Suggestibility and confabulation among individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: A review for criminal justice, forensic mental health, and legal interviewers.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) are conditions arising from prenatal alcohol exposure which results in a range of neurodevelopmental deficits in areas including cognition, memory, language, executive functioning, emotional regulation, and adaptive functioning. Deficits in various neurodevelopmental areas can range from mild to severe, depending on many factors including the quantity and timing of alcohol exposure during the prenatal development period. During interviews in criminal justice, forensic mental health, and legal contexts (e.g., criminal investigations, cross examination, victim interviews, interviews for lawsuits, forensic evaluations, pre-sentence investigations), deficits associated with FASD may elevate the risk of suggestibility and confabulation. These issues can result in negative jurisprudence-related outcomes, including impulsive Miranda rights waivers, incorrect assumptions of competency, inaccurate or incomplete information gathering, misinterpretation of intent, witness reliability issues, court ordered treatment completion problems, probation and parole violations, false confessions, and false accusations. The aim of the present article is to explain the context in which these issues can arise and provide criminal justice, forensic mental health, and legal professionals with key guidelines that can assist in minimizing suggestibility and confabulation when interviewing persons with FASD. We hope that the suggestions and strategies presented in this article will reduce potential obstructions of justice and enhance the quality of information obtained from individuals impacted by FASD. A brief discussion is also provided to identify additional research and training opportunities needed to clarify "best practices" for professionals tasked with evaluating the challenges facing this unique population.

Health Implications of an Immigration Raid: Findings from a Latino Community in the Midwestern United States.

Immigration raids exemplify the reach of immigration law enforcement into the lives of Latino community members, yet little research characterizes the health effects of these raids. We examined the health implications of an immigration raid that resulted in multiple arrests and deportations and occurred midway through a community survey of a Latino population. We used linear regression following principal axis factoring to examine the influence of raid timing on immigration enforcement stress and self-rated health. We controlled for age, sex, relationship status, years in the county in which the raid occurred, children in the home, and nativity. 325 participants completed the survey before the raid and 151 after. Completing the survey after the raid was associated with higher levels of immigration enforcement stress and lower self-rated health scores. Findings indicate the negative impact of immigration raids on Latino communities. Immigration discussions should include holistic assessments of health.

Integrated services plus drug treatment as a system alternative to crime control and parole.

Integrated services have the potential to facilitate recovery in drug offenders as well as reduce criminal recidivism. This is significant given that prison overcrowding has led many drug offenders to be released from custody into society via the "reentry movement." Offenders incarcerated for many years often return to society with medical, mental health, behavioral, and drug abuse issues. These issues have been found in similar populations, including those with severe mental illness and the homeless, for which integrated services has shown to have a significant impact on improving functioning. Thus the argument of this article is that because integrated services have shown to be effective with somewhat similar populations, integrated services can be effective in treating paroled drug offenders. These benefits are expected to be to a greater degree than that achieved by current system policy regarding paroled drug offenders being supervised by parole officers rather than case managers facilitating integrated services.

Long-term effects of a community-based intervention: 5-year follow-up of 'Clubs against Drugs'.

AIMS: To evaluate long-term effects of a multi-component community-based club drug prevention programme. DESIGN: A pre- (2003) and post-intervention study (2004 and 2008) design. SETTING: High-risk licensed premises in central Stockholm, Sweden. PARTICIPANTS: The intervention programme, 'Clubs against Drugs', included community mobilization, drug-training for doormen and other staff, policy work, increased enforcement, environmental changes and media advocacy and public relations work. MEASUREMENT: The indicator chosen for this study was the frequency of doormen intervention towards obviously drug-intoxicated guests at licensed premises. Professional male actors (i.e. pseudopatrons) were trained to act impaired by cocaine/amphetamines while trying to enter licensed premises with doormen. An expert panel standardized the scene of drug intoxication. Each attempt was monitored by two male observers. FINDINGS: At the follow-up study in 2008 the doormen intervened in 65.5% of the attempts (n=55), a significant improvement compared to 27.0% (n=48) at the first follow-up in 2004 and to 7.5% (n=40) at baseline in 2003. CONCLUSION: The 'Clubs against Drugs' community-based intervention programme, a systems approach to prevention, appears to increase the frequency and effectiveness of club doormen's interventions regarding obviously drug-intoxicated guests.

Investigating investigators: how presentation order influences participant-investigators' interpretations of eyewitness identification and alibi evidence.

Presentation order of ID and Alibi evidence was manipulated for undergraduate participants who conducted a simulated police investigation. Experiment 1 found a recency effect when an eyewitness rejected the investigator's suspect. Experiment 2 also examined order effects, exploring how participant-investigators evaluated alibi information in addition to eyewitness ID information. When investigators saw the witness identify the suspect but also received a strong alibi for that suspect a recency effect occurred, such that whichever piece of information occurred at the end of the procedure had the strongest impact on investigators. Thus, type of evidence and evidence order both had a dramatic influence on participant-investigators' decisions.