Clinically Significant Trauma Symptoms and Behavioral Problems in a Community-based Sample of Children Exposed to Domestic Violence

This study assessed the associations of characteristics of domestic violence incidents with clinically significant levels of traumatic symptoms and behavioral problems in a socio-economically and ethnically mixed sample of 687 children participating in a community-service program for children witnessing violence. Study predictors included child/family demographic characteristics, type and chronicity of exposure, and child’s perceptions of control over the event and threat to personal safety. Outcomes consisted of traumatic symptoms and behavior problems. Results showed that perceived threat and control were associated with greater odds of clinically significant levels of several trauma symptoms (and behavior problems in the case of perceived threat) after adjusting for effects of demographic factors and violence characteristics. Child co-victimization increased odds of reaching clinically significant levels of traumatic symptoms compared to children who witnessed the event but were not victimized. Female sex and White ethnicity increased odds of specific trauma symptoms and behavior problems. Increasing age reduced odds of some trauma symptoms. Associations between predictors and one outcome measure did not generalize across the other outcome measure. Implications of study findings, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Using GIS to evaluate post-release prisoner services in Newark, New Jersey

Discharge planning is increasingly prioritized by correctional systems in order to prepare prisoners for their reintegration into society. A goal of discharge planning is to link prisoners with appropriate service providers in the community to meet their needs. A successful discharge plan requires that an optimal level of services exist and work in a coordinated and collaborative way in order to ensure a continuum of care and treatment during the reentry process (Queralt & Witte, 1999). This study utilized Geographic Information System (GIS) to assess the size, demographic characteristics, and needs of the Newark, New Jersey parolee population with the availability, location, and characteristics of health and human service agencies servicing their needs. A random sample of parolees (N = 800) released in 2006 was selected for this study. Social service agency data were obtained from an on-line service agency data base. Results of the analysis include the degree of spatial distribution, accessibility, and availability of services to where the parolees live and the degree of spatial overlap of specific services in an area.     

Under the microscope: legal challenges to fingerprints and DNA as methods of forensic identification1

Suspects in legal cases can be identified by an ever‐growing list of novel methods. The most common techniques currently used include latent print and DNA analysis. Although standard fingerprinting entered the courtroom over a century ago, the admissibility of fingerprint evidence has undergone a period of intense scrutiny in the USA in recent years. In contrast, most challenges to DNA analysis as a science came during its inception in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Current challenges to fingerprint evidence attempt to discredit the science behind the theory whereas challenges to DNA evidence often bring into question the competency of the analyst. In either case, the lessons learned in various court systems give guidance for those implementing the newer emerging biometric identification technologies such as facial recognition systems, retinal scans and the like. The first section of this article deals with fingerprint analysis and recent challenges to fingerprint admissibility in US courts. The second section discusses the evolution of DNA analysis and relevant cases. The final section gives recommendations for emerging biometric technologies to follow to satisfy the standards set forth by the courts.     

Cosmetic agreements and the cracks beneath: ideological convergences and divergences in US and EU democracy promotion in civil society

This piece examines the substance of EU democracy promotion from a comparative point of view and from a perspective placing under inquiry the meaning of the idea of liberal democracy itself. Instead of assuming that the democratic ideal that the EU promotes (‘liberal democracy’) has a clear, fixed meaning, the article examines in detail what actually constitutes the ‘ideal of democracy’ at the heart of EU democracy promotion, and compares this vision to that which informs the democracy promotion of the US. It argues that interesting differences, and shifts and oscillations, in the models of liberal democracy that the EU and the US promote exist and that these are important to note in order for us to fully appreciate how the substance of EU and US democracy support can be shaped by conceptual and ideological debate on the meaning of democracy. This dynamic is particularly relevant today, in the context of the recent attempts to develop transatlantic dialogue on democracy support. This dialogue, it is suggested, plasters over some subtle but important ideological cracks over what is meant by democracy in EU and US democracy support.     

Large‐scale Map or the A‐Z? The Place of Self‐help Services in Legal Aid

Australian legal aid agencies are increasing their reliance on self-help legal services as part of their service delivery mix. Self-help legal services seek to harness the productive capacity of consumers,enabling wider distribution of legal aid services. The move to self-help services as an alternative to traditional legal service delivery appears to have gained momentum in advance of any sound understandings of what legal consumers, and legal aid consumers in particular, are capable of. In addition to the cost benefits of providing self-help services rather than traditional legal services, these services have been promoted on the basis of their capacity to empower users to address their own legal matters. Examples of the misuse by government agencies of notions of empowerment emphasize the importance of ensuring the usefulness of self-help legal services.