Intimate partner violence, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder as additional predictors of low birth weight infants among low-income mothers

Estimates of intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy vary by population being studied, measures, and other methodological limitations, hindering the ability to gauge the relationship between IPV and negative birth outcomes. The authors report aggregated data from a subsample (n = 148) of the first three waves of the Women's Employment Study. The authors compared groups of women who did and did not give birth to low birth weight infants on demographic, material deprivation, risk behavior, mental health, and IPV factors. The prevalence of domestic violence was more than twice as high for women with low birth weight infants as those women who had a normal weight infant. When considering additional risk factors, including food insufficiency, substance dependence, and depression and/or posttraumatic stress disorder, IPV remained a significant indicator, but it was most strongly associated with low birth weight among women also experiencing depression and/or posttraumatic stress disorder.     

Good Governance at the World Trade Organization: Building a Foundation of Administrative Law

Good governance lies at the heart of both the effectivenessand legitimacy of collective decision-making. In this essay,Professor Esty argues that, if the World Trade Organization(WTO) is to be successful in its designated role of promotingtrade liberalization and helping to manage international economicinterdependence, it needs a deeper commitment to good governance,advanced through a more refined structure of administrativerules and procedures. He identifies 14 core elements of goodgovernance and traces how administrative law might promote eachone in the WTO context. While acknowledging the difficulty ofbringing administrative law to the supranational level, Estyconcludes that there exists an emerging consensus around manyof the underpinnings of good governance—and thereforeplaces value in trying to build these elements in to the WTOpolicy-making process.     

Murder Followed by Suicide: A Newspaper Surveillance Study Using the New York Times Index

Abstract: Murder–suicide is a relatively uncommon event but as reported by the New York Times, it has occurred and continues to occur yearly. Previous research has indicated that those who commit murder–suicides tend to be men, are in or have been in an intimate relationship with the victim, victims tend to be women, and a firearm is most likely to be used. This study uses a newspaper surveillance methodology to examine such cases. Articles from the New York Times as found in the New York Times Index were coded, analyzed, and examined. The cases, 166 in total, support the findings from prior research. The trend data was examined by cross tabulations and chi‐square analysis. The findings suggest that murder–suicides are rare events and when they occur they usually involve a male perpetrator and an intimate partner victim who is either a wife or girlfriend with the event occurring in a private home. A firearm is the most commonly used method for both murders and suicides, particularly if there was more than one murder victim. The authors conclude by suggesting that future research should focus on using the forthcoming data resource in the CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) to examine the occurrence of murder–suicide.     

THE DIVIDED WORLD OF THE CHILD: DIVORCE AND LONG‐TERM PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENT

This study evaluated the extent to which divorce creates the “divided world of the child,” as well as consequences of this “divided world” for long‐term adjustment. An ethnically diverse sample of 1,375 young‐adult university students completed retrospective measures of parental nurturance and involvement, and current measures of psychosocial adjustment and troubled ruminations about parents. Results indicated that reports of maternal and paternal nurturance and involvement were closely related in intact families but uncorrelated in divorced families. Across family forms, the total amount of nurturance or involvement received was positively associated with self‐esteem, purpose in life, life satisfaction, friendship quality and satisfaction, and academic performance; and negatively related to distress, romantic relationship problems, and troubled ruminations about parents. Mother‐father differences in nurturance and involvement showed a largely opposite set of relationships. Implications for family court practices are discussed.     

PCR-based detection of salivary bacteria as a marker of expirated blood

Distinguishing between bloodstains caused by a spatter pattern or by expirated blood may be crucial to a forensic investigation. Expirated blood is likely to be contaminated with saliva but current techniques have limited sensitivity, especially with small bloodstains. We report that a PCR assay, designed to detect salivary bacteria, can amplify streptococcal DNA from saliva stains applied to fabrics for at least 62 days after seeding. Bacterial DNA was detected when 0.01 µl of saliva was present in the stain and the amplification was not affected by contamination with blood. These findings indicate that PCR amplification of salivary microbial DNA may have application in the identification of expirated bloodstains in forensic case-work.     

A Multilevel Test of Minority Threat Effects on Sentencing

Prior studies of criminal sanctioning have focused almost exclusively on individual-level predictors of sentencing outcomes. However, in recent years, scholars have begun to include social context in their research. Building off of this work—and heeding calls for testing the racial and ethnic minority threat perspective within a multilevel framework and for separating prison and jail sentences as distinct outcomes—this paper examines different dimensions of minority threat and explores whether they exert differential effects on prison versus jail sentences. The findings provide support for the racial threat perspective, and less support for the ethnic threat perspective. They also underscore the importance of testing for non-linear threat effects and for separating jail and prison sentences as distinct outcomes. We discuss the findings and their implications for theory, research, and policy.     

Using social network analysis to target criminal networks

Using social network analysis (SNA), we propose a model for targeting criminal networks. The model we present here is a revised version of our existing model (Schwartz and Rouselle in IALEIA Journal, 18(1):18–14, 2008), which itself builds on Steve Borgatti’s SNA-based key player approach. Whereas Borgatti’s approach focuses solely on actors’ network positions, our model also incorporates the relative strength or potency of actors, as well as the strength of the relationships binding network actors.

Collateral damage: do gender quotas undermine party discipline?

Quotas are the most disputed instrument to promote equal representation of women. Today, political parties in more than 90 democracies apply them. Essentially, gender quotas are a manipulation of the electoral rules. Scholars of legislative politics have created an impressive knowledge of the effect of electoral rules on political behaviour. So far, this literature remains unconnected to the literature on gender quotas. Our study contributes to closing that research gap.     

Criminological Research and the Death Penalty: Has Research by Criminologists Impacted Capital Punishment Practices?

American Journal of Criminal Justice - At the request of the SCJA president this paper addresses five questions. Does criminological research make a difference relative to the death penalty? - If...