CYNICAL STREETS: NEIGHBORHOOD SOCIAL PROCESSES AND PERCEPTIONS OF CRIMINAL INJUSTICE*

Studies have found that African Americans are more likely to perceive racial biases in the criminal justice system than are those from other racial groups. There is a limited understanding of how neighborhood social processes affect variation in these perceptions. This study formulates a series of hypotheses focused on whether perceived racial biases in the criminal justice system or perceptions of injustice vary as a function of levels of moral and legal cynicism as well as of adverse police–citizen encounters. These hypotheses are tested with multilevel regression models applied to data from a sample of 689 African Americans located in 39 neighborhoods. Findings from the regression models indicate that the positive association between structural disadvantage and perceptions of injustice is accounted for by moral and legal cynicism. Furthermore, adverse police encounters significantly increase perceptions of injustice; controlling for these encounters reduces the strength of the association between cynicism and injustice perceptions. Finally, the findings reveal that cynicism intensifies the association between adverse police encounters and perceptions of criminal injustice. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for research regarding perceived biases in the criminal justice system and neighborhood social processes.     

College Students’ Attitudes Toward Intimate Partner Violence: a Comparative Study of China and the U.S.

Although attitudes toward intimate partner violence (IPV) have been the subject of many studies, little research has been conducted to comparatively assess public definitions of IPV in Western and non-Western countries. Drawing upon survey data collected from approximately 500 Chinese and American college students, this study compared and contrasted Chinese and American college students in their beliefs about what constitute IPV. Chinese students were found to be less likely to define abusive acts as IPV than their U.S. counterparts. Gender-role attitudes, such as beliefs of male dominance and IPV as crime, were among the most prominent predictors of students’ definitions of IPV. Chinese and American college students’ attitudes differed not only in what was defined as IPV, but also in what were the factors that shaped such attitudes. Directions for future research and policy were discussed.     

Revolutionizing Academic Activism: Transpraxis,Critical Pedagogy,and Justice for a People Yet to Be

One strain of thought that is both consistent with and an amplification of academic activism (Belknap in Criminology 53(1):1–22, 2015) is the critical criminological literature on transpraxis. As a theory of change, transpraxis advances a thesis on the dialogical and relational pedagogy of mutual struggle, of shared being and becoming. In addition, this literature critiques the dominant philosophy of human risk management and the current culture of captivity politics in which the struggle for transformative (i.e., interdependent and collective) change is “finalized.” We argue that, in the present era, processes of humanness and expressions of culture de-vitalize (e.g., homogenize, normalize, territorialize) this existence. In so doing, humanness and culture tend toward Hegelian reaction-negation dynamics, thereby forestalling and/or foreclosing justice for an awaiting people. Accordingly, this article outlines the dimensions of transpraxis as theory, explains how revolutionary academic activism necessitates a critical pedagogy for a people yet to be, and it reconceives the educational terrain of criminological activism as the pedagogy of becoming. We argue that the transpraxis properties of this pedagogy facilitate revolutionary academic activism and further the radical potential of transformative justice. This activism and potential exist for the multitude.     

The potential contribution of MVR-PCR to paternity probabilities in a case lacking a mother.

Minisatellite variant repeat (MVR) mapping using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was applied to a paternity case lacking a mother to evaluate the paternity probability. After three flanking polymorphic sites at each of MS31A and MS32 loci were investigated from the child and alleged father, allele-specific MVR-PCR was performed using genomic DNA. It was confirmed that one allele in the child was identical to that in the alleged father at both loci. Mapped allele codes were compared with allele structures established from population surveys. No perfect matches were found although some motifs were shared with other Japanese alleles. The paternity index and probability of paternity exclusion at these two MVR loci were then estimated, establishing the power of MVR-PCR even in paternity cases lacking a mother.     

A sandwich enzyme immunoassay for human muscle-specific beta-enolase and its application for the determination of skeletal muscle injury

A sensitive sandwich enzyme immunoassay for human beta-enolase was developed and used to examine beta-enolase in blood or bloodstains as a marker for the determination of skeletal muscle injury. Human beta-enolase was purified from human skeletal muscle, and then an antibody against it was prepared. Polystyrene balls coated with rabbit anti-human beta-enolase IgG were incubated with human beta-enolase and then with anti-human beta-enolase Fab'-peroxidase conjugate. Peroxidase activity bound to the polystyrene balls was assayed by fluorometry using 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid as a hydrogen donor. The detection limit for human beta-enolase was 2.6 pg (30 amol) per assay. The degree of cross-reaction of the sandwich enzyme immunoassay for other organs except for heart (1/10) was about 1/150 or less. Moreover, the localization of beta-enolase in various human tissues was examined by Northern blot analysis, and this confirmed that beta-enolase was expressed only in skeletal and cardiac muscle. Antigenic activity in bloodstains containing beta-enolase was recovered well after storage for 60 days at room temperature. The ratio of beta-enolase to total protein in bloodstains made from non-traumatic blood, nasal hemorrhage and menstrual blood, was within the normal range. In contrast, the ratio of beta-enolase in bloodstains from traumatic blood was obviously elevated (10-30 fold) in comparison with non-traumatic blood. Furthermore, the ratio of beta-enolase was proved to be higher in stains adhering to weapons that had passed through skeletal muscle, indicating that detection of beta-enolase in bloodstains could be used to distinguish crime weapons. These results suggest that beta-enolase is a useful marker for identification of skeletal muscle injury as well as for detecting the origin of bleeding.     

A preliminary immunohistochemical study of fibronectin in viral myocarditis

For postmortem diagnosis of viral myocarditis, 12 specimens of heart in autopsy were studied immunohistochemically with anti-fibronectin(FN) antibody. Among 5 cases with definite or suspected myocarditis, intensive FN-positive could be found in all monocytes, macrophages and some neutrophils and there were 3 cases with FN-positive cardiomyocytes. While in 3 violent death cases with leucocytes infiltration in the interstitial tissue of myocardia, no FN-positive cardiomocytes were observed, which was the same as that of 4 case without cardiac pathological changes. Moreover, there were rarely FN-positive leucocytes in the 7 cases without viral myocarditis. The results suggest that the immunohistochemical observation of FN in myocardia might be of value for detecting slight degeneration of cardiomyocytes and determining the inflammatory leucocyte infiltration in myocarditis.     

Research of the extraction method of morphine from biological fluids

A solid-phase extraction method of morphine from urine and blood has introduced. The effect of 5 SPE columns, 3 eluents and pH on morphine recovery has been investigated systematically. Derivative GC was used as a method of detection. The result showed that the column and the eluent of such as GDX-301, GDX-403 and C18 chloroform:isopropanol (9:1) had good behaviors to extraction of morphine. When GDX-301 was used as a sorbent, the recovery of morphine from urine was above 90% at pH 9, then went down with the increase of pH. While the recovery from blood was growing with the increase of pH, which reached above 90% in strong alkaline. The extraction method is simple, inexpensive, efficient and reproducible, which provides an effective and practical method to extract morphine and similar illicit drugs from biological fluids.     

急性心肌缺血再灌FOS免疫组织化学实验研究

探寻FOS蛋白在心肌早期缺血再灌流损伤中变化规律,为心性猝死的诊断提供新方法。利用SD大鼠建立心肌缺血再灌流损伤模型,设立正常、缺血对照组与缺血再灌组。心脏标本经HE染色及免疫级化观察。结果发现,在冷冻切片上缺血20min再灌流30min,再灌流区心肌细胞核呈阳性着色。但在石蜡切片上,缺血30min再灌流30min后,再灌流区才有心肌细胞核（37．76％±9．66％）呈弱阳性着色,再灌流60min后核呈棕褐色阳性染色,120min后开始减弱（35.36％±3.16％）。正常和单纯缺血组心肌细胞核未见有阳性反应。HE染色无明显病理改变。结果提示,SABC－FOS免疫组织化学方法最早可揭示心肌缺血20min再灌流30min的损伤,FOS蛋白在再灌流后60－120min之间可能有一个高峰表达。此法对显示实验性心肌早期缺血再灌流损伤有重要的价值。有望用于心性猝死的诊断。     

甲醛固定及石蜡包埋组织的DNA分型及其应用

目的：建立甲醛固定及石蜡包埋组织ＤＮＡ的基因分型方法并使之应用于实际检案。方法：用Ｃｈｅｌｅｘ和有机溶剂提取法提取ＤＮＡ,以ＰＣＲ与反向探针杂交技术作ＰＭ和ＨＬＡ－ＤＱＡ１位点分型。结果：２６份包埋组织块有２４份能得到理想的分型结果。结论：本法可用于法医学个人识别和亲子鉴定