Retributive Medication: A Discussion of a Maine Law Allowing Involuntary, Forcible Medication of a Pretrial Defendant for the Purpose of Rendering the Defendant Competent to Stand Trial

Innocent until proven guilty—it’s a phrase we have all heard, know, and accept. But there are circumstances where this simple concept is strained in its application, such as when a legally incompetent defendant is facing trial. After all, how can a defendant be proven guilty if he cannot stand trial? The Supreme Court of the United States has determined that forcibly medicating an incompetent defendant solely to render the defendant competent to stand trial is permissible under the Federal Constitution. However, the Federal Constitution provides only the floor-level of civil rights; states are free to set their own ceilings. The State of Maine had previously established a relatively high ceiling: Maine law provided a process for psychiatric hospitals across the state to administer short-term, forcible treatment of patients who exhibit dangerous behaviors, so as to minimize and control risk but in a manner limited by necessity. Nevertheless, a new Maine law went into effect in 2015 that adopted the federal standard, allowing a defendant to be forcibly medicated for the sole purpose of rendering the defendant competent to stand trial. Although this standard requires that certain conditions be met before treatment, the process allows forcible treatment to continue for indefinite periods of time, regardless of whether the defendant poses a risk to himself or others. At the heart of several concerns is a trepidation that Maine has stripped pretrial defendants of the civil liberties they had previously been afforded. This article utilizes the first case in Maine that has applied the new law to illustrate the concerns surrounding the new process. This article argues that the law attempts to fill a void that Maine does not have, and remains an ill fit for the State of Maine

Battered men and our changing attitudes toward intimate partner violence

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) (2009) estimates that 4.8 million women are victims of intimate partner assault and rape every year. Receiving far less attention in the intimate partner violence literature, however, are studies of the 2.9 million male victims of this type of abuse (CDC 2009). Here I seek to explore this evolving issue of intimate partner violence, and determine to what extent the situations of male victims imitate the abundant body of literature on male violence against women. Using Google’s NGram word corpus (Michel et al. 2010), I examine important changes over time in the usage of the terms commonly associated with intimate partner violence and battering. Of interest is how fluctuation in the usage of these terms in public works correlates with major societal changes such as rights movements and changing laws. Based on what we know of framing of social issues and word choice for fueling social movements, I find that the recent increase of the use of terms associated with male victims has also potentially contributed to the increase in the resources available to aid male victims by increasing public awareness of the problem. Finally, through an online survey of battered men, I find that despite the theory that relationships involving violence against male partners are more often the result of situational fights or mutual couple violence, situations do exist in which males are victims of a manipulative and controlling partner as has often been observed in cases of battered women. In addition to abusers as main aggressors, other similarities to female victims include the use of multiple tactics such as psychological manipulation and insults, verbal abuse, physical abuse and even sexual coercion in order to display dominance or force compliance

Association of heart rate variability with perceptual-motor measures among ROTC cadets

Neural processes underlying situational awareness share circuits with those that regulate autonomic function. Heart rate variability may provide an important indicator of cognitive-motor performance capabilities in challenging situations

Group A: ASME Student Design Challenge

This year\u27s student design competition is termed Building to the Sky. Student teams are required to build a compact engineering system capable of manufacturing a tower made of only standard-sized sheets of paper

CULTURAL HUMILITY: RACIAL DISPARITY AND DISPROPORTIONALITY HOW IT RELATES TO CHILD WELFARE AND MANDATED REPORTER TRAINING AND PREPAREDNESS

The research problem was mandated reporters’ in a public assistance setting and child welfare social workers’ perception of cultural humility and cultural training. The research proposed that the lack of cultural humility training for both mandated reporters in public social service sectors and child welfare social workers has an impact of on the disparity and disproportionality in child welfare cases. A critical theory approach was adopted, and qualitative data was collected via face-to-face interviews. A snowball sampling strategy was used to select study participants. Study findings suggested that there is a cultural humility training provided to child welfare social workers, but it may lack substance and frequency, leaving the social workers feeling disengaged with their clients and community networks. The study also found that there is no training available to mandated reporters in public social services on cultural preparedness and awareness. This raises issues and implications for services to the clients. It is also suggested there may be a connection between the mandated reporter’s hesitation when igniting their responsibility as a mandated reporter to report suspected abuse and their level of preparedness and understanding of cultural humility. All information found through the interviews and the common themes have been shared with both mandated reporters in a public social service setting and child welfare social workers encouraging them to act and advocate for additional training to improve practice and service. Copies of the research data will be made available to all Southern California inland counties to raise awareness of the current concerns. Suggestions are to be given to these inland counties regarding additional trainings and cultural humility and cultural awareness practices

Shovel Test Pit Paperwork of Transect 17 from Burns (8BR85)

This document contains the field notes taken during phase 1 survey for transect 17

Shovel Test Pit Paperwork of Transect 10 from Quarterman (8BR223)

This document contains the field notes taken during phase 1 survey for transect 10

Influence of short rear end tapers on the base pressure of a simplified vehicle

This paper looks into the effect on base pressure of applying a high aspect ratio chamfer to all edges of a simplified squareback model (the Windsor model). The effects are investigated using force and moment measurements along with surface pressure measurements on the slanted surface and vertical base. The work forms part of a larger study to develop understanding of the mechanisms that influence overall base pressure and hence the resulting aerodynamic drag. A short slant (approx. 4% of model length) was applied to the trailing edges of the simplified vehicle model, representing the small rear end optimisation typical of many real vehicle geometries. Two experiments were performed: the first applied a chamfer at varying angles to the top and bottom edges; the second test looked at the same chamfer angle applied to the sides of the model geometry while the top and bottom angle remained square. The changes in drag are discussed and explained in the context of the base pressures and area weighted pressure coefficients

Io's polar volcanic thermal emission indicative of magma ocean and shallow tidal heating models

The distribution of Io's volcanic activity likely reflects the position and magnitude of internal tidal heating. We use new observations of Io's polar regions by the Juno spacecraft Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) to complete near-infrared global coverage, revealing the global distribution and magnitude of thermal emission from Io's currently erupting volcanoes. We show that the distribution of volcanic heat flow from 266 active hot spots is consistent with the presence of a global magma ocean, and/or shallow asthenospheric heating. We find that Io's polar volcanoes are less energetic but about the same in number per unit area than at lower latitudes. We also find that volcanic heat flow in the north polar cap is greater than that in the south. The low volcanic advection seen at Io's poles is therefore at odds with measurements of background temperature showing Io's poles are anomalously warm. We suggest that the differences in volcanic thermal emission from Io's poles compared to that at lower latitudes is indicative of lithospheric dichotomies that inhibit volcanic advection towards Io's poles, particularly in the south polar region.Comment: 17 pages, two tables, 7 figure