Deadly combination: the psychiatric disorders that might have made Anders Breivik into a mass shooter

TheConversation: Anders Behring Breivik is serving a long sentence for a terrible crime. On 22 July 2011, the 32-year-old Norwegian bombed government buildings in Oslo and then went on a shooting spree on the island of Utøya, killing 77 people. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison the following year. Why did Breivik kill? It is not as simple as saying that he was a terrorist supporting an idealised religion, or dismissing him as insane. He himself has claimed that his actions were to save Europe from radical Islam – and that he was motivated by “goodness not evil”. But after studying detailed assessments of the far-right terrorist, as well as Breivik’s own self-published manifesto, we have found that a condition known as “narcissistic decompensation” may have been behind his belief that he was waging a personal and political war.

US vaccine researcher sentenced to prison for fraud

Nature: Rare is the scientist who goes to prison on research misconduct charges. But on 1 July, Dong-Pyou Han, a former biomedical scientist at Iowa State University in Ames, was sentenced to 57 months for fabricating and falsifying data in HIV vaccine trials. Han has also been fined US$7.2 million and will be subject to three years of supervised release after he leaves prison. His case had a higher profile than most, attracting interest from a powerful US senator. Han’s harsh sentence raises questions about how alleged research fraud is handled in the United States, from decisions about whether to prosecute to the types of punishments imposed by grant-making agencies.

FDA takes action to protect consumers from potentially dangerous counterfeit medicines and devices sold online

FDA: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in partnership with international regulatory and law enforcement agencies, took action this week against more than 1,050 websites that illegally sell potentially dangerous, unapproved prescription medicines and medical devices to consumers. These actions include the issuance of regulatory warnings to the operators of offending websites and seizure of illegal medicines and medical devices worldwide. The action occurred as part of the Eighth Annual International Internet Week of Action (IIWA), a global cooperative effort, led by INTERPOL, to combat the unlawful sale and distribution of illegal and potentially counterfeit medical products on the Internet.

Weakening Memories of Crime through Deliberate Suppression

PsychologicaScience: There are some bad memories — whether of a crime or a painful life event — that we’d rather not recall. New research shows that people can successfully inhibit some incriminating memories, reducing the memories’ impact on automatic behaviors and resulting in brain activity similar to that seen in “innocent” participants. The research is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. “In real life, many individuals who take memory detection tests want to distort their results. Using a lab-based crime simulation, we examined whether people can indeed suppress guilty memories and avoid detection,” explains lead researcher Xiaoqing Hu of the University of Texas at Austin.

Study examines health factors influence on ex-prisoners’ chances of returning to jail

Melbourne: Ex-prisoners with a history of risky drug use, mental illness or poverty are more likely to end up back behind bars, a new University of Melbourne study has revealed. And those who are obese, are chronically ill or have attempted suicide are more likely to remain in the community, the research found. These are some of the findings from an exploratory study into health-related factors that could be used to predict whether a person released from prison will end up in custody again. It was led by Emma Thomas of the University of Melbourne and is published in Springer’s journal Health & Justice, an open access journal. University of Melbourne Associate Professor Stuart Kinnner is a co-author.

Bioengineering advances raise fears of 'home-brew heroin'

NHS: The Daily Mirror carries the alarming headline that, "Heroin made in home-brew beer kits could create epidemic of hard drug abuse". It says scientists are "calling for urgent action to prevent criminal gangs gaining access to [this] new technology" following the results of a study involving genetically modified yeast.
This study did not actually produce heroin, but an important intermediate chemical in a pathway that produces benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs). BIAs are a group of plant-derived chemicals that include opioids, such as morphine.

Our bacteria could be used by the police to catch criminals

Scimex: A small study suggests the bacteria that live on our personal items, such as our shoes and phones, could be used by the police to identify, trace and catch criminals. The bacterial communities are unique to each person, and their signatures could be added to existing sources of forensic evidence, such as DNA fingerprints, according to the US-led research.

Myths and reality about people found Not Criminally Responsible

Douglas: Not criminally responsible is a phrase that conjures up fears fuelled by vast media coverage of high-profile cases in which individuals with severe mental illness have committed violent offences. Yet these cases are rare occurrences; they are exceptions to the norm within the NCR system. As a long-term study which examines the actions and experiences of individuals declared not criminally responsible has found, the truth is much less sensational. The study found that the recidivism rate among people found NCR, including all types of offences, is about 17 percent. “The recidivism rate of people found NCR is generally lower than reoffending rates among people who are convicted under the criminal justice system,” says Dr. Crocker.
The study also found that serious violent offences make up only a small proportion of the offences that lead individuals into the NCR system. Seven percent of individuals found NCR had homicide or attempted murder as their index offence – the offence for which they were found NCR –and the study shows that these individuals have a low likelihood of re-offending. The study also indicates that three out of four individuals who were found NCR were known from the general mental health system. This means that we also have an opportunity for risk management and education on the prevention of criminality within the general mental health care.

Sex offending: genes more important than family environment

Oxford: Brothers and fathers of men convicted of sexual offences are up to five times more likely to be convicted of sexual offences than men in the general population, a new study shows. Genetic factors were found to make a substantial contribution to this increased risk with the shared family environment having a relatively small influence. The study, by researchers from Oxford University (UK) and the Karolinska Institute (Sweden), used statistical methods to analyse data on all 21,566 men convicted of sexual offences in Sweden between 1973 and 2009.