scholarly journals Mental Health Risk Factors and Parole Decisions: Does Inmate Mental Health Status Affect Who Gets Released

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (16) ◽  
pp. 2950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly A. Houser ◽  
E. Rely Vîlcică ◽  
Christine A. Saum ◽  
Matthew L. Hiller
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Risk Assessment Tool ◽  
Parole Board ◽  
Health Factors ◽  
Mental Health Factors

Parole decision—the decision to release an incarcerated individual from prison conditionally—is one of the most critical decisions across justice systems around the world. The decision carries with it significant consequences: for the freedom of the individual awaiting release (the parolee); for the safety of the community in which they will return; and for the correctional system overall, especially its organizational capacity. The current study attempts to add to the parole decision-making literature by specifically analyzing the role that mental health factors may play in explaining parole decisions. Research to date is inconclusive on whether or not mental illness is a risk factor for criminal behavior; despite this, individuals with mental health problems generally fare worse on risk assessment tools employed in justice decisions. The study relies on a 1000+ representative sample of parole-eligible individuals in Pennsylvania, United States. To increase reliability, the analyses test for several mental health factors based on information from different sources (i.e., self-reported mental health history; risk assessment tool employed by the Parole Board; and risk assessment tool employed by the Department of Corrections). To address validity concerns, the study controls for other potential correlates of parole decisions. Although the multivariate models explained a considerable amount of variance in parole decisions, the inclusion of mental health variables added relatively little to model fit. The results provide insights into an understudied area of justice decision making, suggesting that despite the stigmatization of mental illness among criminal justice populations, parole board members in Pennsylvania, United States, appear to follow official guidelines rather than to consider more subjective notions that poor mental health should negate parole release.

Comparison of Mental Health and Legal Factors in the Disposition Outcome of Young Offenders

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 688-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARY ANN CAMPBELL ◽  
FRED SCHMIDT
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Externalizing Behavior ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Small Contribution ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Health Factors ◽  
Court Dispositions ◽  
Mental Health Factors

The relative contribution of court-ordered mental health reports and legal factors in determining young offender dispositions was examined. Poor quality of home conditions and severity of substance abuse, as coded from mental health reports, significantly increased the odds of receiving custody over a term of probation once legal factors were controlled. Legal factors significantly predicted probation length, whereas mental health factors only made a small contribution through externalizing behavior problems. The overall concordance between clinicians' mental health recommendations and court dispositions was 67.5%. Although these results suggest mental health reports influence disposition decision making, this influence is more limited than expected given that the purpose of these reports is to assist such decision making. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.

scholarly journals Improving VTE risk assessment and prophylaxis prescribing rate in medical patients: integrating risk assessment tool into the workflow

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. e000903
Author(s):  
Hannah Preston ◽  
Iain Swan ◽  
Lauren Davies ◽  
Simon Dummer ◽  
Veiraiah Aravindan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Baseline Period ◽  
Risk Assessment Tool ◽  
Medical Patients ◽  
Seamless Integration ◽  
Pharmacological Prophylaxis ◽  
Vte Prophylaxis

Medical inpatients often have important risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE). In our institution, VTE prophylaxis in this group was underused. The main barriers identified were inattention to VTE prophylaxis, competing priorities and lack of confidence in the decision-making. We aimed to improve the rate of VTE prophylaxis use by introducing a paper-based risk assessment tool, with actionable management recommendations within the prescription chart. The rationale was that an assessment tool at the point of prescribing can reduce steps between decision-making and prescribing process, thus promoting confidence and acting as a reminder. A total of 552 prescription charts completed over a period of 29 weeks were examined during the baseline period. In the postintervention period, 871 charts completed over 40 weeks period were examined. The risk assessment tool was completed in 51% of the cases examined in the postintervention period. The introduction of the risk assessment tool was associated with a significant change in the pattern of VTE pharmacological prophylaxis use. The change occurred when the form was made highly visible and enclosed in the prescription chart. The pharmacological prophylaxis use was higher with a completed assessment form than without (mean (SD) 97.5% (7.6%) vs 70.1% (19.4%); p<0.0001). The rate of appropriate prophylaxis decision was 98.2% (SD 5.2%) with a completed assessment form, and 80.7% (SD 17.9%) when it was not used. The qualitative interviews revealed positive themes; many users found it useful, easy and convenient to use. Our data have shown that a paper-based VTE risk assessment tool placed within the prescription chart could substantially improve the rate of appropriate assessment and VTE prophylaxis implementation. This suggests that tool clearly needs to be a seamless integration into the workflow to capture users’ attention and mitigate the influence of time perception.

Care pathway process proposal and rationale for the assessment and management of firesetting in the inpatient setting

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (02) ◽  
pp. 119-127
Author(s):  
Bradley Hillier ◽  
Srinivasarao Cherukuru ◽  
Faisil Sethi
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Care Pathway ◽  
Risk Assessment Tool ◽  
Inpatient Setting ◽  
Specific Risk ◽  
Co Morbidity ◽  
Mental Health Settings

AbstractFiresetting is traditionally a forensic problem which is nevertheless a frequent co-morbidity within mental health settings. The associations between mental health and firesetting are diverse and poorly understood, and with forensic services under increasing pressure, non-forensic settings may be increasingly expected to manage such presentations. With this in mind, and in the absence of a specific risk assessment tool, we propose a care pathway and rationale for its use in the assessment and management of individuals with firesetting behaviours as part of their presentation.

scholarly journals Supporting Wildfire Response During a Pandemic in the United States: the COVID-19 Incident Risk Assessment Tool

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew P. Thompson ◽  
Erin J. Belval ◽  
Jake Dilliott ◽  
Jude Bayham
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
The United States ◽  
Risk Assessment Tool ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
Epidemiological Modeling ◽  
Management Functions

The onset of the global pandemic in 2020 significantly increased the complexity and uncertainty of wildfire incident response in the United States, and there was a clear role for decision support to inform and enhance coordination and communication efforts. Epidemiological modeling suggested the risk of COVID-19 outbreak at a traditional large fire camp could be substantial and supported the broadscale implementation of mitigations, and management of COVID-19 required expanding the response network to interface with entities such as local public health agencies, hospitals, and emergency operations centers. Despite the early issuance of medical and public health guidance to support wildfire management functions under a COVID-19 modified operating posture, an identified gap was a scale- and scope-appropriate tool to support incident-level assessment of COVID-19 risk. Here we review the development and application of a COVID-19 Incident Risk Assessment Tool intended to fill that gap. After prototyping with fire managers and risk practitioners, including early-season use on several incidents, we built an online dashboard that was used operationally throughout the 2020 fire season. We summarize usage statistics, provide some examples of real use on wildfire incidents, and report feedback from users. The tool helped to fill a critical information gap and was intended to support risk-informed decision-making regarding incident logistics, operations, and COVID-19 mitigations.

The Validity of a Brief Risk Assessment Tool for Predicting Suicidal Behavior in Veterans Utilizing VHA Mental Health Care

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neal Doran ◽  
Sharon De Peralta ◽  
Colin Depp ◽  
Ben Dishman ◽  
Lindsay Gold ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Suicidal Behavior ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Risk Assessment Tool
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document