Why we sometimes punish the innocent: The role of group entitativity in collective punishment.

Because punishments are expected to give offenders what they deserve proportionally to the severity of their offenses, the punishment of an entire group because of the misdeed of a few of its members is generally considered as unfair. Group entitativity might increase support for such collective punishment, because members of highly entitative groups are perceived as more similar and interchangeable. We designed three experiments comparing support for third-party collective punishment of low versus high entitative groups. As comparison base-rate, we included conditions in which participants punish an individual wrongdoer (Experiments 1 & 2). Results show that although support for individual punishment is higher than support for collective punishment, this difference was reduced (Experiment 1) or absent (Experiment 2) when the group was highly entitative. Experiment 3 replicated the increasing effect of group entitativity on support for collective punishment. We conclude that group entitativity increases the likelihood of an entire group being treated as a single unit, facilitating collective punishment when a few group members commit an offense.

Social Justice for Crossover Youth: The Intersection of the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Systems.

Social workers are critical to promoting racial and social justice. "Crossover youth," a term used to describe youths who have contact with both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, are an especially vulnerable but often overlooked population with whom social workers engage. A disproportionate number of crossover youth are African American. Empirical research on crossover youth is growing, but such scholarship rarely engages with a human rights and social justice perspective. African American children and youths have a distinct place within the history and current context of the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. These systems have historically excluded them or treated them differently; now, African American youths are overrepresented in each of them, and evidence suggests they are more likely to cross over. The purpose of this article is to describe the historical and current context of crossover youth, with a particular focus on African American youths, to provide the foundation for a discussion of what social workers can do to promote racial and social justice for crossover youth, including specific implications for practice and policy, as well as broader implications for human and civil rights.

The Sequential Intercept Model and Juvenile Justice: Review and Prospectus.

Behavioral health needs in justice-involved adolescents are an increasing concern, as it has been estimated that two-thirds of youths in the juvenile justice system now meet the criteria for one or more psychological disorders. This article describes the application of the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM), developed to describe five "points of interception" from standard prosecution into rehabilitation-oriented alternatives for adults (Munetz & Griffin, 2006), to juvenile justice. The five SIM intercepts are: (1) first contact with law enforcement or emergency services; (2) initial hearings and detention following arrest; (3) jails and courts (including problem-solving courts); (4) re-entry from jails, prisons and forensic hospitals; and (5) community corrections and community support, including probation and parole. Modifying the SIM for application with justice-involved adolescents, this article describes three examples of interventions at different intercepts: Intercept 1 (the Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program), Intercept 3 (problem-solving courts for juveniles), and Intercept 5 (juvenile probation). Relevant research evidence for each example is reviewed, and the further application of this model to juveniles is described. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

'A disease that makes criminals': encephalitis lethargica (EL) in children, mental deficiency, and the 1927 Mental Deficiency Act.

Encephalitis lethargica (EL) was an epidemic that spread throughout Europe and North America during the 1920s. Although it could affect both children and adults alike, there were a strange series of chronic symptoms that exclusively affected its younger victims: behavioural disorders which could include criminal propensities. In Britain, which had passed the Mental Deficiency Act in 1913, the concept of mental deficiency was well understood when EL appeared. However, EL defied some of the basic precepts of mental deficiency to such an extent that amendments were made to the Mental Deficiency Act in 1927. I examine how clinicians approached the sequelae of EL in children during the 1920s, and how their work and the social problem that these children posed eventually led to changes in the legal definition of mental deficiency. EL serves as an example of how diseases are not only framed by the society they emerge in, but can also help to frame and change existing concepts within that same society.

Practice parameter for child and adolescent forensic evaluations.

This Parameter addresses the key concepts that differentiate the forensic evaluation of children and adolescents from a clinical assessment. There are ethical issues unique to the forensic evaluation, because the forensic evaluator's duty is to the person, court, or agency requesting the evaluation, rather than to the patient. The forensic evaluator clarifies the legal questions to be answered and structures the evaluation to address those issues. The forensic examination may include a review of collateral information, interviews and other assessments of the child or adolescent, and interviews with other relevant informants. The principles in this Parameter suggest the general approach to the forensic evaluation of children and adolescents and are relevant to delinquency, child custody, child maltreatment, personal injury, and other court-ordered and noncourt-ordered evaluations.

[Healthcare of imprisoned juveniles: new regulations]. / Prise en charge sanitaire des mineurs détenus.

Several new French regulations have come into effect to regulate the healthcare of juvenile offenders in prison with the creation of French Young Offender Institutions. They complete the French prison healthcare methodological guide. This article presents the new developments in the healthcare of juveniles in prison. It specifies the limitations placed on the healthcare team's interventions on imprisoned juveniles. Promoting an individualized prisoner program, as is done in the school context, outlining parental involvement in this program, and withdrawing from the healthcare methodological guide the tasks that are not within the realm of the physician caring for the minor would be measures to ensure good ethical medical practices in prison. These could be applied to French secure training centers and secure children's homes.

Commentary: ethics-related implications and neurobiological correlates of false confessions in juveniles.

Forensic psychiatrists typically have no role in the process of obtaining confessions. They may believe, as do others, that a confession removes any doubt about guilt, but false confessions are not rare. Like the police, forensic psychiatrists can inadvertently elicit or solidify a false confession through the evaluation process by presuming guilt and forgetting that they are ethically obligated to strive for objectivity. Adolescents are at high risk of making false confessions because of their immaturity and vulnerability, extrinsic factors (such as interrogation techniques), and the dynamic interplay between them. Adolescent immaturity can have a direct bearing on a juvenile's appreciation of his Miranda rights and his vulnerability to making a confession (or a false confession) when exposed to coercive interrogation techniques designed for adults. Adolescents need special protection from such interrogation techniques. Forensic psychiatrists have an obligation to be alert to the potential for false confessions and to avoid compounding the problem by presuming guilt.

Nivel de ansiedad de jóvenes infractores internados en un centro educativo de régimen cerrado / Level of anxiety in young offenders committed to a closed educational centre

Este estudio analiza el nivel de ansiedad (STAI) de una pobla-ción adolescente infractora (n=57), internada en un centro educativo de régimen cerrado, en relación con sus variables sociodemográficas y con las características de su proceso de internamiento. Los resultados revelan que un 22.8% de los jóvenes presenta altos niveles de ansiedad estado y un 21.1% presenta altos niveles de ansiedad rasgo. Asimismo, la frecuencia de llamadas recibidas (p=.038), de visitas recibidas (p=.019) y la prescripción de psicofármacos (p=.007) se relacionan con el estado de ansiedad, mien-tras que el género (p=.046), el grupo educativo (p=.002) y el tiempo transcurrido desde la fecha de ingreso (p=.013) se asocian con la ansiedad rasgo. Como conclusiones más relevantes cabe señalar que los adolescentes infractores presentan niveles de ansiedad superiores al resto de sus coetáneos y que la ausencia de vínculo con las personas referenciales durante el internamiento aumenta significativamente el nivel de ansiedad estado

This study analyses the level of anxiety (STAI) in a young offender population (n=57), committed to a closed educational centre, in relation to their social and demographical variables, and the characteristics of their internment process. Results reveal that 22.8% of young offenders has high levels of state anxiety, and 21.1% has high levels of trait anxiety. Moreover, the frequency of received calls (p=.038), visits (p=.019), and the prescription of psychopharmacs (p=.007) are related to state anxiety, whereas gender (p=.046), educational group (p=.002), and time since the date of internment (p=.013) associate to trait anxiety. In conclusion, young offenders have higher levels of anxiety than their peers, and the lack of bonds with referential people during internment increases the level of state anxiety significantly

Sensitive research with adolescents: just how upsetting are self-report surveys anyway?

Distress related to answering personal survey questions about drug use, suicidal behavior, and physical and sexual abuse were examined in multiple convenience samples of adolescents. Samples varied in consent procedures utilized (active vs. passive parental consent), data collection setting (school vs. juvenile justice), developmental level (middle school vs. high school). Participation rates differed across consent procedures (e.g., 93% with passive vs. 62% with active parental consent). Results indicated that small percentages of adolescents in every sample reported frequently feeling upset while completing the survey (range 2.5% to 7.6%). Age, race, gender, and data collection strategy did not emerge as significant predictors of feeling upset. Instead, as hypothesized, adolescents reporting a history of suicidal ideation or attempt, illicit drug use, or experiences of physical or sexual victimization endorsed more frequent feelings of upset while completing the survey than peers without these experiences. Taken together, however, these sensitive event experiences explained only 6.6% of the variance in adolescents' upset ratings. The scientific and ethical implications of these findings are discussed with regard to adolescent participation in survey research about sensitive topics.