Impact of identity theft on methods of identification

Responsibility for confirming a decedent's identity commonly falls on the shoulders of the coroner or medical examiner. Misidentification of bodies results in emotional turmoil for the next-of-kin and can negatively impact the coroner's or medical examiner's career. To avoid such mishaps, the use of scientific methods to establish a positive identification is advocated. The use of scientific methods of identification may not be reliable in cases where the decedent had assumed the identity of another person. Case studies of erroneously identified bodies due to identity theft from the state medical examiner offices in Iowa and New Mexico are presented. This article discusses the scope and major concepts of identity theft and how identity theft prevents the guarantee of a positive identification.     

The Odontology Victim Identification Skill Assessment System*,†

Abstract: Mass fatality identification efforts involving forensic odontology can involve hundreds of dental volunteers. A literature review was conducted and forensic odontologists and dental educators consulted to identify lessons learned from past mass fatality identification efforts. As a result, the authors propose a skill assessment system, the Odontology Victim Identification Skill Assessment System (OVID‐SAS), which details qualifications required to participate on the Antemortem, Postmortem, Ante/Postmortem Comparison, Field, and Shift Leader/Initial Response Teams. For each qualification, specific skills have been identified along with suggested educational pedagogy and skill assessment methods. Courses and assessments can be developed by dental schools, professional associations, or forensic organizations to teach and test for the skills required for dental volunteers to participate on each team. By implementing a system, such as OVID‐SAS, forensic odontologists responsible for organizing and managing a forensic odontology mass fatality identification effort will be able to optimally utilize individuals presenting with proven skills.     

Assessing the correctional orientation of corrections officers in South Korea

The correctional goal in South Korea has recently changed from the straightforward punishment of inmates to rehabilitation. Currently, emphases are being placed on education, counseling, and other treatment programs. These changes have consequently begun to also change the corrections officers' roles from a purely custodial role to a human service role, in which officers are expected to manage rehabilitation and treatment programs. Despite these changes, few studies have examined the attitudes of corrections officers toward rehabilitation programming. This is an important dimension to examine in rehabilitation programming, as corrections officers play a major role in the delivery of institutional programs. This study examines the attitudes of South Korean corrections officers toward rehabilitation programs. Approximately 430 corrections officers were sampled. Results show that correctional attitudes are largely influenced by not only officers' own motivations for joining corrections but also by institutional factors such as job stress. Policy implications are discussed.     

Experiencing and witnessing familial aggression and their relationship to physically aggressive behaviors among Filipino adolescents

The effects of family violence on children's aggressive behaviors have been the focus of much research. However, results have been equivocal in at least the following three areas: (a) the specific effects on aggression of child-directed violence versus child-witnessed violence, (b) the salience of family violence as an explanation of aggression when other theoretically relevant explanations of aggression are controlled (i.e., peers, attachments, or moral beliefs), and (c) the gender-specific effects of family violence. Using a probability sample of adolescents from a medium-sized city in the Philippines, this article assesses the effects of child-directed and child-witnessed violence between parents on aggressive behaviors of adolescents while controlling for theoretically relevant explanations of aggression. Results show that child-witnessed and child-directed violence are positively and significantly related to self-reported aggression, that child-witnessed violence accounts for most of the variance in adolescent aggression, and that neither measures of family violence interacts with gender.     

Drugs, Violence, and Development in Colombia: A Department-Level Analysis

Observers say that drug production fuels violence in Colombia, but does coca production explain different levels of violence? This article examines the relationship between coca production and guerrilla violence by reviewing national‐level data over time and studying Colombia by department, exploring the interactions among guerrilla violence, exports, development, and displacement. It uses historical analysis, cartographic visualization, and analysis of the trends in four high coca‐producing and four violent Colombian departments, along with a department‐level fixed effects model. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the department‐level analysis suggests that coca production is not the driving force of contemporary Colombian guerrilla violence. Instead, economic factors and coca eradication emerge as prominent explanatory factors.     

Violence against women and economic, social and cultural rights in Africa

International human rights treaties and declarations lay out the interconnection of civil and political rights with economic, social, and cultural rights. However, it was not until 1993 at the 2^nd UN Conference on Human Rights in Vienna that governments agreed that all of women’s rights are an integral part of human rights. Promoting women’s economic, social, and cultural rights is a critical human rights advocacy issue. Poverty leaves women more exposed to violence and less able to escape it, and severely restricts women’s ability to organize and fight for change. The article describes work by AI and other NGOs on violence against women and its connection with women's poverty and lack of education, healthcare, housing, and access to land in Africa. Besides the burgeoning of African women’s organizations calling for protection of all women’s human rights, a second hopeful development has been approval in July 2003 of an historic Protocol on the Rights of women in Africa.