Factors Associated with Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Victimization

This study explored factors associated with a lifetime history of domestic violence and sexual assault in a sample of welfare recipients in Illinois. Results indicate that childhood exposure to domestic violence is a risk factor for both sexual assault and domestic violence victimization, but that childhood physical abuse is only a risk factor for domestic violence. Increased education and employment skills and having more children were also risk factors for domestic violence victimization. Domestic violence was significantly associated with depression, while sexual assault was associated with low social support and a greater perceived need for mental health services. Frequent alcohol and drug use were not associated with either type of victimization. Research implications are discussed.     

Interest-Based Negotiations in a Transformed Labor–Management Setting

The authors introduce a group of essays that evolved from a March 2003 symposium on the path-breaking new partnership and use of interest-based negotiation (IBN) at Kaiser Permanente (KP), one of the largest integrated health care programs in the United States. They briefly trace the history of the IBN approach (both success stories and failures); the growth of this phenomenon; and its use in collective bargaining settings. The KP case, the focus of the symposium (which was jointly sponsored by MIT's Institute for Work and Employment Relations and Harvard's Program on Negotiation), is by far the largest instance of the use of IBN in U.S. labor relations history.     

Zum Schutz öffentlicher Denkmäler und Naturdenkmäler nach § 304 StGB

Der überkommene strafrechtliche Schutz „?ffentlicher Denkm?ler“ nach § 304 Abs. 1 Alt. 4 StGB findet trotz ungenehmigter Denkmalzerst?rungen in der Praxis zu wenig Anwendung. Er bleibt wegen des einschr?nkenden Merkmals „?ffentlich“ hinter anderen Alternativen des § 304 StGB wie dem Schutz der Naturdenkm?ler nach § 304 Abs. 1 Alt. 5 StGB oder dem Straftatbestand des V?lkerstrafrechts (§ 11 VStGB) zurück. Da der sozialsch?dliche Charakter bei der Zerst?rung von Denkm?lern stets anzunehmen ist, sollte künftig aus kulturstaatlicher Verantwortung für den Schutz aller Denkm?ler auf das Merkmal „?ffentlich“ in § 304 Abs. 1 Alt. 4 StGB verzichtet werden.     

GrinLine Identification Using Digital Imaging and Adobe Photoshop*

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to outline a method by which an antemortem photograph of a victim can be critically compared with a postmortem photograph in an effort to facilitate the identification process. Ten subjects, between 27 and 55 years old provided historical pictures of themselves exhibiting a broad smile showing anterior teeth to some extent (a grin). These photos were termed “antemortem” for the purpose of the study. A digital camera was used to take a current photo of each subject’s grin. These photos represented the “postmortem” images. A single subject’s “postmortem” photo set was randomly selected to be the “unknown victim.” These combined data of the unknown and the 10 antemortem subjects were digitally stored and, using Adobe Photoshop software, the images were sized and oriented for comparative analysis. The goal was to devise a technique that could facilitate the accurate determination of which “antemortem” subject was the “unknown.” The generation of antemortem digital overlays of the teeth visible in a grin and the comparison of those overlays to the images of the postmortem dentition is the foundation of the technique. The comparisons made using the GrinLine Identification Technique may assist medical examiners and coroners in making identifications or exclusions.     

Account-making and confiding as acts of meaning in response to sexual assault

A study was conducted to compare the interpretive and coping responses of female and male survivors of incest and female survivors of sexual assault by a nonrelative. Twenty-eight persons responded to a questionnaire that asked them to provide an account of the nature of an assault(s), the role of confidants in helping them cope with the assault, how they coped and tried to understand the assault over time, how they felt the assault affected their close relationships, and how they evaluated their current state of recovery. The results for male and female incest groups were similar in revealing great difficulty in coping and in having adult close relationships. These two groups showed more continuing lack of resolution than did the female nonfamilial survivors. The male group of incest survivors showed the greatest overall difficulty. The findings are discussed in terms of the roles of searching for meaning via account-making and confiding as ways of dealing with long-term, major Stressors in people's lives.