Assessing the victim-offender overlap among Puerto Rican youth

Purpose

Knowledge about offenders and knowledge about victims has traditionally been undertaken without formal consideration of the overlap among the two. A small but growing research agenda has examined the extent of this overlap. At the same time, there has been a minimal amount of research regarding offending and victimization among minority youth, and this is most apparent with respect to Hispanics, who have been increasing in population in the United States.

Materials &; Methods

This study explores the joint, longitudinal overlap between offending and victimization among a sample of Puerto Rican youth from the Bronx, New York.

Results

Results indicate: (1) an overlap between offending and victimization that persists over time, (2) a considerable overlap in the number, type, direction, and magnitude of the effect of individual, familial, peer, and contextual factors on both offending and victimization, (3) some of the factors related to offending were only relevant at baseline and not for the growth in offending but that several factors were associated with the growth in victimization, and (4) various risk factors could not explain much of the overlap between offending and victimization.

Conclusions

Theoretical, policy, and future research directions are addressed.     

Background survey of polyethylene in the Australian Capital Territory – A demonstration of variability in isotopic abundance values and their application to forensic casework

Plastics including adhesive tapes, cable ties, and packaging are common evidence types encountered in forensic investigations and casework. Traditional examination techniques such as Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy lack specificity and are unable to discern differences within the same polymer structures leaving the analyst with a generic identification. High quality manufacturing methods further amplify the limitations in detecting variability between samples. Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) has been shown to be a valuable technique in further discriminating plastics. Discrimination is achieved by analysing the relative abundances of stable isotopes within a sample, with differences detected in isotope ratios possibly attributed to the source of raw materials and fractionation during the manufacturing process. A survey of cling wraps and re-sealable zipper storage bags collected in the Australian Capital Territory was undertaken to assess the variability in carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios of different brands and samples. The results of this research are discussed, particularly with respect to within and between brand trends, and a case study is presented as an example of the value of including IRMS in a casework context.     

AFGHANISTAN: CROSSROADS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD (EXHIBITION ARTICLE)

A curtain-raiser by the curator of the Exhibition of Antiquities from Afghanistan, which opens at the British Museum on 3 March 2011. The exhibits come from the National Museum in Kabul and show the richness and extent of trade in ancient times through and with Afghanistan. They are from excavations at a number of sites, including Begram, Tilla Tepe and Ai Khanum.     

Power,Politics, and Primitivism: West Papua's Struggle for Self-Determination

The Bush administration answered the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, with what it called the “global war on terror,” first the assault on and invasion of Afghanistan and then the invasion and occupation of Iraq. More and more Americans joined the opposition to the Iraq war, but for some, Afghanistan remained “the good war.” But was the war on Afghanistan ever a “good war”? The authors of Ending the US War in Afghanistan (Olive Branch Press, 2010) address these and other frequently raised questions in an easy-to-read style. The chapter reproduced here, “The War in Afghanistan Goes Global,” is one of six chapters in the pocket-sized book. Other chapters are “The USWar in Afghanistan,” “The US Invasion of Afghanistan,” “The US and Other Players in Afghanistan,” “The Impact of theWar,” and “Ending the War.”     

Shutting Down the United Nations War Crimes Commission

This article presents the struggle between factions in the executive branch of the US government over post-war relations with Eurasia in general and Germany in particular. It argues that the legal and moral divide between the groups concerned interpretation of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the limits of national sovereignty. It discusses the discontent of members of the UNWCC over US and UK efforts to close the Commission and how the United Nations dealt with the remaining UNWCC cases and records.