In 1988 and 1990, respectively, Norway and Sweden adopted legal reforms including abandonment of mandatory jail sentences for persons driving with BACs above specific limits. Interrupted time-series analysis finds that in both countries traffic deaths diminished simultaneously with the reforms, consistent with the understanding that Scandinavian success in reducing impaired driving does not depend upon mandatory jail.
Symbolic healing is a complex phenomenon that is still relatively poorly understood. This paper documents a process of symbolic healing which is occurring in Canadian penitentiaries, and which involves Aboriginal offenders in cultural awareness and educational programs. The situation is compounded, however, by the existence of offenders from diverse Aboriginal cultural backgrounds with differing degrees of orientation to Aboriginal and Euro-Canadian cultures. Participants must first receive the necessary education to allow them to identify with the healing symbols so that healing may ensue, and both the healers and the patients must engage in a process of redefining their cultures in search of a common cultural base.
Is the abuse of psychoactive drugs in psychotic patients linked to social adjustment?
Fifty-five psychotic men from a detention centre or a psychiatric hospital were assessed with the Social Adjustment Scale (SAS-II) and a French version of the Phillips Rating Scale of Premorbid Adjustment in Schizophrenia.
In psychotic patients, the abuse of psychoactive drugs is linked to some indicators of social adjustment and premorbid sexual adaptation.
Differences were found in some aspects of social functioning, but it is difficult to establish an overall assessment of social adjustment.
