Perceived Conditions of Confinement: A National Evaluation of Juvenile Boot Camps and Traditional Facilities

In a national study of juvenile correctional facilities, the perceived environment of 22 juvenile boot camps was compared to the perceived environment of 22 traditional facilities. Self-report surveys completed by 4,121 juveniles recorded information on demographics, risk factors, and perceptions of the facility's environment. Compared to juveniles in traditional correctional facilities, boot camp residents consistently perceived the environment as significantly more controlled, active, and structured, and as having less danger from other residents. Boot camp juveniles also perceived the environment as providing more therapeutic and transitional programming. Overall, from the perspective of the juveniles, boot camps appear to provide a more positive environment conducive to effective rehabilitation considering almost allof the conditions measured. A major concern is that in both types of facilities, juveniles perceived themselves to occasionally be in danger from staff (rated as rarely to sometimes).     

Racial differences in desistance from substance abuse: the impact of religious involvement on recovery

This study examines variations by race in the relationship between religiosity and desistance from substance abuse. Although most studies have included race as a control variable, only a few studies compared the equivalence of associations among religiosity, delinquency, recovery from substance abuse, and other variables between Black and White samples. Using data from the intake and 12-month follow-up survey of the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Study, this study examines levels of religious involvement of Black and White drug treatment clients. In addition, it empirically tests whether religious involvement exerts differential effects on Black and White clients' recovery from substance abuse. It was found that Black clients reported higher levels of religious involvement (measured by church attendance) than did White clients. Data indicated that religious behavior at 1-year follow-up was positively associated with Black clients' recovery from substance abuse. In contrast, religious behavior was not a significant predictor of White clients' desistance from substance abuse. Directions for future research and policy implications are discussed.     

Recovery of Latent Fingerprints and DNA on Human Skin*

Abstract: The project “Latent Fingerprints and DNA on Human Skin” was the first systematic research in Europe dealing with detection of fingerprints and DNA left by offenders on the skin of corpses. One thousand samples gave results that allow general statements on the materials and methods used. The tests were carried out according to a uniform trial structure. Fingerprints were deposited by natural donors on corpses. The latent fingerprints were treated with magnetic powder or black fingerprint powder. Afterward, they were lifted with silicone casting material (Isomark^®) or gelatine foil. All lifts were swabbed to recover DNA. It was possible to visualize comparable and identifiable fingerprints on the skin of corpses (16%). In the same categories, magnetic powder (18.4%) yielded better results than black fingerprint powder (13.6%). The number of comparable and identifiable fingerprints decreased on the lifts (12.7%). Isomark^® (14.9%) was the better lifting material in comparison with gelatine foil (10.1%). In one‐third of the samples, DNA could be extracted from the powdered and lifted latents. Black fingerprint powder delivered the better result with a rate of 2.2% for full DNA profiles and profiles useful for exclusion in comparison with 1.8% for the magnetic powder traces. Isomark^® (3.1%) yielded better results than gelatine foil (0.6%).     

JUVENILE COURT FOR YOUNG ADULTS? HOW ONGOING COURT INVOLVEMENT CAN ENHANCE FOSTER YOUTHS' CHANCES FOR SUCCESS

States wishing to extend foster care supports to young adults under the Fostering Connections to Success Act are required to meet all the requirements of Title IV‐E, which include regular reviews that have traditionally been conducted in juvenile courts. For some, this requirement of ongoing judicial involvement is a reason to forgo this significant source of new federal dollars. Others are seeking ways to minimize ongoing court involvement while still complying with federal requirements. This article argues that these views are misguided. Designed properly, juvenile court reviews can play a unique and important role in helping young adults begin to take responsibility for their own futures.     

Rethinking ‘Rape as a Weapon of War’

One of the most significant shifts in current thinking on war and gender is the recognition that rape in wartime is not a simple by-product of war, but often a planned and targeted policy. For many feminists ‘rape as a weapon of war’ provides a way to articulate the systematic, pervasive, and orchestrated nature of wartime sexual violence that marks it as integral rather than incidental to war. This recognition of rape as a weapon of war has taken on legal significance at the Rwandan and Yugoslav Tribunals where rape has been prosecuted as a crime against humanity and genocide. In this paper, I examine how the Rwanda Tribunal’s record of judgments conceives of rape enacted as an instrument of the genocide. I consider in particular how the Tribunal’s conception of ‘rape as a weapon of war’ shapes what can be known about sexual violence and gender in the Rwandan genocide and what cannot, the categories of victims legally recognised and those that are not, and the questions pursued, and those foreclosed, about the patterns of violence before and during the genocide.