Reports from “Backstage” in Entertainment News

While “serious” news outlets struggle financially in the United States, evidence suggests that entertainment news coverage is thriving. By expanding upon Erving Goffman’s performance perspective and performance theory, this article seeks to illuminate representations of celebrities in the news media, with attention to the recent news stories regarding Tiger Woods and Sandra Bullock. The analysis also explores the off-screen performance of celebrities—developed and presented in news stories, interviews and photographs—and the repercussions when reports of a celebrity’s unmanaged backstage performance exposes the front stage performance as a pretense.     

Where Registered Sex Offenders Live: Community Characteristics and Proximity to Possible Victims

Recent developments in sanctions for sex offenders emphasize use of sex offender registries and residential restrictions in efforts to raise public awareness and keep offenders away from possible victims. One consequence of such efforts is to relegate registered sex offenders to socially disorganized communities. The present study draws on census tract level data from one urban county and assesses whether offenders are likely to be found in socially disorganized communities and in communities with high concentrations of potential victims. Findings show that registered sex offenders are more likely to reside in socially disorganized and disadvantaged communities, but not in locations with large pools of most types of possible victims (e.g., women living alone, children). Residential location is explained in terms of economic factors, not desire to live near possible victims. Implications for current policies and practices are discussed.     

Domestic relations in Brazil: legacies and horizons

Grounded in literature review and an ethnographic study, this article examines contemporary Brazilian domestic life. Relations among women (employers and maids) and between women and men are analyzed with a focus on the home as a space in which gender, race, and class inequalities are constantly reproduced. The article argues that what happens in domestic life is constitutive of wider social divisions and that the domestic is a universe integral to the national social context. A case in point is the connection between the widespread use of paid domestic labor and the naturalization of black women as subservient, complementing the pairing of whiteness and class entitlement. Another case is the buffering role of maids in the development of gender conflicts in well-off homes, thus blurring gender hierarchies at a broader scale. Locating the domestic within the recent discussion on global domestic labor, the article compares particularities of Brazilian domestic life to those elsewhere.     

Using citizen notification to interrupt near-repeat residential burglary patterns: the micro-level near-repeat experiment

Journal of Experimental Criminology - Test the efficacy of swift resident notification for preventing subsequent burglaries within near-repeat high-risk zones (NR-HRZ). The experiment was conducted...     

On Being a Novice Forensic Evaluator: Reflections from Early Career Forensic Psychologists

Previous research has considered the psychologist’s professional transition from trainee to independent practitioner. However, this work has generally focused on the experiences of psychotherapists or general psychologists. The purpose of the current commentary is to reflect on the experiences of early professional forensic evaluators. This commentary addresses four specific areas including difficulties with adversarial allegiance, perceptions of professional competency, balancing responsibilities associated with “expert” status, and roadblocks to standard test administration and scoring. When applicable, we reference empirical literature and professional ethical guidelines. We also offer suggestions for coping with these experiences. We hope this commentary will normalize these experiences for other early career evaluators as well as aid graduate students’ transition into the independent evaluator role.     

The Development of Criminal Style in Adolescence and Young Adulthood: Separating the Lemmings from the Loners

Despite broad consensus that most juvenile crimes are committed with peers, many questions regarding developmental and individual differences in criminal style (i.e., co-offending vs. solo offending) remain unanswered. Using prospective 3-year longitudinal data from 937 14- to 17-year-old serious male offenders, the present study investigates whether youths tend to offend alone, in groups, or a combination of the two; whether these patterns change with age; and whether youths who engage in a particular style share distinguishing characteristics. Trajectory analyses examining criminal styles over age revealed that, while most youth evinced both types of offending, two distinct groups emerged: an increasingly solo offender trajectory (83%); and a mixed style offender trajectory (17%). Alternate analyses revealed (5.5%) exclusively solo offenders (i.e., only committed solo offenses over 3 years). There were no significant differences between groups in individuals?? reported number of friends, quality of friendships, or extraversion. However, the increasingly solo and exclusively solo offenders reported more psychosocial maturity, lower rates of anxiety, fewer psychopathic traits, less gang involvement and less self reported offending than mixed style offenders. Findings suggest that increasingly and exclusively solo offenders are not loners, as they are sometimes portrayed, and that exclusively solo offending during adolescence, while rare and previously misunderstood, may not be a risk factor in and of itself.     

Developmental validation of feline, bovine, equine, and cervid quantitative PCR assays

Accurate DNA quantification is essential for optimizing DNA testing and minimizing sample consumption. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays have been published for human and canine nuclear DNA, and the need for quantifying other forensically important species was evident. Following the strategy employed for the canine qPCR assay, we developed individual assays to accurately quantify feline, bovine, equine, and cervid nuclear DNA. Each TaqMan-based assay incorporates a genus-specific probe targeting the Melanocortin-1 Receptor gene and includes a piece of synthetic DNA that acts as an internal PCR control for detecting inhibition. Developmental validations were carried out following the revised guidelines of the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods with modifications necessary for validation of nonhuman qPCR assays. All assays demonstrated the specificity, sensitivity, stability, reproducibility, accuracy, and precision required for forensic casework. The application of these assays to animal forensic DNA analysis has both conserved laboratory resources and improved genotyping results.     

Marine bacterial succession as a potential indicator of postmortem submersion interval

The process of decomposition of bodies in the marine environment is poorly understood and almost nothing is currently known about the microorganisms involved. This study aimed to investigate the microbes involved in decomposition in the sea and to evaluate the potential use of marine bacterial succession for postmortem submersion interval (PMSI) estimation, for which there is currently no reliable method. Partial pig remains were completely submerged during autumn and winter and were regularly sampled to document marine bacterial colonisation and the changes in community composition over time. Five stages of decomposition were recognised, some of which exhibited characters specific for partial carrion. Marine bacteria rapidly colonised the submerged remains in a successional manner. Seasonal differences were observed for the rate of decomposition and also for several groups of colonising bacteria. Marine bacteria specific for particular PMSIs were identified. This study provides an insight into the involvement of saprophytic marine bacteria in the decomposition of mammalian remains in the sea and is the first to explore the use of marine bacterial colonisation and succession as a novel tool for PMSI estimation. We propose that with further study, marine bacterial succession will prove useful for determination of the length of time a body may have been immersed in a marine environment.