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In Foucha v. Louisiana (1992), the United States Supreme Court ruled that individuals adjudicated not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) could not remain in a forensic hospital if they were no longer mentally ill and dangerous. Since this decision, a variety of important questions have arisen related to the insanity defense and what should happen to insanity acquittees post-adjudication. This article provides an analysis of clinical issues confronting forensic examiners when psychosis as a result of substance abuse is the underlying condition supporting an insanity defense. To accomplish this analysis, this article provides the reader with a review of literature showing the complex relationship between psychosis and substance abuse. Second, this article investigates how substance-induced psychosis may impact both insanity opinions and subsequent conditional release decisions. Third, the article aims to provide research-driven information to assist clinicians in conducting conditional release evaluations. Finally, this paper provides a model for evaluating dangerousness in the context of conditional release evaluations. Given the substantial comorbidity between substance abuse and psychosis, it is critical for researchers and clinicians to consider potential effects of substance abuse when evaluating insanity acquittees for conditional release, especially as substance use relates to future dangerousness. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clinical impact of Tarasoff (1976) has meant an increased emphasis on violence as a topic in treatment and a concern for therapists. This paper discusses the limits of confidentiality and the management of dangerous patients both before and after the landmark decision of Tarasoff. The existing research surveys on therapists' responses to Tarasoff arc reviewed. Some of the clinical implications of recent court cases such as Jablonski are described. Recommendations for the management of threatening patients are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a 1981 conference on Behavioral Science and the Secret Service, the author and his colleagues worked with the Service in a number of capacities. This paper summarizes their experience, with particular reference to the mentally ill threateners that come to the attention of the Secret Service. This experience offers one model for interaction between the Secret Service and a mental health agency, keeping clear the different roles of each. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces articles related to behavioral sciences published in the July 1985 issue of "Behavioral Sciences and the Law."

Provides an overview of articles published in the April 1983 issue of "Behavioral Science and the Law." Concept of terrorism; Source of greatest terror; Blame placed on the mass media for the escalation of terrorist activity.

Provides an author's overview of articles discussed in the issue "Behavioral Sciences and the Law. Problem presented by managed mental health care for clinicians; Examination of various strategies for organizing and compensating health care providers under managed care; Implications of verbal expressions for informed consent to health care.

This article examines various training and career options in psychology and law. Data are discussed from a survey of universities which offer psycholegal training. Psycho-legal training programs in the US and Canada are identified. We also discuss policy and research careers for persons jointly trained in psychology and law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States Secret Service is a federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The Secret Service investigates crimes related to U.S. currency, credit cared fraud, forgery of government obligations, and other related violations. However, the Secret Service is perhaps best known for its protective and investigative responsibilities involving the President and Vice President of the United States, members of their immediate families, and visiting foreign dignitaries. During the past 22 years, concern for protective responsibilities has provoked occasional and sometimes fruitful dialogue between the Secret Service and members of the professional behavioral and social sciences communities. this article describes the evolution and future possibilities of that relationship by providing: (a) a brief history and overview of the Secret Service, focusing on its protective and investigative responsibilities, (b) an analysis of the recent contributions of the behavioral and social sciences to the Secret Services, and (c) an assessment of current and future directions to be taken in the professional behavioral sciences intramural and extramural research programs recently established by the Secret Service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the predictive value of the triad (enuresis, firesetting, cruelty to animals) in a group of incarcerated sex offenders. The most salient positive finding in this investigation was the association between one or more components of the triad and a highly abusive home environment. There was no compelling evidence to support the prognostic value of the triad of behaviors for predicting adult criminal outcome. The triad appeared to be primarily a maladaptive response to the turmoil and abuse in the home prior to and during adolescence. Finally, it is noteworthy that this study revealed a much lower frequency of triad behaviors than has been reported in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tarasoff decision is discussed as a logical extension of evolving legal doctrine imposing a special duty on caretakers. The mental health professions are being held to a standard of negligence and perhaps even to a standard of strict liability. Tarasoff is viewed as a part of society's interest in using the information disclosed in confidential relationships as a means of social control. This in tum is seen as part of a disquieting trend to curtail First Amendment rights. The adversarial nature of the relationship between the 1974 Tarasoff decision and the constitutional rights of patients to privacy, confidentiality, and privilege is discussed. The author re-asserts: "As asepsis is to surgery, so is confidentiality to psychiatry" (Beigler, 1978, p. 255). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A considerable theoretical, empirical, and clinical literature has accumulated on the prediction of dangerous and violent behavior. Despite the pleas of mental health professionals that the prediction of violent behavior is not clinically feasible, courts upholding a therapist's duty to protect third parties have created a legal duty to do so. The first generation of research studies of the clinical prediction of violent behavior focused on long-term predictions in offender populations, of little direct relevance to the setting of outpatient therapy with nonoffenders. More recent clinical research has centered on predictions of imminent violence in noncriminal populations, particularly in the process of involuntary hospitalization, but this reveals relatively low levels of predictive accuracy. Methodologic and ethical factors also limit the generalizability of such work. Given the likelihood that significant numbers of false positive predictions will result, especially in the low base rate population of outpatient treatment, it is suggested that therapists attempt to minimize the antitherapeutic influence of any breach of confidentiality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]