Conducting Research on Counties in the 21st Century: A New Agenda and Database Considerations

Given local, regional, national, and global events of the last few years and the ever-increasing service roles and expectations of county governments, American counties warrant greater scholarly attention. To guide researchers, the research agenda published in this journal 15 years ago has been refined and expanded. This 11-point agenda includes fiscal capacity and responsibility; the role of structure, politics, and political participation; intergovernmental relations and networking; professionalism; service delivery; environmental issues; population changes; managing conflict and promoting integration; terrorism and security; information technology; and economic development. In addition, five database concerns and needs that pose significant challenges to researchers are identified and presented for consideration.     

MMPI profiles of males accused of severe crimes: a cluster analysis

Abstract

In studies attempting to classify criminal offenders by cluster analysis of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) data, the number of clusters found varied between 10 (the Megargee System) and two (one cluster indicating no psychopathology and one exhibiting serious psychopathology). The latter results raise doubts about the suitability of the MMPI-2 for classification in forensic settings. The present study aimed at deriving an empirical classification system using cluster analysis of 247 MMPI-2 profiles of pretrial criminal defendants in a forensic psychiatric observation clinic. Results indicated only a ‘non-disturbed’ and a ‘disturbed’ profile, differing on general elevation of MMPI-2 profiles but displaying no qualitatively distinct profiles. The clusters differed on age at admission and first conviction, indicating a late onset of criminal activity for disturbed offenders. Also, the clusters differed significantly on Axis I diagnosis and borderline significantly on Axis II diagnosis. The absence of distinct personality profiles between the clusters suggests restricted usefulness of the MMPI-2 in a forensic context of diverse and severe psychopathology and serious crimes. Either the investigated population is in fact extremely homogeneous, truly comprising only two kinds of offenders, or the types of offenders in these populations are not effectively distinguished by the MMPI-2.     

A framework for estimating probability of a match in forensic bite mark identification

In forensic dentistry, a human expert typically does the comparison and identification based on bite marks. Unlike DNA analysis, however, there is no quantitative basis with which to assign a probability for this given match. This paper proposes a framework for empirically estimating the probability of such a bite mark match and reports on initial experimental results. The methodology involved collection of dental population data (3D dental casts and bite mark images), image analysis for quantitatively measuring the degree of match (based on chamfer distance), and performing a logistic regression analysis using the collected population data to estimate the probability of match from the calculated degree of match. The model correctly predicted 35 of the 42 matches and 585 of the 588 mismatches. The method also has potential for use in other forensic applications in which the assignment of quantitative probabilities is important.