Police Responses to Sexual Assault Complaints: The Role of Perpetrator/Complainant Intoxication

This study explored the impact of victim and perpetrator alcohol consumption on police officers' evaluations of an alleged sexual assault and their reported likelihood of charging the perpetrator. Two hundred and twelve police officers were presented with a vignette depicting an acquaintance rape in which the beverage consumption (beer, cola) of both the victim and perpetrator was systematically varied. Results indicated that the officers' perceptions of the complainant's intoxication level, as well as the gender of the officer, influenced officers' evaluations of the alleged sexual assault. The more intoxicated the complainant was perceived to be, the more negatively she was viewed. Female police officers evaluated the victim more favorably than male officers. The only factors related to the officers' likelihood of charging the perpetrator, however, involved their assessment of the complainant's credibility and their perception of the likelihood that the perpetrator would be found guilty in a court of law.     

Estimation and Inference Are Missing Data Problems: Unifying Social Science Statistics via Bayesian Simulation

Bayesian simulation is increasingly exploited in the socialsciences for estimation and inference of model parameters. Butan especially useful (if often overlooked) feature of Bayesiansimulation is that it can be used to estimate any function ofmodel parameters, including "auxiliary" quantities such as goodness-of-fitstatistics, predicted values, and residuals. Bayesian simulationtreats these quantities as if they were missing data, samplingfrom their implied posterior densities. Exploiting this principlealso lets researchers estimate models via Bayesian simulationwhere maximum-likelihood estimation would be intractable. Bayesiansimulation thus provides a unified solution for quantitativesocial science. I elaborate these ideas in a variety of contexts:these include generalized linear models for binary responsesusing data on bill cosponsorship recently reanalyzed in PoliticalAnalysis, item—response models for the measurement ofrespondent's levels of political information in public opinionsurveys, the estimation and analysis of legislators' ideal pointsfrom roll-call data, and outlier-resistant regression estimatesof incumbency advantage in U.S. Congressional elections     

A multilevel comparison of child abusers with nonabusers

An integrative, ecological model developed by Belsky (1980) implies that to understand child abuse researchers must examine factors at four levels: the individual, the family, the environment, and the culture. This study compared abusive and nonabusive parents at three of these four levels. At the individual level, abusers were found to have lower self-esteem than controls. Also, male abusers were likely to be relatively impulsive and hostile. At the level of the family, abusers described their children as more troublesome than control parents, but they did not perceive them as developmentally delayed. At the level of the environment, abusers identified more intense life stressors than nonabusers. Results of this investigation supported Belsky's argument that child abuse involved multiple factors and levels.     

Mitochondrial DNA error prophylaxis: assessing the causes of errors in the GEP'02-03 proficiency testing trial

A qualitative and quantitative analytical method was developed and validated for the determination of 49 licit and illicit drugs in oral fluid. Small oral fluid samples, volume 1mL, were collected from volunteers using a modified Omni-Sal device and the analytes were extracted from an oral fluid/buffer mixture using a single Bond Elut Certify solid phase extraction cartridge. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) and gas chromatography-repetitive full scan mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were used in parallel to analyze the extracts for the targeted drugs. Extracts were analyzed by GC-MS in their underivatized form and as their pentafluoropropionyl derivatives. Deuterated internal standards were used for quantification of drugs of abuse by LC-MS-MS to minimize matrix effects. Methadone-d(9) and tumoxetine were used as the internal standards for quantification of non-derivatized and derivatized analytes respectively by GC-MS. Linearity was demonstrated over the range 5-200 ng/mL and limits of detection were less than 4 ng/mL for each drug analyzed. The method demonstrated acceptable recoveries for most of the analytes and good intra- and inter-day precision. Acquisition of data by repetitive full scan GC-MS allows the addition of further analytes to the target menu.     

Linking arson incidents on the basis of crime scene behavior

The present study investigated the possibility of statistically linking arson cases based on consistency of behaviors from one crime scente to another. Serial and spree arson cases were studied to differentiate underlying themes and to link cases committed by the same offender. The material consisted of 248 arson cases which formed 42 series of arsons. A content analysis using 45 dichotomous variables was carried out and principal compnents (PCA) analysis was performed to identify underlying themes. Summary scores reflecting the themes were calculated. Linking effectiveness was tested with a discriminant analysis using the summary scores. The PCA analysis was successful and underlying themes which were in accordance with previous studies could be identified. Six factors were retained, in the PCA. The linking of the arson cases was possible to a satisfactory level: 33% of the cases could be correctly linked and for over 50% of the cases, the series they actually belonged to was among the ten series identified as most probable on the basis of the linking analysis. From a practical point of view, the results could be used as a basis for developing support systems for police investigations of arson. This research was financially supported by the Finnish Ministry of Interior and by Grant 54456 from the Academy of Finland.     

Legal and ethical issues in microbicides research and development in Canada

The Canadian AIDS Society (CAS) recently completed a report entitled Microbicides Development and Delivery in Canada: Legal, Ethical and Human Rights Issues. The report builds on Canadian and international experience and was written in consultation with Canadian community and international experts. It is available on the CAS website (www.cdnaids.ca) and from the Canadian HIV/AIDS Information Centre (www.aidssida.cpha.ca) as of September 2004. In this article the report's author, Anna Alexandrova, argues that Canada needs to develop a microbicides development and delivery strategy that addresses research and development issues, outlines possible roles for meaningful community participation, and provides guidelines on funding, promotion, licensing, and distribution.