The Use of Hemastix® and the Subsequent Lack of DNA Recovery Using the Promega DNA IQTM System

Abstract:  Following implementation of our automated process incorporating the Promega DNA IQ^TM system as a DNA extraction method, a large number of blood-containing exhibits failed to produce DNA. These exhibits had been tested with the Hemastix^® reagent strip, commonly used by police investigators and forensic laboratories as a screening test for blood. Some exhibits were even tainted green following transfer of the presumptive test reagents onto the samples. A series of experiments were carried out to examine the effect of the Hemastix^® chemistries on the DNA IQ^TM system. Our results indicate that one or more chemicals imbedded in the Hemastix^® reagent strip severely reduce the ability to recover DNA from any suspected stain using the DNA IQ^TM magnetic bead technology. The 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) used as the reporting dye appears to interact with the magnetic beads to prevent DNA recovery. Hydrogen peroxide does not seem to be involved. The Hemastix^® chemistries do not interfere in any way with DNA extraction performed using phenol-chloroform. The incompatibility of the Hemastix^® chemistries on the DNA IQ^TM system forced us to adopt an indirect approach using filter paper to carry out the presumptive test.     

Aggression,science, and law: The origins framework

Human societies have formalized instincts for compliance with reciprocal altruism in laws that sanction some aggression and not other aggression. Neuroscience makes steady advances toward measurements of various aspects of brain function pertinent to the aggressive behaviors that laws are designed to regulate. Consciousness, free will, rationality, intent, reality testing, empathy, moral reasoning, and capacity for self-control are somewhat subject to empirical assessment. The question becomes: how should law accommodate the wealth of information regarding these elements of mind that the science of aggression increasingly makes available? This essay discusses the evolutionary purpose of aggression, the evolutionary purpose of law, the problematic assumptions of the mens rea doctrine, and the prospects for applying the neuroscience of aggression toward the goal of equal justice for unequal minds. Nine other essays are introduced, demonstrating how each of them fits into the framework of the permanent debate about neuroscience and justice. It is concluded that advances in the science of human aggression will have vital, but biologically limited, impact on the provision of justice.     

Mental health performance measurement in corrections

Correctional facilities have become, by default, one of the largest providers of mental health care for patients with serious mental illness. In its 2002 Report to Congress, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care has reported that most facilities do not provide quality mental health care, nor do they conform to nationally accepted guidelines for mental health screening and treatment. This article describes the product of a consensus panel of correctional health care experts, charged to develop performance measures, based on nationally accepted standards, for selected elements of psychiatric treatment behind bars, aimed to improve the quality of care. Performance measures were developed for medication adherence, suicide prevention, mental health treatment planning, and sleep medication usage.     

B: THE NORMATIVE/IDEOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF POLICY FORMATION FAMILY POLICY: HAS THE UNITED STATES LEARNED FROM EUROPE?

"Family Policy" is a term that is used increasingly in the U.S. to describe policies affecting children and their families. In this article, the authors focus on whether societal learning has occurred across the Atlantic with regard to family policy and what, if anything, the U.S. has learned or borrowed from Europe. The authors conclude that there has been some borrowing, albeit modest; currently, some of that learning is reflected in an expanding child policy debate.     

Characteristics of married and unmarried adolescent mothers and their partners

In a middle-class, urban-clinic sample of 275, mostly Caucasian, adolescent mothers and their partners living in Utah, three groups were identified and their psychosocial characteristics were compared. Couples married at the time of conception (N=22) enjoyed more positive responses from prospective grandparents and earned more than couples not married at the time of conception. On the other hand, these initially married youths were much more likely to be high-school dropouts, which suggests limits in their lifetime earning capacities, and they were not more likely to identify one another as sources of emotional support. Couples who married between conception and delivery (N=110) reported that prospective grandparents responded less favorably to news of the pregnancy than did relatives of the initially married couples, but while their current salaries were lower, they were much more likely to be continuing with their education. Those who married after conception also had fewer antisocial and conduct disorders than young men and women who chose to continue in a dating relationship (N=29). Overall, the couples who married after conception appeared to face less severe problems than either the initially-married couples or the steady daters.This research was supported by grant number APR 000922-02-0 from the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs to Drs. Elster and Lamb.where he and Dr. Lamb conduct research on pregnant teens, teenaged parents, and their children. Ms. Peters and Mr. Kahn are graduate students in School of Education at the University of Utah, while Ms. Tavare is a biostatistician at the University of Utah Medical Center.     

Inmate family functioning

Two-hundred-nine noninmates and 169 inmates completed questionnaires that assessed retrospective perceptions of 12 dimensions of family life and one overall assessment of quality of family life. Between the inmates and noninmates, means for all dependent variables differed significantly except for self-reliance; however, meaningful eta-squares were found only for dimensions of bridging, disengagement, and quality of life. Among the independent-samples t tests for gender, eta-squares were not meaningful. Implications for family life interventions in correctional facilities are suggested.