Another look at across-crime similarity coefficients for use in behavioural linkage analysis: an attempt to replicate Woodhams,Grant, and Price (2007)

Abstract

In the absence of physical evidence, investigators must often rely on offence behaviours when determining whether several crimes are linked to a common offender. A variety of factors can potentially influence the degree to which accurate linking is possible, including the similarity coefficient used to assess across-crime similarity. The current study examines the performance of two similarity coefficients that have recently been compared to one another, Jaccard's coefficient (J) and the taxonomic similarity index (Δ_s), using samples of two crime types, serial homicide (N=237) and serial burglary (N=210). In contrast to previous research, the results indicate that Δ_s does not significantly outperform J with respect to linking accuracy. In addition, both coefficients lead to higher levels of linking accuracy in cases of serial homicide compared to serial burglary. Potential explanations for these findings are presented and their implications are discussed.     

Judicial Review of Local Land-Use Decisions in California

The California courts have a reputation for sustaining local land-use controls where no other state court would do so. The reputation was certainly deserved prior to 1966, when courts still presumed that necessary findings to support a variance had been made and that the findings were properly supported. Prior to that time no appellate court had ever reversed the grant of a variance. This was changed, however, by Cow Hollow Improvement Club v. Dibene, 245 Cal. App. 2d 160;53 Cal Rptr. 610 (1966) and Broadway, Laguna, Vallejo Assoc. v. Board of Permit Appeals, 66 Cal.2d 767, 59 Cal. Rptr. 146,427 P.2d 810 (1967). Thereafter, where the ordinance required specific findings, findings on each of the standards for a variance had to be made and each had to be supported by substantial evidence. This standard was extended to the granting of conditional use permits and other major work of the zoning board of appeals in Stoddard v. Edelman, 4 Cal. App. 3d 544, 84 Cal. Rptr. 443 (1970). Cautious attorneys who recommended that such standards be applied even if not specified in the ordinance were also vindicated recently by Topanga Assoc. for a Scenic Community v. Los Angeles, 113 Cal.Rptr. 836 (1974).     

Judicial Decisions

“Judicial Decisions” are abstracts of federal and state court decisions addressing issues of importance to the land use lawyer and planner, such as zoning, inverse condemnation, growth management, signs and billboards, vested rights, and many more.     

Is Voting Habit Forming? New Evidence from Experiments and Regression Discontinuities

Field experiments and regression discontinuity designs test whether voting is habit forming by examining whether a random shock to turnout in one election affects participation in subsequent elections. We contribute to this literature by offering a vast amount of new statistical evidence on the long‐term consequences of random and quasi‐random inducements to vote. The behavior of millions of voters confirms the persistence of voter turnout and calls attention to theoretically meaningful nuances in the development and expression of voting habits. We suggest that individuals become habituated to voting in particular types of elections. The degree of persistence appears to vary by electoral context and by the attributes of those who comply with an initial inducement to vote.     

Associations between Adolescent Psychosocial Factors and Disengagement from Education and Employment in Young Adulthood among Individuals with Common Mental Health Problems

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Transition to adulthood can be a challenging developmental task for adolescents with common mental health problems and is linked to adverse outcomes such as...     

A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Swabbing and Flossing as a Means of Recovering Spermatozoa from the Oral Cavity

This study examined whether flossing the teeth is a more effective collection method in recovering spermatozoa than conventional swabbing techniques. It was hypothesized that inclusion of flossing as a collection method would extend the recovery of spermatozoa to longer postcoital intervals (PCIs). Eighteen individuals provided 174 oral cavity samples. Successful recovery of spermatozoa was assessed with respect to the collection method and reported activity in the oral cavity during the PCI. Samples were subjected to a differential extraction procedure prior to microscopic evaluation of the extracted pellet. The results indicate that swabbing is more effective than flossing when the PCI falls within 1.5–12 h. However, spermatozoa were recovered from seven floss samples where the corresponding swabs gave negative results. When combining the results from the two collection methods, the percentage of subjects from whom spermatozoa are recovered increases for each PCI beyond the 0‐h interval.     

Erratum to: Reliability and Validity of Prisoner Self-Reports Gathered Using the Life Event Calendar Method

Data collection using the life event calendar method is growing, but reliability is not well established. We examine test–retest reliability of monthly self-reports of criminal behavior collected using a life event calendar from a random sample of minimum and medium security prisoners. Tabular analysis indicates substantial agreement between self-reports of drug dealing, property, and violent crime during a baseline interview (test) and a follow-up (retest) approximately 3 weeks later. Hierarchical analysis reveals that criminal activity reported during the initial test is strongly associated with responses given in the retest, and that the relationship varies only by the lag in days between the initial interview and the retest. Analysis of validity reveals that self-reported incarceration history is strongly predictive of official incarceration history although we were unable to address whether subjects could correctly identify the months they were incarcerated. African Americans and older subjects provide more valid responses but in practical terms the differences in validity are not large.     

Histopathology mapping of biochemical changes in myocardial infarction by Fourier transform infrared spectral imaging

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) imaging and microspectroscopy have been extensively applied in the identification and investigation of both healthy and diseased tissues. FTIR imaging can be used to determine the biodistribution of several molecules of interest (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins) for tissue analysis, without the need for prior staining of these tissues. Molecular structure data, such as protein secondary structure and collagen triple helix exhibits, can also be obtained from the same analysis. Thus, several histopathological lesions, for example myocardial infarction, can be identified from FTIR-analyzed tissue images, the latter which can allow for more accurate discrimination between healthy tissues and pathological lesions. Accordingly, we propose FTIR imaging as a new tool integrating both molecular and histopathological assessment to investigate the degree of pathological changes in tissues. In this study, myocardial infarction is presented as an illustrative example of the wide potential of FTIR imaging for biomedical applications.