Inmates: Who occupies our jails?

The purpose of this investigation was to identify inmate personal and demographic data that may be used to further define or profile persons with a greater likelihood of being at risk for serving a jail sentence. This study was explorative. The survey administration was similar in format to that conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice. Chaplains were used as survey proctors. Pilot studies were conducted to determine the suitability of survey content. Surveys consisted of 172 items. Subjects included four hundred inmates: males comprised 88.75 percent of the sample, Caucasians 58.25 percent, Blacks 37 percent, Hispanics 3.25 percent and other 1.5 percent of the sample. Respondents ranged in age from 15 to 64 years with an average age of 30.3 years. Less than two percent of the contacted inmates refused participation in the survey. Results are presented for demographic data, select legal/criminal data, select drug and alcohol use data, employment data, health, parent/family data, education data, social data, and “other”.     

Type of contact and evaluations of police officers: The effects of procedural justice across three types of police–citizen contacts

The public's perception of the police is important because it is linked to several important outcomes, including compliance and cooperation with police. Long recognized as being important, research has investigated the factors associated with citizens' evaluations of the police. The way police do their jobs, in addition to what they accomplish, has recently emerged as being a significant determinant of citizens' evaluations of police. What remains largely unexamined is whether this relationship varies across distinct types of contacts between the police and citizens. The current study estimated the effects of citizens' perceptions of procedural justice on overall ratings of officer performance across three types of police–citizen encounters. Results showed that procedurally fair treatment is the most important predictor of citizens' evaluations.     

An evaluation of fused silica capillary columns for the screening of basic drugs in postmortem blood: qualitative and quantitative analysis

Fused silica capillary columns (Durabond) have been evaluated for the screening of more than 100 basic drugs in postmortem blood samples. The combination of these columns, nitrogen-phosphorus detectors, and SKF-525A (internal standard) allows for the simultaneous screening and quantitation of several basic drugs such as amphetamines, amitriptyline, and codeine. Approximately 2000 blood samples have been analyzed by this procedure. The use of capillary columns results in excellent baseline stability and this, together with an autosampler and data system, enables unattended overnight operation. "Double peaking" associated with splitless injection can be a problem as can sensitivity for some of the polar drugs; however, with the extraction procedure described and the equipment used, the screening of blood for basic drugs is improved when compared with packed column technology.     

The sabotage of patriarchy in colonial Rhodesia,rural african women's living legacy to their daughters

Evidence from a University of Zimbabwe oral history project suggests that many rural women in colonial Rhodesia played an active role in undermining patriarchal customs which they experienced as oppressive. These women defied family norms by choosing their own marriage partners, prioritizing the formal education of their daughters and finding ways to generate income to secure greater degrees of autonomy. This study compliments other research which depicts women's primary form of resistance to be moving from rural to urban areas, by showing what options some women exercised while remaining within rural society.     

Bonding in a High-Risk and a General Sample of Children:Comparison of Measures of Attachment and Their Relationship to Smoking and Drinking

Bonding in parent, peer, and school domains were compared in a general sample of children and a sample of children of methadone-treated parents. Bivariate comparisons revealed that children of methadone-treated parents had lower SES, and were significantly more likely to smoke cigarettes but not more likely to drink alcohol. Several measures of attachment were significantly different between the two samples across parent, peer, and school domains. Multivariate analyses indicated that the children of methadone-treated parents were more likely to smoke, even after accounting for the effects of demographic and attachment variables. For drinking, sample membership was not found to be significant. Attachment to school decreased the odds of both smoking and drinking in both samples. Peer attachment had no effect on the odds of smoking initiation; however,loyalty to best friend did predict increased odds of drinking initiation.     

Attention under repair: asceticism from self-care to care of the self

This essay examines the contemporary mindfulness movement as a cultural response to a larger problem of attention in the United States. As raw material for both capital (re)production and subjectivity, attention is a zone of indeterminacy and struggle for workers in a so-called immaterial economy. This essay suggests that the rise of concern around “paying attention” from the 1950s onward is driven by post-Fordist labor requirements more than networked technologies. First, it examines mindfulness as a technique of attention management for businesses and gives a broad survey of its current popularity and prevalence in US culture. Second, it proposes viewing techniques of attention like mindfulness through a triple lens of repair: (1) as managerial tools to repair psychic labor capacity for capital; (2) as practices that subjects use to repair alienation; and (3) as sites for reparative reading. Third, the essay illuminates the ties between Eve Sedgwick’s repair and Michel Foucault’s care of the self in order to suggest that resistance to practicing the self is founded on a paranoid defense. Its central argument is that attention is a method in Foucault's care of the self, and, as such, a potential portal into pleasure and political change rather than a mere feedback loop into capital.     

Surface sterilization of a maggot using bleach does not interfere with mitochondrial DNA analysis of crop contents

Mitochondrial DNA analysis of a maggot crop can identify the corpse a maggot has been feeding on. Analysis of the crop could be useful in a criminal investigation if maggots are found at a suspected crime scene in the absence of a body, or if there is a question of whether a maggot used in postmortem interval estimations moved onto the corpse from another food source. Such analysis can also resolve a chain of custody dispute if it has been suggested that larval samples have been switched. When recovering DNA from a maggot crop, the analyst must be careful to avoid external contamination. We investigated the effects of three simple wash methods developed to reduce external contamination. Maggots raised on pig liver and intentionally contaminated with cow blood were washed using water, 20% bleach, or a solution containing the enzyme DNase. Only washing the maggots in 20% bleach reduced the amount of vertebrate DNA amplified from the maggots' exteriors. No wash method affected the ability to recover DNA from the maggot crops.     

Pharmacopoeia – a collaboration between the textile artist Susie Freeman and the general practitioner Liz Lee

In this article I describe the development of my collaboration with the textile artist Susie Freeman in the production of the visual arts project Pharmacopoeia. Over the last 3 years we have created a body of work that aims to provide information about common medical treatments in a way that engages the public imagination. The work is dominated by the use of active pharmaceuticals, both pills and capsules, which are incorporated into dramatic fabrics by a process known as pocket knitting. These fabrics are then made into clothing and accessories, making their individual messages easier to ‘read’. The work aims to encourage people to think about their own medical and pharmacological history, and to reflect on their relationship with commonly prescribed drugs. It also reveals how dependent our society is on pharmaceuticals, how ambivalent we feel about them and yet how casually we use them.