Risk and Protective Predictors of Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms Among Adolescents from Immigrant Backgrounds

Although there has been an increasing number of studies that has examined depression among adolescents from immigrant backgrounds, findings have been mixed, with some studies reporting that immigrant status is associated with risk, while others report that immigration status is linked to adequate or positive outcomes. Thus, it is important to explore how underlying predictors contribute to trajectories of depressive symptoms among adolescents from immigrant backgrounds. Using data from a nationally representative Canadian sample (N = 1,060; aged 12 to 23; 48.9% female), this longitudinal study examined the effects of risk and protective factors on trajectories of depressive symptoms using multilevel modeling. Predictors of depressive symptoms tended to be protective and suggest a universal positive influence of self-esteem, positive peer relationships, and parent–child cohesion. Host language proficiency was predictive of greater increases in depressive symptoms over time. Findings highlight the value of promoting protective factors and aspects of one’s heritage among immigrant adolescents.     

Communication Breakdown: Strategic Communications and Defeat in Afghanistan

The author reflects on our decade long conflict in Afghanistan and identifies what he considers a main contributor to the malaise. He believes it is a failure to communicate: a message of purpose which answers the oft-asked “why are we there?” question amongst Western audiences; a message of resolve on which Afghans can bet their lives that ISAF will remain there until the Taliban is beaten or compelled to reasonable compromise; and, a message of what success will look like which is accompanied by a compelling rationalization of the cost.     

Motives and methods for leaving the gang: Understanding the process of gang desistance

Purpose

This study examined the process of leaving the gang. Gang membership was conceptualized in a life course framework and the motives for why and methods for how one leaves the gang were analyzed.

Methods

Data were gathered from a sample of 84 juvenile arrestees in Arizona, all of whom left their gang. Motives for leaving the gang were organized into factors internal (push) and external (pull) to the gang, while methods for leaving the gang were organized into hostile and non-hostile modes of departure. Motives and methods were cross-classified and their correlates were examined, notably in relation to gang ties—persisting social and emotional attachments to the gang.

Results

Push motives and non-hostile methods were the modal responses for leaving the gang. While it was not uncommon to experience a hostile departure from the gang, most former gang members reported walking away without ritual violence or ceremony. This method was conditional on the motive for departure, however. None of the individuals leaving the gang for pull or external reasons experienced a hostile departure. While gang ties persisted regardless of motive or method, retaining such ties corresponded with serious consequences.

Conclusions

A life course framework is capable of organizing similarities between leaving the gang and desistance from other forms of crime and deviant groups. The process of gang desistance is consistent with asymmetrical causation. Due to limited attention to this process, a typology is introduced as a basis for understanding leaving the gang in relation to desisting from crime.     

Matching consequences to behavior: implications of failing to distinguish between noncompliance and nonresponsivity

Neither punitive nor therapeutic approaches alone are effective at addressing the dual public health and public safety concerns associated with managing criminal behavior perpetrated by people who have psychiatric and substance use disorders. The optimal solution may instead require the integration of both criminal justice supervision and treatment. Using problem-solving courts (PSCs) as a model, we focus on one dimension of this integrated approach, distinguishing between behavior that stems from willful noncompliance with supervision and behavior that results from nonresponsivity to treatment. First, we discuss the public health and public safety consequences of using singular approaches to address the criminal behavior of this population. We then present lessons learned from PSCs that distinguish between noncompliant and nonresponsive behaviors in making treatment and supervision decisions. Finally, we consider how the concepts of nonresponsivity and noncompliance may be extended, via policy, to probation and parole settings as well as mental health and substance abuse treatment services outside the criminal justice setting in order to enhance public health and safety.     

Courts' misplaced confidence in psychiatric diagnoses

In considering psychiatric evidence, criminal justice systems make considerable use of labels from official psychiatric classificatory systems. There are legislated requirements for psychological and/or behavioural phenomena to be addressed in legal tests, however medico-legal use of the current categorical diagnostic frameworks which are increasingly complex is difficult to justify. The lack of validity in large domains of the present classificatory systems is now more openly acknowledged, prompting a critical rethink. Illustrative examples include post-traumatic stress disorder, various personality disorders, and dissociative identity disorder. It follows that the Courts' faith in the present categorical classifications (e.g., DSMIV and ICD10) is misplaced and may be ultimately unhelpful to the administration of justice.     

Promises,Rights and Claims

The paper argues that promise rights presuppose independently existing (if not pre-existing) claims. The argument relies on the Bifurcation Thesis, according to which all claims, and all rights, can be exhaustively divided into two categories: capacity based and exercise based.     

Age and sex related measurement of craniofacial soft tissue thickness and nasal profile in the Chinese population

The purpose of this study was to acquire accurate data of craniofacial soft tissue thickness (CFSTT) and nasal profile in Chinese people of Han population. A total of 31 anatomical landmarks and 4 nasal profile parameters were determined using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 425 subjects (233 males and 192 females). In the present study, the mean CFSTT values of male subjects exceeded those of female subjects at most anatomical landmarks except at seven (22.58%) and 6 out of the 7 landmarks were bilateral anatomical landmark points. The age-related and sex × age interactions were found to be statistically significant at all landmarks. Significant differences were found in the nasal profile data of males and females, and 15 out of 20 different groups had significant differences between sexes, and the mean values of nasal length, nasal height, nasal depth and nasal breadth in males were all greater than those in females. Furthermore, both CFSTT and nasal profile showed good correlation with age. The thickest CFSTT of male and female were found at the respective ages of 45-59 and 35-44, and the nasal profile becomes more constant after 24 years of age. CFSTT of the lower part of the face shows greater variation compared to the upper part, so special care needs to be applied when reconstructing the lower portion of the face. Our data on CFSTT and nasal profile for the Chinese Xi'an Han population is important in understanding craniofacial characteristics of the Chinese population and might be potentially helpful in forensic identification.     

Effects of Experiencing the Eyewitness Identification Procedure on Juror Decisions

Mistaken eyewitness identifications are believed to contribute to a preponderance of wrongful convictions, underscoring the need to identify methods to help decrease the likelihood of false convictions based on eyewitness testimony. The present study tested the hypothesis that providing jurors with first-hand experience with eyewitness identification procedures could help further sensitize them to the limitations of eyewitness testimony. Eighty college students watched a videotaped mock trial in which the prosecution’s sole evidence was eyewitness testimony. In a 2 × 2 randomized factorial design, we manipulated whether participants heard expert psychological testimony (henceforth referred to as expert testimony) on the limitations of eyewitness identification and whether they experienced an eyewitness identification procedure. As predicted, experiencing the eyewitness identification procedure had a significant impact on juror decisions, suggesting that this procedure could further help reduce the likelihood of wrongful convictions.