Development and Initial Evaluation of a Suicide Prevention Curriculum for Domestic Violence Hotline Workers

Despite evidence of an intersection between suicide risk and intimate partner violence (IPV), crisis hotlines tend to focus on callers at-risk for suicide or callers involved in IPV, but not both. In an effort to begin to address this gap, we developed and conducted an initial pilot test of a suicide prevention curriculum for hotline workers at the National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH), highlighting the intersection of these two public health issues. A mixed methods approach was used as a first step to assess the impact of the 3-h suicide prevention training for 42 domestic violence hotline workers. Results showed significant increase in knowledge regarding suicide risk from pre to post-training and a high degree of satisfaction among attendees. Focus groups conducted with hotline workers 3 months after training indicated a greater willingness to engage callers in suicide screening and prevention efforts. A 6-month follow-up focus group with NDVH managers revealed that suicide prevention had become more integrated in the agency culture, a finding that was consistent with an environmental scan of the workplace that showed an increase in displays of suicide prevention information. In sum, suicide prevention training can be feasibly incorporated into domestic violence hotline workers’ roles. Limitations and suggestions for future studies are discussed.     

Origin,growth and criminal capabilities of cybercriminal networks. An international empirical analysis

Two recent studies which are part of the Dutch Research Program on the Safety and Security of Online Banking, present empirical material regarding the origin, growth and criminal capabilities of cybercriminal networks carrying out attacks on customers of financial institutions. This article extrapolates upon the analysis of Dutch cases and complements the existing picture by providing insight into 22 cybercriminal networks active in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. The analysis regarding origin and growth shows that social ties play an important role in the majority of networks. These networks usually originate and grow either by means of social contacts alone or by the combined use of social contacts and forums (to recruit specialists). Equally, however, forums play a vital role within the majority of the networks by offering a place where co-offenders can meet, recruit and trade criminal ‘services’. Moreover, those networks where origin and growth is primarily based on forums appear capable of creating more flexible forms of cooperation between key members and enablers, thereby facilitating a limited number of core members to become international players. Analysis of the capabilities of criminal networks shows that all networks are primarily targeted towards customers of financial institutions, but most networks are not restricted to one type of crime. Core members are often involved in other forms of offline and online crime. The majority of networks fall into the high-tech category of networks, mostly international, high-tech networks. These are networks with core members, enablers, and victims originating from different countries.     

Compounded Risk: The Implications for Delinquency of Coming from a Poor Family that Lives in a Poor Community

The relationship between poverty and juvenile involvement in delinquency remains central to the study of adolescent development, but firm conclusions on this relationship have been elusive. The purpose of this study is to address an important limitation of prior research that often has been overlooked. This involves the standard practice of examining the poverty-delinquency relationship with an exclusive focus on the family's level of poverty. This study considers that the effects of family poverty on delinquency may significantly depend upon the level of poverty in the community in which the family lives. Specifically, drawing from a number of poverty-oriented theories of delinquency, we examine the hypothesis that community poverty amplifies the effects of family poverty, such that family poverty's effect becomes greater when community poverty also is high. Using data from a national sample of adolescents that are supplemented with U.S. census data, we find partial support for the idea that family poverty is consequential for delinquency, and that this is especially true for poor families that also live in poor communities.

The relationship of methanol and formate concentrations in fatalities where methanol is detected

An automated headspace gas chromatography method was developed for the determination of formate (formic acid) in postmortem specimens, based on the in situ sulfuric acid-methanol methylation of formic acid to methyl formate. Diisopropyl ether was used as an internal standard. The method was applied to over 150 postmortem cases where methanol was detected. Of the 153 cases presented, 107 deaths were attributed to acute methanol toxicity. In the vast majority of the remaining 46 deaths, the methanol was determined to be present as a postmortem or perimortem artifact, or was otherwise incidental to the cause of death. Of the 76 victims who were found dead and blood was collected by the medical examiner, all but one had a postmortem blood formate concentration greater than 0.50 g/L (mean 0.85 g/L; n = 74). The sole exception involved suicidal ingestion of methanol where the blood methanol concentration was 7.9 g/L (790 mg/100 mL) and blood formate 0.12 g/L. In 97% (72/74) of the cases where blood was available, the blood formate was between 0.60 and 1.40 g/L. In 31 of the 153 cases, the victim was hospitalized and blood obtained on admission or soon after was analyzed for methanol and formate during the subsequent death investigation; the vast majority (27/30) had antemortem blood formate concentrations greater than 0.50 g/L. Cases with samples taken prior to death with blood formate concentrations less than 0.5 g/L can readily be explained by active treatment such as dialysis. The blood formate method has also been useful in confirming probable perimortem or postmortem contamination of one of more fluids or tissues with methanol (e.g., windshield washer fluid or embalming fluid), where methanol ingestion was unlikely.     

Incarceration and Recidivism among Sexual Offenders

The relationship between incarceration and recidivism was investigated in a sample of 627 adult male sexual offenders. Incarceration for the index offense was unrelated to sexual or violent recidivism. This was the case whether incarceration was examined as a dichotomous variable (incarceration vs. community sentence) or as a continuous variable (length of incarceration). Risk for sexual recidivism was assessed with a modified version of the Rapid Risk Assessment for Sexual Offense Recidivism. There was no evidence that the relationship between incarceration and recidivism was confounded or moderated by risk or that length of incarceration and recidivism were non-linearly associated. Sentencing sexual offenders to terms of incarceration appears to have little, if any, impact on sexual and violent recidivism following release.     

Characteristics of Callers to the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men

Intimate partner violence (IPV) by women against men has been the subject of much debate. Feminists typically argue that IPV is committed only by men against women. Others argue that violence is a human problem and women also commit much IPV. To resolve these debates, IPV has been classified into two categories: common couple violence captured by population-based studies, and patriarchal terrorism, captured by studies of battered women. This typology ignores male victims of extreme IPV. The current study addresses this omission by describing 190 male callers to the Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men. All callers experienced physical abuse from their female partners, and a substantial minority feared their wives’ violence and were stalked. Over 90% experienced controlling behaviors, and several men reported frustrating experiences with the domestic violence system. Callers’ reports indicated that their female abusers had a history of trauma, alcohol/drug problems, mental illness, and homicidal and suicidal ideations.

Integrated DNA and Fingerprint Analyses in the Identification of 60‐Year‐Old Mummified Human Remains Discovered in an Alaskan Glacier

Abstract: This report describes the identification of a merchant mariner who perished in 1948 when Northwest Airlines Flight 4422, a DC‐4 carrying 24 seamen and six crew members crashed into Mount Sanford, Alaska. Fifty‐one years later, a human forearm and hand were found close by the wreckage of the plane, prompting identification efforts using DNA and fingerprints. There were significant challenges to both the fingerprint and DNA analyses. The hand was badly desiccated, making fingerprint friction‐ridge detail almost invisible and the remains had been embalmed upon discovery, making DNA amplification difficult. We present the results of an interdisciplinary approach that successfully addressed these challenges and ultimately led to the identification of the remains. These efforts relied on efficient fingerprint rejuvenation and imaging techniques that improved print resolution, as well as new DNA extraction techniques optimized for aggressively embalmed remains.     

Individual Confidence Intervals Do Not Inform Decision-Makers About the Accuracy of Risk Assessment Evaluations

Some recent articles have proposed that the confidence interval for the predicted outcome of a single case can be used to describe the predictive accuracy of risk assessments (Hart et al. Br J Psychiat 190:60–65, 2007b; Cooke and Michie, Law Hum Behav 2009). Given that the confidence intervals for an individual prediction are very large, Cooke and colleagues have questioned the wisdom of applying recidivism rates estimated from group data to single cases. In this article, we argue that the confidence intervals for the recidivism outcome predicted for a single case will range between zero to one (i.e., be uninformative) when the outcome is dichotomous and the predicted probability is between .05 and .95. This is true by definition and limits the utility of using individual confidence intervals to measure predictive accuracy. Consequently, other quality indicators (many of which are non-quantitative) are needed to determine the accuracy and error of risk evaluations.     

Predicting Outcomes for Youth Transferred to Adult Court

Extant research regarding juvenile transfer has focused primarily on the negative effects of current policies, with little consistent and rigorous work on the variation among the adolescents transferred to adult court and their later adjustment in the community. Using a sample of 193 transferred youth from Arizona, we consider how certain individual characteristics are related to four post-release outcomes (antisocial activity, re-arrest, re-institutionalization, and gainful activity). We find considerable variability in outcomes, with adjustment significantly and consistently related to certain legal and risk-need factors. These results indicate that some transferred youth may experience negative outcomes, and that refinements to transfer policy may benefit from consideration of these factors in determining which serious adolescent offenders are most appropriate for transfer.     

Relationship between blood and urine alcohol concentrations in apprehended drivers who claimed consumption of alcohol after driving with and without supporting evidence

For various reasons, many people suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUIA) are not apprehended sitting behind the wheel, but some time after the driving. This gives them the opportunity to claim they drank alcohol after the time of driving or after they were involved in a road-traffic crash. Alleged post-offence drinking is not easy for the prosecution to disprove, which often means that the DUIA charge is dropped or the person is acquitted if the case goes to trial. The routine practice of sampling and measuring the concentration of alcohol in blood (BAC) and urine (UAC) and calculating urine/blood ratios (UAC/BAC) and the changes in UAC between two successive voids furnishes useful information to support or challenge alleged drinking after driving. We present here a retrospective case series of DUIA offenders (N = 40) in half of which there was supporting evidence of an after-drink (eye witness or police reports) and in the other half no such evidence existed apart from the suspect's admission. When there was supporting evidence of an after-drink, the UAC/BAC ratio for the first void was close to or less than unity (mean 1.04, median 1.08, range 0.54–1.21) and the UAC increased by 0.21 g/L (range 0.02–0.57) between the two voids. Without any supporting evidence of post-offence drinking the mean UAC/BAC ratio was 1.46 (range 1.35–1.93) for the first void, verifying that absorption and distribution of alcohol in all body fluids and tissues was complete. In these cases, the UAC between successive voids decreased by 0.25 g/L on average (range 0.10–0.49), indicating the post-absorptive phase of the BAC curve. Long experience from investigating claims of post-offence drinking leads us to conclude that in the vast majority of cases this lacks any substance and is simply a last resort by DUIA offenders to evade justice. Unless supporting evidence exists (eye witness, police reports, etc.) of post-offence drinking the courts are encouraged to ignore this defence argument.