Psychosis, Mania and Criminal Recidivism: Associations and Implications for Prevention.

People with mental illness are overrepresented throughout the criminal justice system, including jail, prison, probation, and parole populations. Yet much disagreement remains about why this problem exists and how best to address it. This article specifically examines empirical evidence regarding the question of whether psychosis and mania are associated with criminal recidivism, and whether this association is predictive or causal in nature. Review of the current literature suggests that psychotic and manic symptoms are associated with increased likelihood of arrest and incarceration. In addition, current evidence shows that pharmacotherapy can reduce criminal recidivism among justice-involved adults with psychosis or mania. However, the extent to which the association between psychosis, mania, and criminal justice system involvement is causal remains uncertain. Also, the literature suggests that most crimes committed by people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders or bipolar I disorder may be driven by factors other than their psychotic or manic symptoms. These established "criminogenic needs" are more common among people with severe mental disorders than in the general population. For optimal prevention, those who serve justice-involved adults with psychosis or mania in community settings should consider addressing the full range of factors that potentially drive their criminal justice system involvement.

Parent Preferences for Communicating With Their Adolescent's Provider Using New Technologies.

PURPOSE: Because adolescents make few health care visits, we assessed the views of parents of adolescents on various means to communicate with their adolescents' physicians about vaccine reminders and appointments, medication refills and test results-including phone, mail, e-mail, text messages, and personal health records (PHRs). METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional survey of 400 parents of adolescents presenting to four pediatric offices (two urban, two suburban) in Rochester, NY in 2011 before vaccine reminders occurring in these practices. RESULTS: Roughly half of parents (60% urban, 52% suburban, p = .11) were accepting of teens receiving their own vaccine reminders. Urban parents preferred communicating with the provider via telephone, whereas suburban parents preferred e-mail for most issues and a PHR for receipt of test results. In adjusted analyses, being younger was associated with preferring text message vaccine reminders (41 to <51 years: adjusted relative risk [aRR] = .8, p = .02; ≥51 years, aRR = .5, p < .001), and being a suburban parent was associated with preferring e-mail reminders (aRR = 1.6, p < .001). Those who were younger (41 to <51 years: aRR = .6, p = .007; ≥51 years: aRR = .4, p < .001) and suburban (aRR = 2.4, p < .001) were most likely to be interested in general use of a PHR. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that some, but not all, parents are ready for electronic (text message, e-mail, PHR) communications for their adolescents' health care and that a parent age and socioeconomic divide exists. Providing options in the means in which parents communicate with an adolescent's provider is ideal.