What factors should be taken into account when attributing criminal responsibility to perpetrators of severe crimes? We discuss the Breivik case, and the considerations which led to holding Breivik accountable for his criminal acts. We put some pressure on the view that experiencing certain psychiatric symptoms or receiving a certain psychiatric diagnosis is sufficient to establish criminal ins...

We would also like to thank Phil Anderson for his assistance with statistical analysis and Joy Wundersitz for information about research in South Australia. This is a project supported by a grant from the Criminology Research Council. The views expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Council. Introduction This paper presents the final findings from a...

Since 2002, hundreds of thousands of United States troops have returned from the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters, many after multiple deployments. The high suicide rate and high prevalence of mood disorders, substance use disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in this population have been widely reported. Many returning soldiers have had difficulty adjusting to civilian life, and som...

Adolescents are developmentally distinct from adults in ways that merit a tailored response to juvenile crime. Normative adolescent brain development is associated with increases risk taking, which may include criminal behavior. Juvenile delinquency peaks during the years and declines concert psychosocial maturation. However, current U.S. approaches justice misaligned youth's developmental need...

Section 2 of the 1957 Homicide Act is indefensible: the concept of 'mental responsibility' is a hybrid which turns the psychiatrist witness either into a thirteenth juryman or a spare barrister. But reform does not lie along the lines suggested by the Butler Committee or the Criminal Law Revision Committee. The latter leaves the jury with insufficient guidance; the former returns to the bad eig...

Rising juvenile crime rates during the 1970s and 1980s spurred state legislatures across the country to exclude or transfer a significant share of offenders under the age of eighteen to the jurisdiction of the criminal court, essentially redrawing the boundary between the juvenile and adult justice systems. Jeffrey Fagan examines the legal architecture of the new boundary-drawing regime and how...

OBJECTIVE To quantify the degree of abuse or criminal behavior among young females presenting for reproductive health care services. METHODS An evaluation was conducted among Alaskan females age 10 through 15 years enrolled in Medicaid. Subjects were identified who had experienced reproductive health outcomes. The Medicaid file was linked to a Child Protective Services database and a Juvenile...

The maxim “innocent until proven guilty” has assumed significance in legal scholarship, colloquial conversation, and the media; indeed, the concept resonates with American society. Its prominence in popular and legal culture reflects society’s concern for balancing the constitutional guarantee of liberty with the government’s duty to secure the well-being of its citizens. The maxim recognizes t...