A French team studied HOMICIDE-SUICIDE (HS) in Paris and its suburbs from 1991 through 1996, and analyzed the psychodynamic DETERMINANTS leading up to HS (J. Forensic Sci 1998; 43(4): 760-764). During the six-year study period, 56 HS involving 133 victims were investigated. Of the 56 offenders, 48 (85%) were males. In addition, the offender was more likely to be severely depressed, violent and jealous when he killed his spouse, and often his children, on impulse after numerous threats. Jealousy and control were particularly associated with impulsivity. THE FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT HS DIFFER FROM BOTH HOMICIDE AND SUICIDE IN A NUMBER OF RESPECTS. First, the proximity of suicide to homicide distinguishes it from murder followed by brooding or guilt followed several hours later by homicide. Many of the events are planned as a unified act. The married middle aged group of men, on the other hand, principally associated with homicide-suicide, differs from the suicide cluster of older, single males. These qualities distinguish the HS as a distinct entity worthy of separate attention...

A recent study found that CONCURRENT USE OF COCAINE AND ALCOHOL is MORE POTENT and potentially more toxic than use of either alone (Bio Psychiatry 1998; 44:250-259). Cocaine-alcohol produced greater euphoria and increased perception of wellbeing relative to cocaine. Heart rate significantly increased following cocaine-alcohol administration relative to either drug alone. Cocaine concentrations were greater following cocaine-alcohol consumption. The euphoria and sense of well being created by comorbid use of the drugs encourage ingestion of larger amounts, placing the user at heightened risk for toxic effects. The findings provide further insight into why the two drugs are? abused together...

A study published in Psychological Reports (1998, 82, 817-818) examined whether older siblings of either sex were more likely to have killed a younger sibling, using the population of all 266 FRATRICIDES AND SORORICIDES committed between 1974 and 1995 in Canada. In 81% of all cases a male perpetrator killed a brother. In 56% of the cases a younger sibling killed an older one, whereas in 44% of the cases the opposite occurred...

An Austrian study examines whether the RATIO OF NERVOUSNESS TO PAIN SENSITIVITY, already defined for healthy volunteers, changes for pain insensitive patients. (Psychiatry Research,1998, 79, 55-58). Results of a group of forty EX-ADDICTS showed that (1) the average nervousness rating was higher than in controls, and (2) a distinct subgroup of pain-sensitive ex-addicts had a high ratio of nervousness vs. pain threshold. In this group the risk for relapse into drug use was three to four times higher than in the other ex-addicts. The results provide data which should be considered in forensic examinations that recommend alternatives to incarceration and commitment on recidivism risk...

And what is to be done with pathological gamblers? To study efficacy of a COGNITIVE TREATMENT FOR PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLING, five who met diagnostic criteria were treated in a multiple baseline across subject design (Behavior Research and Therapy, 1998, 36, 1111-1119) — Cognitive corrections targeted the erroneous perceptions of the idea of randomness. The treatment philosophy followed the strategy that if gamblers could come to embrace the idea that random events were less likely linked, their GAMBLING WOULD BE REDUCED. Four of the five subjects reported a clinically significant decrease in the urge to gamble, an increase in their perception of control, and no longer met the DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling. Therapeutic gains were maintained at six-month follow-up. These results indicate that cognitive therapy that targets the misconception of randomness is a promising treatment for pathological gambling, a disorder refractory to most therapeutic interventions...

Many adolescents at immediate risk for violence end up in hospitals. To identify variables predictive of PHYSICAL AGGRESSION IN HOSPITALIZED ADOLESCENCTS, a Texas study examined a 14-month period of psychiatric hospital records (J. Psychology, 1998 132(4), 427- 434). Forty-two percent of the 43 girls and 55% of the 57 boys were termed a aggressive, because they had committed at least one act of physical aggression during the study period. Subjects' characteristics were used to predict aggression, and 92% of the total sample was correctly classified. Aggression in girls was associated with a history of family violence, minority race, and being on medication; boys' aggression was related to conduct disorder, on medication, and prior hospitalization...

The PRISON CONTROL SCALE is a 40 item-measure that briefly describes events or situations common to prison life. The Scale, which also measures locus of control specific to prisons (Psychological Reports, 1998,82, 739-744), was validated in a study completed through Youngstown State University in Ohio. Three hundred fifty-six incarcerated subjects completed the Prison Control Scale, one other similar scale, and various measures of adjustment. LOCUS OF CONTROL APPEARS IMPORTANT IN THE ADJUSTMENT OF PRISONERS DURING AND UPON RELEASE; the next step is to incorporate this measure into the study of criminal recidivism risk to better guide disposition planning. FAIRNESS OF TREATMENT was studied in police and correctional officers' encounters with detained Dutch citizens. Two aspects of the relationship were considered: the person-related, personal aspect and the role-related, procedure-oriented aspect. Opinions were drawn from 175 detainees. These detainees were distinguished by how frequently they had been in the criminal justice system (J. Applied Social Psychology, 1998, 28, 12, pp. 1107-1124). The non-personal, procedural aspect affected fairness judgments most when repeatedly incarcerated detainees evaluated encounters with police officers. The person-related aspect affected fairness judgments most when all detainees assessed encounters with correctional officers. Overall, police officers were seen as less fair than corrections officers...

TWENTY ADULT WOMEN CHARGED WITH MURDERING THEIR CHILDREN were referred to a forensic psychiatric hospital for pretrial evaluation. The study compared the demographic, historic, clinical, forensic, and offense characteristics of these women and their victims to samples of multinational, British, and Canadian filicidal women (J. Clin Psychol 54: 679-687, 1998). The data depict a subset of women who suffered from diagnosable mental disorder and were contending with many acute stressors, often the stress of having to raise more than one child without adequate resources. The consistency of characteristics across countries suggests that financial women are also nonaddicted, married, low-income, recent mothers who kill one of their preschool-age children. The study also supports previous findings that a large percentage of those mothers who commit filicide are psychotic, an important contrast to those who kill their newborns. . . .