Human blood stain identification and sex determination in dried blood stains using recombinant DNA techniques

DNA was extracted from human and non-primate dried blood stains. Human male and female specimens were readily distinguished by analysis with a Y-chromosome specific DNA probe. Human and non-primate blood stains were also readily differentiated using a repeat sequence (Alu) DNA probe. The potential power of recombinant DNA analysis in forensic science is discussed.     

The Social Organization of Legal Services to Indigent Defendants

This article draws together materials portraying appointed counsel services in a variety of jurisdictions to illustrate the role of court organization in shaping legal services to indigent defendants. Many criminal courts are bifurcated into preliminary hearing and trial courts. Legal representation of indigents is frequently organized to parallel these stages. As a result, indigent defendants receive defense services from a succession of different lawyers at different stages of their cases. This occurs in three ways. First, some defendants legally eligible for appointed counsel at the inception of their cases have counsel appointed for them only at the trial court after initially employing their own counsel at the preliminary hearing. The dual court system encourages such one-stage representation by private lawyers by facilitating their withdrawal between stages of a case. Second, indigents may also have different private lawyers appointed to represent them at different stages because judges, interested in efficiently running their court calls, desire that particular lawyers represent indigents in their courtrooms. Finally, defender offices often assign different lawyers to different stages as a result of both the demands by judges that defenders be assigned exclusively to their courtrooms and the costs of delivering continuous legal services in a tiered judicial system. For indigent defendants the sequential system of representation may adversely affect the quality of case preparation and undermine a sound attorney-client relationship.     

Mental Health Among Incarcerated Women: An Examination of Factors Impacting Depression and PTSD Symptomology

Female offenders experience mental health symptoms at a higher rate than male offenders and females in the community. The current study investigated individual characteristics and experiences that may impact symptoms of depressive disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among a sample of female inmates in a large Southern prison system. Results showed high rates of reported childhood and adult victimization experiences among the sample. Factors such as seeking mental health treatment prior to incarceration significantly impacted the reporting of depressive and PTSD symptoms, as did victimization histories. Findings suggest that women would benefit from screening to identify mental health needs at the onset of incarceration as well as gender responsive needs assessment and programming to address histories of victimization and current mental health symptomatology.