Forensic Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatry

Purpose of this blog

This blog helps you understand something about the world of forensic psychiatry. This area of medicine combines knowledge of the legal system with psychiatric training. Examples include evaluating child custody disputes, assessing allegations of sexual abuse, evaluating children and adults charged with crimes, serving as an expert witness in civil suits, evaluating medical malpractice cases - to name a few.

While I cannot help you with advice concerning a particular case unless I am retained, we can discuss many topics here, and even generate some controversy. Welcome!

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Internet Predator or Entrapment?

I have been referred a number of cases lately involving men arrested for allegedly using the Internet to ensnare young girls. I write "allegedly" because sometimes it's a bit tricky to know whether the case is one of legitimate apprehension of a predator or else an overuse of power by a public official.

A typical statute will define "entrapment" as being an unjustified use of police power to capture an individual committing or about to commit a crime which he/she would NOT have committed but for the involvement and prodding of the public official. In other words, it's a question of having a predisposition to commit the crime and/or having it be premeditated.

An Internet predator is usually a man who uses the Internet to lure young or vulnerable girls, boys, women or men into a meeting for his own sexual gratification. Often there is a power disparity between the predator and the victim.

Here's an example, with all names, of course, changed: Bill is 33 years old and is a lonely, shy and insecure young man. He enjoys looking at and reading pornographic magazines.He has no girlfriend, but he does have online "friends" he meets in various Internet chat rooms. One evening he "meets" Jennifer, and they soon move to a quicker, IM form of conversing. Over the course of several days, Jennifer tells Bill she likes him and finds him interesting and romantic. She writes that she would like to meet him. One night she admits that she is 15 years old. Bill tells her he cannot continue this IM chatting because she is underage, and "jailbait." She tells him she is turned on to him and just wants to see him and maybe "fool around" a little bit. He demurs, saying she is too young.

Jennifer pleads with Bill over the next three nights. He still says no. Finally, she accuses him of being a coward. He objects to this and tells her that he will meet her but only for a little while. He suggests they meet at Exit 17 off the Interstate. Bill shows up at 10:30 PM. He is immediately surrounded by police cars, and learns that "Jennifer" is a 30-year-old female detective. Bill is arrested, handcuffed and taken to jail.

Is Bill a predator or is this entrapment. What do you think?

Helpful links: Entrapment

                    Internet Predators

                   

Texas Child Custody Fiasco

I’m sure you’ve read about the mega-custody case in Texas. The state removed over 400 children from the compound of a fundamentalist Mormon sect which believes in polygamy. The leader of the sect is already serving time for forcing an underage girl to have sex with her cousin.

Was the State of Texas justified in forcibly removing these children? Yesterday, a state court of appeals ruled that child protective services committed a mighty big error in taking those kids away. The appeals court said there wasn’t enough evidence that any or all of the children had been abused in any way.

BRAVO! It seems that Texas child protective services are like those of so many other states. Maybe they mean well, but often it seems their motto for parents is “You’re guilty until proven innocent.” Many workers don’t know what they’re doing, their clinical judgment is lousy, or they rely too heavily on so-called “professionals” who think they have a straight line to The Truth. CPS workers make lots of mistakes. They also save kids. But it’s catch-as-catch-can when it comes to the competence of these people.

CPS is now appealing this case to the Texas Supreme Court. Let’s hope those judges affirm the decision of the appeals court. Those kids should be returned home – it’s their home. Their parents. Their lives.

I’ll tell you some stories from my clinical experience next time.

More From Texas

Texas Child Protective Services has appealed to the Texas Supreme Court to reverse the lower court's decision to return the Mormon kids to their families. The Supreme Court justices are working on it over this Memorial Day weekend. Let's hope they do the right thing and return the children. This has been an example of CPS going wild. It's one thing to protect children; it's another to scoop them up from their families without justifiable cause.

Relocation Custody Cases

What should a court do when a divorced parent with sole or joint custody wants to move away from the child's father? Sometimes it's easy to decide if the moving parent has a frivolous reason. I once evaluated a case in which a mother wanted to move to the West Coast because a cult leader said it would be the safest place to live. Even though she had sole custody, the father went to court, and the mother was not permitted to move with the child.

But what if a parent remarries and her spouse lives out-of-state? What if a parent can only find work out-of-state? Then what? In cases such as these, courts often ask forensic experts to evaluate the family and give an opinion.

What's yours? What would make a move-away case legit and what wouldn't? How would you go about evaluating the family?

Texas Supreme Court Decision on Custody

The fundamentalist Mormon sect may soon get their 400+ children back. The highest court in Texas has ruled the children must be returned. The court affirmed the decision of the appellate court. And, it turns out, the call to CPS by the girl who said she had been sexually abused – was probably a hoax!

It is almost beyond believe that the Texas child protective workers raided the fundamentalist compound and took these children from their parents. Although polygamy is outlawed in all 50 states, that did not give the state the right to remove all of these children en mass. They had no evidence to move in! This is an example of CPS workers deciding that parents are guilty until proven innocent. What a travesty of justice!

The question now is when will the kids go back? Will it be all or some? (Just under 40 moms brought the case) As far as I can tell, there has been no shred of evidence presented that suggests any or all of these children were at risk.

Going into state custodial care is sometimes like entering Roach Motel: Once you get in you can’t get out. Here’s proof that when intelligent judges look at the facts, and clear heads prevail, justice can be done.

More on custody and children’s welfare in future entries.

What do you think about this?

Judicial Recalcitrance in Texas v. The Fundamentalist Mormons

So, what is happening now in the case of Texas vs. the FLDS? Despite the decision of the court of appeals, and despite the opinion of the highest court in Texas, the original judge on the case, Barbara Walther, wants the parents to sign an order returning the children home. And, she's saying the state must continue to investigate the families, even if they are reunited. So it's more work for the lawyers, and a longer wait for the parents.

       
                                                        
            
                                                   

Sexual Abuse Evaluations

Sexual abuse allegations are the hardest form of child abuse to substantiate. This will be the first of several posts on the subject, and you are invited to participate. Sexual abuse of children is a very real and serious phenomenon. From Internet predators to a drunk father fondling his little girl, the problem is omnipresent all over the world. Some abusers go into action while their children are still pre-pubertal: they are pedophiles - adults sexually attracted to children - frequently boys as well as girls. Other abusers find victims in those who have sexually matured. And not all abusers are men. Less frequently recognized are adult women who molest male and female children.

One sure way to ascertain that sexual abuse has occurred is finding a sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the victim. That's why children should have physical examinations and cultures taken of all orifices as part of an evaluation. If, for example, gonorrhea is cultured from a child's mouth, eyes, vagina, penis or anus (or more than one place) that is clear-cut evidence that such abuse has occurred. A blood test might reveal the presence of syphilis. Unfortunately, with most allegations of sexual abuse, no physical evidence is found. What to do?

Future posts will discuss evaluating sexual abuse in children. While some evaluators take a professional and non-political approach to these evaluators, others have made a big business calling themselves “validators,” as if they alone can find the truth of what has happened to a child. As we'll see, it's not that easy.

As always, your comments are welcome.