Psychopathy (PCL-R) Predicts Violent Recidivism Among Criminal Offenders with Personality Disorders in Sweden

Psychopathy as conceptualized with Hare's Psychopathy Checklist Revised, PCL-R, has attracted much research during the 1990s. In the Scandinavian countries, few studies that empirically support the validity of North American risk assessment techniques in our regional context have been published. The purpose of this paper is to explore the predictive power of the PCL-R in a population of personality-disordered violent offenders subjected to forensic psychiatric evaluation in Sweden. Following release from prison (n = 172), discharge from forensic psychiatric treatment (n = 129), or probation (n = 51), a total of 352 individuals were followed for up to 8 years (mean = 3.7 years) with reconviction for violent crime as endpoint variable (base rate 34%). As the estimate of predictive power, the area under the curve of a receiver operating characteristic (AUC of ROC) analysis was calculated. For PCL-R scores to predict 2-year violent recidivism, AUC of ROC was .72 (95% CI: .66–.78). In addition, the personality dimension of psychopathy (Factor 1) and the behavioral component (Factor 2) both predicted 2-year recidivism significantly better than random: AUC of ROC .64 (95% CI: .57–.70) and .71 (95% CI: .65–.77), respectively. We conclude that psychopathy is probably as valid a predictor of violent recidivism in Swedish forensic settings as seen in previous North American studies.     

Attitudes Toward Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in Moscow,Russia

This study examines attitudes towards violence against women among the populace in Moscow, Russia using data drawn from the Moscow Health Survey. Information was obtained from 1,190 subjects (510 men and 680 women) about their perceptions of whether violence against women was a serious problem in contemporary Russia, and under what circumstances they thought it was justifiable for a husband to hit his wife. Less than half the respondents thought violence was a serious problem, while for a small number of interviewees there were several scenarios where violence was regarded as being permissible against a wife. Being young, divorced or widowed, having financial difficulties, and regularly consuming alcohol were associated with attitudes more supportive of violence amongst men; having a low educational level underpinned supportive attitudes among both men and women. Results are discussed in terms of the public reemergence of patriarchal attitudes in Russia in the post-Soviet period.     

Backlash Reconsidered: Neoliberalism and Popular Mobilization in Bolivia

This article argues that the common narrative of a Bolivian backlash against neoliberalism should be reconsidered in light of the continuities and mutual constraints between popular mobilization and neoliberal policy reforms. The study draws on literature that conceptualizes neoliberalism as a particular construction of state and social forms; but unlike those works, it includes an analysis of International Monetary Fund policy shifts to understand how popular mobilization constrains policy implementation. Responding to popular mobilization between 1985 and 2006, the IMF came to accept divergence from orthodox policy in order to encourage political stability. The government of Evo Morales and the IMF are mutually constrained by concern for the investment climate. This study further advocates that analysts probe beyond simple binary divisions between “neoliberalism” and “alternatives” and look more seriously for pragmatic strategies for negotiating neoliberal spaces.     

Interpapillary lines--the variable part of the human fingerprint.

The dermatoglyphic pattern of human palms and soles is individually unique and unchanging. Their prints show the course of the papillary ridges as papillary lines. Case reports and a few older studies of repeatedly taken fingerprints could, however, show that so-called interpapillary lines can develop between the papillary lines. The questions of this study were: How often do interpapillary lines occur? Can the differences between papillary and interpapillary ridges be quantified? Five-hundred and two ink prints of the palms and fingers from the archive of the Bochum Police Department were examined retrospectively. In 121 volunteers, the appearance of interpapillary lines was examined prospectively. From the later collective, the fingerprints of 13 people with interpapillary lines and nine people without were examined further by taking two silicon prints and measuring them with laser profilometry In 215 of the 502 ink prints (42.8%) interpapillary lines could be demonstrated. In those subjects younger than 20 years they were less frequently observed (34.1%) than in those above the age of 20 (51.8%). In all cases using laser profilometry the interpapillary lines could be related to a corresponding interpapillary ridge. The interpapillary ridge heights were 24.9 +/- 10.0 microm, significantly lower than the papillary ridges, which measured 59.0 +/- 19.2 microm. Interpapillary ridge widths were with 194.8 +/- 65.1 microm significantly narrower as compared to 435.5 +/- 57.4 microm in the papillary ridge. Those papillary ridges, between which interpapillary ridges were found, were significantly further apart from each other (610.5 +/- 78.9 microm) than those without interpapillary ridges (484.9 +/- 70.6 microm). During the course of a lifetime new ridges between the regular papillary ridges can develop or manifest. The fact that interpapillary lines are more frequently found on the right hands in men and those with increasing age is consistent with the theory that they correspond to degenerative changes and with sensitivity of touch.     

Discrimination of falls and blows in blunt head trauma: systematic study of the hat brim line rule in relation to skull fractures

In the discrimination of falls from blows in blunt head trauma, the hat brim line rule is one of the most often used criteria. The present study assesses the validity of the hat brim line rule for skull fractures and looks at other possible criteria. All autopsy cases were retrospectively analyzed on a 5-year period. Cases selected consisted of downstairs falls (n = 13), falls from one's own height (n = 23), and homicidal blows (n = 44). Results show that fractures above the hat brim line are more in favor of blows, while fractures in the hat brim line zone are more difficult to distinguish. The majority of fractures were located on the left side for homicidal blows and on the right side for falls. A higher average number of lacerations was revealed for homicidal blows. In conclusion, this study establishes three criteria in favor of blows: (i) localization of a wound above the hat brim line; (ii) left side lateralization; and (iii) a high number of lacerations.     

Post-mortem stability and redistribution of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT)

Post-mortem diagnosis of chronic alcohol abuse is a challenge for forensic experts due to the lack of pathognomonic morphological findings and often also inadequate background information. Objective methods demonstrating chronic excessive alcohol consumption would therefore be a useful tool for forensic pathologists. In clinical practice, several markers of chronic alcohol abuse have recently been introduced, among which carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) is the most accepted, but the use of these markers in autopsy has not yet been established. We examined post-mortem stability and possible post-mortem redistribution of CDT and compared two analytical methods, capillary zone electrophoresis and high-performance liquid chromatography. According to our results, CDT remains stable for an appreciable time after death. The results further indicate that CDT is not subject to major post-mortem redistribution.     

Cerebral traumatism with a playground rocking toy mimicking shaken baby syndrome

Shaken baby syndrome (SBS), one of the most deadly and devastating forms of child abuse, is caused by violent shaking. The combination of subdural hematoma, retinal hemorrhage, brain swelling, and diffuse axonal injury is highly typical of this syndrome and faced with these autopsy findings, induced traumatic lesions are strongly considered. However, it is known that motor-vehicle accidents and falls from great height can also produce this pattern of injury. Nevertheless, stories of arms fall, couch fall, or bumped head while the baby is being carried are generally considered incompatible with SBS. We here report a case of a 2-year-old boy presenting with all the classic autopsy findings of SBS from a playground rocking toy shaken by an older child.