A further study to investigate the detection and enhancement of latent fingerprints using visible absorption and luminescence chemical imaging

This study investigated the application of chemical imaging to the detection of latent fingerprints using the Condor macroscopic chemical imaging system (ChemImage Corp., Pittsburgh, USA). Methods were developed and optimised for the visualisation of untreated latent fingerprints and fingerprints processed with DFO, ninhydrin, cyanoacrylate, and cyanoacrylate plus rhodamine 6G stain. The results obtained with chemical imaging were compared to the detection achieved using conventional imaging techniques. The Condor significantly improved the detection of many prints, especially those that might be considered poor quality or borderline prints. Prints on newspaper treated with ninhydrin and DFO, and prints on white and yellow paper treated with ninhydrin, benefited the most from chemical imaging detection. In many cases, fingerprints undetectable using conventional imaging techniques could be visualised with chemical imaging. Ridge detail from untreated prints on yellow paper was also detected using the Condor. When prints of high quality were examined, both detection techniques produced quality results. The results of this project demonstrate that chemical imaging offers advantages over conventional visualisation techniques when examining latent fingerprints, especially those that would be considered difficult, such as weak prints or prints on surfaces that produce highly luminescent backgrounds. Standard testing procedures for the detection and enhancement of fingerprints by chemical imaging are presented and discussed.     

Fighting on: emotion and conflict termination

Why do states persist in enduring, expensive conflicts when the costs seem so high, the potential benefits, at best, somewhat ambiguous? This article suggests that emotional psychology can provide some insights into this problem. Decision-makers construct a vision of the future that is greatly informed by affect. How they feel in the present has a big impact on their conception of events and their decisions about them. The risks they are prepared to take, the desires they anticipate having in future, the lessons of the past they draw on—all are constructed under the influence of current emotions, and all may encourage the persistence of conflict beyond a point at which more dispassionate minds might desist. This theoretical argument is then illustrated with a discussion of US policy-making in the Vietnam War.     

White-collar offenders and the jail experience: a comparative analysis

The incarceration experiences of white-collar offenders have received relatively little attention among criminological researchers, and the research that has been conducted has focused on offenders’ experiences in prisons rather than jails. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap by examining approximately 6500 inmates incarcerated in local jails, comparing those classified as white-collar offenders to violent and other non-violent offenders. The differences between offender types based on demographics, psychological adjustment (i.e., mental health issues since arrival to jail), and behavioral adjustment (i.e., institutional misconduct) are examined to see whether white-collar inmates have more difficulty than others adjusting to the jail environment (consistent with the special sensitivity hypothesis). Findings suggest that white-collar jail inmates do not appear to experience symptoms indicative of poor psychological or behavioral adjustment to the jail environment. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.     

Climate Change and the Future of Caribbean Development

Climate change is rapidly becoming the defining feature of the Caribbean developmental landscape. Yet theoretical and practical responses to the issue have been somewhat limited, particularly in terms of the socio-economic and political dimensions. This article begins by tracing the dramatic impact that climate change presages for Caribbean development. It then moves on to an analysis of how the region is attempting to respond at the global, regional and national levels. We then question the significance of this for Pan-Caribbean development, before pointing the way to a nascent research agenda with the political economy of climate change at its heart.     

Winning the Battle of Ideas: Propaganda,Ideology, and Terror

Propaganda is at the heart of the struggle between Al Qaeda's strain of militant Islamism and the governments of the United States and United Kingdom. In an ideological struggle, propaganda is critical in shaping outcomes. Both Al Qaeda and the U.S. and U.K. governments recognize this, and have devised propaganda strategies to construct and disseminate messages for key audiences. This article considers the key elements in the Al Qaeda propaganda narrative, and the means through which it is disseminated. On the other side, it assesses the U.S. and U.K. governments’ response, focusing particularly on the British effort to define and propagate a narrative centered on British values.     

Family and Peer Relationships in a Residential Youth Sample: Exploring Unique,Non-Linear,and Interactive Associations with Depressive Symptoms and Suicide Risk

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Close relationships are consequential for youth depressive symptoms and suicide risk, but nuanced research examining intersecting factors is needed to improve...