The Walk in the Woods: A Step‐by‐Step Method for Facilitating Interest‐Based Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

In this article, we describe a method we have used successfully in both academic and professional settings to rapidly introduce novice negotiators to the principles and practice of interest‐based negotiation: “the walk in the woods.” The walk incorporates much of the principles of interest‐based negotiation: fostering self‐awareness, cultivating curiosity, and understanding the importance of world view. The walk's effectiveness is illustrated in this article using the case of the merger of two large, complex health‐care organizations.     

Alternative Pathways to Violence in Persons with Schizophrenia: The Role of Childhood Antisocial Behavior Problems

Violence in schizophrenia patients may result from many factors besides the symptoms of schizophrenia. This study examined the relationship between childhood antisocial behavior and adult violence using data from the NIMH CATIE study. The prevalence of violence was higher among patients with a history of childhood conduct problems than among those without this history (28.2% vs. 14.6%; P < 0.001). In the conduct-problems group, violence was associated with current substance use at levels below diagnostic criteria. Positive psychotic symptoms were linked to violence only in the group without conduct problems. Findings suggest that violence among adults with schizophrenia may follow at least two distinct pathways-one associated with premorbid conditions, including antisocial conduct, and another associated with the acute psychopathology of schizophrenia.     

Modus operandi and situational aspects in adolescent sexual offenses against children: a further examination

The relationship between situational factors and the modus operandi of 103 adolescents involved in sexual offenses against children (12 years old or younger) is analyzed. Situational factors taken into account in this study are the location of the crime, the offender-victim relationship, and the presence of deviant sexual fantasies involving the victim prior to the offense. Modus operandi strategies were measured on the basis of participants' responses to Kaufman's Modus Operandi Questionnaire. Results indicate that modus operandi strategies are influenced by situational factors and that the offender's home, when no one else is home, is likely to be the place and the situation for adolescent offenders to adopt manipulative strategies. Suggestions are made regarding future modus operandi studies.     

Evaluation and quantification of nuclear DNA from human telogen hairs

Nuclear DNA was extracted from human telogen hairs from 60 individuals. Six to nine hairs from each individual were individually extracted. The amount of DNA recovered from each individual varied greatly, and most samples yielded a quantity of 550 pg or less per hair. A selective extraction buffer was used to remove epithelial cell DNA and the amount of exogenous DNA was determined. DNA was also quantified by real time PCR using three different sized amplicons targeting an Alu sequence. The results were used to determine the state of degradation of the extracted DNA. Different quantities of sample (<100 pg, 100-500 pg, >500 pg) were amplified with the Miniplex kits to determine the minimum DNA template required for successful amplification. DNA recovered from hair showed degradation; however, partial profiles were obtained for those samples containing at least 60 pg using MiniSTRs.     

Patterns of substance involvement and criminal behavior: a gender-based cluster analysis of Pennsylvania arrestees

Recent drug-crime scholarship has underscored the importance of conducting disaggregated research that focuses on the consistencies and variations between subcategories of drug misuse and criminal activity and, further, how these associations may vary across sociodemographic and cultural boundaries. The research presented in this article used cluster analysis to independently classify male and female arrestees based on their arrest charges and substance-specific indicators of initiation, use, dependence, and treatment need. The data come from Pennsylvania's Substance Abuse and Need for Treatment Among Arrestees study conducted as part of the State Treatment Needs Assessment Program. Five groups were identified in both the male and female cluster analyses. The results reveal both important differences and strong similarities in the drug-crime typologies of male and female arrestees. Given these findings, implications are discussed for developing and targeting responsive treatment services that match the particular risks and needs of drug-involved offenders.     

“I Had a Confidence Epiphany!”: Obstacles to Combating Post-Identification Confidence Inflation

Research shows that eyewitnesses often become more confident with their selections from a lineup over time, a problem labeled "confidence inflation." Wells et al. (1998) Law and Human Behavior, 22, 603-647 suggested that eyewitnesses provide a confidence statement immediately following their selection to capture an unadulterated measure of confidence. Three experiments tested the effectiveness of introducing such a statement to combat the effects of confidence inflation on mock-juror judgments. All experiments provided evidence that the attributions participants formed about the eyewitness' confidence inflation differentially impacted their judgments. Although mock-jurors generally discredited eyewitnesses who showed confidence inflation and sometimes lowered probability of guilt ratings for the defendant, a clear exception occurred when mock-jurors attributed the inflation to an epiphany. Use of post-identification confidence statements to decrease the impact of confidence inflation in the courtroom may be insufficient.     

DNA Preservation in Skeletal Elements from the World Trade Center Disaster: Recommendations for Mass Fatality Management*,†

Abstract: The World Trade Center (WTC) victim identification effort highlights taphonomic influences on the degradation of DNA from victims of mass fatality incidents. This study uses a subset of the WTC‐Human Remains Database to evaluate differential preservation of DNA by skeletal element. Recovery location, sex, and victim type (civilian, firefighter, or plane passenger) do not appear to influence DNA preservation. Results indicate that more intact elements, as well as elements encased in soft tissue, produced slightly higher identification rates than more fragmented remains. DNA identification rates by element type conform to previous findings, with higher rates generally found in denser, weight‐bearing bones. However, smaller bones including patellae, metatarsals, and foot phalanges yielded rates comparable to both femora and tibiae. These elements can be easily sampled with a disposable scalpel, and thus reduce potential DNA contamination. These findings have implications for DNA sampling guidelines in future mass fatality incidents.     

Childhood Sexual Abuse,Other Childhood Factors,and Pathways to Survivors’ Adult Relationship Quality

We were interested in understanding how the effects of childhood sexual abuse, in concert with other negative childhood experiences, were carried forward into adult romantic relationships. Data from 15,831 married or cohabitating individuals were gathered via the RELATE Questionnaire. Empirical research, attachment theory, and a general model of adult relationship quality suggested that the path from negative childhood events to adult relationship quality was mediated by a number of individual and relational affect-laden variables. Results showed that childhood abuse and other family-of-origin variables work primarily through the adult survivor’s perceptions of the events of his or her childhood. This “current impact” variable, along with the current level of depression, work through an emotion-laden relationship variable—level of emotional flooding during couple conflict—to influence the relationship quality outcome variable. Treatment implications are discussed.     

Contraband and violence: lessons from the Southeast Asian case

This article looks at the intersection between contraband and violence in Southeast Asia. I argue that the two activities are often linked and play off one another in specific, contextualized ways. To make this case, I examine instances of smuggling in the history of the region; through the trade in human beings, both historically and today; through the transit of narcotics, again historically and today; and via the conduit of a range of other contraband cargoes. Race, religion, memory and geography all factor into the outcome of when smuggling may take on violent forms. I chronicle these occasions throughout the width and breadth of the region, stretching from the Thai/Burmese border in the north to the island world of Insular Southeast Asia in the south. Throughout the essay, I pay particular attention to the larger milieus of commerce, politics, and society that condition moments when acts of smuggling may in fact turn violent. **NB: Most of the field-research for this piece (including local newspaper article accumulation) was done in the late 1990s under a Fulbright grant. A subsequent Faculty Fulbright in 2004 supplemented much of this earlier research, and also allowed me to travel to a number of other locales to make observations on this topic.

---

Development of a Nomenclature System for a Canine STR Multiplex Reagent Kit*†

Abstract: Despite the popularity of dogs in US households, canine DNA evidence remains largely untapped in forensic investigations partially because of the absence of well‐defined forensic short tandem repeats (STRs), lack of standardized and validated PCR protocols, STR reagent kits, and poorly developed nomenclature. A nomenclature system was established based on internationally recognized recommendations for human forensic STRs for a recently developed canine STR reagent kit. Representative alleles were sequenced from each of the 18 STRs and the sex‐typing marker included in the kit. This study also reflects on the impact of point mutations, insertions, and deletions within and outside the STR core repeat structures. An understanding of the STRs’ sequence and repeat structures will enable development of a robust and reliable allele nomenclature and improve the accuracy and precision of allele fragment sizing in canine forensic profiling. The expected allele sizes have been calculated, and their repeat stuctures defined based on sequence information.