Potential carcass enrichment of the University of Tennessee Anthropology Research Facility: A baseline survey of edaphic features

The University of Tennessee Anthropology Research Facility (ARF) is known for its unique contribution to forensic science as a site of human decomposition research. Studies conducted at ARF are integral in our understanding of the processes of human decomposition. As such, the authors are interested in the long-term effects of continuous human decomposition on the soil environment. Soil samples collected from within and outside the ARF were evaluated for moisture content, pH, organic content, total carbon and nitrogen content, and biomass by lipid-bound phosphorus, and total extracted DNA. Analyses revealed no significant differences (p<0.05) among the sampled areas within the facility, and yet demonstrated a possible trend toward increased levels of total N, Lipid-P, and water, suggesting an influx of high-quality nutrients into the ARF soil. Furthermore, elevated pH readings, presumably resulting from ammonification of the soil, were observed in areas of high decomposition. The negative control samples proved significantly different from nearly all samples collected within the facility, the exceptions being total carbon content and extractable DNA. These findings indicate that while landscape samples inside may be similar to themselves, they are dissimilar to those taken in a similar temperate forest biome with no recorded history of human decomposition.     

Does Self-Control Influence Maternal Attachment? A Reciprocal Effects Analysis from Early Childhood Through Middle Adolescence

Objectives

The purpose of this study is twofold. First, this study assesses the extent to which self-control and maternal attachment mutually influence one another. Second, it investigates whether this process continues to occur during adolescence. To date, studies of the etiology of self-control have yet to adequately address these issues, despite the fact that a number of theoretical perspectives emphasize the reciprocal nature of the parent-child relationship.

Methods

The current study seeks to shed light on these issues by examining the relationship between self-control and maternal attachment using structural equation modeling for eight waves of data spanning a period of time that encompasses early childhood through middle adolescence.

Results

The results yield two findings bearing on the adequacy of Gottfredson and Hirschi??s model of self-control development. First, measures of self-control and maternal attachment were found to mutually influence one another during childhood. Second, these effects were reduced to nonsignificance during adolescence.

Conclusions

This study finds that self-control emerges during childhood in a complex manner in which it both shapes and is shaped by parental attachment.     

Implementing Intelligence-Led Policing: An Application of Loose-Coupling Theory

Purpose

This research is intended to inform a knowledge gap in the literature and present the first national findings related to intelligence-led policing adoption among state and local agencies. Specific practices are identified to inform scholars and practitioners regarding intelligence-led policing behaviors.

Methods

Original survey research from a federally-funded project is gleaned to explore intelligence-led policing adoption through a loose-coupling theoretical perspective. Negative binomial and logistic regression models are employed to identify predictive relationships.

Results

Agencies nationwide appear to be closely following the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan recommendations to enhance information sharing. Consistent with the Department of Homeland Security’s Target Capabilities List is also observed. Agency size appears to have a significant effect on key organizational information sharing behaviors. The findings are tempered due to limitations in the research design.

Conclusions

Local agencies appear to be tightly-coupled with the recommendations put forth in the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan in their efforts to adopt intelligence-led policing. Agency size appears to enhance adoption across most dependent metrics. This research progresses the limited evidence base and progress regarding this emerging policing philosophy.     

“Intimate Terrorism” and Gender Differences in Injury of Dating Partners by Male and Female University Students

A version of the partner violence typology developed by Johnson (Journal of Marriage and the Family 57: 283-294, 1995) that more fully reflects the inherently dyadic nature of partner violence is presented, as well as a method of using the Conflict Tactics Scales to identify cases in the typology, including “Intimate Terrorists.” Analysis of 13,877 university student dating relationships found a similar percent of male and female “Intimate Terrorists.” This is consistent with other studies of general populations and reflects inadequacies in Johnson’s methodology. Bidirectional violence, including Intimate Terrorism, was associated with the highest probability of injury, especially for women. The results suggest that programs to reduce partner violence, including reducing violence against women, should address violence and coercive control by both partners.     

From Resistance Movement to Civil War: Why Violence Escalated in Lithuania but not in Moldova during Soviet Annexation (1944–1952)

Abstract

This article compares resistance movements along the western borderlands of the Soviet Union between 1944 and 1952. Despite similar levels of state repression and local grievances, Moldova’s opposition movement did not escalate to the level of civil war, whereas civil wars emerged across the Baltic states, Belarus, and Ukraine. Through theory development and testing, the article compares Lithuania and Moldova, identifying the role of previous regime behaviour, the speed of Soviet takeover, and the availability of safe havens within Moldova and Lithuania as the key causal factors explaining the difference.     

Fluorescence Imaging of Posterior Spiracles from Second and Third Instars of Forensically Important Chrysomya rufifacies (Diptera: Calliphoridae),

Entomological protocols for aging blowfly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) larvae to estimate the time of colonization (TOC) are commonly used to assist in death investigations. While the methodologies for analyzing fly larvae differ, most rely on light microscopy, genetic analysis, or, more rarely, electron microscopy. This pilot study sought to improve resolution of larval stage in the forensically important blowfly Chrysomya rufifacies using high‐content fluorescence microscopy and biochemical measures of developmental marker proteins. We established fixation and mounting protocols, defined a set of measurable morphometric criteria and captured developmental transitions of 2nd instar to 3rd instar using both fluorescence microscopy and anti‐ecdysone receptor Western blot analysis. The data show that these instars can be distinguished on the basis of robust, nonbleaching, autofluorescence of larval posterior spiracles. High‐content imaging techniques using confocal microscopy, combined with morphometric and biochemical techniques, may therefore aid forensic entomologists in estimating TOC.     

The First Delinquent Peers Are the Most Important: Examining Nonlinearity in the Peer Effect

Criminologists have long recognized the importance of peers in the etiology of delinquency. Yet, the bulk of empirical studies on this topic make the implicit assumption that the peer effect to be conditioned is linear. With few notable exceptions, prior criminological research has not thought deeply about possible nonlinearity in the peer effect. To address this issue, the present study examines whether the functional form of the relationship between peer and respondent smoking, getting drunk, and fighting is nonlinear, and whether this nonlinearity is moderated by lagged respondent delinquency. Logistic regression models on adolescents from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health indicate that the marginal effect of peer delinquency on respondent delinquency decreases as the count of delinquent friends increases, consistent with a satiation effect. Moreover, the models indicate that the nonlinear effect of peer delinquency on respondent delinquency is moderated by prior respondent delinquency.     

“Error But Without Malice” in Defamation of Public Officials: The Value of Free Expression in International Human Rights Law

Government officials in various parts of the world use defamation to silence critics, but defamation liability may curtail freedom of expression on topics of public interest and undermine human rights generally. Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees freedom of expression unless a state can show need to protect individual reputation and acts proportionally. In its adjudication of complaints for violations of Article 19, and in its General Comment 34, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has crafted the principle that defamation liability may not be imposed if an erroneous statement about a public official was made in “error but without malice.” Although soft law, General Comment 34 represents the committee's most compelling articulation of the values animating freedom of expression in international human rights law, and chief among the values is the role played by free expression to promote realization of all human rights.     

Tricyclic Antidepressants Found in Pilots Fatally Injured in Civil Aviation Accidents

Prevalence of tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) has not been explored in pilots. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) aviation accident and the Federal Aviation Administration's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) toxicology and medical certification databases were searched for pilots fatally injured in aviation accidents. During 1990–2012, CAMI received bio‐samples of pilots from 7037 aviation accidents. Of these, 2644 cases were positive for drugs. TCAs were present in 31. TCA blood concentrations ranged from therapeutic to toxic levels. The NTSB determined that the use of drugs and ethanol as the probable cause or contributing factor in 35% (11 of 31) of the accidents. None of the 31 pilots reported the use of TCAs during their aviation medical examination. The prevalence of TCAs in aviators was less than 0.5% (31 of 7037 cases). There is a need for aviators to fully disclose the use of medications at the time of their medical examination.