Economically disadvantaged juvenile offenders tried in adult court are perceived as less able to understand their actions,but more guilty

We investigated the influence of a juvenile defendant's socioeconomic status (SES) on mock jurors’ perceptions of a juvenile tried in adult court. As predicted, participants convicted the low SES juvenile defendant of felony murder significantly more than the middle or high SES juvenile defendant. Yet, participants also rated the low SES juvenile as less mature than the middle or high SES juvenile – a belief that past research shows predicts leniency in verdicts (i.e., not guilty judgments). Finally, stereotypes about the criminality of low SES juvenile defendants, not a lack of perceived similarity, partially mediated the effect of SES on guilt.     

Effect of 1,2-indanedione on PCR-STR typing of fingerprints deposited on thermal and carbonless paper

The determination of the date of death from bone remains is of scientific interest but also has important legal implications. The establishment of the postmortem interval (PMI) is a very complex problem because of the great number of intrinsic factors that may alter the normal course of postmortem change, such as the age, sex, constitution and previous physiological and pathological states of the subject, and external factors. In order to evaluate the utility of X-ray diffraction and the measurement of some components in dating bone remains, a total of 69 long bones from 69 different cadavers (41 males, 28 females) with a mean age of 68 years (S.D.=17.6, range 12-97) were used. The bones were removed from cement tombs of Murcia Cemetery, where they had lain for documented times of between 7 and 54 years (S.D.=11.6, mean time 17.6 years). We have studied potassium, sulphur, nitrogen, urea, total protein, phosphorus, and some X-ray diffraction (XRD) parameters related to the degree of crystallinity of the mineral component in medullar and cortical bone zones to establish which of the two provides the most useful information for calculating the PMI. In the overall analysis of our data, we believe that the use of both XRD and biochemical analyses (especially of urea, potassium and sulphur) particularly in the cortical zone of the bone could be an alternative method for dating osseous remains.     

Identifying the Source of Mystery Waterborne Oil Spills—A Case for Quantitative Chemical Fingerprinting

Oil spills of unknown origin, so-called “mystery” spills, occur routinely in rivers, open water, and navigable coastal waterways. The natural resources damage (NRD) liability associated with even a small volume of oil released into the environment warrants that a thorough chemical characterization of the spilled oil be conducted by agencies and potentially responsible parties (PRPs). Chemical fingerprinting methods have played an important role in the identification of mystery oil spills. These methods fall into two categories, viz., qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative approach relies upon visual comparison of various chromatographic fingerprints obtained by GC/FID and GC/MS analysis of spill and candidate source oils and are represented ASTM methods. The quantitative approach relies upon measurements of the concentrations (relative or absolute) of dozens of diagnostic chemicals, typically PAHs and biomarkers, and a subsequent statistical or numerical analysis of various diagnostic parameters calculated from these concentrations. The quantitative approach is represented by the revised Nordtest methodology. The quantitative approach is preferable for most oil spill investigations since the means of interpretation are objective, whereas the ASTM methods are subjective. Quantitative fingerprinting data are particularly important when the mystery spill and source oils are qualitatively similar and are required when mystery spills may include mixed sources or prespill oil signatures.     

Politics and Image: The Conceptual Value of Branding

This article argues that the brand concept is a powerful tool for understanding political images. It challenges typical economic versions of political marketing that tend to deemphasize the significance of communication, popular culture, and personality in politics and argues that the brand as a concept can bring together the economic and the aesthetic, rational choice and cultural resonance. It proposes a model of brand distinctiveness and argues that this may be useful both in the analysis of party communication and in the normative evaluation of that communication.     

The Impact of DNA Exonerations on the Criminal Justice System

One obvious result of DNA exonerations has been the enactment of legislation regulating postconviction DNA testing. But the impact on our criminal justice system goes beyond formal statutory change. The DNA exonerations are changing attitudes towards the death penalty, are focusing attention on how forensic laboratories operate, and are leading to the stricter scrutiny of forensic science.     

Analysis of mutations in father–son pairs with 17 Y-STR loci

We have examined 389 father/son sample pairs from U.S. Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics and Asians using the 17 Y-STR loci in the Yfiler™ kit and observed a total of 24 differences between father and son. Thirteen mutations resulted in the gain of a repeat in the son and 11 resulted in a loss of a repeat. All samples resulted in single repeat mutations except one sample which contained a two repeat loss at Y-GATA-H4. Furthermore, two different sample pairs were found to have two mutations. An African American sample pair had a mutation at DYS458 and a second at DYS635 and an Asian sample pair had mutations at DYS439 and Y-GATA-H4.