Identifying chop marks on cremated bone: a preliminary study

The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate the effects of burning on hacking trauma inflicted with a cleaver and to assess the diagnostic potential of cleaver marks exposed to fire. Thirty pig forelimbs (radius and ulna) and 30 beef ribs were each subjected to five blows with a cleaver and five cuts with a knife prior to burning in an outdoor fire. Bones were deliberately agitated to ensure maximum cremation and induce fragmentation. Results indicate that hacking weakens bone, making fire-induced fragmentation more likely at the sites of trauma. Chop marks were easily identified on burned bone, their characteristics largely unaffected by cremation.     

Injuries of the Head from Backface Deformation of Ballistic Protective Helmets Under Ballistic Impact

Modern ballistic helmets defeat penetrating bullets by energy transfer from the projectile to the helmet, producing helmet deformation. This deformation may cause severe injuries without completely perforating the helmet, termed “behind armor blunt trauma” (BABT). As helmets become lighter, the likelihood of larger helmet backface deformation under ballistic impact increases. To characterize the potential for BABT, seven postmortem human head/neck specimens wearing a ballistic protective helmet were exposed to nonperforating impact, using a 9 mm, full metal jacket, 124 grain bullet with velocities of 400–460 m/s. An increasing trend of injury severity was observed, ranging from simple linear fractures to combinations of linear and depressed fractures. Overall, the ability to identify skull fractures resulting from BABT can be used in forensic investigations. Our results demonstrate a high risk of skull fracture due to BABT and necessitate the prevention of BABT as a design factor in future generations of protective gear.     

Development of a Computer‐Assisted Forensic Radiographic Identification Method Using the Lateral Cervical and Lumbar Spine

Medical examiners and coroners (ME/C) in the United States hold statutory responsibility to identify deceased individuals who fall under their jurisdiction. The computer‐assisted decedent identification (CADI) project was designed to modify software used in diagnosis and treatment of spinal injuries into a mathematically validated tool for ME/C identification of fleshed decedents. CADI software analyzes the shapes of targeted vertebral bodies imaged in an array of standard radiographs and quantifies the likelihood that any two of the radiographs contain matching vertebral bodies. Six validation tests measured the repeatability, reliability, and sensitivity of the method, and the effects of age, sex, and number of radiographs in array composition. CADI returned a 92–100% success rate in identifying the true matching pair of vertebrae within arrays of five to 30 radiographs. Further development of CADI is expected to produce a novel identification method for use in ME/C offices that is reliable, timely, and cost‐effective.     

Supporting low-income homeowners: lessons from a program to coordinate weatherization and rehabilitation services

Homeownership is the primary way most families build wealth in this country. Low-income homeowners are less likely to get that benefit because they are more likely to own older houses that are more costly to operate and need more essential maintenance. Rapidly escalating home energy costs are straining the budgets of many low-income homeowners, increasing the likelihood of under maintenance and mortgage default. This paper presents an evaluation of a demonstration program designed to coordinate weatherization and rehabilitation programs in order to assist low-income households, decrease energy costs, and to improve the condition and value of their homes. The experience of 11 local non-profit organizations, funded to develop programs to coordinate weatherization and housing rehabilitation services, were studied over a five-year period. The results of the evaluation indicate that there are many obstacles to coordinating weatherization and rehabilitation programs, but that it can be accomplished under the right conditions. Major gaps exist between program eligibility thresholds and in the types of assistance available to low-income homeowners. Policy recommendations for facilitating coordination are presented.     

Two Approaches,One Course: An Experience in Experiential Learning

In universities where experiential learning is not the norm, introducing this style of learning into undergraduate courses can be an intimidating process for both instructors and students. Instructors are often unsure of how to manage student experiences in the community, while a significant number of students react with skepticism toward this new type of course, as well as concern about their instructor's changing expectations for their performance. The following is a reflection of our first 2 years of teaching undergraduate courses from a distinctly experiential learning approach. Qualitative data is used to highlight the parallel learning processes that occurred over the semester, for students as well as for us as instructors. Our biggest challenges are explored in detail, and advice to instructors contemplating adapting an experiential approach to their own courses is presented.     

Two heads are better than one? How to effectively use two interviewers to elicit cues to deception

Background. We examined the effect of a second interviewer's demeanour on cues to deception. We predicted that a supportive demeanour would be the most beneficial for eliciting verbal cues to deceit, as it would encourage truth tellers, but not liars, to say more. In addition, we examined the extent to which interviewees deliberately made eye contact with the interviewers. Liars take their credibility less for granted than truth tellers, and therefore have a greater drive to be convincing. Liars are thus more likely to monitor the interviewer to determine if the interviewer appears to believe them. Method. Participants appeared before two interviewers: the first asked all the questions and the second remained silent. The second interviewer exhibited either a supportive, neutral, or a suspicious demeanour. Results. Truth tellers provided significantly more detail than liars, but only in the supportive second interviewer condition. The effect of a second interviewer's demeanour on detail was perhaps remarkable given that the interviewees hardly looked at the second interviewer (less than 10% of the time). Liars displayed more deliberate eye contact (with the first interviewer) than truth tellers did. Conclusions. A supportive second interviewer has a positive effect on interviewing. We discuss this finding in the wider contexts of investigative interviewing and interviewing to detect deception.     

Slovakia's Neoliberal Turn

Slovakia distinguished itself in the first half of this decade by launching a coherent set of economic reforms that limited government and transferred social and economic risk to individuals. We examine reforms in fiscal policy, pensions, the labour code, health care, investment, education and justice. While the surprise formation of a centre – right governing coalition in 2002 enabled Slovakia's ‘neoliberal’ turn, a close network of neoliberal policy makers and advisors from civil society organisations used the opportunity to push forward a compelling explanation of Slovak economic problems and promote a clear institutional design for fixing them.     

A Calibration Test for Latent Fingerprint Development on Thermal Paper

A calibration test is described for monitoring the operation of equipment used to develop latent fingerprints on thermal paper by the application of either controlled or uncontrolled heat. A working solution of a water/glycerol emulsion and butylene glycol is applied to thermal paper by means of either a vinyl stamp and pad, or a marker pen. Varying the amount of butylene glycol enables the thermal paper to change color at different temperatures between approximately 40 and 60°C, which is below the normal color change temperature of the paper. The described test may be used to verify the correct operation, at different temperatures, of a controlled heat source during and after fingerprint development (such as the Hot Print System) or to monitor the paper temperature with an uncontrolled heat source (such as a warm air blower), thereby avoiding unintentional coloring of the entire paper surface.     

Dominant discourses, debates and silences on child labour in Africa and Asia

Drawing on the relevant literature, this article explores key debates and controversies on child labour in the context of Africa and Asia. It first identifies and analyses three dominant discourses on child labour: 1) the work-free childhoods perspective; 2) the socio-cultural perspective; and 3) the political economy perspective. Against the backdrop of these discourses, the article goes on to critically examine aspects of child labour that are underrepresented in the literature and in international policy circles. It concludes by highlighting the importance of grounding children's gendered work within the complex material social practices of interconnected histories and geographies in which their livelihoods unfold.     

Event and Victimization

This article contributes to recent existentialist interventions in critical criminology (see Lippens and Crewe 2009) and offers the existential concept of ‘event’ as a guiding image for critical victimology. Whereas existential criminologists have examined crime and wrongdoing, very little attention has been given to victimization. I utilize the existential phenomenology of Martin Heidegger and Claude Romano to offer a critique of existing approaches to victimization within mainstream criminology and develop an evential analytic to understand the event of victimization. This paper brings together existential philosophy and victimology to offer an alternative approach to victimization. I engage with the ‘problem of number’ in conventional victimology and offer a critique of quantitative approaches to victimization based on the unsubstitutability and singularity of existence. Through a discussion of selfhood and embodiment from an evential standpoint, this paper moves beyond existing victimological approaches to identity. I also consider the relationship between victimization and trauma. In the final section of the paper I carve out an alternative research agenda through a discussion of bearing witness and events of victimization.