Taking the stand: defendant statements in court cases of alleged sexual abuse against infants,toddlers and preschoolers

Investigating and adjudicating allegations of child sexual abuse are challenging tasks. In the present study, we examined defendant statements concerning charges of sexual abuse against young children in Swedish district court cases (87 defendants, 140 child complainants, tried between January 2010 to December 2015). A main objective was to test predictive factors for admissions of guilt using inferential statistical analyses. Furthermore, using qualitative thematical analysis, we sought to identify common patterns in the defendants’ explanations to the allegation. Approximately one-third of the defendants (31%) pleaded guilty during trial. Admissions of guilt were more likely if the defendant was young, if the child was young at the onset of abuse, if the child and perpetrator had an extrafamilial relationship, and if the defendant possessed child pornography. A conflict with the person who made the report (e.g. a custody dispute), a testimony from the child, a direct eyewitness, or an informal disclosure recipient were significantly more common in cases of denials. In the qualitative analysis, a range of alternative explanations behind the abuse allegations were identified. Legal professionals and investigators may benefit from considering these alternative hypotheses during their investigative and judicial work.     

Age and crime in a Stockholm cohort

This study reports some findings on the age-crime relationship from a study of a 1953 Stockholm cohort (Project Metropolitan) through youth and young adulthood. The study includes 15,117 males and females. Basic data about crime in the cohort are presented along with more detailed data about the age-crime relationship. Special emphasis is given to sex and social class differences. The findings are discussed in the context of the recent debate on the value of longitudinal studies of crime as regards the study of the age-crime relationship. The results show that overall there are many general similarities with the findings from U.S. and British research on age, crime, and criminal careers.Project Metropolitan operates on grants from the Commission for Social Research and the Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research. Until 1985 the project was supported by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation. Project Metropolitan is directed by Professor Carl-Gunnar Janson, Department of Sociology, University of Stockholm.     

Deaths among narcotic addicts in Denmark in 1978 and 1979

Objective measurements were carried out to study the evolution of rigor mortis on rats at various temperatures.Our experiments showed that:(1) at 6 °C rigor mortis reaches full development between 48 and 60 hours post mortem, and is resolved at 168 hours post mortem; (2) at 24 °C rigor mortis reaches full development at 5 hours post mortem, and is resolved at 16 hours post mortem; (3) at 37 °C rigor mortis reaches full development at 3 hours post mortem, and is resolved at 6 hours post mortem; (4) the intensity of rigor mortis grows with increase in temperature (difference between values obtained at 24 °C and 37 °C); and (5) at 6 °C a “cold rigidity” was found, in addition to and independent of rigor mortis.     

Fatal pedestrian-bicycle collisions

Although, fatal collisions between pedestrians and bicycles are relatively rare, they are still of forensic relevance because of the need to explore the circumstances of the accident. Based on three reconstructed cases, situation and injury patterns are presented that might prove useful in future cases: usually the person causing the accident is the cyclist while the pedestrian generally suffers more severe injuries; the situation at the site of accident is important for its reconstruction: end location of the persons involved in the accident, injuries and traces on pedestrians and cyclists, traces at the site of accident and on the bicycle; because of the lack of pre-crash traces and any eyewitness accounts, the pedestrian's injuries are the best starting point for the reconstruction of the accident; a characteristic wound on the lower leg of the pedestrian that reveals the initial impact between the front wheel and the leg is crucial not because of its seriousness, but because of its external morphology; the injuries that can be expected by the following impact between body and handlebar are unspecific and only minor; the most severe injuries to the pedestrian as a result of the accident are caused secondarily by falling and hitting the head on the road; the fall of the cyclist, however, corresponds to a throw-off followed by a sliding phase with less impact load when the head hits the ground [maximum abbreviated injury scale 1 (MAIS 1)]; the cyclists involved are mainly younger persons on fashionable bicycles (here: mountain bikes); in the great majority of cases, the injured pedestrians are frail, elderly people with a lower tolerance of trauma.     

An exploratory study of child molesters' relationship patterns using the core conflictual relationship theme method

This study examined the relationship patterns of N = 20 child molesters (CM) using the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) method. The relationship patterns of the CMs were compared with those of a control group of N = 20 subjects from an out patient counseling service. Results showed that CMs had significantly less wish to be controlled, hurt, and not responsible than the control group. No significant difference was found between both groups for the CCRT response of other component (RO). For the response of self (RS) component, results indicated that CMs reported more relationship episodes in which they felt respected and accepted and self-controlled and self-confident. The authors suggest that these interactions could be indicators of the CMs'attempts to attribute blame to others and present themselves as victims. It is also suggested that CMs may have core issues involving autonomy and control.     

Forensic DNA-typing of dog hair: DNA-extraction and PCR amplification

The forensic application of DNA-typing for the identification of dog hair provides objective evidence in the characterisation of traces found at crime scenes. During the past few years forensic dog identity testing has been improved considerably using multiplex PCR systems. However, DNA-typing from samples of one up to 10 dog hairs is often problematic in forensic science. A single dog hair contains very small quantities of DNA or the hair sample consists of hairs with roots of bad quality or even of broken hairshafts without roots. Here we describe an experimental study about dog hairs by means of a Ca(2+) improved DNA-extraction method, quantification and amplification.