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The Dutch Custodial Institutions Agency has commissioned a number of research projects on offenders with intellectual disabilities (ID) in prison. A continuing problem has been that it is not known what the prevalence of ID in Dutch prisons is, and how to identify ID in individual detainees. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

With this in mind a screening instrument (screener for learning disabilities and intelligence (SCIL)) has been developed that screens for IQ < 85. This instrument has been piloted in four different penitentiary institutes.

The papers briefly describes the results of the studies preceding the pilot before turning to the pilot itself. The pilot shed light on what considerations need to be taken into account when implement screening for ID in the current prison system, and on the potential added value for prison staff of knowing whether a detainee possibly has an ID. In addition, the pilot gave some insight into the characteristics of Dutch prisoners.

The main conclusion is that the SCIL can be successfully implemented within these settings, provided that sufficient attention is being paid to the advance instructions to staff and to the introduction of the screening to the detainees.

In the Netherlands, the Screener for Intelligence and Learning Disabilities (SCIL) was developed to aid recognition of mild to borderline intellectual disability (MBID) early in the criminal justice system or health-care trajectory. In situations where physically meeting the suspect or client is not feasible, administration of the SCIL using a video-link might be a solution. This paper aims to examine whether the SCIL is still reliable when administered remotely instead of face-to-face.

The SCIL was administered twice to a total of 89 respondents: once face-to-face, once using a video link, in varying order and with an interval of at least six weeks. A laptop with a Skype connection was used for the remote administration, while an assistant was present to make sure the respondents did not have to perform technical actions. After the second SCIL administration, respondents were asked to answer a series of evaluation questions.

Respondents were generally satisfied with both methods of administration of the SCIL. However, they were in general more positive about face-to-face administration. Nevertheless, most respondents would be willing to undergo administration through video-link in future. On average, respondents scored slightly lower on the SCIL when administered remotely (µ = 16.31, SE = 0 0.77) than with face-to-face administration (µ = 16.94, SE = 0.78), t(88) = 2.47, p = 0 0.015. Calculation of the reliability of the assessment “suspected MBID” showed a (linear weighted) Kappa of 0.77, p = 0.000, 95% RI: 0.64-0.90.

The results of this study show that with some caution, the SCIL can be administered remotely. When doing this, the SCIL will only lead to a small number of respondents being wrongly labelled as “suspected MBID”.

A recently published study showed a 41% prevalence of mild intellectual disability (MID) and borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) in a large sample of Dutch psychiatric patients. This study aims to examine if the outcomes of the Screener for Intelligence and Learning Disabilities (SCIL) were affected by the severity of psychiatric symptoms during admission.

The authors administered the SCIL and the Kennedy Axis V (domain psychological impairment) at two moments when patients were sufficiently stabilised and just before discharge.

A total of 86% of the respondents had the same outcome regardless of the time of administration. The Kennedy score correlated modestly with changes in the SCIL scores, suggesting that the severity of psychiatric symptoms just modestly affected the performance.

Recognising MID/BIF in mental health care is essential but challenging for clinicians. The authors concluded that screening with the SCIL allows clinicians to identify patients with MID/BIF at an early stage of their admission, which helps to individualise treatment and reduce the risk of aggression, coercive measures and prolonged admissions. However, the authors prefer to assess all patients on cognitive impairment as early as possible after referral at a more stable moment in time.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no research concerning screening instruments on MID/BIF used at admission wards in Mental Health Care.

The purpose of this study is to determine what differences there are in personal characteristics and functioning between juvenile offenders under a mandatory treatment order with IQ<70, IQ 70‐85, and IQ>85, in order to be able to better fit supervision and treatment to their needs.

In order to answer this question 1,363 case files of serious juvenile offenders under a mandatory treatment order were scored using the juvenile forensic profile list (FPJ), an instrument that encompasses over 70 characteristics relevant in risk‐assessment and for measuring problem behaviour.

The analyses showed that the behavioural and mental health problems and background characteristics of juvenile offenders of various IQ‐levels (IQ<70, IQ 70‐85, and IQ>85) are in many respects very similar. However, differences were found in, for example, social skills and relationships, and the needs inherent with having an intellectual disability (ID) have important implications for the way treatment is offered.

As a large proportion of serious juvenile offenders have an ID, these findings are important to consider. Furthermore, as intelligence has a dynamic aspect, the authors advise to occasionally reassess these juveniles.

The authors reviewed studies of validated tools to screen for cognitive impairment among prisoners. The purpose of this paper is to assist organisations in identifying cognitive impairment in correctional facilities.

A targeted literature review identified peer-reviewed articles on screening of adults in jails, prisons, police watch-houses, custody suites, rehabilitation facilities and forensic settings or community settings for offenders. Validation of screening tools in secure settings, psychometric properties and cultural discrimination is included in this review.

Eight screening tools are considered suitable for use in correctional settings. Two screening tools are recommended for cognitive impairment, one is recommended for adaptive functioning assessment and one is recommended for screening of brain injury. Two screening tools are noted to be subject to piloting and further development for use with First Nations people, and two screening tools for cognitive impairment are noted for positive consideration.

Recommendations for screening tools are based on review only and evaluation was infeasible.

Short, reliable measures of cognitive ability for use in correctional facilities are needed. Such tools must be appropriate with respect to their purpose, feasible within the clinical capability of staff and sufficiently cheap to administer to allow widespread use.

Screening of prisoners for cognitive impairment allows early detection to facilitate rehabilitation and therapy. This research is at the systems level. Therefore, the authors do not purport to provide guidance for individual clinicians.

In The Netherlands, curative mental health care and supportive care for people with an intellectual disability (ID) are organised in separate domains. Prevalence of mental health problems is known to be high among people with borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) or mild intellectual disabilities (MID). By contrast, according to recent findings, prevalence of BIF and MID is high among patients in mental health care (17.5–58 per cent). In The Netherlands, a new quality standard of care (QSOC) on mental health care for people with BIF or MID is developed. It is designed to supplement existing guidelines on mental health care so that they can be used appropriately in people with BIF or MID and meant for use in both mental health care organisations (MHCO) as in organisations for ID care. To a large extent, the QSOC should describe the existing practice. This paper aims to discuss these issues.

To assess the existing practice in current mental health care for people with BIF or MID in The Netherlands, the authors examined the views and accessibility of MHCO on the mental health care for patients with and IQ<85. In addition, the authors reviewed published criteria for in- and exclusion of all 39 top clinical mental health care departments for criteria on BIF or (mild) ID.

The authors found there is a clear awareness of the high prevalence of BIF and MID among large Dutch MHCO. Dutch MHCO estimate the prevalence of BIF and MID among their patients to be around 30 per cent. Nonetheless, most MCHO surveyed (76 per cent) indicated they do not routinely estimate or measure IQ among their patients and 53 per cent of MHCO indicated not having knowledge and expertise on the dual diagnoses of mental health problems and BIF or MID. Fitting in with the new QSOC most of the MHCO (59 per cent) agreed on the statement in the survey that professionals should be able to treat patients with BIF or ID and all but one of the MHCO stated to have some form of collaboration with an institute for ID care.

The authors concluded there is a clear awareness of the high prevalence of BIF and MID among large Dutch MHCO. The new QSOC on mental health care for people with BIF or MID can help improve accessibility and quality of mental health care for these patients.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the training forensic mental health professionals in the USA receive on intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Given the difficulties obtaining accurate prevalence rates of these disabilities in criminal justice settings, it is important to understand how these disabilities are being evaluated and the level of understanding about these disabilities evaluators hold.

An online survey was distributed to forensic mental health professionals in the USA that included questions on training opportunities in graduate education, post-graduate forensic training, and professional training opportunities. Participants were also asked about their current work, how they assess I/DD, and their estimates on the percentage of cases they see with I/DD.

Respondents reported some training that focused heavily on assessment methods. Most respondents estimated between 5 and 25 percent of their cases involving I/DD and reported using a wide range of assessment methods. Finally, many respondents reporting more training needed in this area.

More training is needed for forensic mental health professionals on identifying I/DD. Additionally, professional guidelines on what tools and methods to rely on to identify these disabilities is paramount to ensure homogeneity of methods and, thus, better estimates of overall prevalence in criminal justice settings.

This is the first assessment focused on how forensic mental health professionals are trained to identify I/DD and can be used to improve identification of I/DD in forensic settings.

This research aims to examine hedge funds’ performance, risk and flow before and after the implementation of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act.

This paper includes the use of different factor models to highlight the performance and risk of hedge funds before and after the implementation of the STOCK Act. Hedge fund holdings are retrieved from Thomson Reuters Lipper Hedge Fund Database (TASS).

This study finds significant differences before and after the implementation of the STOCK Act. The results for the entire sample period indicate that hedge funds suffered lower-alpha, standard deviation and idiosyncratic risk after the implementation of the STOCK Act.

The paper’s originality and value lie in addressing the relationship gap between the STOCK Act and hedge fund performance.

The aim of this study is to determine the effects of depolymerised mannans and specifically konjac glucomannan hydrolysates (GMH) on the colonic microflora of mice. Blood glucose and cholesterol were also measured.

Two groups (n = 20) of 12‐week old Wister mice were used for a period of 14 weeks. One group (treatment group) were fed diets containing 5 per cent konjac GMH dissolved in drinking water in addition to the control (group) standard diet. Faecal microflora, feed consumption, body weight, blood glucose and cholesterol were determined.

The GMH promoted the growth of anaerobes and lactobacilli in the treatment group where this was statistically, highly significant (P < 0.001). Also, the hydrolysate was able to reduce highly significantly (P < 0.001) faecal Clostridium perfringens and Escherichia coli counts. A significant increase in average daily feed consumption (P < 0.05) and weekly body weight (P < 0.001) was found for the treatment group. The mean ± SD (mmol/l) of blood glucose and cholesterol was lower in the treatment group.

In addition to modulating the gut microflora, GMH seems to lower the blood glucose and cholesterol in mice. Although this needs to be verified by further studies, GMH could also be a candidate for possible treatment of subjects with high cholesterol and for diabetics.