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Impact of Veteran Status and Timing of PTSD Diagnosis on Criminal Justice Outcomes

Previous research has demonstrated that jurors show a bias towards treatment for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The present research examines this bias when jurors are faced with cases of potential malingering, in which the defendant’s claim of PTSD is a perceived attempt to es...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Smith, Brandt A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6164822/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30002284
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare6030080
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author_facet Smith, Brandt A.
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description Previous research has demonstrated that jurors show a bias towards treatment for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The present research examines this bias when jurors are faced with cases of potential malingering, in which the defendant’s claim of PTSD is a perceived attempt to escape legal punishments. Trial vignettes, in which veteran status and PTSD diagnosis timing were manipulated, were used to explore this phenomenon. It was found that veterans who received their diagnosis after being arrested were found guilty more often, and were diverted to treatment less often, than those who were diagnosed before an arrest. This has critical implications for mental healthcare in that it is crucial to properly diagnose and treat people before they find themselves in court. Further, the negative outcomes in court demonstrate one of the severe social impacts of untreated or late-diagnosed PTSD.
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spelling pubmed-61648222018-10-10 Impact of Veteran Status and Timing of PTSD Diagnosis on Criminal Justice Outcomes Smith, Brandt A. Healthcare (Basel) Article Previous research has demonstrated that jurors show a bias towards treatment for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The present research examines this bias when jurors are faced with cases of potential malingering, in which the defendant’s claim of PTSD is a perceived attempt to escape legal punishments. Trial vignettes, in which veteran status and PTSD diagnosis timing were manipulated, were used to explore this phenomenon. It was found that veterans who received their diagnosis after being arrested were found guilty more often, and were diverted to treatment less often, than those who were diagnosed before an arrest. This has critical implications for mental healthcare in that it is crucial to properly diagnose and treat people before they find themselves in court. Further, the negative outcomes in court demonstrate one of the severe social impacts of untreated or late-diagnosed PTSD. MDPI 2018-07-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6164822/ /pubmed/30002284 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare6030080 Text en © 2018 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Smith, Brandt A.
Impact of Veteran Status and Timing of PTSD Diagnosis on Criminal Justice Outcomes
title Impact of Veteran Status and Timing of PTSD Diagnosis on Criminal Justice Outcomes
title_full Impact of Veteran Status and Timing of PTSD Diagnosis on Criminal Justice Outcomes
title_fullStr Impact of Veteran Status and Timing of PTSD Diagnosis on Criminal Justice Outcomes
title_full_unstemmed Impact of Veteran Status and Timing of PTSD Diagnosis on Criminal Justice Outcomes
title_short Impact of Veteran Status and Timing of PTSD Diagnosis on Criminal Justice Outcomes
title_sort impact of veteran status and timing of ptsd diagnosis on criminal justice outcomes
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6164822/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30002284
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare6030080
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