Explain the suicide-related forensic assessment procedures utilized by forensic professionals in correctional settings.
Unfortunately, there are no formal suicidal risk assessments for prisoners. However, there are psychiatric evaluations that ask about suicidality regarding additional mental health stability and competencies(Rivlin, Ferris, Marzano, Fazel, Hawton, 2013). . Studies have shown that telepsychiatry and face-to-face assessments are an effective way of treating and addressing feelings of suicide (Rivlin, Ferris, Marzano, Fazel, Hawton, 2013). The psychiatrist uses an evaluation with the acronym called SIG-E- CAPS (University of Neraska Medical Center n.d.) This assessment asks significant questions regarding sleep, level of interests, guild, energy level, cognition, appetite, psychomotor skills, and suicide/death (University of Neraska Medical Center n.d.).
What are the primary risk factors that a forensic professional should be concerned about in an inmate population?
Risk factors that may present an environment for an inmate to feel like giving up are, prison overcrowding, lack of control, poor prison management, behavior of supervisors in charge, change in prison population, previous mental illness or untreated mental illness especially depression or psychosis, failure to cope in a prison setting, and withdrawal from drugs (Weiner, Otto,2013).
•How might the risk factors differ in an outpatient population?
Forensic professionals should understand the history of incarceration and its purpose to punish. Knowing this, forensic professional duty is to watch for risk factors and protect against self-harm. The outpatient population has more treatment options than incarcerated individuals (Weiner, Otto,2013). However, in an outpatient community, there is less supervision so risk factors that may present in the general society such as mental illness, drug addiction, family strain, work strain, financial strain, trauma, may go untreated. Overall, the two populations have circumstances that they cannot cope with and they feel the need to give up on life.
Rivlin, A., Ferris, R., Marzano, L., Fazel, S., & Hawton, K. (2013). A typology of male prisoners making near-lethal suicide attempts. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 34(5), 335–347. doi:10.1027/0227-5910/a000205
Weiner, I. B., & Otto, R. K. (2013). The handbook of forensic psychology (4th ed.). New York, NY: Wiley.
University of Neraska Medical Center. (n.d.). Sig-E-Caps. Retrieved September 12, 2016, from http: //www.unmc.edu/media/intmed/geriatrics/rynolds/pearl…
