Random Victim (Leal and Hart Book 1)

Data Dutch general population: Although crime victimisation is as prevalent in psychiatric patients as crime perpetration and possibly more so , few European figures for it are available. We therefore assessed its one-year prevalence and incident rates in Dutch severely mentally ill outpatients, and compared the results with victimisation rates in the general population. This multisite epidemiological survey included a random sample of adult severely mentally ill outpatients.

Data on victimisation were obtained using the victimisation scale of the Dutch Crime and Victimisation Survey, which assesses crime victimisation over the preceding 12 months. Comparison data were derived from the nationwide survey on safety and victimisation in the Netherlands. After control for demographic differences, prevalence rates of overall and specific victimisation measures were significantly higher in severely mentally ill outpatients than in the general population. Crime victimisation is a serious problem in Dutch severely mentally ill outpatients.

Most earlier psychiatric studies addressing crime and violence focused on patients with severe mental illness SMI as perpetrators [1] , [2]. Patients with SMI are often perceived as dangerous and unpredictable and more prone to perpetrating violence than those in the general population [3] — [7].

Few studies have examined the risk of crime victimisation i. A randomised survey in Chicago among adult SMI outpatients showed that even after correction for demographic difference, the prevalence of personal crime victimisation in these individuals was 11 times higher than in the general population [8]. A literature review also showed that crime victimisation rates among US psychiatric outpatients were much higher than rates of crime perpetration [1].

SMI patients are commonly diagnosed with psychotic, bipolar, or major depressive disorders [11]. Due not only to psychological problems such as impulsiveness, substance abuse, poor reality testing and judgment, but also to impaired social skills, they probably constitute a high-risk group for victimisation. Overall conditions — such as unemployment, poverty, homelessness, and conflicted relationships — can contribute to the risk of victimisation [12] — [21].

In European countries such as the Netherlands, research on crime victimisation among SMI patients is largely absent, although there is no clear reason for this [9]. While deinstitutionalisation has been less drastic in the Netherlands than in the United States [22] , most Dutch SMI patients are no longer in the protective care of hour hospital services: The extent of homelessness among SMI persons in Holland is smaller than in the United States as a result of the Dutch welfare system [23].

While previous research has often examined the prevalence of crime victimisation [9] , very few studies have investigated the number of incidents per 1, people in the preceding 12 months. By studying both prevalence and incident rates, one gains better insight into the extent of the victimisation within the population of victims e.

The current study is the first nationwide multi-site epidemiological study in Europe to establish not only the month prevalence of crime victimisation among SMI outpatients relative to rates in the general population i. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants. We did not make use of surrogate consent procedures.

Compromised ability to consent, as determined by their primary clinician, was regarded as an exclusion criterion. This study is embedded in the Victimisation in Psychiatric Patients study, a cross-sectional epidemiological survey of a large random community sample of patients with SMI in the Netherlands. Participants were randomly selected from the caseload of six Mental Healthcare MHC institutions in the Netherlands that provide outpatient care to patients suffering from SMI.

Located in urban and rural areas of the Netherlands, these institutions provide care to a range of to 2, patients approx. Accurate and comprehensive nationwide registration of MHC is lacking, therefore exact figures on the number of SMI patients in the Netherlands are missing. In terms of diagnosis, MHC use, and demographic characteristics, the patient populations at these institutions are representative of the chronic psychiatric patient population in the Netherlands [24]. Participants were enrolled in the study between December and April Outpatients aged 18 to 65 years at one of the MHC institutions were eligible for the study.

Outpatients with psycho-organic disorders were excluded, as were those with insufficient command of the Dutch language and those whose psychiatric condition as determined by their primary clinician severe symptomatology, high levels of aggression or cognitive impairments , prevented them from answering study questions or consenting with the interview. A random sample of 3, potentially eligible outpatients was selected from the patient administration system at each participating institution based on information available in the electronic patient files EPF. The inclusion and exclusion criteria obtained from the EPF were then checked and crosschecked by each primary MHC clinician, who was responsible for treating the patient in question and for coordinating this treatment.

In most cases this was a psychiatric nurse. This procedure resulted in a eligible sample of 2, patients. Eligible patients received an invitation letter explaining the study procedure and confidentiality issues; it also contained a refusal form that could be returned free of charge. Two weeks after dispatch of the letter, patients who had not returned the refusal form were contacted by the interviewers for verbal confirmation of their willingness to participate. A face-to-face interview was scheduled with those who agreed.

1. Personnel Protection: Advance Procedures: Proven Practices.
2. Rogers Burnham: The Original Man Behind Bill W..
3. After Liberalism?: The Future of Liberalism in International Relations (Palgrave Studies in International Relations).
4. iTunes is the world's easiest way to organize and add to your digital media collection..

Next to crime victimisation, this interview consisted of questions on police contact, juridical and personal consequences of the reported victimisation incidents, discrimination, self-stigmatisation, and a range of potential risk factors i. These data will be presented in future papers. On average, the patient interview took 75 minutes range: Invitation letters were sent to 2, patients. The remaining patients were first approached by telephone.

Navigation menu

On average, three attempts were made to contact a patient range 1— A thousand interviews were conducted. Since this was an exclusion criterion, the interviews were removed from the sample and were not included in the non-response analyses. This resulted in SMI outpatients who were interviewed on crime victimisation. Figure 1 depicts the flow chart of the data acquisition. Response analyses were performed using demographic and clinical information extracted from the EPF at the MHC institutions i.

The analyses showed no significant differences between the random and invited samples. Analyses between contacted and unreachable patients showed that unreachable patients were an average of 1. Responders and non-responders did not differ with regard to any of the characteristics mentioned above. Finally, we used multivariate logistic regression analyses to identify any overall effect and interaction effects of demographic, clinical, neighbourhood social-economic variables, and participating MHC institution for contact and response rates.

To establish the twelve-month prevalence and month incident rates of crime victimisation, we used the crime victimisation scale of the Dutch Crime and Victimisation Survey in Dutch: Integrale Veiligheidsmonitor IVM [26]. This strongly resembles the International Crime Victimization Survey [27] , which consists of 14 screening questions on being a victim of one or more of the following: For each incident reported in the preceding 12 months, it assesses detailed information.

These detailed data allow the researcher to determine whether the event is a crime, when and where it occurred, who was involved, whether the police was notified, whether there was property loss, and the degree of physical injury. To minimise the effect of telescoping, the respondents are asked to recall incidents over the past five years before they are asked to recall incidents over the past 12 months. There are no traditional reliability and validity scores for the IVM crime-victimisation scale [26].

Comparison data were derived from the most recent IVM survey, an annual survey on safety, quality of life, and crime victimisation among a representative sample of the Dutch population [26]. The survey started in and is conducted on behalf of the Dutch ministry of security and justice, Statistics Netherlands, municipalities and police. The IVM survey uses self-administrating via a pen-and-paper or web-based questionnaire. The survey sample of the IVM consisted of approximately , people [28].

Since crime victimisation figures vary across geographic regions [29] , [30] , the IVM data were matched with the SMI outpatient interviews for geographic regions on the basis of postal code. Dutch postal code areas cover a part of an individual neighbourhood and range from 1.

A Dutch postal code area houses approximately 4, inhabitants [31]. The IVM sample used as the comparison group consisted of 38, people. Annual prevalence rates were reported of crime victimisation and of single 1 incident , multiple 2—3 incidents , poly-victimisation 4 or more incidents , and the incident rate of the total sample of SMI outpatients, and stratified by sex. For comparison with the general population, prevalence and incident rates were directly weighted by sex non-stratified analyses , age, ethnicity and educational level to resemble the distribution of the IVM sample, as crime victimisation is related to these characteristics in the general population [29] , [30].

Logistic regression analyses were conducted to compare recent crime-victimisation prevalence between the SMI outpatients and the general population, and between male and female SMI outpatients. Poisson regression analyses were conducted to compare incident rates for these groups. Sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the reliability of the incident rate, although we excluded four male outpatients who reported extremely high numbers of incidents i.

The crime categories reported are identical to those of the IVM reports. The sample consisted of SMI patients: Mean age was Table 1 presents the baseline sociodemographic characteristics of the sample. The annual prevalence rate of victimisation in the SMI outpatients in our sample was SMI outpatients were most commonly the victims of threats of violence, vandalism other than car related , and burglary. Relative to the general population, an SMI outpatient had a 1. The highest prevalence rates in the general population were observed for vandalism of a car, of other forms of vandalism, and of being threatened with violence.

Relative to the general population, SMI outpatients suffered high prevalence rates for compounded property crime and personal crime categories. Regarding property crimes, higher crime prevalence rates were found for burglary, attempted burglary, pick-pocketing, theft other , and vandalism other. University of California Press, For discussions of effects of European contact on tribal warfare, see R.

School of American Research Press, and R. Brian Ferguson Yanomamo Warfare: School of American Press, The Ethics of Anthropology and Ameridian Research: For archaeological evidence of the massacre at Talheim, see J. A Bronze Age massacre is described by Detlef Jantzen et al. A Spanish Neandertal massacre is described by Antonio Rosas et al. Books cited under the printed Further Readings for the Prologue include those by Berndt, Chagnon quoted on my p. For comparisons of zealous warriors and milder men among the Waorani Indians in reproductive output, see Stephen Beckerman et al.

This chapter is well served by excellent recent books about childhood that make explicit comparisons among human societies, between humans and other primate species, or both: Barry Hewlett and Michael Lamb, eds. Anthropology and Child Development: The first two of these books are multi-authored edited volumes that offer the perspectives of many different authors about the societies that they studied individually, while the last-three-cited books are syntheses by single authors. For many peoples whose child-rearing practices I discuss in this chapter, the references will be found at the beginning of the Further Readings section printed in my book.

Comparative studies by Barry Hewlett and his colleagues comparing Central African forest foragers and their farmer neighbors include: Abley, ; Barry Hewlett et al. Sources of direct quotes in my chapter are as follows.

From Daniel Everett, about the Piraha, on my pp. From Kim Hill and A. Magdalena Hurtado about the Ache, on my pp. From Nancy Howell, about the! Kung, on my pp. Kung cited in my printed Further Readings. From Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, about American child-rearing practices, on my p. From Nurit Bird-David, about the Nayaka, on my p.

From Bronislaw Malinowski, about Trobriand Islanders, on my pp. From Meyer Fortes, about the Tallensi, on my p. From Colin Turnbull, about the BaMbuti pygmies, on my pp. Five classic books comparing old age across many societies present many of the examples of specific tribal practices that I summarize. Yale University Press, Donald Cowgill and Lowell Holmes, eds. Aging and Modernization New York: Pamela Amoss and Stevan Harrell, eds. Other Ways of Growing Old: Stanford University Press, Diversity and Commonality across Cultures City: Some papers by Kristen Hawkes and colleagues about the contributions of grandmothers are as follows.

Kristen Hawkes et al. References for the Ache,! Kung, African pygmies, and Siriono are the books cited at the beginning of the Further Readings section printed in my book. Sources for further information about some of the case studies that I mention or describe are as follows. For the disappearance at sea of the veteran Pacific navigator Tevake: David Lewis We, the Navigators Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, For the surveys of American attitudes about the elderly: Louis Harris and Associates, Inc. America in Transition Washington, DC: National Council on the Aging, For gerontocracy in Ireland: For the battle of Tarawa: Joseph Alexander Utmost Savagery: Naval Institute Press, For the effects of Finnish and Canadian grandmothers on survival of their grandchildren: Joanna Lahey Age, Women, and Hiring: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, My account, on pp.

From Allan Holmberg, about the Siriono, on my p. Magdalena Hurtado, about the Ache, on my p. From Jane Goodale, about the Kaulong, on my p. From Codrington, about the Banks Islanders, on my p. From Donald Cowgill, about the emphasis on family, attributes of old age, and Ireland, on my pp. Richard Lee describes how the! Kung drive lions and hyenas off of an animal carcass on p. Kung San cited in my printed Further Readings.

Ronald Berndt relates the story of Jumu, the young woman who was killed while traveling to visit her parents and brothers, on pp. There is an enormous literature by psychologists, engineers, physicians, behavioral ecologists, insurance company analysts, and other scholars on risk, uncertainty, and related subjects. Some classic references in this area, to guide interesting readers to other sources, are as follows. For the relationship between safety, benefit, and acceptable risks: For uncertainty and decision-making: For the discrepancies between our ranking of risks and the actual risks: For our irrational assessments of risks: Melvin Konner Why the Reckless Survive: Penguin, , especially the chapter with that same title on pp.

For unpredictable outcomes of behavior and decisions: Dunbar and Louise Barrett, eds. Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology Oxford: Sources for further information about some of the studies that I mention or describe are as follows.

A Killing Frost

The Anasazi and Greenland Norse are described in my book Collapse: Viking Penguin, , which provides many references. Rainfall records at Pomio are included in J. Human Behavior and Adaptation: Sources of direct quotes in my chapter from books already cited in my printed Further Readings are as follows. From Sabina Kuegler, about the Fayu, on my p.

Leal & Hart Series

From Marjorie Shostak, about the! Kung, on my p. Magdalena Hurtado, about the Ache, on my pp. From Richard Lee, about the! Evans-Pritchard, about the Nuer, on my p. The source for the direct quote from Don Richardson, about the Sawi, on my p. The source of the quote from Carol Goland, about Andean farmers, on my p. His Ron Shade series, featuring the Chicago-based kickboxing private eye, has won several awards, as has his police procedural series featuring Frank Leal and Olivia Hart.

His hobbies include the martial arts, running, and weight lifting.

Leal & Hart Series by Michael A. Black

In addtion to his own novels, Black is currently writing novels in a highly popular adventure series under another name. Frozen Elvis which are now availble as e-books and trade paperbacks on available in bookstores and on Amazon. It started as a simple missing person case. Linc Jackson and his buddy Rick Weaver thought they'd seen it all on the brutal battlefields of Desert Storm, but found themselves displaced and forgotten men when they came back to the States Detective Roger Colby thought he ended serial killer Morgan Laird's murderous spree 28 years ago when Laird was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison The case wasn't just cold - it was ice-cold.