Testing for GHB in hair by GC/MS/MS after a single exposure. Application to document sexual assault

Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, or GHB, is a substance naturally present within mammal species. Properties of neurotransmitter or neuromodulator are generally given to this substance. GHB is therapeutically used as an anesthetic, but can be used for criminal offenses (date-rape drug). It appears that the window of detection of GHB is very short in both blood and urine, and therefore its presence is very difficult to prove after a rape case. In order to document single exposure, we investigated the use of hair. Hair was collected one month after the allegated event in order to sample the corresponding period after regular growing. After rapid (2 min) decontamination with dichloromethane, the hair shaft was cut into 3-mm segments. They were overnight incubated in 0.01 N NaOH in the presence of GHB-d6, followed by neutralization and extraction in ethyl acetate under acidic conditions. GHB (precursor ion m/z 233, product ions m/z 147 and 148) was tested by GC/MS/MS (Finnigan TSQ 700) after derivatization with BSTFA + 1% TMCS. Physiological concentrations (n = 24) were in the range 0.5 to 12.0 ng/mg, with no influence due to hair color. No variation of concentrations was observed along the hair shaft in controlled subjects, except for the proximal segment, due to an incorporation through sweat. This demonstrates that endogenous levels for each single subject are constant during hair growth. A controlled human administration of 25 mg/kg to a volunteer demonstrated that a single exposure to GHB is detectable in hair after segmentation. In a case of rape under influence, a clear increase of the corresponding segment (about 2.4 ng/mg) in time was observed, in comparison with the other segments (0.6 to 0.8 ng/mg). This study demonstrates that a single exposure to GHB in a case of sexual assault can be documented by hair analysis when collected about one month after the crime.     

Understanding transnational bribery: a corporate crime framework

Despite calls for utilizing white-collar and corporate crime frameworks to study corruption, the role of corporations in supplying bribes to foreign government officials is not well understood. In the current study, we draw upon a recent framework designed to examine the transnational corporate bribery process from an opportunity theory perspective. We apply the framework to a sample of individuals and organizations with enforcement actions levied against them by the United States Department of Justice’s Fraud Section for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 between 2011 and 2016. Using an exploratory mixed methods approach, we assess the prevalence and qualitative nature of multiple components of the framework. Our goal is to develop a systematic way to apply it to different sets of bribery data and to move toward a fuller theoretical account of transnational corporate bribery. Our findings demonstrate the significance of the corporate role in foreign bribery, the utility of the bribery process framework, and some areas of refinement and future theoretical development.

     

French Cities’ Struggle Against Incivilities: from Theory to Practices in Regulating Urban Public Space

In France, public policies began defining “incivilities” as a primary topic and target to focus on more than two decades ago. Yet what this term actually means is still somewhat unclear: almost every organization that uses it has its own definition, sometimes its own observatory. Despite, or perhaps because of, its very vagueness, the concept has become widely shared and used, securing itself a place on the agendas of most local security policies, becoming an explicit part of the remits of an increasing number of professionals, from police officers to social workers, including a wide range of municipal agents. The range of situations and behaviors potentially included in the list of “unruly conduct” is seemingly endless, from groups of teenagers hanging out to homeless people privatizing public places, and from using playgrounds as public toilets to noise, garbage, dog fouling, graffiti, queue-jumping, pushing and shoving, street harassment, insults of all kinds, badly parked cars, and so forth. However, not all of them provoke the same public attention. This article focuses on the way disorders are actually defined, measured, and dealt with in practice. Incivilities are often said to be growing because of increasing powerlessness. Our research proves action is far from being merely correlative to the legal capacity for sanction.     

Development and preliminary psychometric evaluation of the domestic violence--related financial issues scale (DV-FI)

Intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs at disproportionate rates within impoverished groups of women and can include economic abuse as a form of psychological maltreatment. The current study developed a comprehensive assessment of the unique financial issues facing female victims of IPV using a sheltered sample (N = 113). An exploratory factor analysis (principal-axis factoring with varimax rotation) was conducted on 24 items of the newly developed Domestic Violence-Related Financial Issues Scale. Preliminary results supported five extracted factors, which accounted for approximately 53% of the total common variance in the women's responses. Psychometric properties of the instrument are presented.