The next generation of court-mandated domestic violence treatment: a comparison study of batterer intervention and restorative justice programs

Objectives

The most common approach to treatment of domestic violence crimes in the United States is the mandated group-based Batterer Intervention Program (BIP). Several alternative treatment approaches have been developed over the years, including a restorative justice-based treatment program for domestic violence offenders called Circles of Peace (CP). This study compared a CP program administered in Arizona with a local BIP program, in controlled settings.

Methods

This study involved a randomized controlled trial with 152 domestic violence cases randomly assigned to either BIP or CP between September 2005 and March 2007. Independent sample t tests were used to measure treatment outcomes post-random assignment, in terms of both domestic violence and non-domestic violence re-arrest rates during four follow-up periods (6, 12, 18, and 24 months).

Results

CP participants experienced less recidivism than BIP during all follow-up comparisons. However, statistically significant differences were detected only for the 6-month (p?<?.1) and the 12-month (p?<?.05) follow-up comparisons for non-domestic violence re-arrests, and no statistically significant differences were detected for the domestic violence re-arrests.

Conclusions

The findings are generally statistically non-significant at .05. While these results do not suggest a change in policy from BIP to CP for domestic violence crimes, it does dispel the popular belief that restorative justice cannot be used to treat domestic violence criminal activity, in that CP does no worse than the traditional batterer intervention program. Given the low statistical power and high attrition rates, more research is necessary to test CP and restorative justice treatment generally in court-mandated domestic violence cases in order to understand the treatment impact on both domestic violence and non-domestic violence offenders.     

Violence and trauma: the past 20 and next 10 years

The issues of violence and trauma over the past 20 years have generated a significant amount of research. However, the development of each field has remained, for the most part, exclusive from the other. Therefore, the goal of this article is to address this shortcoming within the literature by responding to three important questions: (a) What is the most important thing we have learned about violence and trauma in the past 20 years? (b) What is the most important thing we need to learn in the next 10 years? and (c) What is the most promising methodological innovation in the past 20 years for the study or treatment of trauma or interpersonal violence? This article concludes that by increasing the discourse between the two fields, both research fields may be better able to develop conceptually, methodologically, and empirically.     

Chimerism analysis using next generation sequencing

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the predominant curative treatment for many malignant and non-malignant haematological diseases. Early detection of graft rejection and disease relapse following HSCT improves patient outcomes by allowing treatment to be initiated as quickly as possible. In order to evaluate the level of donor engraftment, mixed chimerism levels must be carefully monitored after transplantation. Short-tandem repeat (STR) genotyping is widely used to determine the proportions of donor and recipient cells after HSCT.In this study, Devyser Chimerism NGS kit in combination with a MiSeq System was introduced in our laboratory for monitoring HSCT. This system is a complete workflow solution for labs, combining a reliable testing process with a designed for-purpose analytical software. Up to 24 informative markers in a recipient/donor pair distributed through the human genome have strong discriminative power with low bias from ethnic parameters. These IND/DEL genetic markers with population independent discriminative power are distributed across 17 chromosomes and were further selected to allow sensitive detection combined with accurate and precise quantification of mixed chimerism.Streamlined, simple and robust NGS workflow uses just one multiplex PCR reaction per patient sample. Minimal hands-on time reduces assay complexity and risk of sample contamination and mix-up. User-friendly, designed-for-purpose software perfectly complements testing kit with an automatic detection of informative markers.Insertion/deletion (indel) polymorphisms have been used in the fields of forensic investigations owing to the advantages of their low mutation rates, widespread distributions in the human genome and small amplicon sizes. Thus, forensic efficiency evaluation of this system for forensic individual identification will be also tested.     

Advances in violence and trauma: toward comprehensive ecological models

The most important things learned about violence and trauma in the past 20 years are that interpersonal violence is prevalent, with different forms co-occurring, and that victims' reactions are complex. Researchers are called to consider models that include the ecological context within which victims experience violence and trauma to gain a better understanding of the variation seen in psychological outcomes. Multivariate data-analytic techniques such as structural equation modeling and cluster analysis are suggested as promising ways to explore questions framed by comprehensive models. These recommendations are predicted to provide comprehensive and individualized ways to intervene and prevent interpersonal violence.     

Preventing lethal violence in schools: the case for entry-based weapons screening

Violence-related behavior in schools has declined in recent years, but the perception of risk remains high. Disturbingly high percentages of students and teachers report staying home out of fear, and many students bring weapons to school for protection. Current proposals for preventing school violence include punishing the violence-prone, expulsion for weapon carriers, and creating a culture of nonviolence through various behavioral methods like conflict resolution. None of these proposals address the issue of lethal violence and hence personal safety. The risk of lethal violence in schools (related mainly to firearms) could be substantially reduced by creating an effective barrier between firearms and people. This could be achieved by using entry-based weapons detection systems similar to those now used in airports and courts. Decreasing the risk and fear of violence by converting schools into weapons-free zones would also be expected to increase attendance and improve scholastic performance. Randomized, controlled studies should be undertaken to evaluate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of entry-based weapons detection systems for achieving these outcomes.     

Commentary: Promising answers,and the next generation of questions

The papers in this special issue will be immensely valuable in taking forward the agenda of research, practice and theory construction in the field of offender rehabilitation. Some have consolidated existing knowledge in specific areas and analysed its potential implications. Others have identified the key points at issue in the debate between different models of the rehabilitation process. Still others have explored or developed a number of relatively neglected matters, including the delivery of treatment within a coercive framework; the role of labelling in change and desistance processes; the importance of the therapeutic alliance in offence-focused work; and reconceptualisation of the responsivity principle within the framework of therapeutic jurisprudence. The present paper extracts some further principal themes from the spectrum of issues raised. Discussion of these is grouped under the four headings of theory construction, evidence accumulation, practical implementation, and ethical and political dimensions.     

Envisioning the next generation of behavioral health and criminal justice interventions

The purpose of this paper is to cast a vision for the next generation of behavioral health and criminal justice interventions for persons with serious mental illnesses in the criminal justice system. The limitations of first generation interventions, including their primary focus on mental health treatment connection, are discussed. A person–place framework for understanding the complex factors that contribute to criminal justice involvement for this population is presented. We discuss practice and research recommendations for building more effective interventions to address both criminal justice and mental health outcomes.     

The relationship between trauma and violence in a jail inmate sample

Research suggests there is a link between trauma and violence, although the nature of the relationship is rather equivocal. This study explored this relationship by examining self-reported trauma as a predictor of self-reported violence in 93 jail inmates. Ninety-six percent of the sample reported experiencing a traumatic event, and 67% reported having been violent during the year preceding incarceration. Inmates reporting trauma were more than twice as likely to report having been violent than nonviolent. Stepwise multiple regression analyses suggested traumatic events, as a combined model, significantly contributed to violence perpetration. In addition, witnessing serious violence predicted perpetration of violence. Implications and limitations of the present study are discussed.     

Development and validation of a next generation STR ESS-pentaplex

We constructed a simple STR pentaplex of new loci recommended as next generation markers for the European Standard Set (ESS) comprising normal-amplicon STRs: D12S391 and D1S1656, plus mini-amplicon STRs: D2S441, D10S1248 and D22S1045. Validation of the pentaplex included evaluation of its ability to amplify DNA from a variety of degraded forensic casework samples. Although the ESS-pentaplex was designed in the first instance to generate allele frequency data to supplement existing databases of established STRs, the multiplex proved to be a valuable tool for the analysis of challenging DNA when certain markers of Identifiler or MiniFiler occasionally failed.     

Twenty years of progress in addressing domestic violence: an agenda for the next 10

The past 20 years have seen great strides in addressing violence against women by their male partners. Although the author cannot point to one single intervention or set of interventions as being the most effective, institutional reforms that have included coordinated community responses have had a positive impact. During the next 10 years, researchers must learn how to address the obstacles that prevent institutional responses from being more effective in addressing the needs of victims.     

The most important things learned about violence and trauma in the past 20 years

In the past 2 decades, important insights have been gained regarding violence and trauma. Complications occur in how violence and trauma, their causes, and their effects on victims should be defined. Violence and abuse to women--physical, sexual, and emotional--are not rare events and are most often perpetrated by partners or acquaintances rather than strangers and occur in nonmarital as well as marital relationships, including same-sex relationships. A promising methodological innovation in the study of violence and trauma is the use of longitudinal designs. Innovations in treatments for victims such as evidence-based interventions have been slow to emerge; they include eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and the Seeking Safety group intervention for drug-abusing women with trauma histories. Future research should address increased understanding of variation in individual responses to violence and trauma, matching of treatment to different types of male offenders, better understanding of how culture affects violence perpetration and victimization, and evaluation of domestic violence interventions.     

Reflections on 20 years of research on violence and trauma

This article is part of a special issue reflecting on what people have learned about violence and trauma over the past 20 years and where we need to go in the next 10 years. The author emphasizes the importance of learning to communicate in order to form effective community partnerships. Evidence-based research is noted as a methodological innovation for policy research. Looking to the future, the author suggests that it will be important for crime prevention researchers to not just rely on Internet-based library searches so that they may avoid problems of innumeracy and ahistoricism.     

Advances and future directions in the study of children's neurobiological responses to trauma and violence exposure

One of the most exciting developments to emerge from the field in the past 20 years is the increasing attention to neurobiological responses to violence and trauma exposure. Although researchers have yet to identify a consensual pattern of neurobiological response to violence and trauma exposure, it does appear that some type of alteration in the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis is likely. This article briefly reviews the multiple moderating factors that help account for the divergent patterns in HPA function as well as methodological advances that will continue to improve the assessment of HPA function in youth exposed to violence and trauma.     

Possibilities of the positive following violence and trauma: informing the coming decade of research

The effects of trauma and violence may be better understood by taking a broader perspective that includes resilience and recovery as well as damage and symptomatology. Based on this broader view, this article describes three interrelated, cutting-edge trends in mental health research: (a) the positive psychology movement, (b) the recognition of the role of spirituality and religion in health and well-being, and (c) stress-related growth. The integration of these trends into mainstream studies of trauma and violence will provide a counterbalance to the predominant orientation of victimization and pathology currently evidenced in the literature. All three have important implications for survivors of violence and trauma.     

Disease management: legal strategies for the next generation of managed care

The provision of proper and cost-effective healthcare to chronically ill patients is a crucial aspect of succeeding at managing care. An increasing number of managed care organizations are relying upon specialized outside providers to manage patients with such diseases. In such circumstances, this type of care is "carved out" and given to a specialized disease management organization. The authors discuss the strategies behind such arrangements, provide case studies of many of the specialized organizations providing such disease management, and analyze the legal issues that are likely to arise from such contractual relationships.     

Children with burn injuries--assessment of trauma, neglect, violence and abuse

Burns are an important cause of injury to young children, being the third most frequent cause of injury resulting in death behind motor vehicle accidents and drowning. Burn injuries account for the greatest length of stay of all hospital admissions for injuries and costs associated with care are substantial. The majority of burn injuries in children are scald injuries resulting from hot liquids, occurring most commonly in children aged 0-4 years. Other types of burns include electrical, chemical and intentional injury. Mechanisms of injury are often unique to children and involve exploratory behavior without the requisite comprehension of the dangers in their environment. Assessment of the burnt child includes airway, breathing and circulation stabilization, followed by assessment of the extent of the burn and head to toe examination. The standard rule of 9s for estimating total body surface area (TBSA) of the burn is inaccurate for the pediatric population and modifications include utilizing the Lund and Browder chart, or the child's palm to represent 1% TBSA. Further monitoring may include cardiac assessment, indwelling catheter insertion and evaluation of inhalation injury with or without intubation depending on the context of the injury. Risk factors and features of intentional injury should be known and sought and vital clues can be found in the history, physical examination and common patterns of presentation. Contemporary burn management is underscored by several decades of advancing medical and surgical care however, common to all injuries, it is in the area of prevention that the greatest potential to reduce the burden of these devastating occurrences exists.     

基于二代测序平台的90个常染色体SNP分型研究

目的基于二代测序平台进行90个常染色体SNP位点分型,调查其在中国广东汉族人群中的多态性,评估其法医学应用价值。方法采集100例中国广东汉族无关个体外周血样,采用Auto Mate Express TM提取样本DNA,使用HID-Ion Ampli Seq?Identity Panel分型体系复合扩增90个SNP位点制备文库,Ion One Touch?2进行乳化PCR,Ion PGM?平台进行测序,Torrent_Suite_v4.4.2软件及HID_SNP_Genotyper_v4.3.1插件进行数据分析,计算常用法医学参数并与该群体Goldeneye TM 20A体系的检测效能进行比较。结果经Bonferroni法校正后,90个常染色体SNP位点分布均符合Hardy-Weinberg平衡,不存在连锁不平衡现象。各位点平均杂合度(Ho)为0.423,平均个体识别力(DP)为0.560,平均多态信息含量(PIC)为0.329。90个SNP体系的累积个体识别率(CDP)为(1-1.20×10~(-33)),大于20A体系;三联体累积非父排除率(CPE_(tri))为0.999 999 911,二联体累积非父排除率(CPE_(duo))为0.999 882,均小于20A。结论 90个常染色体SNP检测体系可独立应用于法医个体识别和三联体亲子鉴定,并辅助进行二联体亲子鉴定。