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2022/2023

Mentally Disordered Offenders and Crime

Code: 100447 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500257 Criminology OT 4 1

Contact

Name:
Francisco Collazos Sánchez
Email:
francisco.collazos@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
spanish (spa)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
Yes

Teachers

Amanda Rodriguez Urrutia
Lara Grau Lopez
Raquel Vidal
Maria Pilar Lusilla Palacios
José Antonio Navarro Sanchís
José Antonio Ramos Quiroga
Gemma Parramón Puig
Marc Ferrer Vinardell
José Salavert Jiménez
Laura Gisbert Gustemps

Prerequisites

There is no previous requirements

Objectives and Contextualisation

This subject belongs to  fourth year curriculum of the Criminology Degree program, in the specialization of sentencing enforcement. It aims to give students an overview of major mental disorders, as well as their relation to the comission of crimes. Additionally, aspects related to the management and protocols of such offenders are considered from the perspective of forensic psychiatry.  

At the end of this course students will:

•          Know and be able to differentiate the most important psychiatric disorders and their relation to criminal matters

•          Demonstrate a basic theoretical basis of forensic psychiatry

•          Have the ability to act competently in the field of psychiatry

•          Correctly interpret different types of clinical and forensic psychiatric documents

Competences

  • Ability to analyse and summarise.
  • Drawing up an academic text.
  • Properly using the legal, psychological, pedagogical and sociological language.
  • Students must demonstrate they know the psychological and sociological concepts and foundations of criminology.
  • Using research methods in social sciences in order to diagnose criminality problems.
  • Working autonomously.
  • Working in teams and networking.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Ability to analyse and summarise.
  2. Applying the vocabulary of legal psychology.
  3. Drawing up an academic text.
  4. Laying the foundations for the psychological foundations of criminology.
  5. Using research methods in those psychological fields related with criminology.
  6. Working autonomously.
  7. Working in teams and networking.

Content

Introduction

This course comprises 6 credits of the ECTS model. Each of these credits includes 25 hours of teaching, which makes a total of 150 hours, distributed as follows:

− 12 classroom sessions, 3 hours each: 36 hours (18 theory and 18 seminars)

− Hours of external student work: 109 hours

- Tutorships: 5 hour

 In-Class sessions: 12

The sessions will be held during the first quarter of the 2021-22 course (beginning on September 16, 2022 and ending on January 13, 2023). They will be held on Fridays, from 12:00pm to 3:15pm (12.00-15.15) and will include a half hour break. Within the concentration, this class is the first part of theoretical exposition and the second part of the practical seminar.

Program

1. September 16, 2022

Forensic Psychiatry I: Introduction, general concepts.
Dr. Francisco Collazos

2. September 23, 2022
Forensic Psychiatry II: The psychological expertise
Dr. Francisco Collazos

3. September 30, 2022
History of Psychiatry
General Psychopathology and Psychopathological Exploration
Dr. Amanda Rodríguez

4. October 7, 2022
Psychological evaluation: cognitive, emotional, behavioral, personality
Dr. Raquel Vidal

In the second module of classes those psychiatric disorders with a greater legal repercussion are addressed. A clinical approach is carried out in the first part of these face-to-face classes and then, taking advantage of the seminars, a psychiatric-legal one for each of them.

5. October 14, 2022

Organic mental disorders and dementias. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the Adult.
Dr. Josep Antoni Ramos-Quiroga

6. October 21, 2022

Substance-related disorders
Dra. Lara Grau

7. October 28, 2022

Psychotic disorders.
Dr. Gemma Parramón

8. November 4, 2022

Psychopathology and Delictogenesis in Minors
Dr. Josep Salavert

9. November 11, 2022
Personality disorders.
Dr. Marc Ferrer

10. November 18, 2022

Affective Disorders and Anxiety Disorders.
Dr. Pilar Lusilla

Autism Spectrum Disorders. Fetal alcoholic syndrome.
Dr. Laura Gisbert

11. November 25, 2022

Paraphilias.
Dr. JoséAntonio Navarro

12. December 2, 2022

Suicidal behavior.
The simulation
Dr. Francisco Collazos

 

 

Methodology

Methodology of the course

Throughout the course the theoretical part will be developed in the first part of each of the classroom classes. These classes are distributed in three modules. The first establishes the theoretical bases on which the subject is based. The bulk of the subject is developed in the second module, which alternates the eminently clinical classes, where the main psychiatric disorders with legal and forensic implications are presented, with those sessions in which the relationship between these disorders and the commission of crimes.

The seminars are reserved to clarify, from a more practical perspective those aspects that allow a better understanding of the subject. In these seminars we will try to illustrate, with practical examples, the theoretical content of the classroom classes. The seminars will be held in the second part  of the classroom classes. In addition, in these teaching spaces, students should make presentations with a practical focus on the topics that have been developed in the theoretical part and that should have expanded with work outside the classroom.

External activities of the student

To reach the competences of the subject, students must complete 106 hours of external work:

- Preparation of the classroom classes (6 hours of study for each of the 13 classroom classes): 78 hours.

- Elaboration of a writing work based on any of the topics of the subject and its oral presentation in the seminars: 18 hours.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 18 0.72 2, 4, 5
Seminars 18 0.72 4, 1, 7
Type: Supervised      
Assessment 5 0.2 2, 4, 3, 1, 6, 7, 5
Type: Autonomous      
Elaboration of a paper about some of the subjects of the subject and an oral presentation in the seminars: 30 1.2 2, 4, 3, 1, 6, 5
Preparation for the classroom sessions (6 hours of study for each of the 13 face-to-face sessions) 60 2.4 2, 4, 6, 5
Preparation of a psychopathological expertise 19 0.76 2, 4, 3, 1, 7, 5

Assessment

System of evaluation

A system of continuous evaluation is established in which the following aspects will be evaluated:

Requirements for  evaluation

  • Attendance Is mandatory for the classroom sessions. To pass the subject to it is absolutely necessary attend a minimum of 80% of the classroom sessions. Attitude and class participation will be included in the attendance grade. Classes start on time and entry is not allowed once they have started
  • Presentation of works, or practical cases, in the different seminars. The content of these papers will be on some of the topics covered throughout the course and will be supervised by the responsible teacher.
  • Exam

Items of evaluation

a) Classroom attendance (25% of the total grade)

b) Execution of works (25% of the total of the qualification)

c) Examination (50% of the total of the qualification)

Resit

Students will have the opportunity to repeat exercises or exams in case of a fail mark.

Fraudulent conduct

Cheating in the exam will conduct to a fail mark (0), losing the right of reassessment. Plagiarism in essays will conduct to a fail mark (0). Most serious cases will conduct to a fail mark (0), losing the right of reassessment.

Grade dissertation

Professors of the subject will offer the possibility of performing two dissertations. One of them will be a research project and the other a work of practical intervention.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Attendance and participation 20 0 0 2, 4, 3, 1, 6, 7, 5
Exam 50 0 0 2, 4, 1, 6, 7, 5
Group presentation (20%) and psychopathological expertise (10%) 30 0 0 3

Bibliography

Mandatory readings

Each theory class will be accompanied by a Power Point presentation the contents of which can be considered to the reference text and provide the basis for the knowledge necessary and sufficient to pass the exam. Its reading is, therefore, obligatory.

Reccomended biblliography

Attached is a list of recommended readings. It is strongly advised to read them to complement the theoretical content of the classroom sessions. All texts cited are available to students in the Psychiatry Service of the Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron (Dr. Collazos, Servicio de Psiquiatría. Escuela de Enfermería 5a planta, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron).

  • Abernhe T. (1997). Criminologie et Psychiatrie.  Ed. Ellipses.
  • American Psychiatric Association. (2000). DSM-IV-TR. Manual diagnóstico y estadístico de los trastornos mentales DSM-IV-TR (4th ed., text rev.). Masson.
  • American Psychiatric Association (2002) Manual diagnóstico y estadístico de los trastornos mentales Texto revisado. Masson.
  • Appelbaum, P., & Gutheil, T. G. (1991). Clinical handbook of psychiatry and the law (2nd ed.).  Williams & Wilkins.
  • Blugrass, R., & Bowden, P. (Eds.). (1990). Principles and practice of forensic psychiatry.  Churchill Livingstone.
  • Carrasco, J. J., & Martín, J. M. (2010). Tratado de Psiquiatría Legal y Forense (4th ed.)  Wolters Kluwer
  • Fuertes-Rocañín J.C., Cabrera Forneiro J, de la Gándara Martín JJ. (2004) LaSalud Mental en los Tribunales.  Arán.
  • Gelder, M. G., López-Ibor, J. J., & Andreasen, Nancy. (2003). Tratado de psiquiatría. Oxford University Press.
  • Gunn J & Taylor Pamela. (1993). Forensic psychiatry: clinical, legal and ethical issues.  Butterworth/Heinemann.
  • Kaplan, H., & Sadock, B. (Eds.). (2000). The comprehensive textbook of psychiatry (7th ed.). Williams & Wilkins.
  • Simon, R. L. (1992). Clinical psychiatry and the law (2nd ed.). American Psychiatry Press.
  • Vallejo, J. (Ed). (2002). Introducción a la psicopatología y a la psiquiatría(5th ed.) (pp.651-679).Masson.
  • Vallejo, J., & Leal, Carmen. (Eds.). (2010). Tratado de Psiquiatría.  Ars Medica
  • Volavka, J. (1995). Neurobiology of Violence. American Psychiatric Press.

Software

The course does not use any specific computer program