Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T21:06:32.478Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Role of PTSD in Adjudicating Violent Crimes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Mark B. Hamner
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

There are a number of considerations, including ethical and clinical or diagnostic factors, in utilizing the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in criminal proceedings. The reliability and validity of the diagnosis may be questioned. Legal precedent may consider extant diagnostic criteria for PTSD and comorbid diagnoses. However, these diagnostic criteria are often in flux considering new research findings. For example, the introduction of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, includes some changes in the PTSD diagnostic criteria. How will this affect interpretation of past legal judgments? Moreover, PTSD has significant psychiatric comorbidity, e.g., substance abuse, which in itself may influence violent behavior and its consequences. Some of these comorbid diagnoses also have changes in their diagnostic criteria. The introduction of biological tests in the assessment of PTSD will likely facilitate more objective diagnosis.

Type
Symposium
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , Summer 2014 , pp. 155 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. (Arlington, VA: APA Press, 2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed. (Arlington, VA: APA Press, 1980).Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed. (Arlington, VA: APA Press, 1994).Google Scholar
Kessler, R. C. Sonnega, A. Bromet, E. Hughes, M. Nelson, C. B., “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey,” Archives of Gen Psychiatry 52, no. 12 (1995): 1048–1060.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pickard, H. Fazel, S., “Substance Abuse as a Risk Factor for Violence in Mental Illness: Some Implications for Forensic Psychiatric Practice and Clinical Ethics,” Current Opinion in Psychiatry 26, no. 4 (2013): 349–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellsop, G. W. Fraser, D. Tapsell, R. Menkes, D. B., “Courts' Misplaced Confidence in Psychiatric Diagnoses,” International Journal of Psychiatry 34, no. 5 (2011): 331–335.Google Scholar
See DSM-V, supra note 1.Google Scholar
Nielssen, O. Elliott, G. Large, M., “The Reliability of Evidence about Psychiatric Diagnosis after Serious Crime: Part I. Agreement between Experts,” Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 38, no. 4 (2010): 516–523.Google Scholar
Berger, O. McNeil, D. E. Binder, R. L., “PTSD as a Criminal Defense: A Review of Case Law,” Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 40, no. 4 (2012): 509–521.Google Scholar
Kuijpers, K. F. van der Knaap, L. M. Winkel, F. W., “PTSD Symptoms as Risk Factors for Intimate Partner Violence Revictimization and the Mediating Role of Victims' Violent Behavior,” Journal of Traumatic Stress 25, no. 2 (2012): 179–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johansen, V. A. Wahl, A. K. Eilertsen, D. E. Weisaeth, L., “Prevalence and Predictors of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Physically Injured Victims of Non-Domestic Violence: A Longitudinal Study,” Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 42, no. 7 (2007): 583–593.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Donnell, M. L. Varker, T. Holmes, A. C. Ellen, S. Wade, D. Creamer, M. Silove, D. McFarlane, A. Bryant, R. A. Forbes, D., “Disability after Injury: The Cumulative Burden of Physical and Mental Health,” Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 74, no. 2 (2013): 137–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See Berger, et al., supra note 10.Google Scholar
See DSM-IV, supra note 4.Google Scholar
See Pickard, Fazel, , supra note 6.Google Scholar
Barrett, E. L. Mills, K. L. Teesson, M., “Hurt People Who Hurt People: Violence amongst Individuals with Comorbid Substance Use Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder,” Addictive Behaviors 36, no. 7 (2001): 721–728.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oram, S. Trevillion, K. Feder, G. Howard, L. M., “Prevalence of Experiences of Domestic Violence among Psychiatric Patients: Systematic Review,” British Journal of Psychiatry 202, no. 2 (2013): 94–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
See Berger, et al., supra note 10.Google Scholar
Porter v. McCollum, “The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law,” April 26, 2013, available at <http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000–2009/2009/2009_08_10537>(last visited April 1, 2014).(last+visited+April+1,+2014).>Google Scholar
Pitman, R. K. Orr, S. P., “Psychophysiologic Testing for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Forensic Psychiatric Application,” Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 21, no. 1 (1993): 37–52.Google Scholar
Pole, N., “The Psychophysiology of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Meta-Analysis,” Psychological Bulletin 133, no. 5 (2007): 725–746.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Corwin, D. L. Keeshin, B. R., “Estimating Present and Future Damages Following Child Maltreatment,” Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America 20, no. 3 (2011): 505–518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werner, J. Werner, M. S., “Child Sexual Abuse in Clinical and Forensic Psychiatry: A Review of Recent Literature,” Current Opinion in Psychiatry 21, no. 5 (2008): 499–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holt, S. Buckley, H. Whelan, S., “The Impact of Exposure to Domestic Violence on Children and Young People: A Review of the Literature,” Child Abuse & Neglect 32, no. 8 (2008): 797–810.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neigh, G. N. Gillespie, C. F. Nemeroff, C. B., “The Neurobiological Toll of Child Abuse and Neglect,” Trauma Violence Abuse 10, no. 4 (2009): 389–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Id.Google Scholar