Multiple-probe thermography for estimating the postmortem interval: II. Practical versions of the Triple-Exponential Formulae (TEF) for estimating the time of death in the field

A simple, reliable, and relatively accurate method for estimating the time since death is described. It is based on the Triple-Exponential Formulae (TEF), which are devised for the first time in this study. The postmortem cooling rate of the brain, liver, and rectum in 117 forensic cases were investigated (Part I). The method can be used in the field as a computer program, reference graph, or reference chart-ruler. The program is simple and can easily be run by any user. There are six reference graphs representing the average brain, liver, and rectal cooling curves for naked and covered body groups. The ruler is designed for the rectal cooling curves for covered and naked bodies. This method requires one temperature measurement of the chosen body site and the environment. The postmortem interval is estimated as a probable value +/- a possible range of time estimates with a built-in confidence limit.     

Fighting Housing Discrimination in Europe

ABSTRACT

There is no exact European equivalent to the U.S. Fair Housing Act. The member states of the European Union (EU) have transposed into law the EU Racial Equality Directive of 2000 that prohibits discrimination in, among other things, access to the supply of goods and services, including housing, on the basis of race. Most housing discrimination case law so far comes from nonbinding decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and European Committee of Social Rights under the revised European Social Charter of the Council of Europe. This article explains how the European context of discrimination and segregation differs from the American, reviews the major legal conventions establishing equal rights in housing, protected classes, and key precedents. It discusses how mixing policies in social housing are the primary mechanism to reduce residential segregation in Europe. The special case of extreme discrimination against the Roma is presented, before concluding with some comparative observations.     

Micro-models of criminal careers: A synthesis of the criminal careers and life course approaches via semiparametric mixed poisson regression models,with empirical applications

Much recent research and debate in criminology have centered around how to conceptualize and model longitudinal sequences of delinquent and criminal acts committed by individuals. Two approaches dominate this controversy. One originates in thecriminal careers paradigm, which emphasizes a potentialheterogeneity of offending groups in the general population—thus leading to a distinction between incidence and prevalence of criminal offending, a focus on the onset, persistence, and desistence of criminal careers, and the possibility that criminals are a distinctive group with constant high rates of offending. Another approach places criminal events within a broader context ofstudies of the life course by explicitly substituting the conceptualization of “social events” for that of “criminal careers”. With respect to analytical models, this approach emphasizes a potentialheterogeneity of offenders with respect to order of criminal events from first to second to higher orders and thus suggests an analysis of the “risks” or “hazards” of offending by order of offense. Some extant commentaries on the criminal careers and life course approaches to conceptualizing and modeling longitudinal sequences of delinquent and criminal events committed by individuals have emphasized their differences and incompatibilities. In contrast, we apply recently developed semiparametric mixed Poisson regression techniques to develop conditions under which the two conceptual/modeling approaches are formally equivalent. We also modify the semiparametric mixed Poisson regression model of criminal careers to incorporate information on order of the delinquent/criminal event and develop an empirical application. This modification demonstrates the complementarity of the criminal careers and life course approaches, even though they have somewhat different foci.     

Citizens policing citizens: are citizen watches manifestations of contemporary responsible citizenship?

During the last decade, the phenomenon of citizen watches has become a common and meaningful element in citizen participation that aims to improve local public safety. This paper discusses citizen watches as a manifestation of the way citizens and state agencies are redefining and transforming their relationships. It examines the question of the extent to which citizen watches can be seen as examples of good citizenship. The Dutch government is currently appealing strongly for more citizen involvement in public matters, but is unclear about the kind of involvement it expects. The paper argues that citizen watches are mainly considered manifestations of ‘good citizenship’ by the government if they are set up in line with state objectives and are willing to serve as an auxiliary of the formal authorities in the neighborhood. Many citizen watches are therefore products of self-responsibilization processes, which have not yet received much academic attention.     

Intergenerational Continuity of Risky Parenting: A Person-Oriented Approach to Assessing Parenting Behaviors

Limited research has investigated the long-term effects of childhood emotional abuse on later forms of parenting. This study utilized a person-centered approach to explore the relation between retrospectively-reported maternal childhood emotional abuse and observed parenting behaviors during a conflict discussion. Data were collected from 53 caregiver-child dyads with children ages 8–11. Results of a model-based clustering procedure (Mclust; Fraley and Raftery 2006) identified three parenting styles (negative, at-risk, positive) that were based on five observed parenting behaviors (emotion regulation, anger, hostility, psychological control, and psychological unavailability). Results indicated that higher levels of childhood emotional abuse were reported by women in the at-risk and negative parenting subgroups. Mothers in the negative parenting and at-risk parenting clusters exhibited greater levels of emotional abuse when compared to the positive parenting cluster. Possible implications are discussed, and results underscore the importance of emotionally abusive developmental experiences in the understanding of risk for maladaptive parenting behaviors.