The decriminalization of suicide under Section 115 of the Mental Healthcare Act (MHCA), 2017 marked a paradigm shift in India, reframing suicide attempts as manifestations of severe stress requiring care rather than punishment. However, gaps in clinician awareness and ambiguity regarding medico-legal responsibilities may hinder effective implementation of the law in clinical settings. This study aimed to assess non-psychiatric clinicians' awareness and attitudes regarding the decriminalization of suicide under the MHCA, 2017, and to explore potential implementation gaps. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted among 134 clinicians from non-psychiatric departments at a tertiary-care center in central India. A structured, self-administered questionnaire assessed sociodemographic characteristics, awareness of legal provisions related to decriminalization, and attitudes toward its impact on stigma, help-seeking, and clinical practice. Descriptive statistics were computed, and subgroup comparisons based on years of clinical experience (≤1 year vs. >1 year) were performed using the chi-square test. Most clinicians were aware that suicide has been decriminalized in India (76.1%) and that individuals attempting suicide are presumed to be under severe stress (84.3%). Nearly four-fifths (79.1%) recognized the government's obligation to provide care and rehabilitation. However, 80.6% believed that reporting suicide attempts to legal authorities remains mandatory, and only 51.5% were aware of professional immunity from civil or criminal liability. Attitudes toward decriminalization were largely positive: 55.2% agreed that it reduces stigma, 56.8% felt it encourages help-seeking, and 88.8% reported a greater likelihood of psychiatric referral following decriminalization. Subgroup analysis did not reveal significant differences across experience levels. Non-psychiatric clinicians demonstrated generally favorable awareness and supportive attitudes toward the decriminalization of suicide. However, persistent misconceptions regarding medico-legal obligations suggest an implementation gap. Targeted training, legal-literacy initiatives, and clear institutional protocols are needed to ensure consistent, rights-based care in alignment with the MHCA 2017.
There is a dearth of data on "successful" criminal offenders who escape detection and no research on emotion processes characterizing this group. This study examines whether autonomic fear conditioning at age 3 years is associated with adult successful and unsuccessful (caught) criminal offending. Participants (N = 940) were drawn from a birth cohort on the island of Mauritius. Autonomic fear conditioning was assessed at age 3, with skin conductance recorded to reinforced (CS+) and unreinforced (CS-) auditory stimuli. Self-report criminal offending was assessed at age 39. Offenders were divided into successful and unsuccessful groups based on detection/conviction at ages 23 and 39 and compared with noncriminal controls. There was a significant Group × Conditional Stimulus interaction (p = .019). A breakdown of this interaction indicated that successful criminals showed significantly greater responding to the CS+ than both unsuccessful criminals (p = .003) and controls (p < .001), with no group differences on CS-, indicating superior conditioning in successful criminals. Three sensitivity analyses confirmed these findings. We hypothesize that enhanced fear conditioning in successful offenders results in an enhanced ability to detect environmental cues associated with punishment, resulting in escape from law enforcement agencies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
People living with dementia (PLWD) may experience symptoms and behaviors that increase the risk of contact with the criminal legal system as arrestees. This manuscript aims to evaluate the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) as a mechanism of reducing exposure to the criminal system for PLWD. A secondary analysis of two complementary semi-structured interview studies of legal professionals (study 1) and caregivers of persons affected by frontotemporal dementia (study 2). Both studies collected insights and experiences with dementia-related behavior increasing the risk of contact or as the focus of a criminal charge, arrest, or incarceration. We applied the Framework Method to code, chart, and identify overlapping themes between studies. We compared overlapping themes to the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM)for applicability to PLWD. Thirteen caregivers and fifteen legal practitioners completed interviews across two studies. We observed (1) caregiver interventions and use of pre-crisis resources as key to PLWD avoiding criminal involvement(2) caregivers may not perceive symptoms and behaviors as posing a criminal risk. The SIM lacks pre-crisis resources to reduce risks for criminal-system interaction for PLWD. We propose an adapted model, the Modified Sequential Intercept Model for People Living with Dementia (SIM-D), to integrate 'pre-crisis community resources' and 'crisis' stages. We propose SIM-D as a tool to bridge research on PLWD in the community and the justice system. This research will be central to advancing policy and support resources that can mitigate negative consequences of PLWD's exposure to the criminal system.
Depression, anxiety and criminal behaviour are often correlated, but the direction and nature of these associations remain contested. To investigate the temporal relationships between depression and/or anxiety and criminal behaviour at age 32 and depression and/or anxiety and criminal behaviour at age 48. Using prospective, longitudinal data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, we applied propensity score matching to estimate the associations between (a) depression and/or anxiety at age 32 and criminal convictions at age 48 and (b) criminal convictions at age 32 and mental health problems at age 48. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to adjust for a wide range of childhood and adolescent risk factors for offending or illness. Overall, a significant association between depression and anxiety and much later offending was evident, but after allowing for childhood adversities by propensity score matching, these relationships disappeared, suggesting that they are best explained by the common antecedent of childhood adversities. There was no relationship between any offending up to age 32 and depression or anxiety measured at age 48. Although our findings were limited by the very large time gap between measures of mental health and offending, it is clear that depression and anxiety may be important in the pathway to crime, but that this association is largely accounted for by shared early-life risk factors. Our findings also, however, caution against assuming any direct relationship between these symptoms and crime, regardless of direction. Recognising early developmental vulnerabilities and intervening appropriately may be the most effective way of preventing later ill health and criminal behaviour.
The growth of the US criminal legal system has broad implications for individual and societal economic and social well-being. Although this system primarily targets adults, children may experience adverse consequences from the criminal legal contacts (CLCs) of their parents and other family members. To examine the prevalence of children's family member CLCs within the past year and past 5 years and how prevalence varied across relationship type, child age, and cohort period. This cross-sectional study created 2 samples (a courts sample and an incarceration sample) using secure criminal legal system records from 24 states and US Census Bureau surveys and administrative data between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2021. Children were linked to parents and other family members using birth records and household surveys, and then family members were linked to criminal legal system records. Data were analyzed between July 15, 2023, and March 1, 2025. Family CLCs. Mean prevalence rates of family CLCs were estimated for 4 types of recent (prior year and prior 5 years) family CLCs, including charges, convictions, felony convictions, and postadjudication incarceration, across family relationship (parent vs overall), child age (0-17 years), and cohort period (2000-2021). The final courts sample included 371 100 000 observations for family charges and convictions linked to 43 490 000 unique children (56.7% aged 0-9 years and 43.2% aged 10-17 years; 50.7% boys), and the incarceration sample included 784 200 000 observations linked to 76 610 000 unique children (58.0% aged 0-9 years and 41.9% aged 10-17 years; 50.7% boys). Between 2000 and 2021, 15.0% of children had a family member charged within the past 5 years. In addition, 11.6% of children experienced a family member's conviction, 3.6% a family member's felony conviction, and 1.4% a family member's incarceration within the past 5 years. Parent CLCs constituted a substantial proportion of children's family CLCs (73.0%-78.7%) across 5-year exposures, with 11.8% of children experiencing a parent's CLC within the past 5 years. Overall prevalence varied little by age, although parent CLCs were somewhat higher in early childhood. Prevalence of family CLCs among children increased substantially between 2000 and 2019 from 6.6% to 19.6% for past-5-year family criminal charges. This cross-sectional study found pervasive and increasing rates of children experiencing family CLCs. Given the adverse consequences of family CLCs for children, these findings have profound implications for child and adolescent well-being and the professionals who work with them.
DNA evidence can be used to link perpetrators to crime scenes or victims. We examined all Japanese criminal court cases included in a commercially available LEX/DB Internet (LEX database) from 1989, the year DNA analysis was first used as evidence in criminal trials, through 2024. We primarily analyzed data on the validity, conviction, and sentencing rates of trials involving DNA evidence. The conviction rate in these trials was not higher than the generally published conviction rate in all phases. This was either nearly equivalent to or slightly lower than that in trials without DNA evidence. However, after 2009, when trials shifted from judge-only to lay judge trials, remarkable changes in the weighting of the admissibility and probative value of DNA evidence were observed. Specifically, from 1989 to 2009, the rate of admissibility of DNA evidence was high, and the average conviction rate was higher than that of trials without DNA evidence. However, after the transition to lay judge trials, the conviction rate in trials involving DNA evidence fell below the average conviction rate compared to those not involving DNA evidence. It can be presumed that the value of DNA evidence and its probative weight have increased during lay judge trials. Contrarily, sentencing trends in DNA-evidence-involving trials showed some variation in the diverse judgment criteria of lay judges after the transition to lay judge trials; however, no significant changes occurred. These data will stimulate discussions regarding quality control and maximize the value of DNA evidence.
How should the state respond to people who commit low-level criminal offenses that stem from an untreated substance-use disorder? The issue has taken on a heightened importance amidst an ongoing national addiction crisis that has destabilized many U.S. communities and led to a myriad of harms. I offer a qualified defense for the use of legal mandates that require participation in drug treatment in lieu of jail time as one possible tool for reducing the public harms associated with chronic addiction. I argue that mandated treatment is effective, though less effective than many proponents argue. Beyond the effectiveness question, opponents contend that mandated treatment exacerbates structural inequalities, including the overpolicing of marginalized communities and underinvestment in voluntary treatment. Drawing on an egalitarian theory of justice, I argue that these structural inequalities present a compelling reason to constrain the use of mandates, but that they should be counterbalanced by a mixture of paternalistic and public safety concerns that make mandates one of several instruments in drug policy for addressing the pervasive harms from severe substance-use disorders.
In the aftermath of notable criminal incidents, discussions surrounding mental illness and public safety have gained prominence. This study investigates the association between mental illness and crime in Taiwan and explores how mental health resources are associated with crime patterns across space and time. We analysed criminal legal judgements in Taiwan using natural language processing to identify cases involving indications of mental illness based on court records. Geographic Information System techniques and Geographical and Temporal Weighted Regression (GTWR) were used to examine spatiotemporal patterns and associations between mental health resources and crime. By examining legal judgements, we estimate that about 0.4% of crimes involve individuals with indications of mental illness, based on what is recorded in court decisions. Spatiotemporal analysis and GTWR showed that areas with higher mental health resources often aligned with higher crime rates for certain offences, such as violent crimes and larceny, reflecting urbanisation and victim support needs. Conversely, a greater density of psychiatry departments and doctors was associated with reductions in crimes involving mental illness. Crimes involving individuals with mental illness account for a small fraction of all criminal cases in Taiwan. These findings highlight the potential role of mental health resources in mitigating certain types of crime and contribute to understanding the complex relationship between mental health and public safety.
This article examines how migrants who traveled the Balkan Route use joint revenge fantasizing to make sense of border violence and reassign criminality to state actors. Based on minimally structured group conversations recorded in Trieste, Italy, it analyzes joint fantasizing as a collective narrative practice rather than an incidental expression of shared frustration. It identifies three mechanism families-symbolic reversal of hierarchies, collective moral tribunal, and contained transgressive catharsis-that show how imagined counter-violence may function as "impossible harm": morally saturated yet structurally blocked from enactment. Revenge fantasies among structurally marginalized groups are conceptualized as harm-related storytelling that exposes and contests state and border violence. Joint revenge fantasizing emerges as a mode of impossible harm through which migrants symbolically reassign criminality to state actors while keeping counter-violence in the imaginative realm. In this way, the article extends narrative criminology beyond its offender-centered, event-focused inheritance by foregrounding imagination, interaction, and lived narrative practices in contexts of border violence. How Migrants on the Balkan Route Imagine Revenge to Make Sense of Border ViolenceThis article looks at how migrants who traveled along the Balkan Route talk together about revenge after experiencing violence at European borders. Based on group conversations recorded in Trieste, Italy, the study shows that these revenge fantasies are not simple jokes or random expressions of anger. Instead, they are a shared way of talking about humiliation, fear, and injustice. The article identifies three main patterns in these conversations. In some cases, migrants imagine turning power relations upside down, so that border guards experience the same fear and suffering they caused. In other cases, they imagine a moral or legal judgment in which state actors are exposed and punished for their actions. In still other cases, dark humor allows them to express rage and frustration without turning these fantasies into real plans. The article argues that these imagined acts of revenge are a form of “impossible harm”: they are emotionally intense and morally meaningful, but they remain blocked from real action by fear, legal insecurity, exhaustion, and dependence on institutions. More broadly, the study shows that people who suffer border violence use storytelling not only to describe harm, but also to challenge official ideas about who is dangerous and who is criminal.
Despite Thailand's goal of ending AIDS by 2030, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake remains very low among sex workers (SWs) as they are effectively excluded from programming. This qualitative study explores PrEP pereceptions, decision-making and long-acting injectable (LAI)-PrEP potential among 113 female, male and transgender SWs across seven high-burden provinces. Utilizing 13 focus group discussions and thematic analysis guided by the Health Belief Model, findings revealed uneven and limited PrEP awareness, with many female SWs encountering PrEP for the first time. Key barriers identified by SWs included HIV-related stigma, lack of appropriate information and issues regarding eligibility. Among transgender women sex workers, there are concerns about hormone therapy interactions. Conversely, high perceived risk and family responsibilies motivated interest in taking PrEP. Participants strongly preferred LAI-PrEP for its discretion and compatibility with irregular sex work schedules. Enhancing equitable access requires decentralized, community-led delivery that addresses structural vulnerabilities including criminalization, stigma and discrimination. While LAI-PrEP addresses adherence challenges, its success depends on intensified awareness and targeted information provision, affordability and integration with existing community-led or key population-led health services to ensure culturally appropriate, stigma-free and sustainable HIV prevention for sex workers.
Recent shifts in U.S. and global HIV perinatal guidelines have reopened long-constrained conversations about infant feeding for people living with HIV (PLWH), including the option of breast/chestfeeding under conditions of viral suppression. While these changes represent meaningful progress, they unfold within a historical and contemporary landscape shaped by medical racism, gender-based oppression, criminalization, and persistent HIV stigma - forces that continue to constrain autonomy and trust in care. In this Perspective, we propose the Informed Free Choice model, a reproductive justice informed framework that moves beyond conventional shared decision-making to explicitly address structural inequities, power dynamics, and the lived realities of families affected by HIV. Drawing on interdisciplinary clinical practice, community advocacy, and participatory training and organizing with women living with HIV, we situate infant feeding decisions within multilevel systems of care and governance. We argue that Informed Free Choice requires not only accurate risk-benefit counseling, but also meaningful involvement of people living with HIV (MIPA), interdisciplinary care teams, trauma-informed and culturally responsive practices, and policy alignment that protects families from coercion, surveillance, and punishment. We conclude by outlining implications for clinical practice, guideline development, and future research, positioning Informed Free Choice as a necessary evolution in perinatal HIV care that aligns scientific advances with reproductive justice and health equity.
Drug-induced homicide laws, which hold people criminally responsible for overdose deaths linked to drugs they distribute, are a prominent feature of modern United States drug policy. Some are concerned that support for these laws is bolstered by racialized assumptions about people who sell drugs. The current study examines whether and how the perceived race-ethnicity of a suspected "drug dealer" affects support for drug induced homicide laws. Participants (n = 2940) recruited from Cint Theorem were randomized to one of four vignettes which varied the race-ethnicity of a suspect who distributed drugs connected to an overdose death (Latine, Black, white, or unidentified race). Participants answered questions about their general support for a drug-induced homicide law as well as several determinants of support: beliefs about deterrence, moral justification, preference for the "homicide" charge name, and desire for additional incarceration. Compared to those shown a non-Latine suspect, respondents shown a Latine suspect had significantly greater odds of supporting drug-induced homicide laws, believing they are morally justified, and desiring additional incarceration, but were statistically indistinguishable for beliefs about deterrence and preference for the "homicide" charge name. Results were driven by non-Hispanic respondents. This is the first study of its kind to consider the Latine community as a target of punitive drug policy bias. These results suggest that race- and ethnicity-based assumptions continue to influence public opinion about drug policy, echoing the punitive racialization patterns of past "wars" on drugs.
Across Canadian postsecondary educational institutions, sexual violence persists as a serious yet largely undisclosed harm with profound impacts on students' mental, physical and academic well-being. Canadian scholarship has not been systemically synthesised to clarify how sexual violence disclosure processes are framed or experienced within postsecondary contexts despite disclosure often being the primary way students seek support. The aim of this scoping review was to: (1) characterise existing perceptions of disclosure within Canadian postsecondary sexual violence evidence; (2) identify key sources and perspectives informing the Canadian postsecondary sexual violence evidence; (3) synthesise reported impacts of disclosure for students pertaining to Canadian postsecondary sexual violence and (4) highlight gaps and research priorities for Canadian postsecondary sexual violence. A scoping review conducted using Arksey and O'Malley framework, with incorporated enhancements from Levac and colleagues. Documents published between 1 January 2014 and 7 March 2025 were reviewed. These were located through searches in PsycINFO, ERIC, Sociological Abstracts, Criminal Justice Abstracts and SCOPUS, along with targeted searches of organisational and government websites. Peer-reviewed and grey evidence in English, published from 2014 onward that addressed sexual violence in Canadian postsecondary settings were included. Eligible evidence included empirical studies, theoretical papers, reviews, dissertations, commentaries, books, book chapters and organisational reports. Letters to the editor, book reviews and conference abstracts were excluded. Extraction and synthesis examined how disclosure is defined, its purpose, associated barriers and outcomes; the role of intersectionality and power relations; and recommendations to improve sexual violence responses. A total of 224 documents (164 peer-reviewed articles and 60 grey literature documents) were included in the review. Results indicate disclosure is a complex, iterative process, shaped by systems of power that differentially affect students across intersecting identities. Barriers to disclosure were most often linked to both institutional and structural inequities that influence students' experiences and outcomes. Findings clarify that advancing the safety of sexual violence response and research depends on centring student perspectives and expertise. This scoping review provides an overview of the power dynamics and risk involved in sexual violence disclosures among students in Canadian postsecondary institutions. Meaningful and transparent application of intersectional and trauma-informed approaches is critical to supporting epistemic safety and cultivating institutional cultures of care rather than perpetuating further harm for Canadian students.
Latin America is experiencing unprecedented migration, with millions, including many political refugees, moving within and across the region. This mass migration carries significant mental health implications due to multi-level stressors, including migration-related stigma. Migration Stigma, in which migrants are labeled as dangerous, criminal, or "other," drives discrimination and creates structural barriers to mental healthcare, particularly for people with psychosis. This stigma intensifies with intersectionality-factors like ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status contribute to greater delays and risk. Although research on migration and psychosis exists-Latin America remains understudied. Population-based registries like Chile's national registries and Brazil's 100 Million Cohort offer tools to quantify inequities, identify intervention points, and evaluate policies. Such data can illuminate how stigma and systemic barriers affect care for migrants with psychosis. Integrating registry-based data with anti-stigma strategies and inclusive health policies is critical to ensuring equitable early psychosis care for Latin American migrants.
Emergency departments (EDs) are highly utilized by individuals with criminal-legal system involvement (CLSI)-including those pre-arrest, in-custody, and post-release. EDs are often considered "adverse outcomes" in health services, clinical, and implementation research. We argue that EDs should also be considered an important partner in clinical carceral health practice and research. EDs have served important roles in addressing clinical and social determinants of health among other marginalized populations, such as those with behavioral health needs or housing insecurity. As EDs interact with patients throughout the correctional care continuum, we offer suggestions for partnership to improve clinical care. Finally, we highlight ED-based research being done to improve care for individuals with CLSI and why researchers should consider partnering with EDs to enhance recruitment, data collection, and intervention development of their studies. While it is never ideal for someone to require an ED visit, the reality is that for many, the ED is their primary source of care. We encourage our colleagues working in corrections medicine, re-entry services, and research to consider how they can partner with EDs as we all work to improve health systems and outcomes for our shared patients with CLSI.
The Offender Personality Disorder Pathway was introduced in England and Wales in 2012 to manage high risk offenders with personality disorder. One of the key outcomes of the Pathway is to reduce re-offending. A national mixed methods evaluation was undertaken, and this paper presents findings from the qualitative interviews focussing on staff's perceptions of the Pathway's ability to impact on re-offending in this population. Interviews were carried out with 38 staff and analysed using a framework analysis. Staff reported that the Pathway: improved their understanding of individuals and what drives their offending; developed their confidence to manage this population; and enhanced inter-agency communication. They were less convinced of any direct impact on re-offending. Early indicators of the Pathway show it has value in improving engagement, risk management, staff skills, and inter-agency working. Whether this is enough to reduce re-offending will take time to establish. Supporting Men with Long-Standing Personality Difficulties Linked to Serious and Violent Offending Behaviour: Staff Views on a Pathway Programme designed to Reduce Repeat Serious and Violent OffendingThe Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) Pathway was introduced in England and Wales in 2012 to improve how services manage people who have long standing personality difficulties which are linked to serious and violent offending behaviour. These individuals are considered high risk of repeating serious and violent offences and one of the key aims of the Pathway is to reduce this repeat re-offending by improving how these individuals are assessed, supported and supervised. A national evaluation was carried out which involved collecting criminal justice system data and also carrying out interviews with both staff working in these services and individuals receiving the services. This paper reports on findings from interviews with 38 staff working in services involved in the Pathway. The interviews explored staff views about whether the Pathway is helping to reduce re-offending among high-risk individuals with personality difficulties. Overall, staff were positive about the changes the Pathway has brought. They felt it had improved their understanding of the people they work with, particularly the complex factors that contribute to offending behaviour. Staff also reported feeling more confident in managing individuals who present high levels of risk and have personality difficulties. In addition, they described better communication and collaboration between agencies, such as prison, probation and health services, which they believed led to more coordinated and consistent support. However, staff were less certain about whether the Pathway can directly reduce repeat offending. Many felt that changes in repeat offending rates can take time to become clear. Instead, they saw the Pathway’s impact as more indirect. By improving engagement with individuals, improving risk management, and increasing staff knowledge and skills, the Pathway may create the right conditions for repeat offending to reduce over the longer term.
Narrative criminology has highlighted the role of storytelling in criminal behaviour and processes of change. In studies of intimate partner violence desistance, micro-social scholarship shows that therapeutic success often depends on negotiations between offenders' narratives and institutional narratives. Yet this literature has paid limited attention to the material and institutional conditions shaping such negotiations. Drawing on repeated life story interviews conducted with 41 men attending batterer intervention programmes in Argentina and Uruguay, this study compares participants' institutional trajectories and evolving narratives of change. Through the analysis of three cases, we show that men's accounts of desistance are shaped by their familiarity with institutional logics (such as programme expectations, timelines, and evaluative practices) as well as by their access to material resources that support change. We argue that the capacity to adapt and stabilise narratives of change is unevenly distributed and rooted in prior life trajectories and social resources, generating unequal possibilities of "successful" desistance (of passing through the hoop) across social backgrounds. How Men in Batterer Intervention Programmes Experience Change: The Role of Life Circumstances and SupportThis study looks at how men who have used violence against their partners experience programmes designed to reduce that behaviour. We explored the stories men tell about themselves and their efforts to change, and how these stories are shaped by both the rules of the programme and the men’s everyday life circumstances. We conducted repeated interviews with 41 men in Argentina and Uruguay who were attending batterer intervention programmes. We focus on three cases to illustrate how men’s experiences can differ. Some men were familiar with institutions and procedures, had steady work, and had support from family or friends. These resources made it easier for them to follow programme requirements and to think about their behaviour in new ways. Other men faced unstable work, financial pressure, or limited support. For them, attending sessions and meeting programme expectations was much harder, and their stories of change were more difficult to maintain. Our findings show that the ability to succeed in these programmes is not only about motivation or willingness to change. It is also shaped by the men’s social and economic conditions and their previous experience navigating institutions. In other words, men from different backgrounds face very different chances of “passing through the hoop” of the programme successfully. These results suggest that interventions need to consider the broader life context of participants. Programmes may be more effective if they provide practical support and recognise the challenges faced by men with fewer resources, rather than assuming all participants have the same capacity to engage and change.
The criminal justice system continues to obtain eyewitness confidence verbally (in the eyewitness's own words). Because verbal confidence statements are challenging to interpret, eyewitnesses could provide scale ratings after verbal judgments or vice versa - if the confidence-accuracy relationship is maintained when both are obtained. Participants watched two videos and then viewed a target-present and target-absent lineups for the targets. After each lineup, participants provided confidence verbally (in their own words) and then numerically (0-100%) or numerically and then verbally. Asking eyewitnesses to provide confidence verbally and numerically did not negatively impact the confidence-accuracy relationship, regardless of order. However, the numeric values eyewitnesses provided when using similar own-word confidence judgments varied. We caution that the usefulness of verbal confidence to postdict identification accuracy hinges on a systematic approach to its interpretation.
In "Mandated Drug Treatment in the Criminal Legal System-a Blunt but Necessary Tool?," in this issue of the Hastings Center Report, Brendan Saloner examines the empirical evidence surrounding mandated treatment, weighs pragmatic ethical arguments for and social justice arguments against the practice, and ultimately supplies a qualified defense of it. This commentary augments Saloner's egalitarian social justice perspective by outlining the legal principles of the police power and the parens patriae power, then uses this framework to illustrate the legal and ethical risks of mandated and involuntary treatment, and finally responds to Saloner's call for an affirmative vision of a more proportionate response.