Using survey data, the authors assessed whether military personnel's prior mental health status would influence their likelihood of being deployed. None of the previous studies that assessed a possible "healthy warrior effect," in which persons selected for deployment have better predeployment health, were based on surveys. A sample of 2,820 United Kingdom military personnel studied in 2002, before the Iraq War, was contacted again between 2004 and 2006. The baseline questionnaire included a measure of psychological distress (the General Health Questionnaire), the PTSD [posttraumatic stress disorder] Checklist (PCL), physical symptoms, and level of medical fitness. A total of 1,885 (67%) participants completed a follow-up questionnaire. General Health Questionnaire caseness in 2002 was associated with a reduction in risk of deployment later on (risk ratio = 0.81, 95% confidence interval: 0.67, 0.99). Scoring high on the PCL intrusiveness and avoidance domains also reduced the risk of deployment. These associations were slightly stronger when the comparison was made between persons who were deployed to Iraq and those who were not. Although risk ratios were well below 1.00, PCL categories were not significantly associated with being deployed. This study demonstrated a small "healthy warrior effect"; persons with better psychological health had a higher chance of being deployed, even after adjustment for predeployment medical fitness.

This paper reexamines the Shuman seminal paper arguing against empathic behaviors in forensic evaluations. Shuman concluded that empathy by examiners seduces evaluees into believing a therapeutic relationship exists. We reconsider empathy as an element of rapport and a helpful supplement in a successful assessment. Actively avoiding empathy could lead to cold and callous examiner self-presentation, which may in turn produce biased and negative results. In this paper we assert that ethical forensic professionals may use moderate empathy during an assessment. Examiners should consider it not as a component of subjectivity and pseudotherapy, but rather as a potentially useful tool for effective assessments.

Prosecutors are handling increasing numbers of criminal cases concerning veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). How these prosecutors handle such cases may reflect their attitudes toward veterans or offenders with PTSD. In turn, their attitudes may affect perceptions of blameworthiness, as well as negotiations about sentencing during the pretrial stage. The present study investigated the effect of a defendant's military experience and mental health status (i.e., PTSD) on prosecutors' offers at the pretrial stage and their ratings of the defendant's blameworthiness. Prosecutors' offers were more lenient to stress-disordered veterans; specifically, they were offered more diversion programs as compared with veterans without PTSD and to other offenders with PTSD. Prosecutors also perceived veterans and those with PTSD as less criminally culpable; they also empathized and identified more with veterans and those with PTSD than nonveterans and offenders without PTSD.

In a prospective study, we evaluated pre- and postdeployment psychological health on recall of risk factors to assess recall bias. Measures of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), PTSD Checklist (PCL), and symptom clusters from the PCL were obtained from 681 UK military personnel along with information on traumatic and protective risk factors. Postdeployment psychological health was more important in explaining recall of traumatic experiences than predeployment psychological health. Predeployment intrusive cluster scores were highly associated with traumatic exposures. Postdeployment, but not predeployment GHQ showed small effects for most risk factors. With the exception of intrusive thoughts, there is insufficient evidence to suggest predeployment psychological status would be useful in correcting for recall bias in subsequent cross-sectional studies.

Although its exact effects are uncertain and the best patterns of dosage and frequency have yet to be ascertained, a combination of scopolamine and methedrine given intramuscularly appears to have some value as a means of rendering young, physically healthy, mentally ill offenders more accessible to treatment when they are participating in an intensive therapeutic community program. It offers a form of control of the psychopathic patient which is superior to heavy doses of tranquillizers or seclusion. In all phases of its employment its effects on the group seem cohesive, providing a focus for concerned and helpful activities.