Biological and DNA evidence in 1000 sexual assault cases

Using a Filemaker-based database (DNA Pro-FILES, Synchrone Infosystème Inc.), we have conducted a large-scale study on 1000 sexual assault (SA) cases where a standardized kit was submitted to our laboratory alone or with other types of exhibits. We looked at the likelihood of obtaining good quality DNA evidence, allegedly from the assailant, according to a number of parameters.The overall proportion of SA cases with DNA evidence is nearly 50%. A little more than 30% of SA kits provided DNA evidence while for 16% of cases DNA evidence could be obtained only from other exhibits.The likelihood of obtaining DNA evidence is approximately 50% in teenager and adult SA cases, but much lower for children 10 years old or younger (15%). In children cases, profiles were found mostly on clothing or skin swabs.The likelihood of obtaining DNA evidence from vaginal swabs remains good for up to 3 days after the assault (from 35% on the first day to 23% on the third day). A DNA profile was obtained from approximately 22% of anal/rectal swabs and 41% of skin swabs taken less than 1 day after the assault. Less than 10% of oral washes provided DNA evidence, all having been collected within 24 h of the assault.We found that in bodily samples, a negative result for acid phosphate (AP) is a poor predictor of the likelihood of obtaining good quality DNA evidence. Approximately 15% of vaginal swabs and 8% of anal swabs negative for AP nevertheless provided good quality DNA evidence.     

The UK Domestic Gas Electricity (Tariff Cap) Act: Re‐regulating the Retail Energy Market

The UK retail energy market has witnessed multiple regulatory interventions since its liberalisation almost two decades ago. Such interventions reached their peak with the enactment of the UK Domestic Gas Electricity (Tariff Cap) Act in July 2018. The Act puts in place a requirement on the independent regulator, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), to set an absolute price cap on poor value tariffs. As such, it signals a repudiation of the overarching paradigm of consumer empowerment that has informed regulatory remedies to date. Rather than advocating for a different paradigm, this article highlights the difficulties inherent in reconciling price caps – both practically and conceptually – with the competitive process and consumer empowerment. It also discussses other instruments, not necessarily exhausted in retail price regulation, that can render affordable energy prices, without sacrificing consumer empowerment.     

Motives and legacies behind 2008-2009 Hungarian Roma murders and apologies

This research analyzes as hate crimes the 2008–9 Hungarian Roma mass-murders by extreme nationalists. Pertinent questions are: ‘What motivated the Roma Murders?’ and ‘How do these motives intertwine with cultural-historical legacies to affect both the murders and later official apologies?’ In examining motives, the essay shows how cultural myths of an ill-fated nation and collective memory of real historic tragedies made Hungarians receptive to an extreme nationalist ideology that transforms a national vision of tragic fate into a vision of a victorious future (Volksgeist). How Hungarian cultural-historical heritage assigns vulnerability and disability to the Roma is explored, and why assigning the same vulnerability to victims when Hungarians apologize for their complicity in the Roma murders cannot restore social justice. The essay adds to previous research the identification of common dynamics in both the hate crimes and later apologies, demanding that a very specific apology addressed to the Roma–as equal citizens–should follow two apologies that position the Roma as less than equal Hungarians.     

What can we do to reduce disciplinary school exclusion? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Journal of Experimental Criminology - To systematically review and quantitatively synthesise the evidence for the impact of different types of school-based interventions on the reduction of school...     

A Unique Fatal Moose Attack Mimicking Homicide

Fatalities caused by animal attacks are rare, but have the potential to mimic homicide. We present a case in which a moose attacked and killed a woman who was walking her dog in a forest. Autopsy showed widespread blunt trauma with a large laceration on one leg in which blades of grass were embedded. Flail chest was the cause of death. The case was initially conceived as homicide by means of a riding lawn mower. A review of the case by moose experts and analyses of biological trace material that proved to originate from moose, established the true source of injury. The dog probably provoked a moose, which, in response, stomped and gored the victim to death. The injuries resembled those previously reported from attacks by cattle and water buffalo. Fatal moose attacks constitute an extremely rare threat in boreal areas, but can be considered in traumatic deaths of unknown cause.     

The Dangers of Co-witness Familiarity: Investigating the Effects of Co-witness Relationships on Blame Conformity

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of pre-existing relationships between co-witnesses on statement similarity, after a post-event discussion. Although research studies have attempted to observe the effect of a pre-existing relationship on eyewitness pairs, few have investigated these effects on larger groups of co-witnesses. Four hundred and twenty participants took part in an eyewitness simulation experiment. Participants were placed into groups of five, and viewed video footage of a bar fight. After witnessing the event, participants discussed the event with group members before giving individual statements privately. The study employed a one-way between subjects design with three conditions: (1) participants discussed the event with familiar co-witnesses, (2) participants discussed the event with unfamiliar co-witnesses and (3) participants were not permitted to discuss the event with their co-witnesses (control). It was found that post-event discussion between co-witnesses increased the level of similarity in blame attribution within the eyewitness groups; however, this difference was only significant in groups where eyewitnesses shared a pre-existing relationship. In addition, the level of uncertainty was reduced when eyewitnesses took part in post-event discussions. It is suggested that this might be attributed to an increased level of informational influence between familiar co-witnesses. However, there was no evidence suggesting that post-event discussions led to an increase in false eyewitness statements.     

Reluctant to embrace innocence: an experimental test of persevering culpability judgments on people’s willingness to support reintegration services for exonerees

Objectives

People are hesitant to fully support reintegration efforts (e.g., opportunities to receive psychological counseling, career counseling, job training, housing assistance, educational opportunities, financial compensation) to help exonerees wrongfully convicted of a crime. However, underlying reasons motivating people’s hesitancy remain unaddressed. This research examined the influence of being wrongfully convicted of a race stereotypic-consistent crime on people’s judgments of exonerees’ culpability and willingness to support reintegration programs.

Method

Using an experimental design, participants were randomly assigned to read a news story that depicted an African-American or White male who was exonerated after being wrongfully convicted of assault or embezzlement. Participants then offered their culpability judgments (i.e., their belief in the exoneree’s guilt and confidence in that belief) and willingness to support reintegration services.

Results

Participants were less confident of the exoneree’s innocence and less supportive of psychological counseling services when the exoneree was a White, compared to African-American, male wrongfully convicted of the race stereotypic-consistent crime of embezzlement. An exploratory conditional mediation analysis indicated that less confidence in the exoneree’s innocence after being wrongfully convicted of a race stereotypic-consistent crime was, in turn, associated with people’s hesitancy to support psychological counseling for the exoneree.

Conclusions

Basic and applied implications to overcome people’s hesitancy to support reintegration efforts for exonerees are discussed.

     

Policy learning as complex contagion: how social networks shape organizational beliefs in forest-based climate change mitigation

Policy Sciences - Policy learning can alter the perceptions of both the seriousness and the causes of a policy problem, thus also altering the perceived need to do...     

Duplications of the Y-chromosome specific loci P25 and 92R7 and forensic implications

In the present study, we demonstrate that two commonly used Y-chromosome single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), P25 and 92R7, are paralogous sequence variants (PSVs) originating from segmental duplications and that at least one of the sequence variants in each group of loci is polymorphic. Several methodologies were used in order to detect the SNP alleles and the PSVs of the loci. All results obtained with the various typing techniques supported the conclusion. The allele distributions of the binary markers were analysed in more than 600 males with seven different haplogroups. For P25, the ancestral allele C was found in several samples from different haplogroups. The derived allele A was always present with an additional C variant. Haplogroup P was defined by the derived allele A at the 92R7 locus. However, the ancestral allele G was always associated with an A variant due to the duplication.