Integrating DSM-IV Factors to Predict Violence in High-Risk Psychiatric Patients

Abstract:  This study incorporated Axis-II and Axis-IV factors in DSM-IV to test the relationship between predicted risk for violence assessed in the psychiatric emergency room and actual violence during hospitalization. Psychiatric nurses lack an objective instrument to use during the acute psychiatric assessment. The retrospective study comprised consecutive psychiatric admissions ( n  = 161) in one tertiary veterans' hospital. Statistical testing for the predictive power of risk factors, relationships between variables, and violent events included nonparametric tests, factor analysis, and logistic regression. Of the 32 patients who committed violence during hospitalization, 12 had committed violence in the psychiatric emergency room. Statistical significance was shown for violent incidents and dementia, court-ordered admission, mood disorder, and for three or more risk factors. The 13-item Risk of Violence Assessment (ROVA) scale suggests validity and sensitivity for rating DSM-IV factors and psychosocial stressors to predict risk for violence during hospitalization. Replication studies are recommended to strengthen validity of the ROVA scale.     

Measuring What Matters: A Call for a Meaningful Metric of Affordable Rental Housing Production Cost-Efficiency

The metric commonly used in debates and research concerning the cost-efficiency of multifamily rental housing production, total development cost per unit, sacrifices too much analytical power in return for its ease of computation. This article proposes a replacement metric, the subsidy per housing affordability equivalent (SHARE) ratio. This measure is applied to a set of 399 nonprofit-sponsored rental housing developments completed in California over the past decade. Evidence suggests that the use of SHARE would evaluate deeply subsidized family projects and mixed-use projects with commercial space more favorably than total development cost per unit would. The reverse is true for projects restricted to seniors and for those financed with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.     

Investigating the Determinants of the Street Code and its Relation to Offending among Adults

Theoretical and empirical consideration has long been given to the role of subcultural attitudes and how they relate to delinquency and crime. Recently, Anderson has reconceptualized these early attitudinal depictions by considering the formation and role of these specific attitudes or ‘code of the street’ among African-Americans in inner-city neighborhoods. A number of important findings have emerged from this literature, yet much remains to be considered. We contribute to this literature in three specific ways by examining: (1) the scope of street code attitudes across a wide variety of individuals—and not just inner-city African American (males) to assess the generalizability of these attitudes; (2) the correlates of street code attitudes; and (3) the extent to which street code attitudes mediate the relationship between various demographic and attitudinal (self-control) variables and crime. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are addressed.     

An Analysis on the Choice of Alpha Level in the Osteometric Pair‐matching of the Os Coxa,Scapula, and Clavicle

This study compares the use of 0.05 and 0.10 alpha levels with the updated osteometric pair‐matching model on two samples of the os coxa, scapula, and clavicle. The samples include the Forensic Data Bank, and the osteometric sorting reference used within the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Mixed‐effects two‐way analyses of variance were used to analyze bilateral asymmetry in the standard measurements. In total, 3,793,566 t‐tests were conducted for osteometric pair‐matching analysis. The results indicate high levels of exclusion power, and accuracy can be obtained with the os coxa and scapula. The clavicle standard measurements capture too much asymmetry causing a lower exclusion to accuracy ratio for osteometric pair‐matching relative to other elements. Both 0.05 and 0.10 alpha levels provide acceptable levels of performance. A lower alpha level will result in higher accuracy with less exclusion, and a higher alpha level will result in lower accuracy with more exclusions.     

Exploring the Effects of Changes in Design on the Analytical Uses of the NCVS Data

In 1992 changes were made in the design of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to improve its accuracy and utility. Little is known about the effect of the redesign on the analytic uses of the NCVS. This paper examines the effects of the redesign across population subgroups important in analyses of victimization. This extends work on modeling victimization and begins the construction of a measurement model that addresses the reliability and validity of NCVS data across important analytic subgroups. These two goals are interrelated. If the redesign has a differential effect across subgroups, then it is critical to understand whether these effects increase or decrease the validity of the data. Assessing validity requires developing a model of survey response against which the results of the redesign can be compared. If differences across designs are consistent with expectation from the survey response model, then we can use these new data for substantive analyses. The design change had little effect on models of victimization. The effects observed were largely consistent with expectation from a survey response model except in the simple assault model, where the effects of age and income on victimization were reduced in the new design.     

Glass-containing gunshot residue particles: a new type of highly characteristic particle?

In 0.22 caliber rimfire ammunition, the primer often contains lead or lead and barium compounds. As residues from these primers do not contain lead, barium, and antimony, they cannot be uniquely classified as gunshot residue (GSR) under ASTM designation E 1588-95. In many types of 0.22 caliber rimfire ammunition, the cartridge contains a primer sensitized with glass. In this paper we describe a previously unreported type of GSR particle consisting of glass fused with other primer components. As there appear to be few potential environmental or occupational sources of particles composed of lead and barium compounds fused to glass, particularly borosilicate glass, these particles may have high evidential value. Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray detection (SEM-EDX) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) were evaluated for the characterization of glass-containing GSR particles. The occurrence of glass-containing GSR particles was established in the residue from various brands of 0.22 caliber ammunition, and several sub-types were identified.