The Concept of Diminished Responsibility in Supranational Criminal Law (Psychiatric Approach)

The role of the community management order (CMO) in the management of mental illness has been associated with controversy. There is uncertainty as to the effectiveness of such involuntary treatment. Review of outcomes of involuntary community treatment has shown varied results, and in the remote areas of Australia the issue becomes more complex, and outcomes more difficult to measure. The Northern Territory's Mental Health Act 2000 has broadened criteria for detention. The decision to impose follow-up and case management on an individual (who may reside in a community several hundred kilometres from an in-patient facility) requires careful consideration of its ethical, professional and psychosocial implications. The trend toward increasing use of mental health legislation in the Northern Territory — particularly for Indigenous people — deserves close scrutiny in order that culturally appropriate and sensitive treatment plans are developed.     

Cocaine use in pregnancy in Amsterdam

To study the effects of cocaine use in pregnancy in Amsterdam, clinical data on cocaine-using pregnant women ( n = 21) and their offspring ( n = 23) were obtained retrospectively (1987–1994) at the Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam. Infants exposed to cocaine had a median gestational age of 39 weeks and a median birth weight of 3090 g. There were six preterm infants, two small-for-gestational-age infants and five infants with a small head circumference. Three infants had a congenital malformation. One infant (Potter's syndrome) died shortly before birth. One infant had congenital syphilis, four had intracerebral abnormalities on ultrasound and four had abnormal neurologic symptoms in the neonatal period. One infant died after 21 days of life. At follow-up four infants showed abnormal development. In 12 of the 23 infants (52%), one or more possible effects of cocaine were found.