Thermal degradation analysis of amino acids in fingerprint residue by pyrolysis GC-MS to develop new latent fingerprint developing reagents

Conventional development of latent fingerprints is compromised when the prints are decomposed by extreme temperatures, such as those encountered when a weapon cartridge is fired, an improvised explosive device is detonated, and/or in arson cases. Understanding how these extreme temperatures alter the chemical and physical properties of latent fingerprint residue could aid in the discovery of a reagent that could effectively develop these decomposed fingerprints. To mimic scenarios where fingerprints may be exposed to high heat conditions, standards of the five most abundant amino acids in fingerprint residue as well as extracted fingerprint residue were pyrolized under controlled conditions. Compounds identified as pyrolytic decomposition products were 3,6-dimethylpiperazine-2,5-dione (from alanine), maleimide, and 2,5-furandione (from aspartic acid). The pyrograms and selected ion traces show these products to hold promise as indicators of decomposed fingerprint residues and, therefore, may serve as good candidate substrates for a developing reagent.     

The Attitudes Towards Dating Violence Scales: Development and Initial Validation

This study describes the development and validation of three Attitudes Towards Male Dating Violence (AMDV) Scales and three Attitudes Towards Female Dating Violence (AFDV) Scales. These scales measure attitudes toward use of psychological, physical, and sexual dating violence, respectively, by boys and by girls. Eight hundred twenty-three students from grades 7, 9, and 11 participated in the validation study. All six scales have good internal consistencies. As predicted, students were more accepting of girls' use of violence than of boys' use of violence, and boys were more accepting of violence than were girls. The six scales were positively correlated with traditional attitudes toward gender roles and with each other, providing evidence for their construct validity. Higher scores on the AMDV Scales were related to boys' past use of violence in dating relationships and to their having aggressive friends, supporting their criterion-related validity. Higher scores on the AFDV Scales were associated with girls' past use of dating violence but not with their having aggressive friends, providing partial support for their criterion-related validity. Singly or in combination, the Attitudes Towards Dating Violence Scales can be used to increase our understanding of the development and maintenance of violence-supportive attitudes in adolescents of all ages.     

Exploring the possible link between childhood and adolescent bestiality and interpersonal violence

Bestiality is a serious although less frequently occurring form of animal cruelty that may be linked to subsequent aggression against humans. This investigation examines whether a perpetrator's race, childhood residence, education, commission of a personal crime, and the number of personal crimes committed affects acts of bestiality committed during childhood or adolescence among a sample of incarcerated males. The results show that respondents with less education and those who had been convicted of committing crimes against people on one or more occasions were more likely to have had sex with animals during their childhood or adolescence than other respondents in the sample. These findings lend some support to the sexually polymorphous theory that among these perpetrators sex and aggression have become mutually inclusive and that bestiality as a form of animal cruelty may be linked with interpersonal human violence.     

Chemical composition and structure of the microcrystals formed between silver(I) and gamma-hydroxybutyric acid and gamma-hydroxyvaleric acid

This study examined microcrystals formed by silver with gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and gamma-hydroxyvaleric acid (GHV), the five-carbon analog of GHB, in the presence of silver, copper, and lanthanide nitrates. Distinct microcrystals formed with silver (+1) and lanthanum (+3) ions but not with the copper (+2) ions. The crystals formed with GHB were distinctly different than those formed with GHV and in all cases, the drug microcrystals were easily distinguishable from reagent crystals. X-ray diffraction analysis provided definitive structure for the microcrystals. The morphological differences between the silver-GHB and silver-GHV crystals were characterized using simple measurements such as size and angles provided by image recognition software. The utility of the test for casework was demonstrated using spiked beverage samples.     

Shrinks vs. shysters

In 1976, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a new mental health law which was designed to give civil and due process rights to the mentally ill, as well as to speed up the deinstitutionalization process. The psychiatric profession voiced loud disapproval of the new law. The public interest bar entered the issue, opposing the psychiatrists. In 1978, the law was amended, and most of the hard-won patients' rights were lost. This paper analyzes the reasons behind the psychiatric demand and victory, as well as the reasons for the lawyer's unsuccessful opposition, using two similar battles, one fought in the British Parliament in the eighteenth century, and one in the California legislature in the early twentieth century. Conclusions are drawn concerning the reason for the legislative “turnabout,” and predictions concerning the course of future battles are made.