THE STATE IS STRONG BUT I AM WEAK: WHY THE "IMMINENT LAWLESS ACTION" STANDARD SHOULD NOT APPLY TO TARGETED SPEECH THAT THREATENS INDIVIDUALS WITH VIOLENCE

Surely there is a profound difference between inciting to arson by the use of words and inciting to revolution by the use of words. We do not have a ready word for the distinction, yet it is a deep and obvious one.—Harry Kalven, Jr.     

Filicidal abuse in the histories of 15 condemned murderers

This paper describes the family characteristics of 15 Death Row inmates. It documents extraordinary physical and/or sexual abuse in 13 cases. It describes murderous behaviors of parents toward children in 8 cases and documents ongoing hostility and neglect throughout childhood and adulthood. The paper explores the mechanisms by which such abuse may contribute to violent behaviors. It highlights the relevance of these findings to the outcome of sentencing in capital cases.     

Problem Drinking, Jealousy, and Anger Control: Variables Predicting Physical Aggression Against a Partner

Alcohol use and intimate partner violence (IPV) are significantly related, but only a subset of individuals who drink are aggressive and relatively little is known about what moderates this relationship in community samples. Two risk factors, anger control and jealousy, were hypothesized to moderate the relationship between IPV and problem drinking in a sample of 453 community couples. A significant three-way interaction indicated that men with jealousy problems, but not anger control problems, were most likely to show the strongest association between problem drinking and IPV. In accord with the multiple threshold model of IPV, specific combinations of risk factors appeared to represent different thresholds in which problem drinking influenced the likelihood of IPV.     

Development and usage of a NIST standard reference material for real time PCR quantitation of human DNA

National Institute of Standards and Technology SRM 2372 human DNA quantitation standard has been produced to support the need for a human-specific DNA quantitation standard in forensic casework and calibration of new quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays. The conventional DNA concentration has been assigned with one of the U.S. National Reference UV/Visible Spectrophotometers, assuming an absorbance of 1.0 at 260 nm equals 50 ng/μL of double stranded DNA. In addition, an interlaboratory study has been conducted, to verify that the SRM 2372 materials perform well in currently used DNA quantitation assays by the forensic DNA community. Each unit of SRM 2372 consists of three well-characterized DNA extracts. Component A is a single-source human male material derived from blood. Component B is a multiple-source human female material derived from blood. Component C was purchased as a purified unsheared genomic human DNA (Sigma-Aldrich Co., St. Louis, MO) obtained as a lyophilized human genomic extract and has both male and female donors. SRM 2372 is intended to enable the comparison of DNA concentration measurements across time and place. Manufacturers can use SRM 2372 to validate the values assigned to their own reference materials. Individual forensic laboratories can use SRM 2372 to validate DNA quantitation methods and to verify the assigned concentration of in-house or commercial DNA calibration standards.