A four-phase process for translating research into police practice

ABSTRACT

This article presents a framework that extends the discussion of translational criminology and the dynamic process of translating research to practice. The goal is to provide an explicit dissection of the translation process into four phases to help outline a structured way of thinking about how to incorporate research into police practice. The four-phases include: Phase I: ‘Does it Work?’ Research and Evaluation; Phase II: ‘What Works?’ Synthesis and Dissemination; Phase III: ‘How to Make it Work?’ Implementation and Evaluation; and Phase IV: ‘Make it Work!’ Institutionalization and Sustainability. The process is founded in implementation science and the ‘Knowledge to Action’ model (KTA) used in the medical and public health fields, as well as current translation activities for policing, and the authors’ experience as practitioners, researchers, and ‘translators’ over the last 25 years. It is the hope that parsing out four distinct phases for the translation of research to practice will assist researchers and police leaders to identify and fill gaps in current and future translation activities.     

Minustah’s Legitimacy and the ‘Security-first’ Approach: Reassessing Statebuilding and its Violent Features in the Case of Haiti

ABSTRACT

The article aims to reassess the statebuilding endeavour of international interveners in the case of Haiti, from an interpretative and socio-historical perspective. First, the article analyses the existing critical literature on statebuilding and the growing literature on peacebuilding and legitimacy. Second, it introduces the case of Haiti, analysing the process of state formation and the production of the present conditions in the country. It then presents an assessment of Minustah, arguing that the lack of a local source of legitimacy, connected to a ‘security-first’ statebuilding approach, led the intervention to reinforce the predatory and undemocratic logics of Haitian politics.     

Allelic frequencies and statistical data obtained from 48 AIM INDEL loci in an admixed population from the Brazilian Amazon

Allelic frequencies of 48 informative insert-delete (INDEL) loci were obtained from a sample set of 130 unrelated individuals living in Macapá, a city located in the northern Amazon region, in Brazil. The values of heterozygosity (H), polymorphic information content (PIC), power of discrimination (PD), power of exclusion (PE), matching probability (MP) and typical paternity index (TPI) were calculated and showed the forensic efficiency of these genetic markers. Based on the allele frequency obtained for the population of Macapá, we estimated an interethnic admixture for the three parental groups (European, Native American and African) of, respectively, 50%, 21% and 29%. Comparing these allele frequencies with those of other Brazilian populations and the parental populations, statistically significant distances were found. The interpopulation genetic distance (F_ST coefficients) to the present database ranged from F_ST = 0.0431 (p < 0.00001) between Macapá and Belém to F_ST = 0.266 (p < 0.00001) between Macapá and the Native American group.     

Three-dimensional computer-assisted craniometrics: a comparison of the uncertainty in measurement induced by surface reconstruction performed by two computer programs

Digital investigation of anthropological material through computed tomography (CT) offers several new opportunities in morphometrics. However, an object measured with computer-assisted methods does not necessarily exactly match the original one. The scanning and surface reconstruction of the object induce some alterations, and data acquisition is prone to measurement uncertainty. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the intra- and inter-observers variations in medical CT scan measurements of a known-size phantom and two dry crania. Two software packages, AMIRA and Treatment and Increased Vision for Medical Imaging (TIVMI), which use different techniques of surface reconstructions, were compared. The mean difference between the measurements was lower for TIVMI, using an objective algorithm based on the half-maximum height (HMH) protocol in three dimensions (3D). AMIRA can induce up to a 4% error in known measurements and 5% uncertainty in dry skull measurements. This study emphasises the risk of object shape alteration in each step of its digitisation.     

13 STR loci frequencies in the population from Paraíba, Northeast Brazil

As part of a long-term project on Northeastern Brazilians, population genetic data were obtained from 323 unrelated individuals from the state of Paraíba. The loci studied were CSF1P0, TPOX, TH01, vWA, D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, D18S51, D21S11, D8S1179, F13A01, F13B and LPL. Their distributions are in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Forensic parameters were calculated and a comparison was made with geographically nearby populations.     

The “microwave oven” practice in Brazil

This article presents a forensic case of an unusual illegal cremation of a person using a process colloquially known as the “microwave oven” practice in Brazil. The microwave process involves two actions: placing the victim in a tire stack and then setting the structure on fire using flammable substances to accelerate the progression. A similar practice, identified as “necklacing”, has also been reported in other countries such as South Africa. This report presents a case of microwave oven cremation of a body found in a rural area of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The forensic work helped determine the biological profile and identity of the victim using radiological comparisons. Although the microwave oven cremation practice is rare, it can impose challenges for investigators. Therefore, fully understanding this practice can be helpful to the academic and forensic communities.     

Anthropological examination in burned body: a retrospective identification case

It is a well-established fact that forensic anthropology has been extremely helpful in identifying thermally altered human remains, especially in recent years. With the improvement of new analytical techniques, the identification success rate has also been increased. With the help of statistical analysis, combined with analytical anthropological methods, the Forensic Anthropology Service of the Afranio Peixoto Medico-Legal Institute succeeded in identifying a charred body, with a margin of error of approximately 1:500 million to be obtained.     

Agribusiness,Legislative Elections and Party Fragmentation in Brazil

The article explores the impact of agribusiness on the politics of legislative elections in Brazil. The central argument is that social contexts dominated by agribusiness tend to amplify the number of right-wing micro-parties, due firstly to the economic interests prevalent in such regions and secondly given the ‘catch all’ nature of Brazil's traditional right and centre-right political parties. By showing how agribusiness favours the proliferation of small parties, we may also reveal one of the main reasons behind the ‘hyperfragmentation’ of Brazil's party system.     

The Heterogeneous State and Legal Pluralism in Mozambique

This article analyzes some of the most salient features of the state and the legal system in Mozambique. I propose the concept of the heterogeneous state to highlight the breakdown of the modern equation between the unity of the state, on the one hand, and the unity of its legal and administrative operation, on the other. The centrality of legal pluralism is analyzed in light of an empirical research focused on community courts and traditional authorities. I use the concept of legal hybridization with the purpose of showing the porosity of the boundaries of the different legal orders and cultures in Mozambique and the deep cross-fertilizations or cross-contaminations among them. Special attention is given to the multicultural plurality resulting from the interaction between modern law and traditional law, the latter conceived here as an alternative modernity.