Sperm elution: An improved two phase recovery method for sexual assault samples

This report describes the validation of a two phase cell recovery technique for the elution of two common cell types, epithelia and spermatozoa, from frequently examined items submitted as part of sexual assault casework. Furthermore, separation of cell types prior to microscopic examination of cell pellets improves the scientist's confidence in observing and scoring spermatozoa that may be present. During the validation, Orchid Cellmark's Sperm Elution© method consistently recovered a greater number of spermatozoa from simulated sexual assault items and swabs taken following consensual sexual intercourse compared to a water extraction technique. On average the Sperm Elution method recovered over twice the number of spermatozoa compared to the water method. The ability to separate the cell types present allows a rapid microscope slide search for spermatozoa and faster DNA extraction protocol in comparison to Cellmark's previous preferential method.     

Comparison of methods for visualizing blood on dark surfaces

Difficulties can arise when screening dark casework items for blood, a poor contrast between blood and the background can mean stains are not always evident. Typical indirect searching methods can be time consuming and may result in potentially important bloodstains being missed. Luminol, fluorescein, hydrogen peroxide, ultraviolet light and infrared photography were tested in an effort to find a rapid and efficient blood search tool for direct application to dark surfaces. Methods were compared in their sensitivity, specificity, ability to work on various surface types and their effect on DNA extraction and typing. Along with experimental results, the ease of use, costs and the health and safety considerations were also compared. Hydrogen peroxide was determined to be the most effective method. However, where blood was likely to be dilute, luminol was proposed due its greater sensitivity.     

Sentencing in child sexual assault cases: factors influencing judicial decision-making

Abstract

To date, there has been limited examination of variables that influence sentencing in child sexual abuse cases. This study examines the extent to which offence characteristics (such as the number of offences, number and age of victims), the behaviour and perceived credibility of the victim impact upon both sentence length and the setting of earliest parole dates. Analyses conducted using data from 66 adjudicated cases of child sexual assault from the County Court of Victoria, Australia revealed that longer sentences were handed down to offenders who had perpetrated multiple offences, or who had committed offences against younger children. Lower levels of victim credibility were associated with shorter sentences and earlier parole dates for offenders, which were also associated with the presence of more harmful behavioural indicators of abuse. The findings are discussed regarding the importance of presenting evidence about the behaviour of victims following sexual abuse in criminal trials.     

The Projection of Development: Cinematic Representation as A(nother) Source of Authoritative Knowledge?

Popular representations of development need to be taken seriously (though not uncritically) as sources of authoritative knowledge, not least because this is how most people in the global North (and elsewhere) ‘encounter’ development issues. To this end, and building on the broader agenda presented in a previous article exploring the usefulness of literary representations of development, we consider three different types of cinematic representations of development: films providing uniquely instructive insights, those unhelpfully eliding and simplifying complex processes, and those that, with the benefit of historical hindsight, usefully convey a sense of the prevailing assumptions that guided and interpreted the efficacy of development-related interventions at a particular time and place. We argue that the commercial and technical imperatives governing the production of contemporary films, and ‘popular’ films in particular, generate a highly variable capacity to ‘accurately’ render key issues in development, and thereby heighten their potential to both illuminate and obscure those issues.     

Fair Trade-Organic Coffee Cooperatives,Migration, and Secondary Schooling in Southern Mexico

We explore three trends in rural southern Mexico (Fair Trade coffee, migration, and conditional cash transfers) that could explain the rapid rise in education from 1995–2005 using survey data from 845 coffee farming households in Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. Results from a household fixed-effects model show that household participation in a Fair Trade-organic cooperative contributed to about a 0.7 year increase in schooling for girls. US migration opportunities appear to have even stronger positive impacts on schooling for females. Although participation in Fair Trade-organic cooperatives appears also to have increased male schooling, increased migration opportunities have had an indeterminate effect for males.     

The Institutional Foundations of Inequality and Growth

After a decade of research, the effect of inequality on long-run economic growth remains unresolved, in part because researchers have treated omitted variable bias as an estimation problem rather than a deeper question of causality. In this article we argue that the key omitted variable is the quality of economic institutions. Using both cross-country and panel data specifications, we find no direct effect of inequality on growth in the long-run. Rather, the protection of property rights simultaneously raises growth rates and reduces income inequality. We interpret these findings as evidence that insecure property rights disproportionately disadvantage the poor.     

Books received

Dependency under Challenge: The Political Economy of the Commonwealth Caribbean. Edited by Anthony Payne and Paul Sutton. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984. Pp.xii + 294. £25. ISBN 0 7190 0970 7.

The International Crisis in the Caribbean. By Anthony Payne. London: Croom Helm, 1984. Pp.iii + 177. £14.95. ISBN 0 7099 2052 0.

Grenada: Revolution and Invasion. By Anthony Payne, Paul Sutton and Tony Thorndike. London: Croom Helm, 1984. Pp.x + 233. £17.95. ISBN 0 7099 2080 6.

The Three Worlds: Culture and World Development. By Peter Worsley. London: Weidenfeld &; Nicolson, 1984. Pp.xiv + 409. £16.95 and £8.95. ISBN 0 297 783467 and 78356 4.

Agriculture, Poverty and Freedom in Developing Countries. By Eric Clayton. London: Macmillan, 1984. Pp.x + 277. £15 and £6.95. ISBN 0 333 36100 8 and 36101 6.

Understanding Green Revolutions: Agrarian Change and Development Planning in South Asia. Edited by Tim P. Bayliss‐Smith and Sudhir Wanmali. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. Pp. x + 384. £30/$59.50. ISBN 0 521 24942 2.

Kritsman and the Agrarian Marxists. Edited by Terry Cox and Gary Littlejohn. London: Frank Cass, 1984. Pp. 149. £18.50. ISBN 0 7146 3237 6.

The Defense of Community in Peru's Central Highlands: Peasant Struggle and Capitalist Transition, 1860–1940. By Florencia E. Mallon. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983. Pp. xiv + 384. £28.20 and £12.60. ISBN 0 691 07647 2 and 10140; X.

Miners, Peasants and Entrepreneurs: Regional Development in the Central Highlands of Peru. By Norman Long and Bryan Roberts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. Pp.x + 288. £25. ISBN 0 521 24809 4.

The New Bourgeoisie and the Limits of Dependency: Mining, Class and Power in ‘Revolutionary’ Peru. By David G. Becker. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983. Pp.xxviii + 368. £30.20 and £8.60. ISBN 0 691 07645 6 and 0 691 02213 5.

The Pharmaceutical Industry and Dependency in the Third World. By Gary Gereffi. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983. Pp.xiii + 292. £21.60 and £8.65. IBSN 0 691 09401 2 and 02828 1.

Law and Policy of Producers’ Associations. By D.E. Pollard. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984. Pp.xii + 372. £30. ISBN 0 19 825480 6.

Inequalising Trade? A Study of Traditional North/South Specialisation in the Context of Terms of Trade Concepts. By John Spraos. Oxford: Clarendon Press in cooperation with UNCTAD, 1983. Pp.ix + 169. £15. ISBN 0 19 828458 6.

Reality and Rhetoric: Studies in the Economics of Development. By P. T. Bauer. London: Weidenfeld &; Nicolson, 1984. Pp.viii + 184. £11.95. ISBN 0 297 78335 1.

Critique and Anti‐Critique: Essays on Dependence and Reformism. By Andre Gunder Frank. London: Macmillan, 1984. Pp.xiii + 336. £20 and £7.95. ISBN 0333 37122 4 and 37123 2.

Participation of the Poor in Development. Edited by Benno Galjart and Dieke Buijs. Leiden: Leiden Development Studies No.2, 1982. Pp.325. NP.

Studies in Rural Participation. Edited by Amit Bhaduri and Md. Anisur Rahman. New Delhi: Oxford &; IBH Publishing Co., 1982. Pp. vii + 229. Rs.85.

Evaluating Population Programs: International Experience with Cost‐effective Analysis and Cost‐benefit Analysis. Edited by Ismail Sirageldin, David Salkever and Richard W. Osborn. London: Croom Helm; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1983. Pp.xxxi + 534. £19.95. ISBN 0 7099 2393 7.

Development Planning Models. Edited by S. Bhagwan Dahiya. 2 vols. New Delhi: Inter‐India Publications, 1982. Pp.xxiv + 392 + xxiv + 270. $60 the set.

Appropriate Products, Employment and Technology: Case‐Studies on Consumer Choice and Basic Needs in Developing Countries. Edited by Wouter van Ginneken and Christopher Baron. London: Macmillan, 1984. Pp. xi + 260. £25. ISBN 0 333 35302 1.

Education and Income Determination in Kenya. By Arne Bigsten. Aldershot, Hants: Gower, 1984. Pp.vii + 156. £14.50. ISBN 0 566 00703 7.

The Impending Crisis in Kenya: The Case for Land Reform. By Diana Hunt. Aldershot, Hants: Gower, 1984. Pp.viii + 314. £17.50. ISBN 0 566 00713 4.

Ibn Khaldun: The Birth of History and the Past of the Third World. By Yves Lacoste. London: New Left Books and Verso, 1984. Pp. 214. £20 and £5.95. ISBN 0 86091 084 9 and 789 4.     

Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors Among Adolescents

The purpose of this article is to examine the self-reported sexual attitudes and behaviors of adolescents living in the Midwest. A survey was administered to 463 African American youths ages 11–19. The results indicate that intent to have sexual intercourse, reported likelihood toward having sexual intercourse, and whether participants felt that they would have sex in the next 3 months were predictors of whether they had sexual intercourse at the 3-month follow-up. The results also revealed that the opinions of referent others did not predict sexual intercourse at 3 months. Negative attitudes toward condoms did predict condom use at 3 months and the opinions of referent others also predicted condom use at 3 months. Limitations as well as future research are also discussed.     

Positive Youth Development Among African American Adolescents: Examining Single Parents as a Factor

Over the past few decades researchers have begun to examine the importance of understanding positive youth development and the many contexts in which youth find themselves. The social contexts in which adolescent development occurs are varied and complex, particularly the development among African American youth. African American youth are faced with a number of challenges including living in single-parent homes, high teen pregnancy rates, and poor neighborhoods, yet many of these youth continue to thrive. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between family structure (single-parenting) and adolescent outcomes such as educational aspirations and sexual activity among African American adolescent youth aged 12–17. Approximately 462 African American youth were surveyed. A number of positive results emerged; for instance, there was a negative correlation between family structure and educational aspirations. The number of parents in the home did not interfere with youth wanting to complete high school and go on to college (r = ? .218, r² = .04, p < .05). The results also showed that as educational aspirations increased, the number of sexual partners decreased (r = ? .141, meaning that the more adolescents reported a desire to complete high school, they were less likely to report having sexual intercourse. These positive results should be promoted among African American youth so that those faced with these challenges will note that others have overcome and accomplished their goals. In this population educational aspirations were important. Limitations and future research are discussed.