Comparability of radiographic and 3D-ultrasound measurements of facial midline tissue depths

As a second step in our three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound research on facial tissues, orthodontic patients with available lateral cephalographs (radiographs) allowing measurements of tissues along the midline of the face were recruited for ultrasound scanning. Comparison of three points on the upper lip (A-point), chin (B-point), and nose (nasion) produced differences of varying magnitude between radiographic and ultrasound measurements, with the B-point measurement being clearly affected by head orientation. Concordance was better for A-point and best for nasion. Although extension of two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound scanning of facial tissues to 3D scanning for forensic and surgical reconstructive purposes remains a worthy goal, it must be recognized that because of the differences in technique, measurements obtained from the different visualization modalities at present vary in their comparability.     

Social control: analytical tool or analytical quagmire?

Conclusion In this paper we have undertaken what we regard as a preliminary critique of the concept of social control and its utility for a critical criminology in Canada. In tracing its emergence and historical development as a key concept in American sociology, we have illustrated that its ascendancy represented a victory for liberal sociology. The recent attempts by critical criminologists and sociologists to rehabilitate the concept of social control by insisting upon the essentially coercive nature of control have not resulted in an advance over traditional theorizing.By examining the women, law and social control literature, in particular the use of the formal/informal dichotomy, we have attempted to illustrate the limited utility of the concept for developing an historically and theoretically informed understanding of the complex and contradictory relationship of women to the state and law. The concept of social control is ahistorical: when coupled with law, moreover, it lends itself to instrumentalism. It is our view that the concept of social control ought to be abandoned by critical scholars in favour of one attentive to the dynamic complexity of history, struggle and change.Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Sociology and Anthropology, 4–7 June 1986, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Equal authorship.     

The Dynamic Prediction of Criminal Recidivism: A Three-wave Prospective Study

A three-wave, prospective panel design was used to assess the extent to which static and dynamic risk factors could predict criminal recidivism in a sample of 136 adult male offenders released from Canadian federal prisons. Static measures were assessed only once, prior to release while dynamic measures were assessed on three separate occasions: pre-release, 1 month, and 3 months post-release. Recidivism was coded during an average of 10.2-month follow-up period (SD = 19.2). A series of Cox regression survival analyses with time-dependent covariates and Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) analyses were conducted to assess predictive validity. Although the combined static and time-dependent dynamic model (AUC = .89, CI = .81–.93) significantly (p < .01) outperformed the pure static model (AUC = .81, CI = .73–.87) the confidence intervals did overlap to some extent. Implications for dynamic risk assessment and management are discussed.

Sense-making and secondary victimization among unsolved homicide co-victims

Sense-making is a form of meaning-making that focuses on understanding loss which then contributes to identity reconstruction. This qualitative study examines how perceived communication with the criminal justice system can inhibit sense-making among unsolved homicide co-victims. One-time intensive interviews were conducted with 37 co-victims about their interactions with police and prosecutors. A grounded theory approach suggest that co-victims held negative views of the police and prosecutors because they perceived them as inhibiting their ability to adequately locate information needed to understand the crime and achieve justice. Results also suggest that race and ethnicity play a role in reducing sense-making because constructions of meaning were based on perceptions of discrimination. In the end, the intense desire for information, resolution, and justice led several co-victims to investigate their loved one's murder. Policies that law enforcement should adopt to promote better communication with co-victims and facilitate sense-making are examined.     

The Nature and Extent of Conservation Policing: Law Enforcement Generalists or Conservation Specialists?

Little is known about law enforcement agencies with responsibility for fish, wildlife, and natural resource protection. Traditional conceptions of fish and wildlife police associate these officers almost entirely with fishing and hunting activities. The relative scarcity of academic literature regarding fish and wildlife police agencies results in a lack of understanding about their role in the criminal justice system in general. The current study seeks to contribute to the limited existing literature by examining conservation policing in Florida, a state not yet studied in this context, by analyzing some 2,910 field events. Findings indicate that officers devote a considerable portion of their attention to traditional law enforcement activities in addition to the type of enforcement customarily associated with fish and wildlife law enforcement.     

Cashless Welfare Transfers for ‘Vulnerable’ Welfare Recipients: Law,Ethics and Vulnerability

This article aims to contribute to literature on the conceptualisation of ‘vulnerability’ and its use by neo-liberal welfare regimes to demean, stigmatize and responsibilize welfare recipients. Several conceptions of ‘vulnerability’ will be explored and utilised in the context of welfare reforms that purport to regulate social security recipients as highly risky ‘vulnerable’ subjects. However, as this article will make clear, ‘vulnerability’ is a somewhat slippery concept and one susceptible to abuse by powerful interests intent on increasing coercive surveillance, discipline and disentitlement for those designated as ‘vulnerable’. Legislation enacted ostensibly to address the ‘vulnerability’ of welfare recipients can foster intensive regulation and it must be asked who benefits most from such arrangements and the rhetoric that supports them.