Reentry and Removal: Implications for Juvenile Confinement Facilities

An important national initiative in juvenile justice is Juvenile Offender Reentry (JOR). The renewed emphasis on offender reintegration has generated significant attention to juvenile justice practices, with the notable exception of juvenile confinement facilities. Juvenile detention and, to a lesser degree, juvenile corrections practitioners are involved but not invested in reentry, having made very few programmatic changes to accommodate JOR initiatives largely because these initiatives have been external to the institution and its staff. Yet, reentry is a powerful concept for juvenile facility practitioners, and the application of reentry principles could have a profound impact on daily operations. This article addresses a range of issues about investing juvenile institutions in reentry practices. Several reentry models are discussed along with their implications for daily operations and programs.     

Scales for perceived risk of student-on-student victimization in grades 7 through 10: A psychometric analysis of the adolescent index on school safety

Although past research has developed scales for the incidence, prevalence, and fear of student-on-student victimization (SSV), little is known about the scaling of perceived risk (i.e., the cognitive appraisal of the chances of experiencing SSV). Hence, this study examined self-report survey data for the perceived risk of SSV as measured in the Adolescent Index for School Safety (AISS). Children in grades 7 through 10 (n=337) in a single Florida public school completed the AISS. Factor analyses using Maximum Likelihood Estimation with Oblimin Rotation identified nine unique factors for perceived risk. Reliability analyses found standardized Cronbach Alphas that ranged from .64 to .91, and seven out of the nine identified scales were above .80, which suggested good to excellent internal consistency. Future research should examine the content validity, construct validity, and predictive validity for the AISS and other self-report surveys of SSV dynamics. This publication was made possible by a grant [#97-MU-FX-KO12 (S-l)] from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (O.J.J.D.P.), United States Department of Justice (U.S.D.O.J.). This grant is administered through the Hamilton Fish National Institute on School and Community Violence at George Washington University. This specific study was developed and implemented by staff at: 1) East Carolina University’s Department of Criminal Justice; and 2) Florida State University’s Center for Educational Research and Policy Studies. All points of view and opinions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of East Carolina University, Florida State University, the Hamilton Fish National Institute on School and Community Violence, the O.J.J.D.P., or the U.S.D.OJ. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Bill Doerner and Jennifer Jolley for their support, editorial feedback, and insightful comments regarding earlier drafts of this paper.     

Traffic accidents and drivers suspected for drug influence

All records from the Danish Medicolegal Council concerning drivers suspected for drug influences were examined for the 5 year period 1981-1985. 461 records were included, 62 women and 399 men. In 250 cases drugs from more than one of ten groups had been taken thus making 786 combinations of drug/driving. The major drug group was benzodiazepines, accounting for 65% of all drug intake. Opioids also contributed substantially, found in 38% of the cases. A traffic accident had occurred in 180 (39%) of the records. Drivers who had been taking antidepressives were involved in an accident in 67%, significantly above the mean. For benzodiazepines, the corresponding percentage was 43%, while for opioids it was only 23%, significantly below the mean. This striking difference has been demonstrated in most of the studies concerning drugs in traffic. It may support the hypothesis that opioids do not necessarily make driving dangerous, as do antidepressives, barbiturates and especially benzodiazepines.     

The extent of aspartic acid racemization in dentin: a possible method for a more accurate determination of age at death?

In the current study the objective was to find to what extent a reliable determination of age at death is made possible by establishing the degree of aspartic acid racemization in the dentin of teeth. The results of the investigation of 46 teeth are in agreement with the values found by other authors. The method presented makes a reproducible and accurate estimation of age possible. We intend to elaborate and improve this promising method for determination of age at death. The relevant points are presented here.     

Sensitivity of various study technics in blood stains

Quadratic pieces of fleece measuring 16 mm2 were soaked with 10 different blood-samples in the dilution steps of 1:1, 1:10, 1:100, 1:1000, respectively, and were tested in blood group typing and identification tests of forensic serology. The above spezified dilutions correspond with 5 microliters, 0.5 microliter, 0.05 microliter and 0.005 microliter of blood, respectively. The detection limit of the microspectrometric test for blood was the dilution 1:10, of the porphyrine test a dilution above 1:100, whereas the preliminary test for blood (peroxidase) succeeded always up to a dilution of 1:1000 and the species determination by the radial immunodiffusion test in agar gels succeeded in most cases op to a dilution of 1:1000. The detection limit of the anti-human globulin inhibition test was between the dilution steps 1:10 and 1:100 when non-titrated and undiluted anti-human globulin serum was used. Gc- and ABO-grouping were possible up to a dilution of 1:100 and were thus the most sensitive grouping systems. Phenotyping of the enzyme-systems and the Gm/Km-system usually required stains with considerably higher blood concentrations i.e. stains of undiluted blood.