The assessment of sexual offenders commonly requires the use of structured assessment tools or actuarial devices. The current study reports on 27 defendants assessed on the Sexual Violence Risk-20 protocol, 18 of whom were found guilty or pleaded guilty. Nine of the 20 variables making up the SVR-20, significantly discriminated between the guilty and not-guilty defendants. The RSV-20 was not de...

I commend John Melville and David Naimark for their commentary in this issue of the Journal demonstrating how the guilty but mentally ill (GBMI) verdict perverts the insanity defense by encouraging jurors to find insane defendants guilty (but mentally ill) and by imposing punishment on those found GBMI that is more severe than would have been imposed on them if they had simply been found guilty...

Forensic evaluators often assess patients who lack insight into their mental illnesses. This lack of insight can have a significant impact on the defendant's ability to make legal strategy decisions that rely on their acceptance of their mental illness. In this article, the relationship between refusing an insanity plea and competency to stand trial will be explored in the context of defendants...

Researchers studying human behavioral genetics have made significant scientific progress in enhancing our understanding of the relative contributions of genetics and the environment in observed variations in human behavior. Quickly outpacing the advances in the science are its applications in the criminal justice system. Already, human behavioral genetics research has been introduced in the U.S...

The proposal for Regulation 2017/1939 establishing the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (The EPPO Regulation) was criticized completely excluding Court of Justice Union (CJEU) from judicial review decisions on forum prosecution by EPPO, an EU body. system under has improved significantly relative to its initial proposal, enabling national courts refer preliminary questions CJEU. Despite this...

Legislatures often require a specific or minimal sentence be imposed if certain conditions are fulfilled. This study shows how such rules might benefit defendants. Israeli law requires that suspended prison activated the offender is reconvicted of further offense during term suspension. Hence, becomes sort minimum for breach offense. Yet judges allowed to prolong if, among other things, minor a...