recidivism for offender populations of interest and various risk factors (both individual and environmental—contextual) that either increase or decrease the probability of reoffending among offenders with special needs. Following this discussion of risk factors is a review of several instruments that may be used in release decision making and release planning contexts. Next the authors address how clinicians should structure their release recommendations and how this information should be conveyed to relevant authorities. Finally, the authors conclude with recommendations for future research

Juror decision-making in a mock sexually violent predator trial: gender differences in the impact of divergent types of expert testimony

Despite widespread use of mental health testimony in cases where violence risk is at issue, relatively little is known about the impact of such information on juror decision-making. This study addressed the effects of testimony based on three types of risk assessment instrument or method (clinical opinion, actuarial assessment, and ratings of psychopathy) to examine whether they would have differential impact on jurors\u27 perceptions of the defendant. In a mock sexually violent predator civil commitment trial, 172 undergraduates were presented a case summary that included prosecution and defense expert testimony related to violence risk based on one of the three methods noted above. Consistent with earlier research, the hypothesis that a defendant described as a high risk psychopath by the prosecution would be judged more severely than a defendant judged as high risk based on other evaluation procedures was supported, but only among female jurors. Unlike prior studies, little support was found for the hypothesis that clinical opinion testimony would be more influential than actuarially based testimony for either gender. Mechanisms that may underlie the observed gender differences are discussed, as are the potential implications of these findings for civil commitment proceedings

Gender differences in attitudes toward psychopathic sexual offenders

Although a considerable amount of research has been conducted examining the validity of psychopathy as a psychological construct, relatively few studies have focused on the effects of using this disorder in real-world settings to influence the attitudes of laypersons who are making life-altering decisions about offenders. This study attempted to replicate and extend earlier findings (Guy and Edens, 2003) suggesting that there are gender differences in the impact of expert testimony regarding psychopathy. A sample of 599 undergraduates reviewed case facts regarding a hypothetical Sexually Violent Predator trial in which the type of risk assessment testimony provided (clinical opinion, actuarial scale, psychopathy evaluation) and the age of the victims (adult versus child) were manipulated. Consistent with prior research, despite overall high rates of support for commitment in the adult victim condition, men were less prone than women to support civil commitment when the defendant was described as a psychopath (62.5 versus 86.5%). No such gender differences were noted in the clinical opinion or actuarial conditions. When the victims were identified as children, type of testimony had no impact because support for commitment was almost unilateral. Finally, ratings of how psychopathic the defendant was perceived to be (regardless of the testimony provided) were significantly associated with support for commitment across most conditions