Juvenile Psychopathy from a Developmental Perspective: Implications for Construct Development and Use in Forensic Assessments

D. Seagrave and T. Grisso (2002) provide a review of the emerging research on the construct of juvenile psychopathy and make the important point that use of this construct in forensic decision-making could have serious consequences for juvenile offenders. Furthermore, the existing literature on the construct of psychopathy in youth is not sufficient to justify its use for most forensic purposes. These basic points are very important cautions on the use of measures of psychopathy in forensic settings. However, in this response, several issues related to the reasons given for why concern over the potential misuse of measures of psychopathy should be greater than that for measures of other psychopathological constructs used to make decisions with potentially serious consequences are discussed. Also, the rationale for some of the standards proposed to guide research on measures of juvenile psychopathy that focus on assumptions about the construct of psychopathy that are not clearly articulated and that are only peripherally related to validating their use in forensic assessments is questioned.     

Psychopathology and tattooing among prisoners

Tattooing has always been associated with criminals. Indeed, it is both an administrative and clinical problem in prisons. This article looks at the relationship between psychopathology and tattooing infractions within prison. Using a sample of 8,574 male inmates in the Colorado Department of Corrections, initial admission personality testing was compared to tattooing infractions within the next 2 years. Personality types more likely to engage in tattooing included Antisocial, Sadistic, Negativistic, and Borderline. Compulsive personality types engaged in relatively less tattooing. Clinical syndromes associated with more tattooing included Mania, Drug Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress disorder, and Thought Disorder.     

Forensic odontology lessons: multishooting incident at Port Arthur,Tasmania

On Sunday 28 April 1996 a lone gunman killed and injured many people at the historic penal settlement ruins at Port Arthur in South Eastern Tasmania, Australia. Thirty-two victims were shot dead and 19 were injured in a short time inside a cafe and along the roadway leading to the site entrance. The gunman then took one hostage to a nearby guest house which was occupied by a married couple. Police stood siege during the night. Early the next day the cottage began to burn and a man suspected to be the gunman eventually ran unarmed from the building with his clothes alight and was arrested. The house burned to the ground. Three bodies were later located in the burnt ruins. Forensic odontology played a role in the retrieval of evidence and identification of the incinerated victims. Lack of antemortem dental records for one victim necessitated the reliance on a single CT scan radiograph for matching with the remains. Fire scene procedures, evidence collection and other issues were reviewed. The overwhelming scale of this tragedy and its adverse effects on the Tasmanian community, especially the victims' families and survivors, cannot be overestimated. While acknowledging this, it is important that lessons are learnt from tragedies such as these. This paper is presented with a view to assisting forensic odontologists in the investigation of complex incidents.     

Rapid determination of carbohydrates in heroin drug seizures using capillary electrophoresis with short-end injection

A simple and rapid method for the analysis of carbohydrates in heroin samples by capillary electrophoresis utilizing a borate complexation method is described. Separations were performed using an uncoated fused silica capillary, 50 cm x 50 micro I.D. x 360 microm O.D. with an effective separation length of 9 cm. The system was run at 60 degrees C with an applied voltage of -8 kilovolts. Injection of each sample was for 1 sec at -50 mbar. UV detection was employed with the wavelength set at 195 nm. The background electrolyte consisted of 65 mM borate, pH 12.0. Samples and standards were prepared in the run buffer containing 2 mg/mL of mannose as an internal standard. Under these conditions a test mixture containing glucose, sucrose, lactose, mannitol and mannose as an internal standard was resolved within 5 min. The method was used to determine the concentration of carbohydrates in heroin seizure samples and synthetic heroin samples. The results were in good agreement with the reported values.     

Perceived Social Support and Well Being in School; The Role of Students’ Ethnicity

This paper reports on the relationship between early adolescents’ evaluation of the availability of instructional and social support from parents, teachers, and peers and their well-being. The main questions are whether indigenous and immigrant youngsters differ in their evaluation of the availability of support and whether the relationship varies by group. Participants in the study were 245 Dutch and 172 Turkish/Moroccan 10- to 13-year olds with a lower class background. Both Dutch and immigrant youngsters clearly distinguish between the various agents of support. Dutch youngsters report more instructional support from their parents than from their teacher, whereas immigrant youngsters report more instructional support from their teacher. Both for Dutch and immigrant students, parents were seen as the primary providers of emotional support. Reported well-being in the classroom was related to available teacher support and to the frequency of occurrence of learning-related problems.Paul Vedder is an associate professor trained in developmental psychology. He received his PhD in 1985 from Groningen University, in the Netherlands. His main research interest is with self regulated learning, social competence, cooperative learning, and interethnic relationshipsMonique Boekaerts is a full professor trained as an educational psychologist. She received her PhD in 1978 from Tilburg University in the Netherlands. Her field of expertise is self regulated learning, motivation and emotions.Gerard Seegers is an assistant professor working in the field of self regulated learning, mathematics and ICT. He received his PhD in 1985 from Nijmegen University in the Netherlands. All authors are working at the Center for the Study of Education and Instruction at Leiden University in the Netherlands.     

Science ethics as a bureaucratic problem: IRBs,Rules, and Failures of control

“Institutionalized science ethics” refers to the statutory, professional and institution-based ethical standards that guide and constrain scientists' research work. The primary institution responsible for implementing institutionalized science ethics is the Institutional Review Board. We examine the limitations of IRBs and institutionalized science ethics, using bureaucratic theory and, especially, theory related to the development and enactment of rules. We suggest that due to the very character of rules-based systems, improvements in IRB outcomes are unlikely to be achieved through either more or better rules or even by bureaucratic reform. Instead, we suggest that improvements in human subject protection can best be advanced through increased participation. Ours is not a call for more participation by the general public but participation, via “Participant Review Boards” of persons who are eligible, by the protocols of the research in question, to serve as subjects. This provides a level of legitimacy and face validity that cannot be obtained by IRB affiliates, even by “external representatives.” In making these points, we review a recent science ethics controversy, the KKI/Johns Hopkins lead paint study. In spite of being approved by IRBs, the study resulted in a civil lawsuit that reached the Maryland Court of Appeals. The case illustrates the limits of institutionalized science ethics and the bureaucracies created for their enactment. The case also underscores the complex and equivocal nature of the ethical guidelines established under the National Research Act. We are grateful to – for providing helpful comments on an earlier draft.     

Appointing and Censuring the European Commission: The Adaptation of Parliamentary Institutions to the Community Context

The parliamentary model at the heart of European civic cultures has deeply influenced ‘Constitutional reforms’ in the European Community. But the EC is not a Parliamentary state and the transplant of national institutions in its own political context gives rise to hybrid practices. This paper examines this process of hybridation, and shows that new practices of appointment and censure are emerging in the Community, mixing classic parliamentary institutions with the crucial features of the EC itself. Focusing on recent tensions between the Council, the Commission, and the European Parliament, it shows that they are governed by national divisions, technocratic and legal reasoning rather than by classic majoritarian attitudes. It concludes that, while this new model of accountability might prove efficient in terms of inter‐institutional controls, it remains symbolically inefficient, because it does not help citizens understand and accept the Community institutional model.     

Parental bonding and adult attachment styles in different types of stalker

Attachment theory is one of the earliest and most vigorously promoted explanations of the psychological processes that underlie stalking behavior. Insecure attachment has been proposed as impairing the management of relationships, thus increasing the propensity to stalk. The current study explored the parental bonding and adult attachment styles of 122 stalkers referred to a specialist forensic clinic. Stalkers were grouped according to two common classification methods: relationship and motivation. Compared to general community samples, stalkers were more likely to remember their parents as emotionally neglectful and have insecure adult attachment styles, with the degree of divergence varying according to stalker type and mode of classification. In offering support for the theoretical proposition that stalking evolves from pathological attachment, these findings highlight the need to consider attachment in the assessment and management of stalkers. Also emphasized is the importance of taking classification methods into account when interpreting and evaluating stalking research.     

Utility of infectious disease coding sheets for surveillance in a state medical examiner's office

Medical examiners are often first to recognize unusual occurrences of fatal infectious diseases. Recognition of these deaths allows public health officials to institute appropriate public health measures. Therefore, we developed a simple method of identifying and tracking infectious disease deaths in a statewide medical examiner's office. One-page infectious disease forms were completed for 1566/1949 autopsies (80%) performed at the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator in 2004. In 241 cases one infectious disease was identified at autopsy and 58 cases had two infectious diseases. Fourteen of the infectious-diseases caused deaths involved diseases that are notifiable conditions in New Mexico. Pneumonia was the most commonly reported infectious process (47 deaths) followed by sepsis (25 deaths). Tracking infectious disease deaths highlighted the importance of recognizing these deaths, although hand-written entries were unstandardized. Preferably, a tracking system would be built into electronic databases at medical examiner and coroner's offices, expediting the identification of these diseases and contact of public health agencies.