Topographies of forensic practice in Imperial Germany

This article examines the topography and “cultural machinery” of forensic jurisdictions in Imperial Germany. It locates the sites at which boundary disputes between psychiatric and legal professionals arose and explores the strategies and practices that governed the division of expert labor between them. It argues that the over-determined paradigms of ‘medicalization’ and ‘biologization’ have lost much of their explanatory force and that historians need to refocus their attention on the institutional and administrative configuration of forensic practices in Germany. After first sketching the statutory context of those practices, the article explores how contentious jurisdictional negotiations pitted various administrative, financial, public security, and scientific interests against one another. The article also assesses the contested status of psychiatric expertise in the courtroom, as well as post-graduate forensic psychiatric training courses and joint professional organizations, which drew the two professional communities closer together and mediated their jurisdictional disputes.     

Development of a fast, simple profiling method for sample screening using high resolution melting (HRM) of STRs

A screening assay has been developed to provide preliminary individualization of crime scene samples thus eliminating expensive, time-consuming short tandem repeat (STR) profiling of nonprobative samples. High resolution melting performed in a real-time PCR instrument is used to detect the slight melting differences between the length and sequence variations of 22 forensic STRs. Three STRs (vWA, D18S51, THO1) were chosen to develop an assay which was optimized for Mg++ concentration, annealing/extension time/temperature, assay volume, and bovine serum albumin addition. The assay was tested for reproducibility, uniformity for genotype, melting profile consistency, effects of inhibitors, and mixture effects. The assay could be used to determine DNA concentration when a standard curve is run simultaneously. Calculations of costs show that the assay can save significant time and money for a crime with many samples or suspects.     

Neighborhood Cultural Heterogeneity and Adolescent Violence

A small number of scholars have attempted to reorient current thinking about the way cultural effects operate in poor neighborhoods. Scholars argue that socioeconomic disadvantage fosters heterogeneity in cultural models. Moreover, cultural heterogeneity theoretically plays an important role in shaping adolescent decision-making in poor neighborhoods, including decisions related to violent behavior. We test these assumptions using multilevel data comprised of a sample of African-American adolescents. Our findings lend support to these arguments. In particular, the results suggested that neighborhood structural disadvantage increases the degree of disagreement or heterogeneity regarding the inappropriateness of violence. Further, exposure to cultural heterogeneity increased adolescents?? involvement in violent behavior and had a moderating influence on the link between individual frames and adolescent violent behavior.     

The Issue of Control in Jail: The Effects of Professionalism,Detainee Control,and Administrative Support on Job Stress,Job Satisfaction,and Organizational Commitment among Jail Staff

Jails are important, yet understudied, components of the American criminal justice system. While most research on correctional personnel has focused on prisons, a growing body of work is beginning to emerge on jails. This is encouraging given the unique circumstances that occur within jail environments (e.g., diversity and mobility of offenders, health issues among detainees, overcrowding, lack of training among staff, etc.). Given these conditions, the staff members who run jails become the glue that holds them together. The following study contributes to this burgeoning area of empirical inquiry by examining a variety of antecedents of job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among jail personnel. Using survey data collected from a large county correctional system in Orlando, Florida, the findings indicate that staff perceptions of professionalism, detainee control, and administrative support all significantly impact degrees of job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.     

Correlates of Formal and Informal Social Control on Crime Prevention: An Exploratory Study among University Students, Andhra Pradesh, India

Societies control crime through a variety of both formal and informal methods, and the balance between these methods varies widely by culture. This exploratory study surveyed a convenience sample of 434 students attending a university in Andhra Pradesh, India, in order to examine their social control views. Although there was strong support for both forms of social control, informal control mechanisms (family, neighbors/neighborhood, and peers) were more likely to be ranked higher in importance than formal control mechanisms (courts, police, and correctional facilities). Ordinary ordinal regression and ordinary least squares regression results indicated that views on shaming and group punishment were related to the views of formal and informal control. Further research is needed to examine the forces that shape the formal and informal crime control views of Indian citizens.