Forensic Psychiatric Examination Research Articles

Appointment of a forensic psychiatric examination for crimes related to illegal hospitalisation in a medical organisation providing psychiatric care in in-site settings

A significant role in the disclosure and investigation of crimes related to illegal hospitalisation in a medical organisation providing psychiatric care in an inpatient setting belongs to scientifically based methods of conducting forensic research, among which recommendations on the appointment and production of a forensic psychiatric examination are of key importance. The possibilities of this examination make it possible to determine whether the victim has a psychiatric disorder, to confirm or refute the grounds for hospitalising a person in a psychiatric hospital, to indicate the legality or unreasonableness of the actions of a psychiatrist or a commission of such physicians, being specific to the category of crimes under consideration. From the standpoint of the laws of dialectics, general scientific and other methods, a study of specialised medical legislation and law enforcement practice in the area under consideration was carried out, making it possible to identify and characterise the list of objects required by the investigator and provided for the production of the examination in question. The author argued the grounds for involuntary hospitalisation in a medical organisation providing psychiatric care in an inpatient setting, which led to the proposed recommendations for drawing up a resolution on the appointment of an appropriate examination. The study of empirical data revealed the essence of a forensic psychiatric examination of the crimes in question – establishing the fact of a severe mental disorder in the victim, allowing the author to argue the incompleteness of the "traditional" questions posed to forensic psychiatric experts, to substantiate their (questions) specifics on encroachments related to illegal hospitalisation victim.

Структурный анализ взаимосвязей патохарактерологических особенностей лиц, склонных к криминальной импульсивной агрессии

Psychometric testing of persons undergoing a complex forensic psychological and psychiatric examination in cases related to criminal impulsive aggression was carried out: mentally healthy persons, persons with personality disorders, persons with organic mental disorders who have committed crimes against life and health. Psychometric testing included diagnostics of predisposition to certain types of aggressive actions (Bass-Darka hostility questionnaire in the adaptation of S. N. Enikolopov) and the severity of certain personality structures associated with impulsive aggression - anxiety (Spielberger-Khanin anxiety scale), locus of control (a variant of J. Rotter - assessment of the level of subjective control (LSC)), the desire to seek new sensations and experiences. One of the main methods was also the questionnaire of the structure of temperament by V.M. Rusalov, allowing to explore the properties of temperament in the subject and in the social spheres. The results were processed using correlation analysis, the obtained correlation coefficients were visualized using the method of constructing correlation pleiades. It is shown that the structure of interrelationships of indicators of psychometric testing is specific in the studied groups, the features of the relationship of personality structures with aggressive tendencies are described both in mental health and in mental disorders that do not exclude sanity.

Forensic Examinations During the Investigation of Threats or Violence Against a Law Enforcement Officer

Forensic expertise, as a form of using special knowledge, is one of the most effective ways to establish the truth during the investigation of threats or violence against a law enforcement officer, especially given the often-limited amount of criminally valuable information in such proceedings, which conditions the relevance of this paper. The purpose of the paper is to establish the types and analyse the possibilities of forensic examinations that can be assigned during the investigation of threats or violence against a law enforcement officer. During the study, a set of scientific methods was applied – system, comparative legal, statistical, analysis, bibliographic, synthesis, induction, and deduction. According to the results of the study, a holistic view of the complex of forensic studies was presented, which: are most often assigned in the proceedings under consideration (examination of sound and video recordings, fingerprinting, examination of cold steel and firearms, forensic trasological examination), are mandatory if injuries are caused to the victim (forensic medical), can be assigned depending on the needs of the specific production (engineering and transport, phototechnical, forensic psychiatric examination); also, the types of examinations, the capabilities of which are not fully used by investigators (forensic psychological), were identified. The most important problems that arise at the stage of assigning expert examinations and can largely affect the quality of expert opinions were identified: violation of the deadlines for assigning expert examinations, incorrect formulation of questions to the expert, provision of insufficient quantity and/or poor quality of materials for research, incorrect definition of the type of expert study. It is emphasised that in the conditions of martial law and the expansion of the list of methods and tools of committing the investigated criminal offences in connection with it, there is a need for expert study, the objects of which are explosives and substances, various weapons, etc

Стандарты реализации права на обжалование и пересмотр промежуточных решений, вынесенных на досудебном этапе уголовного судопроизводства

Under Article 46 of the Russian Constitution, everyone is guaranteed judicial protection of his or her rights and freedoms. This right must also be realised in criminal proceedings, including during the pre-trial stage of the proceedings. At the same time, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation has not formulated in sufficient detail how the right to judicial protection should be realised in the course of the court's interlocutory ruling and its review. In searching for standards for the implementation of the right to appeal and review of interlocutory decisions rendered at the pre-trial stage of criminal proceedings, the authors refer to the provisions of the European Convention as interpreted by the ECHR as legal provisions correlating with the human rights enshrined in the Russian Constitution. For this purpose, more than 50 ECHR judgments and the positions of contemporary domestic and foreign legal scholars have been studied. The authors identified a list of standards of the Convention applicable in case of violation of the right to appeal and interlocutory review, which include the standards guaranteeing protection of fundamental individual rights: Article 5 (right to liberty and security of person), Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence), Art. 1 Protocol No. 1 (right to protection of and respect for property) as well as the rules laying down the minimum requirements for appeal or review procedures: Article 5(4), Article 6 (right to a fair trial), Article 13 (right to an effective remedy). An analysis of the ECHR legal positions laid down the requirements for an appeal or review procedure against a court decision on "deprivation of liberty" (remand in custody, house arrest, prohibition of certain actions, placing a person in a hospital for forensic medical or forensic psychiatric examination). Such a procedure must meet minimum fair trial standards and be urgent and effective. The authors also substantiate the identification of general and specific standards of effective remedy in relation to the procedure of appeal and review of interlocutory decisions rendered at the pre-trial stage of criminal proceedings. Thus, the procedure will be effective if it is accessible, sufficient and expeditious and if the appeal and review of the interlocutory decision can result in the reversal of the appealed decision and the "rectification of the disputed situation". Private standards apply to cases of appeal and review of specific interlocutory decisions that are made in secret, e.g. an order to monitor and record telephone conversations, obtain information on connections between subscribers and subscriber devices, etc. In such cases, the moment the right to an effective remedy arises is linked to the moment when the person becomes aware (is notified) of the procedural actions taken. On the basis of the analysis of the ECHR legal positions, proposals for improving the criminal procedure legislation were formulated. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

DELETE 005

Forensic expertise, as a form of using special knowledge, is one of the most effective ways to establish the truth during the investigation of threats or violence against a law enforcement officer, especially given the often-limited amount of criminally valuable information in such proceedings, which conditions the relevance of this paper. The purpose of the paper is to establish the types and analyse the possibilities of forensic examinations that can be assigned during the investigation of threats or violence against a law enforcement officer. During the study, a set of scientific methods was applied – system, comparative legal, statistical, analysis, bibliographic, synthesis, induction, and deduction. According to the results of the study, a holistic view of the complex of forensic studies was presented, which: are most often assigned in the proceedings under consideration (examination of sound and video recordings, fingerprinting, examination of cold steel and firearms, forensic trasological examination), are mandatory if injuries are caused to the victim (forensic medical), can be assigned depending on the needs of the specific production (engineering and transport, phototechnical, forensic psychiatric examination); also, the types of examinations, the capabilities of which are not fully used by investigators (forensic psychological), were identified. The most important problems that arise at the stage of assigning expert examinations and can largely affect the quality of expert opinions were identified: violation of the deadlines for assigning expert examinations, incorrect formulation of questions to the expert, provision of insufficient quantity and/or poor quality of materials for research, incorrect definition of the type of expert study. It is emphasised that in the conditions of martial law and the expansion of the list of methods and tools of committing the investigated criminal offences in connection with it, there is a need for expert study, the objects of which are explosives and substances, various weapons, etc

Внутрисемейная криминальная агрессия: глазами судебного эксперта-психолога

The psychological and criminological features of 353 persons accused of crimes against life and health while they were undergoing the complex forensic psychological and psychiatric examination have been analysed by 155 parameters. At the first stage a comparative analysis of the features of accused of crimes against the family members (116 persons) and against other persons (237 persons) has been carried out. During the second stage the same features of the accused of intra-family aggression in neutral (32) and psychotraumatic (84 persons) situations have been compared. At the third stage the psychological mechanisms of criminal aggression of the accused of family violence and other accused of crimes have been compared. It has been found that that proportion of women among persons committed intra-family offenses is relatively higher. The following factors are highlighted as main for intra-family criminal aggression: long-term psychotraumatic situation, connected with systematic illegal or immoral actions of the family members; the state of alcoholic intoxication; borderline mental disorders.

Подходы к исследованию родительского отношения в российской психологии

The descriptive scientific review considers the domestic psychological approaches to the study of parental attitude, one of the key concepts in the complex forensic psychological and psychiatric examination and forensic psychological examination in child custody disputes. The main scientific concepts used to describe the nature of child-parental relations have been allocated: parental attitude, parenting affirmations, parenting styles. An attempt has been made to substantiate the necessity of applying the expert concept of “parental attitude” in the production of complex forensic psychological and psychiatric and forensic psychological examination in the part of description and expert assessment of the “relations existing between each parent and child”.

Возможности и проблемы использования информации с цифровых носителей при проведении комплексной судебной психолого-психиатрической экспертизы несовершеннолетних, обвиняемых в незаконном распространении наркотиков

The article considers the specifics of the analysis of information from digital media during the conduct of the comprehensive forensic psychological and psychiatric examination of minors accused of illegal drug distribution. The features of the involvement of minors in illegal activities for the distribution of psychoactive substances, the psychological mechanisms of such socially dangerous actions by adolescents are described. Analysis of the products of the subject’s activities in the form of his communicative activity recorded on the Internet, an account in a social network is one of the methods that allows to compose or supplement a holistic psychological portrait of the subject and answer the questions of the judicial and investigative authorities regarding his individual psychological characteristics. When planning and implementing criminal actions directly on the Internet, the task of an expert psychologist is among other things to reconstruct the situation of an offense and highlight regulatory components in the behavior of its participants, which include goal setting, the level of assessment and prediction of the consequences of actions, planning, control and correction actions aimed at achieving illegal goals.

Clinical characteristics and forensic psychiatric examination of cases evaluated due to alleged psychiatric medical malpractice (tur)

Clinical characteristics and forensic psychiatric examination of cases evaluated due to alleged psychiatric medical malpractice (tur)

Features of the appointment and production of a forensic psychiatric examination in relation to a suspect (accused) if there is reason to believe that he is ill with drug addiction (on the example of the Krasnodar Territory)

Features of the appointment and production of a forensic psychiatric examination in relation to a suspect (accused) if there is reason to believe that he is ill with drug addiction (on the example of the Krasnodar Territory)

Primary diagnosis of schizophrenia in the framework of inpatient forensic psychiatric examination

To study the primary diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorders within the framework of an inpatient forensic psychiatric examination. A retrospective analysis of 52 accused, who underwent inpatient forensic psychiatric examination at Alexeev Mental Clinic No. 1 in the period 2018-2020, was carried out. Patients were divided into two groups. Group 1 included 39 patients newly diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and group 2 consisted of 13patients diagnosed with schizotypal disorder. Diagnosis was based on the ICD-10 criteria (F20 and F21). Clinical and psychopathological method was used as the main research tool. The study group is represented mainly by young people (88.4%, n=46) with secondary (78.8%, n=41), less often higher (21.25, n=11) education, with a decrease in social adaptation and signs of «social drift» (90.3%, n=47). Difficulties in diagnosis at the initial stages of an endogenous disease are due to the presence of neurotic disorders that do not affect the nature of social functioning. In group 2, there was a slow increase in personality changes. The commission of unlawful actions by productive-psychopathological mechanisms was observed in 73% of cases (n=38). The primary diagnosis of endogenous mental disorders in a forensic situation, carried out during an inpatient forensic psychiatric examination, determines the correctness of the assessment of the level of danger and the choice of compulsory medical measures.

Влияние негативного эмоционального опыта детства на криминальную активность у женщин с органическим расстройством личности

In order to study the influence of negative emotional experiences of childhood on criminal activity in women with organic personality disorder we investigated group of women, suspected or accused of crimes in criminal cases, who underwent forensic psychiatric examination (n=102) with comparison to group of women, who had not a criminal history (n=50). It is revealed that for women who have committed criminally punishable acts, negative childhood events with many psychogenic and traumatic events are of significant importance. It was revealed that the greatest importance of adverse childhood events with negative emotional experience - abuse, violence (emotional, physical, sexual) in combination with unfavorable social factors of upbringing had a significant pathoplastic and pathokinetic effect on the clinical and dynamic characteristics of the disease and to a certain extent predetermined the formation of criminal activity of this category of persons. They are more likely to have dependence on surfactants. These women were more likely to commit aggressive offenses (murder, grievous bodily harm), while the victim of these crimes was more often a partner (husband, cohabitant).

Features of the investigation of premeditated murders committed by persons with mental disorders in the practice of Ukraine

The purpose of the article is to determine the procedural and tactical features of the investigation of premeditated murders committed by persons with mental disorders, taking into account the judicial and investigative practice of Ukraine. The authors use general and special methods that allow obtaining scientifically based conclusions and suggestions, such as dialectical, system-structural, generalizing, logical, statistical methods. The authors claim that 7,46 % of criminal proceedings committed by persons with mental disorders and requiring the application of compulsory medical measures are sent to court annually in Ukraine. It has been established that persons with alcohol and drug addiction are more prone to premeditated murders. It is determined that the issue of application of compulsory medical measures is decided by an expert during forensic psychiatric examinations. It is proved that the current criminal procedure legislation of Ukraine, although it determines the grounds for the appointment of examinations of this type, but investigators appoint them in 79% of criminal proceedings, even in the absence of statutory grounds. It is established that the appropriateness of conducting investigative (search) actions with the participation of a person with mental disorders is determined by the investigator or prosecutor on the basis of an expert opinion.

PROVISION OF QUALIFIED LEGAL ASSISTANCE TO VICTIMS AND WITNESSES WITH DEVIANT BEHAVIOR: POSING A PROBLEM

Ensuring the protection of the rights of the individual is the purpose of criminal proceedings, regardless of the procedural status of its participant. The most vulnerable individuals with different psychophysiological differences are subjected to various types of criminal attacks, while protecting themselves and their interests is quite problematic due to intellectual development or physical condition, which raises the question of ensuring the possibility of their participation and protection of rights in the adversarial process. A difficult situation exists in protecting the rights of a witness who, whether he or she is an accidental eyewitness to the event or a witness to the event by the victim or the accused, is exposed to the representatives of the parties concerned, which raises the question of ensuring the protection of the rights of witnesses. Often, persons with deviant deviations, both social and psychobiological, act as witnesses and victims, but the possibility of establishing the circumstances of the case depends on the truthful and objective testimony of victims and witnesses. The need to provide victims with deviant deviations with qualified legal assistance, providing for the participation of a representative lawyer, was justified, and the grounds for the mandatory participation of a representative lawyer of the victim were determined. When a witness manifests deviant behavior, he should consult a psychiatrist, with pronounced mental abnormalities, prescribe a forensic psychiatric examination. Given the peculiarities of deviant behavior, it is proposed to decide on the use of a representative lawyer to provide him with qualified assistance.

The Importance of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychiatric Examination in Criminal Proceedings

Forensic examination, as part of the criminal process, is a complex activity in which the diagnostic momentis abnormally integrated, as the diagnosis is not intended for treatment or cure.It is understandable that the influence exerted by psychiatric examination on court decisions (it is mostlyabout psychiatry in general), cannot be separated from the historical relationship between psychiatry andlaw.In countries where the assessment of irresponsibility is based on a psychopathological-normative method,it is necessary not only to recognize the mental disorder, but also to assess how this disorder interactspsychologically in compromising the ability to understand actions and desire the advent of consequences.Reflecting on the above arguments, this paper focuses on the importance of forensic psychiatry andpsychiatric examination in criminal proceedings as a legal and medical study, as well as identifying criticalaspects of the inseparable relationship between psychiatry and law, until the moment when the judge willdecide whether the mental disorder under the Criminal Code prevented the perpetrator from understandingthe act committed, as well as whether or not he wished the consequences that came from this act.

Involvement of the Expert by the Defendant for an Examination during the Investigation of the Murder

Objective. To study the possibilities and mechanisms of engaging an expert by a defense counsel in criminal proceedings on murder; to reveal the possibility of a defense counsel to engage an expert to conduct mandatory examinations in the investigation of murder; to formulate recommendations to the defense counsel on providing the expert who is engaged in the examination on the basis of his/her petition with objects and samples for expert examination. Methodology. The article uses a set of scientific methods, namely: terminological, systemic and structural, formal and logical, comparative legal. Scientific novelty. In criminal proceedings for murder, the defense may independently obtain an expert opinion on the basis of an agreement with an expert or an expert institution and submit it to the pre-trial investigation body or the court to substantiate its legal position. At the same time, it has been established that the defense cannot initiate forensic medical and forensic psychiatric examinations before an expert or expert institution due to legal conflicts between the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine and the provisions of bylaws regulating the appointment of these types of forensic examinations. In order to obtain samples for examination, the accused was advised to involve a specialist in this procedural action or to obtain advice from him. Conclusions. In criminal proceedings for murder, the accused's ability to engage an expert to conduct an examination relates to the appointment of mandatory and optional examinations. To conduct mandatory forensic medical and forensic psychiatric examinations, the accused shall apply to the investigator or prosecutor for their appointment, and in case of refusal - to the investigating judge, submitting a corresponding petition. The inability of the accused to initiate forensic medical and forensic psychiatric examinations before an expert or expert institution violates the equal opportunities of the parties to criminal proceedings to present their evidence to the court and to prove their conviction in court. In order to ensure the possibility of conducting examinations in criminal proceedings on murder, the defense party initiating them shall submit to the investigator, prosecutor or investigating judge a request for specific objects and samples or obtain (request) them independently. When obtaining samples for examination, it is mandatory for the defense counsel who initiated the examination to be present in the presence of the relevant samples

Diagnostic assessments leading to the acceptance of incapacity or limited legal capacity and their relationship with the parameters of forensic psychiatric examination and expert assessment

The terms "capability" and "incapability" are the most common and most important in forensic psychiatric practice in civil proceedings. Capability is acquired by presumption, and incapability is subject to proof. In the study of incapability there is no single standard that would guarantee the unification of forensic psychiatric practice in the field of capability. The ambiguities in the incapability criteria lead to unsatisfactory reliability in the preparation of forensic psychiatric evaluation by various experts. The purpose of this publication is to analyze the diagnostic assessments leading to the acceptance of incapability or limited capability and their relationship with the parameters of forensic psychiatric examination and expert assessment. The subject of the study are a total of 327 persons, certified in civil cases by experts with subsequent court decisions by the District Court - Varna, for a period of 5 years. To determine the criterion of "incapability" in psychiatric diagnoses, the most common are the following symptoms and syndromes: thinking disorders, hallucinations or delusions of reality, affective disorders with a predominance of diseased emotions, disorders of personality orientation and situations, attention disorders and memory, severe disorders of the self, quantitative and qualitative disorders of consciousness, lack of insight, negative symptoms, paratymia and parabulia.

A new approach regarding to the recognition of an individual incapable

The article is devoted to the analysis of the procedural order of consideration and resolution of cases related to the change of an individual’s legal status, namely - recognition of an individual incompetent. The article analyzes the updated procedure for declaring an individual incompetent. The author of the article draws attention to the fact that the legislator has expanded the range of litigants in this type of proceedings; has provided for the possibility of direct participation of the person in respect of whom the proceedings for recognition of his/ her incompetence were initiated, both in-person and his/ her participation in the case through a videoconference from the medical institution where such person is at that moment; has set the terms of the court decision on declaring an individual incompetent, for not more than two years; has granted the right to certain entities to apply for an extension of the decision declaring an individual incompetent, which may be filed no later than fifteen days before the end of two years; has granted a person who was declared incompetent the right to apply to the court with a request to cancel the court decision, etc.It is noted that the validity of a court decision declaring an individual incompetent, which is provided by law, requires certain clarifications. It is substantiated that the obligatory appointment of a forensic psychiatric examination during the consideration of the case and to confirm the request for extension of the decision validity also requires some clarification, depending on the individual’s state of disease. The author considers the views of scholars and practitioners regarding mandatory participation in the consideration of an individual’s incompetence cases and the cancellation of a court decision on such cases - a lawyer who will provide adequate judicial protection and effective civil proceedings. It is concluded that it is expedient to expand the range of entities authorized to initiate the issue of revoking a court decision declaring an individual incompetent, supplementing them with such a participant as a prosecutor, which in turn will guarantee access to court, promote fair judicial protection of rights, freedoms, and interests of the persons, making a lawful and reasonable decision.

ABOUT THE DELIRIUM OF CORONAVIRUS SELF-CONTEMPT

Based on observations from forensic psychiatric practice and the review of the literature, we describe for the first time the delirium of the "coronavirus (self)contempt". An elderly patient after coming through COVID-19 infection began to consider himself and his wife a distributor of the coronavirus infection, constituting himself a danger to the public. Against the background of feeling of impending doom, he felt the sense of disgrace, shame and self-contempt for himself and expected a negative attitude from others, including discrimination, so he was ready to commit suicide. Under the influence of these delusional ideas, he tried to kill his wife and himself, but by a lucky chance all the defendants in the case remained alive. The forensic psychiatric examination recognized him insane. Delirium of the coronavirus (self)contempt is a sensual delusion that develops against the background of a severe stress (or depression), by the conditions of formation (character, experience, environment) it resembles sensitive reference delusion. The paper discusses the involvement of self-stigmatization (stigma and discrimination) phenomena, the influence of COVID-19 on the development and pathoplasty of delusional (super-valuable) ideas in this psychopathological phenomenon.

Characteristics of offenders referred for psychiatric forensic examination

IntroductionForensic psychiatry is facing major challenges related to criminal responsibility with an increasing number of offenses and the entanglement of several factors affecting offenders differently.ObjectivesThe aim of this study is to determine the characteristics of offenders referred for forensic psychiatric examination.MethodsWe studied the medical files of all the offenders referred to the forensic psychiatry unit in Razi hospital for an examination between January 2010 and October 2020.ResultsThe number of people who have undergone a forensic psychiatric examination was 256. Three files were not usable due to lacking data. The offenders were men in 95.7% (242) of the cases. Their average age was 35 years with a range of 17-53 years. They were mostly single (64%) with primary education (58.1%). Forty percent of the studied population were unemployed and 70% of them lived with their parents. Drug abuse was found in half of the cases and the average number of taken drugs is two illicit substances per person. A criminal record was found in 43% of the cases with an average number of two offenses per person. Offenders were found to suffer from schizophrenia in 29% of the cases, personality disorder in 17% of the cases and from intellectual disability in 16.6% of the cases. No psychiatric disorder was found in 24% of the casesConclusionsDespite having in common many vulnerability factors, such as low educational level, unemployment and drug abuse, an important number of offenders referred for forensic psychiatric examination weren’t affected by a psychiatric disorder.DisclosureNo significant relationships.