De Witt Clinton Poole,the foreign nationalities branch and political intelligence

The Foreign Nationalities Branch of the Office of Strategic Services served as an important source of political intelligence for the Roosevelt administration during World War II. The philosophy of the Branch's most influential director, DeWitt Clinton Poole, and his organization's work among Yugoslav‐Americans, illustrates the concerns that ethnic politics generated in the United States, as well as appreciation of the role that ethnics could play in psychological warfare and postwar anti‐Soviet propaganda.     

The relationship between the detection of acquisitive crime by forensic science and drug-dependent offenders

Drug- and nondrug-related acquisitive crime offences such as burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft, were compared to assess whether drug abusers were more likely to be apprehended via forensic science techniques. Data were all acquisitive offences committed over a 6-year period within a police force area in England. Drug-dependent offenders committed a wider range of offence types than nondependent offenders, and they were significantly more likely to be detected via their DNA or fingerprints (p < 0.01). A logistic regression (n > 14,000) revealed a number of predictors that influence the detection of the crime by forensic techniques. The results indicate that a number of these predictors are of statistical significance; the most significant of these being drug use by the offender with sex, ethnicity, and employment status also being relevant. Age of the offender and number of offences committed were found not to be significant. Of the four hypotheses considered to explain this, the most likely was thought to be the physical and mental impact of drug use on crime scene behavior. Consideration is given to the disciplines of forensic science and forensic psychology working closely together to distinguish factors that influence crime scene behavior.     

Criminal Justice System Involvement Among Homeless Adults

This study characterized the specific offenses for which homeless individuals are arrested and incarcerated. Data were gathered from 581 homeless adults across 6 Oklahoma City shelters. Participants were asked to self-report incarceration history, nights spent in jails and prisons, and the offenses for which they were arrested. Overall, 76% of the sample had ever been arrested. Fifty-seven percent of the sample had been to jail more than 3 times in their lifetime and 13% had ever intentionally been arrested. The most prevalent type of arrest was drug possession (35%), followed by driving under the influence (31%) and disorderly conduct or public drunkenness (28%). Violent arrests, such as assault, robbery, domestic violence, murder, and rape, were the least prevalent type of arrest. In summary, offenses were largely drug and status offenses. These offenses may be prevented through increased substance use treatment accessibility and availability of housing. Policies to increase employment and housing for homeless adults regardless of criminal history should be expanded to reduce the occurrence of justice involvement.     

Advancing knowledge about replication in criminology

Journal of Experimental Criminology - This article summarizes key points made in a session at the American Society of Criminology meeting in Philadelphia in November 2017, entitled “The...     

The stalking of public figures: management and intervention

Public figures are at relatively high risk of unusual contact initiated by fixated individuals. Prior research on managing the threat presented by public figure stalkers concludes that although direct threats rarely precede attacks, there is usually evidence of pre-planning. Furthermore, some public figure attackers do attempt to communicate with their future intended victim prior to attack. Thus, early warning signs from unusual contact behavior can be a powerful tool in threat assessment and risk management. The current paper offers a systematic concept for managing public figure stalking and constitutes five stages: (i) screening, (ii) first analysis, (iii) passive research, (iv) active research and finally (v) considered management strategy. It is concluded that assessment and management of risk are dynamic procedures, requiring ongoing monitoring and flexibility. Furthermore, although different stalkers will engage in ostensibly similar behavior, their motives and underlying psychopathologies may vary considerably. As such, all interventions require individual construction.     

Exposure to interpersonal violence as a predictor of PTSD symptomatology in domestic violence survivors

This study examines the interrelationships between childhood abuse, exposure to maternal domestic violence, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology in a multiethnic sample of 111 adult female residents of a domestic violence (DV) shelter. Participants completed structured interviews about the DV and their prior violence exposure, as well as the Impact of Event Scale-Revised. As hypothesized, there was high co-occurrence between exposure to maternal DV and childhood physical and sexual abuse, and the frequency of lifetime violence exposure predicted PTSD symptomatology. A series of multiple regressions indicated a more complex pattern of relationships, in which specific forms of prior violence exposure predicted different PTSD symptom dimensions. A history of witnessing maternal DV predicted intrusion symptoms, and a history of childhood sexual abuse predicted hyperarousal symptoms. Ethnicity was not related to levels of violence exposure or to PTSD symptoms. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.