Identifying and Managing Stress in Child Pornography and Child Exploitation Investigators

In the last decade, law enforcement personnel have increasingly been tasked to police the internet in an effort to staunch the production and distribution of child pornography and to investigate computer-facilitated child exploitation. These investigative personnel have encountered a range of assignment-specific challenges and strains as a result of their involvement in this taxing and novel investigative activity. In some cases, the cumulative effects of these strains, together with repeated exposure to highly disturbing images of abused children, have resulted in stress reactions that have commanded the attention of police managers and police psychologists alike. The present article is intended to provide an overview of the stresses unique to child exploitation and pornography investigations, common reactions to these stressors, procedural safeguards to mitigate the impact of this high-risk assignment, and two model programs designed to meet the needs of the current generation of “cyber cops”.

The Lack of Dissent in WTO Dispute Settlement

This article analyses in detail the fact that there has beenalmost no dissent in World Trade Organization (WTO) disputesettlement reports. Only a handful of articles have noted thisphenomenon, even in passing. The article first examines theempirical data with respect to dissenting and concurring opinionsat both the panel and Appellate Body levels. Fewer than 5% ofpanel reports and 2% of Appellate Body reports contain separateopinions of any kind. Second, it shows that the WTO is in factactively discouraging dissents and discusses why this mightbe the case. The article argues that dissents are valuable ingeneral and assesses whether more dissents would be a positivefor the WTO. It then reviews the few dissents that have beenpublished and demonstrates that 50% of the arguments raisedin dissents at the panel level were adopted in whole or in parton appeal by the Appellate Body, thus illustrating dissentscan and do make a difference. The article concludes that keepingthe lid on dissents may ultimately erode the strength of thedispute settlement system and hinder the ability of the WTOMembers to make appropriate changes to the Agreements.     

Postcranial Sex Estimation Criteria for Mexican Hispanics

Population-specific reference data are necessary for sex estimation in forensic anthropological practice. Currently, there are no population-specific data for Hispanics equivalent to data available for American Blacks and Whites. Individuals of Mexican origin represent the largest group of Hispanics in the United States (Spradley and Jantz. 2011. J Forensic Sci;56:289). This paper presents new population-specific sex estimation criteria for postcranial measurements for Mexican Hispanics. Metric data come from positively identified border-crossing fatalities at the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner and documented cemetery collections curated at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán. Stepwise variable selection procedures and discriminant function analyses were utilized to generate classification functions for postcrania. Sectioning points were also created for select measurements. Both the cross-validated classification rates and sectioning points achieved accuracy rates as high as 95% and 92%, respectively. These new criteria will improve sex estimation for US Mexico border crossers and Hispanics in the US.