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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

An Updated Look At Mental Health Services In American Public And Private Prisons, Lieren E. Tyira Dec 2022

An Updated Look At Mental Health Services In American Public And Private Prisons, Lieren E. Tyira

Student Theses

People residing in American prisons have the legal right to mental health care while incarcerated (Justia, 2021). This is important, as the prevalence of mental disorders is high in this population (Prins, 2014), and incarceration is a psychologically damaging experience, which hinders a person’s success at rehabilitation. Numerous of issues related to the mental health services (MHSs) in both public and private prison facilities have been reported in recent years, which warrants systematic exploration. The little existing research comparing the presence of MHSs in these facilities has produced mixed results, it uses out-of-date datasets, and none has explored MHSs in …


Elisa Validation Method For The Detection Of Ketamine In Hair, Daria A. Centonza May 2022

Elisa Validation Method For The Detection Of Ketamine In Hair, Daria A. Centonza

Student Theses

An ELISA method was developed and validated to detect ketamine in human hair samples. Ketamine is an anesthetic drug that causes memory loss, dissociative sensations, and hallucinations. Due to these adverse effects, ketamine is a common drug used in drug facilitated sexual assaults (DFSAs). It is very important to be able to detect the substances used in DFSAs over a longer period of time due to the delayed reporting of these crimes. Victims, often out of fear and from the sedative/memory loss effects of the drugs, tend to report these crimes when it is too late to use urine and …


Investigation Of Postmortem Methamphetamine Cases Submitted To The New York City Office Of Chief Medical Examiner, Isaiah Jewell Aug 2021

Investigation Of Postmortem Methamphetamine Cases Submitted To The New York City Office Of Chief Medical Examiner, Isaiah Jewell

Student Theses

Methamphetamine (N-methylamphetamine) is a central nervous system stimulant (CNS) and sympathomimetic drug with a high addiction potential. In the United States, there has been a significant increase in the presence of methamphetamine in recent years, specifically in the Northeastern region of the country. The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (NYC-OCME) postmortem methamphetamine casework from 2018 and 2019 was analyzed and revealed that the presence of the drug increased drastically within a span of one year, jumping from 65 cases in 2018 to 99 cases in 2019. Males were overwhelmingly responsible for much of the casework, taking up …


Criterion Validity Of The Ohio State University Traumatic Brain Injury Identification Method In A Criminal Justice Sample, Sarah M. Monaghan May 2021

Criterion Validity Of The Ohio State University Traumatic Brain Injury Identification Method In A Criminal Justice Sample, Sarah M. Monaghan

Student Theses

The purpose of the current study was to determine the clinical utility of the Ohio State University Traumatic Brain Injury Identification Method (OSU-TBI-ID) in a criminal justice sample, by evaluating the criterion-related validity of this instrument. It was hypothesized that this tool could differentiate between incarcerated individuals with or without a history of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) on measures evaluating important TBI-related sequalae. The sample consisted of 95 incarcerated men detained at a private correctional facility in a Mid-Atlantic state. Measures used in this study to evaluate executive functioning difficulties, psychiatric difficulties, substance use problems, institutional misconduct and recidivism were …


The Effects Of Podcasts On Mental Health Stigma, Sarah N. Dure Aug 2020

The Effects Of Podcasts On Mental Health Stigma, Sarah N. Dure

Student Theses

Research indicates that media can have both negative and positive impacts on mental health stigma and self-stigma. No studies, to our knowledge, have examined the impact of audio media representation (podcasts) on mental health stigma. Our study therefore examines the effects that both positive and negative portrayals of mental illness in a news podcast would have on mental health stigma. We hypothesized that participants assigned to podcast conditions that primed for mental illness would lead participants to attribute an incident to mental illness. Additionally, we hypothesized that listening to a podcast that speaks negatively about individuals with mental illnesses would …


The Relationship Between Traumatic Brain Injuries, Impulsivity, And Crime, Brian Ramanauskas May 2020

The Relationship Between Traumatic Brain Injuries, Impulsivity, And Crime, Brian Ramanauskas

Student Theses

The rate of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are increasing each year, impacting an estimated 1.4 million Americans. After further investigation, researchers have concluded that 8.5% of the general public sustains at least one TBI, whereas this number ranges from 25% to 87% in criminal populations. In the literature, impulsivity is frequently described as poorly conceived, prematurely expressed, or inappropriate behaviors. Additionally, poor impulse control has been shown to significantly impact the likelihood of criminal activity, increasing the rate of recidivism. The current study examined an archival dataset of 95 incarcerated individuals from a private correctional facility in a large mid-Atlantic …


The Tipping Point In Psychopathy: Role Of Psychopathic Traits In Trauma Exposure, Sneha M. Gupta Apr 2020

The Tipping Point In Psychopathy: Role Of Psychopathic Traits In Trauma Exposure, Sneha M. Gupta

Student Theses

Though psychopathy has been associated with a socially deviant lifestyle, the idea of “successful” psychopathy has gained increased attention. Previous research has explored whether psychopathic traits play a role in trauma exposure/ PTSD, using clinical and forensic populations. Results from these studies suggest that Factor 1 traits may protect from trauma exposure (Factor 1 Theory) while Factor 2 traits may worsen the impact of trauma through exacerbated exposure to traumatic events. The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between each of Factor 1 traits and Factor 2 traits with trauma exposure and PTSD. In a sample of …


Simultaneous Determination Of Fourteen Antipsychotic Drugs In Whole Blood By Solid Phase Extraction And Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Theresa M. Dawe May 2019

Simultaneous Determination Of Fourteen Antipsychotic Drugs In Whole Blood By Solid Phase Extraction And Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Theresa M. Dawe

Student Theses

Anti-psychotic drugs are commonly prescribed to patients to treat several mental conditions, such as bipolar, schizophrenia, and manic-depressive disorder. The analysis of anti-psychotic drugs in blood is a common practice in clinical and forensic toxicology, to monitor drug treatment (therapeutic drug monitoring) or to explain the cause of the impairment or intoxication in human performance and in postmortem cases. However, most of the current studies have been performed in plasma, and a limited number in blood. We developed and validated a method to confirm and quantify a panel of commonly prescribed anti-psychotic drugs in whole blood using solid phase extraction …


An Analysis Of Self-Reported Suicide Attempts And Ideation In A National Sample Of Incarcerated Sex Offenders, Kseniya Katsman Jun 2018

An Analysis Of Self-Reported Suicide Attempts And Ideation In A National Sample Of Incarcerated Sex Offenders, Kseniya Katsman

Student Theses

Suicide is the leading cause of preventable death in US jails and prisons, with rates three to nine times higher than those of the general population. Although suicide in correctional settings has been recognized as a serious problem, the research on suicide among incarcerated individuals remains limited. While the majority of suicide risk factors may be common across all offender types, sex offenders may be at a particularly elevated risk. Specifically, sex offenders have been found to report high rates of hopelessness and depressive mood, which are known predictors of suicidal behavior, and approximately 14% of incarcerated sex offenders have …


Zolpidem Facilitated Sexual Assaults: A Hair Method Validation, Danielle N. Chasworth Jun 2018

Zolpidem Facilitated Sexual Assaults: A Hair Method Validation, Danielle N. Chasworth

Student Theses

A liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MSMS) method was developed and validated to detect for the presence of zolpidem in human hair samples. Zolpidem is a sedative hypnotic whose adverse effects make it a common drug found in drug facilitated crimes (DFC). It is important to be able to detect and quantitate the drug after a long period of time due to the victim’s delayed reporting of the crime. Hair’s long window of detection makes it a useful matrix for DFC investigations. The linear range of the assay was targeted at 2 pg/mg to 1,000 pg/mg and experiments designed to …


Detection Of Cathinone And Mephedrone In Plasma By Lc-Ms/Ms Using Standard Addition Quantification Technique, Theron W. Ng-A-Qui May 2017

Detection Of Cathinone And Mephedrone In Plasma By Lc-Ms/Ms Using Standard Addition Quantification Technique, Theron W. Ng-A-Qui

Student Theses

Designer drugs are structural analogs of Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Schedule I and II substances. They are synthesized to mimic the effects of illegal drugs of abuse and to bypass the provisions of drug regulations. Despite the increased availability of designer drugs, few studies have focused on specific analytical extraction techniques for their detection and quantification in biological samples. Solid phase extraction (SPE) is the most commonly used technique for sample preparation. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the extraction efficiency of the various SPE columns with different sorbent materials for two designer drugs, cathinone and mephedrone in …