Juvenile delinquency and victimization: a theoretical typology

It is a widely voiced notion that juvenile delinquency and victimization co-occur extensively in the youth population, in particular because delinquent youth engage in risky activities. But theory from the bullying and traumatic stress literatures suggests that there may be additional pathways by which delinquency and victimization are connected. This analysis looks for possible subtypes of delinquents and victims consistent with such pathways. Using the Developmental Victimization Survey, a national sample of 1,000 youth aged 10 to 17 were interviewed over the phone. Support emerges for three distinct types of delinquent-victims, who are termed bully-victims, delinquent sex/maltreatment- victims, and property delinquent-victims. There is also evidence for substantial groups of youth who are primarily delinquent but not seriously victimized, as well as youth who are primarily victimized but not delinquent.     

Genetic variation of 13 STR loci in the four endogamous tribal populations of Eastern India

We have analysed 13 autosomal STR loci in four endogamous tribal populations from two eastern states (Orissa and Nagaland) of India. The Gadaba, Kuvi Khond and Lotha Naga populations have not been analysed for microsatellite genetic variation previously. The allele frequencies for all loci are within the range observed in the geographical region and racial background, though some alleles showed greater variation. Departures from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were tested by three methods and two loci (THO1 and TPOX) showed significant departures for all measures in Gadaba and Lotha Naga populations. The exclusion probability and discrimination probability were high for all analysed loci in all populations. There is no evidence for association of alleles among the STR loci studied. This allele frequency information will be useful for forensic, paternity and population genetic studies.     

Autosomal STR data on the enigmatic Andaman Islanders

We have analyzed nine autosomal STR loci (D3S1358, vWA, FGA, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, D5S818, D13S317, and D7S820) in 97 samples of enigmatic Andaman islanders including: 15 Great Andamanese, 46 Onge and 36 Nicobarese. Data was compared with the available data on Indian and South East Asian populations. Heterozygosity (H), power of discrimination (PD), probability exclusion (PE), typical paternity index (TPI), polymorphism information content (PIC), AMOVA and Arlequin analysis were carried out. Average heterozygosity observed was high and almost equal in all the populations. Similarly, PD, PE, TPI and PIC have been almost equal in all the populations.     

Test–Retest Reliability of the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2)

The Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2) are widely used to measure intimate partner aggression. Various aspects of the CTS2 and its subscales have been examined, e.g. factor structure, internal consistency, and validity, but little or no evidence exists regarding the stability of the self-report of aggression on the CTS2 This study examines the stability of reports of aggression against a partner on the CTS2 among 82 men court-mandated to a batterer intervention program. At both testing times men reported on aggression occurring in the year prior to beginning treatment. Using variety scores, stability of report was strong for psychological aggression (r = 0.69), physical assault (r = 0.76), injury (r = 0.70), and negotiation (r = 0.60), but weaker for sexual coercion (r = 0.30). Implications for the use of the CTS2 in court-mandated populations are discussed.

Searching for the origin of Romanies: Slovakian Romani, Jats of Haryana and Jat Sikhs Y-STR data in comparison with different Romani populations

Haplotype frequencies for 11 Y-STR markers (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385, DYS437, DYS438 and DYS439) in a Romani population (n=63) from Slovakia, Jats of Haryana (n=84) and Jat Sikhs (n=80) from India were determined. The Slovakian Romani, the Haryana and Sikh populations were endogamous based on their unique haplotype ratio and haplotype diversity values, although the Sikh population appeared to be more diverse. AMOVA revealed non-significant differences between the Romanies and significant differences with non-Romani populations. The Macedonian Romani population differed from all Romani populations examined. Frequent haplotypes observed in Romani populations were sporadic in northwest Indian populations. Thirteen out of 316 populations worldwide were found to share the six most frequent haplotypes of the Slovakian Romanies when the screening conditions were narrowed based on the population size to be over 40, the occurrence of the haplotypes was more than one and the sum frequencies of the most frequent haplotypes was at least 0.02. The most common haplotypes were also observed in other Romani groups. When searching with two Indian (Malbar and Malaysian Indian) most frequent haplotypes under the same conditions matches could be detected in all Romani populations except for the Macedonian Romanies. The search with the Jat Sikhs and Jats of Haryana most frequent haplotypes resulted no matches in Romani populations.     

Identification of human semenogelin in membrane strip test as an alternative method for the detection of semen

Semenogelin (Sg), a protein originating in the seminal vesicles and a substrate for prostate specific antigen (PSA or p30), is a useful marker for the identification of semen. And detection of Sg has been available commercially in a membrane test recently. PSA is commonly used to detect semen in forensic significant samples taken from sexual assault cases. The strip PSA test has been available commercially from various manufacturers for many years. In this study, we evaluated two immunochromatographic membrane tests, one for Sg and the other for PSA by analyzing human semen, other human bodily fluids/materials including urine, blood, saliva, sweat, breast milk, vaginal secretion and fecal materials, semen from various animals and forensic casework samples. The data demonstrate that both Sg and PSA strip tests provide rapid and sensitive method for identification of seminal plasma. These results show that the immunochromatographic method for Sg detection is useful for the identification of seminal plasma in forensic samples, an alternative to the method for PSA detection.     

Interrogating genomic diversity of E. coli O157:H7 using DNA tiling arrays

Here, we describe a novel microarray-based approach for investigating the genomic diversity of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in a semi-high throughput manner using a high density, oligonucleotide-based microarray. This microarray, designed to detect polymorphisms at each of 60,000 base-pair (bp) positions within an E. coli genome, is composed of overlapping 29-mer oligonucleotides specific for 60 equally spaced, 1000-bp loci of the E. coli O157:H7 strain EDL933 chromosome. By use of a novel 12-well microarray that permitted the simultaneous investigation of 12 strains, the genomes of 44 individual isolates of E. coli O157:H7 were interrogated. These analyses revealed more than 150 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and several deletions and amplifications in the test strains. Pyrosequencing was used to confirm the usefulness of the novel SNPs by determining their allelic frequency among a collection of diverse isolates of E. coli O157:H7. The tiling DNA microarray system would be useful for the tracking and identification of individual strains of E. coli O157:H7 needed for forensic investigations.     

It was not me: attribution of blame for criminal acts in psychiatric offenders

The current article addresses the psychometric qualities of the German Version of Gudjonsson's Blame Attribution Inventory (GBAI), a self-report scale for measuring attribution of blame for crime. The GBAI was administered to a criminal sample of forensic and criminal inmates (n=107). Findings indicate that the German version of the Gudjonsson Blame Attribution Inventory possesses acceptable test-retest stability and good internal consistency. Factor analysis reproduced the three basic dimensions of the GBAI: external attribution, mental-element attribution, and guilt-feeling attribution. Forensic patients had higher mental-element attribution and guilt-feeling attribution scores than the prison inmates. Interestingly, sexual offenders who were prisoners, showed the lowest guilt-feeling attribution, while sexual offenders who were forensic patients had the highest guilt-feeling attribution scores. Since earlier research reported a tendency of faking good in sexual offenders, we suggest that the forensic sexual offenders may demonstrate a social desirable response tendency in an attempt to gain sympathy and/or earlier parole. All in all, our data show that the German version of the GBAI is a valuable tool for measuring attributional styles of offenders.     

Judiciaries as crucial actors in Southern regulatory systems: A case study of Indian telecom regulation

This article addresses regulatory reforms in the Indian telecommunications sector and emphasizes the role of the Indian judiciary. Our claim is that when confronted with a series of disputes relating to the nascent telecom regulatory landscape, the Supreme Court of India sought to make a constructive contribution to both the actual disputes as well as the overall regulatory framework. Our reading of these cases suggests that in the sphere of telecom, the Supreme Court has been less interested in stamping its own authority on issues, and has instead sought to bolster the authority and legitimacy of the recently constituted telecom regulatory institutions. We seek to draw attention to the role of the Indian judiciary as marking an exceptional feature of evolving regulatory systems in the Global South. Conventional wisdom in the regulatory jurisprudence that has evolved in the Global North suggests that judiciaries should have little or no role to play in regulatory systems. We suggest that to overcome the special challenges that regulatory systems in the Global South confront, more established institutions and actors might have to lend credibility and legitimacy to enable nascent regulatory actors to develop over time. At least in the Indian case, this is one way to understand the Indian judiciary's interventionist actions in the sphere of telecom regulation.