Diagnostic Error in Correctional Mental Health: Prevalence, Causes, and Consequences.

While they have important implications for inmates and resourcing of correctional institutions, diagnostic errors are rarely discussed in correctional mental health research. This review seeks to estimate the prevalence of diagnostic errors in prisons and jails and explores potential causes and consequences. Diagnostic errors are defined as discrepancies in an inmate's diagnostic status depending on who is responsible for conducting the assessment and/or the methods used. It is estimated that at least 10% to 15% of all inmates may be incorrectly classified in terms of the presence or absence of a mental illness. Inmate characteristics, relationships with staff, and cognitive errors stemming from the use of heuristics when faced with time constraints are discussed as possible sources of error. A policy example of screening for mental illness at intake to prison is used to illustrate when the risk of diagnostic error might be increased and to explore strategies to mitigate this risk.

CARTOONS KILL: casualties in animated recreational theater in an objective observational new study of kids' introduction to loss of life.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the risk of on-screen death of important characters in children's animated films versus dramatic films for adults. DESIGN: Kaplan-Meier survival analysis with Cox regression comparing time to first on-screen death. SETTING: Authors' television screens, with and without popcorn. PARTICIPANTS: Important characters in 45 top grossing children's animated films and a comparison group of 90 top grossing dramatic films for adults. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Time to first on-screen death. RESULTS: Important characters in children's animated films were at an increased risk of death compared with characters in dramatic films for adults (hazard ratio 2.52, 95% confidence interval 1.30 to 4.90). Risk of on-screen murder of important characters was higher in children's animated films than in comparison films (2.78, 1.02 to 7.58). CONCLUSIONS: Rather than being the innocuous form of entertainment they are assumed to be, children's animated films are rife with on-screen death and murder.