The forensic analysis of thermal transfer printing

Thermal transfer printing refers to printing processes that utilize heat to produce an image by either physical or chemical means or by a combination of both. As the technology has improved and the supplies have become less expensive, the use of thermal printing in the personal and business markets has increased significantly. Specifically, dye diffusion thermal transfer and thermal mass transfer have become predominant in the production of counterfeit credit cards, drivers' licenses, and other types of documents produced on plastic media. Chemical analysis by means of thin layer chromatography (TLC) has proven to be useful in characterizing various types of inks (e.g., writing and inkjet inks). In this study, the authors examined 81 different samples that included a total of 54 printer samples (43 photographic prints on paper and eleven plastic card samples) and 27 printer ribbons. A new TLC method was developed and tested utilizing a solvent system (80% n-hexane, 3% methyl ethyl ketone, and 17% ethyl acetate) that is capable of producing excellent resolution.     

Fatal diphenhydramine intoxication in infants

Diphenhydramine is an antihistamine available in numerous over-the-counter preparations. Often used for its sedative effects in adults, it can cause paradoxical central nervous system stimulation in children, with effects ranging from excitation to seizures and death. Reports of fatal intoxications in young children are rare. We present five cases of fatal intoxication in infants 6, 8, 9, 12, and 12 weeks old. Postmortem blood diphenhydramine levels in the cases were 1.6, 1.5, 1.6, 1.1 and 1.1 mg/L, respectively. Anatomic findings in each case were normal. In one case the child's father admitted giving the infant diphenhydramine in an attempt to induce the infant to sleep; in another case, a daycare provider admitted putting diphenhydramine in a baby bottle. Two cases remain unsolved; one case remains under investigation. The postmortem drug levels in these cases are lower than seen in adult fatalities. We review the literature on diphenhydramine toxicity, particularly as it pertains to small children, and discuss the rationale for treating these cases as fatal intoxications.     

The Evolving Structure of the Environmental Justice Movement in the United States: New Models for Democratic Decision-Making

Over the last two decades in the United States, mainstream environmental organizations have reduced, rather than increased, democratic participation by citizens in environmental problem-solving. The environmental justice movement, on the other hand, has served to enlarge the constituency of the environmental movement by incorporating poorer communities and oppressed people of color into environmental decision making process; build community capacity by developing campaigns and projects that address the common links between various social and environmental problems; and facilitate community empowerment by emphasizing grassroots organizing over advocacy. This paper outlines the different components in the environmental justice movement. It is our contention that if researchers and policymakers continue to conceive of the ecological crisis as a collection of unrelated problems, then it is possible that some combination of regulations, incentives, and technical innovations can keep pollution and resource destruction at tolerable levels for more affluent socioeconomic populations. However, poor working class communities and people of color which lack the political–economic resources to defend themselves will continue to suffer the worst abuses. However, if the interdependency of issues is emphasized as advocated by the environmental justice movement, then a transformative environmental politics can be invented.     

Editoria: Corruption and democracy

Editorial Introduction

Editoria: Corruption and democracy     

Parent-adolescent separation: The role of parental divorce

Previous research has identified Emotional Separation and Personal Control as two sets of home leaving indicators that are associated, respectively with relatively troubled and relatively untroubled parent-adolescent separation. As expected, among late adolescent males, parental divorce was highly related to endorsement of Emotional Separation as an important composite indicator of having left home. For females, being a firstborn was associated with endorsing Personal Control as an important composite indicator of home-leaving. Findings were interpreted as supporting previous research which has indicated that males experience more adjustment problems after parental divorce than females.Received Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Current research interests are parent-adolescent separation and perceptions of loneliness.Received Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Current research interests are adolescent-parent separation and evaluation research.     

An Evaluation of the Use of Videotaped Evidence for Juvenile Witnesses in Criminal Courts in England and Wales

For the first time, the UK Criminal Justice Act (1991) allowed the videotaped evidence of a child to be substituted for the child's evidence-in-chief in a criminal court. The present study is an evaluation of that legislation. One hundred and fifty children were observed testifying in a criminal court in the UK. The use of the videotaped evidence and subsequent cross-examination of the child witness (usually via the closed circuit television system) was also observed. The data base from the Lord Chancellor's Department of all trials involving child witnesses in England and Wales was also analysed. The results showed that the introduction of the video technology into the criminal courts reduced the levels of stress of child witnesses but did not increase the conviction rates.