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Purpose. This study examined the verbal and non-verbal behaviours exhibited by criminal offender and non-offender participants while they related planned truthful and deceptive accounts about emotional autobiographical events. Methods. In a 2 x 2 (participant group x veracity) quasi-experimental design, offenders (N = 27) and university students (N = 38) provided videotaped accounts of four autobiographical emotional events: two honest and two fabricated (counter -balanced). Patterns of behaviour exhibited during the truthful and the deceptive accounts were then compared. Results. In general, offenders and non-offenders showed similar patterns of deceptive behaviour. Deceptive accounts by both groups contained fewer details than honest accounts. Deception was associated with an increase in illustrator usage and self-manipulations; however, univariate analyses indicated only that offenders exhibited significantly more self-manipulations when lying. A significant interaction emerged in which offenders showed a reduction in smiles when lying about the emotional events, while students showed no difference. Conclusions. Offenders and students showed similar patterns of lying on most cues. However, unlike non-offenders, offenders smiled less and showed an increase in self-manipulations when lying. We theorize that offenders may have been aware that smiling and laughing are negatively related to perceived credibility in the speaker and used self-manipulations to distract listeners from the content of their lies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little research has been conducted on the public perception of mental health courts (MHCs) despite its potential to influence government support and funding. To measure public and professionals’ opinions about MHCs, self-report attitude measures were administered online to members of the general public (n = 272) and professional groups with previous employment-related exposure to persons with mental health issues (n = 237). Over 86% of the professional exposure sample had positive attitudes towards MHCs, whereas only 4% reported negative opinions. Approximately 70% of professionals supported government funding for a MHC in their community and 57% agreed even if this led to a tax increase. The public sample was also generally positive in their opinions, and only 3% reported negative opinions. Approximately 80% of public sample reported that they would support or strongly support government funding for a MHC in their community, and 58% would support it even if it led to a tax increase. Positive attitudes were predicted by prior knowledge of MHCs, older age, exposure to mental-health coursework, psychological openness, positive help-seeking attitudes, and positive attitudes towards mental illness in general. These patterns were similar, but varying in degree, for those with and without employment-related exposure to mental illness. Education about the effect of a specific MHC led to significant changes in the proportion of favourable opinions. Thus, public perception of MHCs ranged from neutral to positive and can be enhanced through education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Defendants commonly claim amnesia for their criminal actions especially in cases involving extreme violence. While some claims are malingered or result from physiological factors, other cases may represent genuine partial or complete amnesia resulting from the psychological distress and/or extreme emotion associated with the perpetration of the crime. Fifty Canadian homicide offenders described their memories of their homicide, a non-homicide violent offense, and their most positive adulthood life experience. Self-reported and objective measures of memories for these events revealed that homicides were recalled with the greatest level of detail and sensory information. Although dissociative tendencies were associated with a self-reported memory loss, objective measures of memory quality did not reflect this perceived impairment, suggesting a failure of meta-memory. Recollections of positive life events were superior to those of non-homicidal violence, possibly due to greater impact and meaning attached to such experiences. Findings suggest that memory for homicide typically is enhanced by the powerful emotion associated with its perpetration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]