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The purpose of this paper is to explore the validity and reliability of the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version (START:AV) to determine if it has predictive accuracy in relation to physical aggression, severe verbal aggression, property damage and self-harm, in a medium secure setting. In addition, the authors hoped to provide some of the first descriptive data available for the START:AV among a UK adolescent population in a medium secure adolescent unit.

The sample consisted of 90 female and male adolescents, with and without developmental disabilities. It was important to explore the measure’s predictive accuracy across specific population groups, such as between males and females, as well as those with developmental disabilities, and those without.

Some significant relationships were found between the START:AV and adverse outcomes. For instance, total strength and vulnerability scores were predictive for verbal and physical aggression. Differences in predictive validity were evident when comparisons were made between males and females, with relationships being evident amongst the male population only. When splitting the male sample into developmental disability and non-developmental disability groups, significant relationships were found between strength and vulnerability scores and verbal and physical aggression.

A number of practical implications are considered, such as the START:AV is relevant for use with adolescents in hospital settings and the significant inverse relationship between strength scores and negative outcomes supports the importance of considering protective/strength factors when working with at risk youths.

There is currently limited validation data for the START:AV in the UK or elsewhere.

There has been a significant expansion of secure psychiatric service provision in the UK, but little discussion about the most appropriate principles on which to base these services. There is longstanding tension between security and treatment that can be difficult to resolve. Solution‐focused ideas may provide a bridge between these two issues, by improving multi‐disciplinary working and providing an appropriate relationship style that optimises the delivery of care to forensic patients.

Recent research including advances in neuro‐imaging indicates a profound effect on brain development as a result of exposure to abuse and neglect in childhood. This new area is called developmental traumatology. Areas of the brain that may particularly be affected are important in arousal control and executive function. Many adolescents presenting to forensic services have histories of neglect and abuse and deficits in key brain developmental functions. The management and treatment options for young people with developmental trauma and forensic needs are explored.

This is an invited short overview from a clinician working in a national secure inpatient setting which aims to focus on inpatient forensic services for adolescents with developmental disabilities.

The paper gives a brief overview of the needs of this population and the requirements for inpatient assessment and treatment.

This is a complex population who are referred relatively late to inpatient services, often after recurrent failings in residential services where mental disorders are commonly unrecognised. Comprehensive multidisciplinary assessment and treatment are required for this group.

This paper will be useful to a range of professionals dealing with adolescents with developmental disabilities who are engaging in offending and other high risk behaviours.

There needs to be an increased recognition of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in services that deal with young people with disruptive and offending behavior, not just those services that deal with adolescents with a recognized intellectual disability. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This is a general review of the current available evidence on FASD and how it is likely to predispose affected young people to have contact with secure mental health services and the criminal justice system.

FASD is likely to have become a more common cause of intellectual disability and behavioral disturbance but the history of significant alcohol exposure in utero if often missed. There is evidence that the hyperactivity is less responsive to psychotropic medication and may represent a different condition to conventional ADHD. However the majority of those affected are in the low normal IQ range.

There is so far very limited research in what is likely to be a relatively common disorder with significant costs to criminal justice, mental healthcare and social services. Epidemiological information from the UK is lacking and urgently needed.

Professionals who work with mentally disordered young people need to be more aware of FASD and its potential contribution to the problems and disabilities in their population.

Social workers, foster carers and adoptive parents need to be more aware of FASD and how it can contribute to the breakdown of social care.

There is currently no other review of FASD and the implications for criminal justice, secure mental health and social care for young people.

This article presents a history of the visual merchandising of American firearms from the mid-19th century until the present day. Although the scholarly literature has investigated visual representations of guns in advertising and popular media, it has paid far less attention to how sellers have displayed these objects at or near the point of purchase.

Primary sources include frescoes, engravings and photographs, plus papers, advertising and illustrations in popular newspapers and trade magazines. These and other period visual data are supplemented by secondary sources from a variety of fields, especially retailing and firearms history.

Evidence shows that American firearms were merchandised visually by Samuel Colt at three world expositions in the 1850s, by gunmakers and retailers in the latter 19th century, by Winchester and Remington dealers in the 1920s and 1930s, by high- and low-end retailers in New York in the first half of the 20th century and by gun stores, auctions and shows up to the present day.

The history of visual merchandising generally has focused upon major department stores, their alluring street-front windows and their fancy interior displays. This research explores past and present visual merchandising of firearms by manufacturers and smaller retailers. To the best of the author’s knowledge, it is the first such history of the subject.