Intellectual disability in a prison population with anger problems in Trinidad

This paper describes the characteristics of groups of prisoners selected to take part in an anger management programme in prisons in Trinidad. Participants completed demographic measures, an IQ assessment, mental health measures and anger rating scales. Fifty-six inmates were screened with the WASI-2 and characteristics of this group are explored in this paper. The mean IQ for the group was 72.34 and 22 had a recorded IQ below 70 (37.5%). All of the respondents reported high levels of mental health problems with their mean ratings on the SCL-90 being closer to those of inpatient psychiatric group norms than non-clinical groups. A score of less than 70 on the WASI-2 is not sufficient for a diagnosis of an Intellectual Disability. Nevertheless, the results suggest that a significant number of individuals in these prisons may have an Intellectual Disability. More research is needed to help identify these individuals and provide support.     

The Role of DNA‐Stained Currency in Gang Robberies within the United Kingdom

Cash‐and‐valuables‐in‐transit (CViT) robberies have become a substantial problem—especially in the current global economy. Over £19.4 million were stolen in 2008 and £17.1 million in 2009 in the United Kingdom alone. The transportation of cash and valuable items between financial institutions has long been a target of robberies in the U.K. After a robbery has occurred, police collect evidence in the form of ink‐stained currency. These stained notes are submitted for analysis. Samples are subjected to polymerase chain reaction in order to amplify any possible botanically derived DNA markers present on the notes. After amplification, capillary electrophoresis allows for the deciphering of the “DNA profile.” The DNA profile is then linked to a particular cash box, and this information is compared with records of whether or not that box had been stolen. The cases below are three such instances where botanically marked currency was used to help solve robberies.     

Experts, Juries, and Witch-hunts: From Fitzjames Stephen to Angela Cannings

Angela Cannings's successful appeal against her convictions for murder has revived an old controversy about the competence of juries to evaluate expert evidence. In response to criticisms of the jury system in the wake of a series of controversial poisoning trials, the Victorian jurist J.F. Stephen argued that juries were well equipped to decide on behalf of the community which experts should be treated as authorities, whose opinions the lay public could accept for practical purposes as 'beyond reasonable doubt'. Such practical decisions did not, Stephen argued, require that juries fully understand the experts' reasons for their conclusions. This article draws on recent work in social epistemology to argue that Stephen's view of the jury remains tenable, and that his authoritarian arguments can be recast in more democratic terms. It also concurs in Stephen's blunt recognition that the courts' need to make decisions despite the uncertainties of science renders some convictions of the innocent inevitable.     

Editorial

The changes to the UK tax rules on residence and domicile havebeen well publicized. Amongst other things, the new legislationremoves the shelter from capital gains tax which was previouslyprovided to UK non-domiciled individuals who benefited froman offshore trust. Some of the harsher (and more retrospective) aspects of thedraft legislation published in January have since been tempered.Offshore trusts will still have a role in planning for non-domiciliaries,not least because significant inheritance tax advantages remain.However, the way in which the process has been managed by theGovernment and HM Revenue & Customs leaves trustees andadvisers (still getting to grips with the 2006 changes to thetaxation of trusts) with little confidence that     

Youth employment and post-war development in Jaffna,northern Sri Lanka

Jaffna District in northern Sri Lanka has recently emerged from three decades of violence and isolation, leading to a diverse array of political, social and economic issues. This article critically analyses the links between youth employment and the post-war reconstruction and development of this region. Unemployment among youth is regarded as a potential threat to the stability of the country during the post-war period, and it is argued that only through the active engagement of Sri Lanka’s youth population can the threat of a resurgence in violence be fully eliminated. The article, which is based on recent field research, examines the extent of youth unemployment within Jaffna District, and considers how government, non-government and community-based actors are working together to solve related problems.     

Dynamic risk factors: scientific kinds or predictive constructs

ABSTRACT

There are a number of theoretical problems evident in the concept of dynamic risk factors that arise from their (increasing) importation into the explanatory and treatment domains of forensic and correctional practice. More specifically: (a) the concept of dynamic risk factors has not been well defined; (b) relatedly, there is a lack of clarity whether dynamic risk factors refer to causal processes or are predictive constructs; and finally (c) because of the above problems no one is sure how best to integrate them into clinical assessment and treatment. I will examine each of these three conceptual problems in this paper and make some suggestions about how to utilise dynamic risk factors in explanations of offending.     

From dynamic risk factors to causal processes: a methodological framework

ABSTRACT

It is becoming increasingly apparent that dynamic risk factors are unable to function as explanations of offending because they are composite constructs, which contain a mixture of putative causes, states of affairs, and problematic cognitive, affective, behavioural and social states associated with crime. In this paper we draw from psychopathology research and theory on the conception and classification of mental disorders to develop the Dynamic Risk Research Framework (DRRF). In our opinion, the assumptions and methodological tool associated with this framework can better focus research into the causes of offending by making use of the information provided by dynamic risk factors. A conceptual framework such as the DRRF can arguably translate this valuable information into deep, coherent explanations, and ultimately, more streamlined and precise intervention strategies.