Appearance of chemical burns resulting from the washing of a deceased body with bleach

The authors report on a case of postmortem washing of a body with bleach. An adult female victim was found nude in an alleyway with both hands removed in the City of Westminster, CO. Cause of death was attributed to severe blunt force trauma to the head. The victim had been dumped in the alleyway within 7 h of discovery. Evidence discovered at the crime scene and autopsy indicated that the murder and subsequent washing of the body with bleach occurred at a secondary location(s). The victim was wet to the touch, presenting a strong odor of bleach. Several "ribbon"-like burn patterns were observed on the victim's back and upper thighs. These burn marks were replicated by dowsing a deceased pig with an over-the-counter concentration of bleach.     

Trends in explosive contamination

This study sought to assign a rough order of magnitude for the amount of explosive residue likely to be available in real-world searches for clandestine explosives. A variety of explosives (TNT, TATP, HMX, AN, RDX, PETN) in various forms (powder, flake, detonating cord, plastic) were carefully weighed or cut into containers, and the amount of residue inadvertently remaining on the work area, hands, or containers was quantified. This was used to evaluate the spillage potential of each explosive. The adhesion of each explosive to a glass surface was quantified from amount of explosive adhering to the inside of a glass vial into which the explosive had been placed and then removed by vigorous tapping. In powdered form, most of the explosives--TNT, PETN, RDX, HMX, and TATP--exhibited similar spillage and adhesion to glass. However, PETN as sheet explosive and plasticized RDX (C-4), showed very little potential to contaminate surfaces, either by spillage or adhesion to glass.     

Prothrombin G20210A mutation and sudden death

The authors present a case of sudden death in a previously healthy 36-year-old male. At autopsy there were bilateral pulmonary thromboemboli and right ventricular dilatation. Histologic findings in the lungs included recanalized, old thrombi and evidence of pulmonary hypertension. Genetic analysis for hereditary risk factors was heterozygous positive for the prothrombin G20210A mutation. Implications of this finding, its history and the diagnostic technique shall be discussed. The authors recommend that all cases of deep venous thromboses and pulmonary thromboemboli lacking known risk factors be evaluated for newly described genetic variations associated with an increased risk for venous thrombosis.     

Ethnicity, gender, and the Level of Service Inventory-Revised

Offender assessment and classification is becoming an increasingly important part of correctional supervision and intervention. Over the last several decades, several different methods and “generations” of offender classification have emerged. Of most value appear to be third-generation, actuarial, dynamic risk/need assessments. With any new correctional strategy, however, there is a need to investigate the use of these risk/need assessments on offender subgroups in order to inform issues, such as reliability and prevalence of criminogenic risk factors. The present study utilized data that were gathered using the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R). Results and comparisons of these assessments were investigated and presented for Native American and non-Native American offenders as well as male and female offenders. Discussion of the results, implications, and recommendations for further research are presented.     

Supervised injection sites: Health Canada approves Vancouver pilot sites, but concerns remain

The paperwork has been processed, and Health Canada says that two pilot supervised injection sites (SISs) in Vancouver can now proceed, but operational funding for the site to be located in the Downtown Eastside has yet to be secured. Meanwhile, tired of waiting for the sanctioned SISs to open, community groups in Vancouver have begun to operate unsanctioned sites. There are also concerns that even if operational funding for the Downtown Eastside site is obtained, the pilot SIS project is too small in scope to make a major impact on public health in the area.     

From animal cruelty to serial murder: applying the graduation hypothesis

Although serial murder has been recorded for centuries, limited academic attention has been given to this important topic. Scholars have attempted to examine the causality and motivations behind the rare phenomenon of serial murder. However, scant research exists which delves into the childhood characteristics of serial murderers. Using social learning theory, some of these studies present supporting evidence for a link between childhood animal cruelty and adult aggression toward humans. Based on five case studies of serial murderers, we contribute to the existing literature by exploring the possible link between childhood cruelty toward animals and serial murder with the application of the graduation hypothesis.     

Assessing Readiness to Change among Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence: Analysis of Two Self-report Measures

Recent interest in the construct of motivation to change among male perpetrators of intimate partner violence (IPV) has led to development of two self-report measures of this construct: the University of Rhode Island Change Assessment for Domestic Violence (URICA-DV; Levesque et al. 2000) and the Safe at Home Inventory (SAH; Begun et al. 2003). We examined the internal structure of these instruments using confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses in a sample of 199 male IPV perpetrators waiting to begin court-mandated batterer intervention programs. Results indicated that the scales had adequate internal consistency. However, using confirmatory factor analyses, the hypothesized structural models of each instrument fit the data poorly. Subsequent models suggested by a series of exploratory factor analyses failed to improve model fit substantially for both scales. For the URICA-DV, a 3-factor model including items from the Precontemplation, Contemplation, and Action subscales fit the data adequately. No acceptable model fit could be found for the SAH. Intercorrelations among similar subscales across the two inventories suggested only a modest degree of intercorrelation (r’s = 0.16–0.52), and a factor structure more dependent on scale of origin than item latent content, suggesting that the scales assess different facets of the readiness to change construct. These results suggest that before the stages of change construct can be fully applied to the IPV area, more research and evaluation are needed on how to accurately assess abuser readiness to change.