Determining the sex of human remains through cranial morphology

Sex determination is the keystone of a biological profile, yet few qualitative methods of cranial sex determination have been tested. This analysis examines the accuracy and precision of 17 morphological features of the skull commonly used to determine the sex of unknown skeletal remains. The sample consists of 46 identified skulls from the 19th century St. Thomas' Anglican Church Cemetery in Belleville, Canada. Nasal aperature, zygomatic extension, malar size/rugosity, and supraorbital ridge proved the most useful; of secondary value are chin form and nuchal crest; mastoid size is of tertiary consideration; nasal size and mandibular symphysis/ramus size rank fourth; forehead shape ranks fifth; and palate size/shape are sixth. Skull size/architecture provides an internal standard to assess the relative sizes of other traits. This research is a necessary step in establishing the credibility of morphological sex determination with respect to the Daubert and Mohan criteria for admissibility in a court of law.     

Recognition of cemetery remains in a forensic context

The purpose of this paper is to provide guidelines for the recognition of human remains from modem and historic cemeteries found in a forensic context. Three avenues of evidence may be pursued to confirm the origin of cemetery remains: context, condition of the body, and associated artifacts. This article outlines types of North American cemeteries, demonstrating how land use over time has resulted in many being closed, moved, or forgotten, leaving only the context to indicate their presence. The condition of human cemetery remains varies considerably depending on cultural practices and burial environment, but many exhibit combinations of the following traits: dried or embalmed tissue; erosion of bony pressure points; cortical bone flaking; and bone damage due to autopsy or embalming. Examples of artifact types useful in recognizing cemetery remains are also provided. Two cases from British Columbia, Canada are presented to demonstrate the diagnostic features of a disturbed cemetery burial.     

Crime scene ethics: souvenirs, teaching material, and artifacts

Police and forensic specialists are ethically obliged to preserve the integrity of their investigations and their agencies' reputations. The American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the Canadian Society of Forensic Science provide no guidelines for crime scene ethics, or the retention of items from former crime scenes. Guidelines are necessary to define acceptable behavior relating to removing, keeping, or selling artifacts, souvenirs, or teaching specimens from former crime scenes, where such activities are not illegal, to prevent potential conflicts of interest and the appearance of impropriety. Proposed guidelines permit the retention of objects with educational value, provided they are not of significance to the case, they are not removed until the scene is released, permission has been obtained from the property owner and police investigator, and the item has no significant monetary value. Permission is necessary even if objects appear discarded, or are not typically regarded as property, e.g., animal bones.     

The power of the ordinary subversive in Jackie Kay's <Emphasis Type="Italic">Trumpet</Emphasis>

In Jackie Kay's award-winning novel, Trumpet (1998), the main character Joss Moody, a celebrated jazz trumpet player, is discovered upon his death to be anatomically female. The essay traces both postmodern and humanist affirmations of constructions of self-hood. Situating Virginia Woolf's version of a metaphysical and escapist androgyny as one kind of aesthetic against the material politics of the transgendered subject, the essay argues that Kay's novel can be seen as part of a 20th century tradition of literature and film which satirizes, parodies and painfully exposes the discontinuities of dominant sex–gender systems. The essay ends by arguing that Kay also develops these systems by imbricating sex and gender within a series of dislocated familial, sexual and racial identities, beginning with the arrival of Joss's African father in Scotland at the beginning of the 20th century.     

The Violent Female Juvenile Offender: An Ignored Minority Within the Juvenile Justice System

Little attention is given to the violent female adolescent. While there is no argument that males commit most of the violent crimes (both juveniles and adults), violent females may demand the attention of policy-makers and administrators. Historically there has been a lack of program offerings for these offenders. This article examines violent female adolescent offenders referred to the Clark County (Las Vegas, Nevada) Juvenile Court Services in two different years (1985 and 1988). This examination includes a review of programs and alternatives for these offenders and a review of what is currently being done by the juvenile justice system to accommodate this population. Dispositions and programmatic treatment offerings for violent adolescent males and females are compared. Recommendations are offered for the juvenile justice system for consideration.     

THE IMPACT MAXIMUM BENEFIT AMOUNTS HAVE ON THE LENGTH OF TIME FAMILIES RECEIVE AFDC-BASIC BENEFITS

Analysts and program evaluators have rightly focused on the impact policies have on participants achieving programs’ goals and objectives. Yet a potentially neglected aspect of these analyses is the impact policies themselves have on who is initially eligible to participate in the programs and the impact policy parameters have on the length of time people participate in the program. This article reports the findings of a study on the length of time families receive AFDC (now TANF) benefits in two counties in a high benefit state, Wisconsin, between 1987 and 1989 and a low benefit state, Texas, from mid‐1989 through 1992 and the influence the states’ maximum benefits have on who is eligible to receive benefits and how families lose eligibility. Results of a life table analysis indicate that families in Texas receive benefits over significantly less time. However, results of a multivariate analysis indicate that when selected personal and familial attributes are held constant, the difference disappears.     

Making sense of Italy’s constitutional referendum

This article seeks to explain the rejection of the reforms proposed in the 2016 Constitutional Referendum in Italy. We contend that Renzi's promise to resign if he were to lose the referendum did not significantly affect the final result. While highly partisan voting patterns may lead to speculation that this so-called personalization strategy caused the rejection, we argue that voters probably would have followed party cues anyway. Instead, we argue that the fundamental explanation for the results was voter ambivalence towards the reforms themselves, based on insufficient information about the complex package and its broad coalition of opponents.     

Investigating Residential History Using Stable Hydrogen and Oxygen Isotopes of Human Hair and Drinking Water

The relationship between isotopic signals in human hair and geographic region has potential forensic applications for identifying unknown individuals' place of recent residence. This study analyzes δ²H and δ¹⁸O isotopes in residential tap water and bulk hair samples from 17 volunteers representing 12 locations in Ontario, Canada. There is a strong correlation (R² = 0.9) between δ²H and δ¹⁸O values of the water samples. In contrast, the δ²H and δ¹⁸O values of the hair samples are weakly correlated (R² = 0.3), and the greater variability in the data is linked to dietary factors. This study demonstrates that the δ²H and δ¹⁸O values of hair and drinking water can be used to help identify potential place of residence in forensic cases, particularly in relation to proximity to large bodies of water such as the Great Lakes, but interpretations are complicated by the contribution of both water and diet to δ²H and δ¹⁸O values in hair.