The Policy Sciences: The Challenge of Complexity

This essay reviews some of the recent criticisms of positivist science. It interprets this criticism, more generally, as directed towards the complexity of social science phenomena and the difficulty of dealing with complexity epistemologically and methodologically. Rather than ignoring complexity, changing the subject matter or explaining it away, we argue that complexity may be acknowledged and studied systematically withn the context of post-positivist approaches. The essay than proposes several strategies for conceptualizing and researching complexity (at a "meta-level" from substantive policy research) that are based in systems theory.     

Typologies of Violence Exposure and Cognitive Processing in Incarcerated Male Adolescents

Incarcerated youth experience high rates of violence exposure (VE), cognitive processing (CP) deficits, and mental health (MH) problems. It is not clear whether VE combined with CP deficits are particularly salient risk factors for MH dysfunction. Male incarcerated youth offenders (n?=?115) completed standardized self-reports of MH and VE. CP was measured with executive functioning tasks and academic assessments. Person-centered Ward’s Squared Euclidian Distance cluster analysis was used to examine unique patterns of CP and VE. Cluster analysis defined five distinct profiles of MH functioning, CP, and VE rates within incarcerated adolescents. Two groups, with high rates of VE and CP deficits, showed high rates of MH problems. Linear techniques may obscure important differences within this population.     

Anaphylaxis After the Injection of Buprenorphine

Cause of death rulings in cases when the concentration of a drug or drugs is higher than observed following therapeutic use are generally straightforward “drug deaths.” However, when toxicology testing identifies drug concentrations consistent with therapeutic use or detects no drugs at all, then the cause of death determination is more complicated. Given the rapidity and protean manifestations of anaphylaxis, it should be considered in deaths where no other cause of death is apparent in a suspected drug death. This article reports two cases where an anaphylactic reaction was observed following either the actual or alleged use of therapeutic formulations of buprenorphine intravenously.     

Modification of hematoma findings in the breast region

Subcutaneous bruises caused by blunt injury are common findings in medicolegal case work. If the hematoma involves the anterior thoracic wall, bruises are mostly absent in the region of the nipples and the surrounding areola. A similar phenomenon has already been described for hypostatic skin hemorrhages. A possible explanation for both phenomena is the special tissue texture in the nipple–areola complex. Based on four cases from the forensic autopsy material and two cases from clinical forensic examinations, the macromorphological findings and the histological correlates are presented.     

Rebecca Roberts introduces this issue of cjm

Abstract

While the pages of Criminal Justice Matters frequently examine and assess criminal justice policies and often make recommendations on how to reform the system, this edition takes a more reflexive approach. Rather than focus on the nature of criminal justice reforms, this issue of cjm shines a spotlight on the reformers.