Colleen Jollie,State Tribal Liaison: A Story of Transformational Change

Colleen Jollie, the state tribal liaison at the Washington State Department of Transportation, practices a form of transformational public administration that, at its heart, reflects a Coyote or “trickster” style of management. In indigenous stories across the world, the trickster uses his or her wiles to disrupt, refuse, and dismantle ways that are not working in order to creatively, and sometimes chaotically, build new ways. Jollie’s work as lead tribal liaison has transformed the agency, the tribes, and the relationships between tribes and the agency, creating a culture of cooperation across significant differences and honoring the transformational energy required to cooperate across difference. Like the Coyote, who does what needs to be done through many means, but mostly through thoughtful effort, Jollie works to create change that serves both the state and the tribes. As this profile indicates, the work isn’t always easy and the outcomes don’t always spell success, but the work is necessary for tribes and state governments to forge the kinds of relationships imagined in treaties and in other agreements between sovereign governments.     

Internal validation of the AmpFlSTR Yfiler amplification kit for use in forensic casework.

Y-chromosomal short-tandem repeat (Y-STR) amplification has been used in forensic casework at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) Forensic Science Laboratory since 2003. At that time, two separate amplifications were required to type the SWGDAM recommended loci (DYS19, DYS385a/b, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS438, and DYS439). The Yfiler kit coamplifies these loci as well as DYS437, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635, and Y GATA H4. The Yfiler kit was validated following the internal validations outlined in the SWGDAM revised validation guidelines. Our studies show that 0.125 ng of male DNA will generate a complete 17 locus profile and that as little as 0.06 ng of male DNA yields an average of nine loci. In the male-male mixtures, a complete profile from the minor component was detected up to 1:5 ratio; most of the alleles of the minor component were detected at a 1:10 ratio and more than half the alleles of the minor component were detected at a 1:20 ratio. Complete YSTR profiles were obtained when 500 pg male DNA was mixed with female DNA at ratios up to 1:1000. At ratios of 1:5000 and 1:10,000 (male DNA to female DNA) inhibition of the YSTR amplification was evident. The YSTR results obtained for the adjudicated case samples gave significantly more information than the autosomal results. Our studies demonstrate that the Yfiler kit is extremely sensitive, does not exhibit cross-reactivity with female DNA, successfully types male DNA in the presence of overwhelming amounts of female DNA and is successful in typing actual forensic samples from adjudicated cases.     

Internal Validation of the AmpFlSTR Yfiler™ Amplification Kit for Use in Forensic Casework

Abstract:  Y-chromosomal short-tandem repeat (Y-STR) amplification has been used in forensic casework at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) Forensic Science Laboratory since 2003. At that time, two separate amplifications were required to type the SWGDAM recommended loci (DYS19, DYS385a/b, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS438, and DYS439). The Yfiler™ kit coamplifies these loci as well as DYS437, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635, and Y GATA H4. The Yfiler™ kit was validated following the internal validations outlined in the SWGDAM revised validation guidelines. Our studies show that 0.125 ng of male DNA will generate a complete 17 locus profile and that as little as 0.06 ng of male DNA yields an average of nine loci. In the male–male mixtures, a complete profile from the minor component was detected up to 1:5 ratio; most of the alleles of the minor component were detected at a 1:10 ratio and more than half the alleles of the minor component were detected at a 1:20 ratio. Complete YSTR profiles were obtained when 500 pg male DNA was mixed with female DNA at ratios up to 1:1000. At ratios of 1:5000 and 1:10,000 (male DNA to female DNA) inhibition of the YSTR amplification was evident. The YSTR results obtained for the adjudicated case samples gave significantly more probative information than the autosomal results. Our studies demonstrate that the Yfiler™ kit is extremely sensitive, does not exhibit cross-reactivity with female DNA, successfully types male DNA in the presence of overwhelming amounts of female DNA and is successful in typing actual forensic samples from adjudicated cases.     

An analysis of how the police ‘caution’ is presented to juvenile suspects in England

In England and Wales, suspects must be given a police caution before they are questioned. The purpose of the caution is to explain a suspect's right to silence as a protection against self-incrimination. However, the evidence on whether the caution fulfils its purpose is limited. The aim of the present study was to describe how cautions were delivered in interviews with juvenile suspects in England. First, the study set out to describe how the caution was delivered to suspects during actual police interviews. Second, the study examined whether suspects claimed or demonstrated understanding of the caution. Third, the study analysed how the caution was explained by police officers. In total, the study examined 38 cautions from 31 interviews. The results indicated that police officers delivered the caution at a speed that is likely to be too fast for juvenile suspects to comprehend. Juvenile suspects often claimed to understand the caution, but when asked, failed to demonstrate comprehension. On the other hand, police officers often explained the caution to juvenile suspects, but not always correctly. Both suspects’ and police officers’ explanations of the caution revealed several misconceptions. The results suggest that the caution may not safeguard suspects as intended.     

Examining the Long-Term Consequences of Bullying on Adult Substance Use

Violence is a major concern in the school safety literature. With the potential negative impact of bullying victimization, it is imperative that bullying also be seen as an important social problem that has potential long-term mental and physical health consequences (CDC Surveillance Summaries, 65(6), 1-50, 2016). Numerous studies have documented the negative consequences of bullying in childhood, contending that bullying during childhood can lead to a variety of adulthood problems (Farrington, Loeber, Stallings, & Ttofi Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, 3(2), 74-81, 2011; Rigby, 2007). Fewer studies have examined the long-term consequences of childhood bullying on adult substance use. This study uses Bureau of Labor Statistics’ National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997) data to examine the association between school-aged bullying (under the age of 19) and adult alcohol, cigarette, and drug use (using Wave 10 from 2007).     

Does duration of political control matter? Interstate differences in branch-banking laws

This study began by trying to explain differences in state branch-banking regulations. Introducing a variable that captures the effect of political dominance over time improves upon the commonly used measures of political dominance at a specific point in time. Even the direct comparison with the previously used percentage point-in-time variables shows that duration of political influence matters significantly. No matter which party is in control, the length of time it has been in control in a state influences political outcomes. We show that, in terms of which kind of legislation will be enacted, Democratic and Republican control exert equal but opposite effects on legislative results. In other words, length of control matters independently of party affiliation, but party affiliation affects the nature of the outcome of the political process.This new approach might be useful in different areas of the public choice literature. For example, it could be applied to analyzing how abortion laws vary across states. Other areas of economics might benefit as well from considering the duration of control. For example, the political business cycle literature, as in Alesina and Sachs (1988), Golden and Poterba (1980), Hibbs (1977) and Hawthorne and Jackson (1987), that examines patterns in macroeconomic policies and outcomes associated with the kind of government in power, might well be improved by including duration as well as direction of control. In general, any area of public economics in which the effects of political power are considered would benefit from considering the duration as well as the incidence of that power.     

Violence against women associated with arrests for sex trade but not drug charges

The current study was designed to examine associations between gender-based violence and arrests due to sex trade or drug-related charges among a statewide sample of incarcerated women in Rhode Island. Incarcerated women were asked to participate in brief pre- and posttest surveys of their experiences of violence, sexual risk and substance use behaviors, as part of a study on the effectiveness of a family planning program in a state correctional facility; data from pretest surveys (N=447) were used for current analyses. Logistic regression analyses adjusted for demographics were used to assess significant associations between gender-based violence variables (i.e., adolescent intimate partner violence (IPV), adult IPV, childhood sexual assault (SA), adolescent SA, and adult SA) and arrests due to sex trade or drug-related charges. Significant relationships were observed between arrests for sex trade and adult SA (OR=2.1, 95%CI=1.2-3.6), adolescent IPV (OR=2.5, 95%CI=1.5-4.1), and adult IPV (OR=1.7, 95%CI=1.1-2.6); no significant associations were observed for drug-related charges. Findings from the current study demonstrate that experiences of gender-based violence are associated with arrests for sex trade but not drug-related charges. Interventions for incarcerated women are needed to consider and address history of victimization from gender-based violence and its relation to women's historic and future sex trade involvement.