Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence in Mothers At-Risk for Child Maltreatment

Using three interviews spanning 3 years, we identified intimate partner violence (IPV) classes and determined how class membership changed over time amongst a sample of 217 mothers at-risk for child maltreatment that were enrolled in an early childhood home visitation evaluation study. Data on perpetration/victimization, IPV type (verbal, physical, and sexual abuse and injury) and severity were used to conduct latent class analyses at each time point. Latent transition analyses established the proportion of mothers who changed classes over time. A three-class solution (minimal, moderate, and high IPV) was indicated at each time point. All classes included mutual IPV. Partners used minor verbal abuse in the minimal class, minor and severe verbal abuse and minor physical abuse in the moderate class, and all IPV categories in the high class. At each transition, 40 % or more women moved from minimal to moderate or high IPV. This movement emphasizes the need to screen women frequently and develop interventions recognizing the dynamic nature of IPV.     

Does the truth come out in the writing? Scan as a lie detection tool

We tested the accuracy of Scientific Content Analysis (SCAN), a verbal lie detection tool that is used world-wide by federal law enforcement and military agencies. Sixty-one participants were requested to write down the truth, an outright lie or a concealment lie about activities they had just completed. The statements were coded with SCAN and with another verbal lie detection tool, Reality Monitoring (RM). RM discriminated significantly between truth tellers and outright liars and between truth tellers and concealment liars, whereas SCAN did not discriminate between truth tellers and either kind of liar. Implications of the findings for the suitability of SCAN as a lie detection tool are discussed.     

Second‐hand Emotion? Exploring the Contagion and Impact of Trauma and Distress in the Asylum Law Context

Applicants' accounts of experiences of fear, trauma, violence, and persecution are central to the process of claiming asylum. These narratives are, at a human level, primed to provoke emotional responses, not only in the narrator but also in those to whom the account is relayed. In this article, we explore the vectors of emotionality that permeate asylum decision‐making in the United Kingdom, focusing particularly on the risk faced by the professionals involved of suffering vicarious trauma. More specifically, based on a series of 104 semi‐structured interviews with asylum stakeholders and observation of 48 appeals to the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First‐tier Tribunal, this article identifies the adoption by legal and quasi‐legal professionals of emotional coping strategies – of detachment and denial of responsibility – that risk being deployed in maladaptive ways that jeopardize the prospects for justice.     

问责制药巨头

在丈夫自杀之后，年轻的寡妇吉姆开始追究跨国制药巨头——辉瑞（Pfizer）公司的责任。因为她认为正是它的疏忽，导致丈夫之死。她的努力促成一项具有里程碑式的裁定，有可能因此改变法制进程。     

Self-control, Victimization, and their Influence on Risky Lifestyles: A Longitudinal Analysis Using Panel Data

This research expands past investigations into the influence of low self-control as a risk factor for criminal victimization. Specifically, we consider two questions: (1) whether low self-control at one point in time can predict future victimization, and (2) whether victims alter lifestyle choices (like their own delinquency and contact with delinquent peers) in response to their earlier victimization. We answered these questions using three waves of adolescent panel data from the evaluation of the Gang Resistance Education and Training program. Our results support the predictions of self-control theory, showing that low self-control measured at an earlier time is associated with later victimization, even after controlling for past victimization, delinquency, social bonds, and delinquent peer contact. Likewise, self-control appears to influence the relationship between earlier victimization and later lifestyles.

Suicide with associated acts of arson: two cases from Colorado

We report on two cases of suicide in which the victims started fires before their deaths. In one case the victim died of a single self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head after setting several fires in his residence. In the second case the victim hung himself after setting several fires in his residence and an adjoining building. In both cases, the victim's position was not near the origin of the fires suggesting that the arson was not a failsafe device to the primary mechanism of suicide. Neither victim showed a significant percentage of carboxyhemoglobin, or thermal damage from the fires. Both cases are remarkable in that, had the fire caused more damage to the remains and dwellings, a finding of suicide may not have been reached. We discuss similar aspects between the two reported cases and discuss differences observed with similar events such as complex suicide, suicide by self-immolation, and concealed homicide by burning. Similar cases should be reported to broaden our understanding of these complex events.