The case of Jeffrey Dahmer: sexual serial homicide from a neuropsychiatric developmental perspective

Sexual serial homicidal behavior has received considerable attention during the last three decades. Substantial progress has been made in the development of methods aimed at identifying and apprehending individuals who exhibit these behaviors. In spite of these advances, the origins of sexual serial killing behavior remain for the most part unknown. In this article we propose a biopsychosocial psychiatric model for understanding the origins of sexual serial homicidal behavior from both neuropsychiatric and developmental perspectives, using the case of convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer as the focal point. We propose that his homicidal behavior was intrinsically associated with autistic spectrum psychopathology, specifically Asperger's disorder. The relationship of Asperger's disorder to other psychopathology and to his homicidal behavior is explored. We discuss potential implications of the proposed model for the future study of the causes of sexual serial homicidal crime.     

Infanticide: is its incidence among postneonatal infant deaths increasing?: an 18-year population-based analysis in California

The decline in the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and recent recommendations regarding the differentiation of SIDS and child abuse has generated speculation that some cases of infanticide were misdiagnosed as SIDS. The aims of this study were to determine the change in incidences and proportions of postneonatal deaths from all causes, SIDS, and infanticide in California over an 18-year interval encompassing years before and after the Back to Sleep campaign. Selected postneonatal mortality data from 1981 through 1998 obtained from the California Department of Health Services were analyzed and graphically displayed. The total postneonatal mortality and incidence of SIDS deaths per 100,000 live births decreased 45% and 66%, respectively, during the study interval; the incidence of infanticide remained low. The ratio of infanticide to SIDS increased from 4.3 per 100 in 1981 to 10.2 per 100 in 1998. Infanticide deaths, as a percentage of the total number of postneonatal deaths, increased slightly from the first to the second half of the study interval but never rose above 3.2%. It is concluded that this increased percentage is due to a decrease in SIDS deaths and not to an actual increase in infanticide deaths.     

Mismatch distribution analysis of Y-STR haplotypes as a tool for the evaluation of identity-by-state proportions and significance of matches--the European picture

We suggest the use of the mismatch distribution methodology as an easy way to estimate the distance between all pairs of haplotypes present in a sample. This approach allows the evaluation of the proportion of pairs of Y-STR haplotypes that are prone to become identical by state (IBS), in one generation, by recurrent mutation, a statistic of major importance in the forensic field. The mismatch approach presents some advantages alternatively to the empirical one, since it is not necessary to have simultaneous information on STRs and SNPs, and it allows the evaluation of IBS also within-haplogroups. The estimation of IBS at an European scale showed that there is a high population substructuring for this parameter, increasing from southern-central European countries towards west and north, in accordance to what was found for Y-biallelic markers. This result seems to imply a more careful use of large databases for matching evaluation, even in the absence of population structure for general Y-STR diversity. Furthermore, mismatch distribution can be used to measure the distance between a particular haplotype and all the haplotypes in a sample. When applied to the most frequent haplotypes in Europe it revealed that the opportunity for IBS is not directly related to the frequency of a haplotype, but highly dependent on the proportion of neighbouring haplotypes--so, that reporting on the haplotype frequency for evaluating the significance of a match can be misleading.     

Allele frequencies of nine STR loci--D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, CSF1PO,TPOX, TH01, F13A01, FESFPS and vWA--in the population from Alagoas,northeastern Brazil

The polymorphism of nine STR loci has been studied in a sample of 598 individuals from the population of Alagoas, Northeastern Brazil. Determination of the allele frequencies as well as of several commonly used statistics in forensic and paternity testing were defined. The most polymorphic loci were TH01 and D7S317. The exact test demonstrated that the nine loci analyzed in the population have no deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P > 0.05).     

Y-chromosome variation in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil, population sample

Allele and haplotype frequencies of seven Y-chromosome STR loci, DYS 19, DYS388, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391 and DYS392, were determined from 109 unrelated males in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, sample population.     

Pros and cons in the use of SNPs in forensic kinship investigation: a comparative analysis with STRs

Recent advances in single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) research have raised the possibility that these markers could replace the forensically established short tandem repeats (STRs). In this work, we compare STRs and SNPs applicability for kinship investigation in terms of expected informative content and probability of occurrence of "difficult cases" (when isolated Mendelian incompatibilities between alleged father and child are found). Since SNPs have a much lower mutation rate than STRs, these difficulties were expected to occur less frequently if SNPs were used instead of STRs. The purpose of this paper is to make some simulations allowing the estimation of how often such difficult cases are expected to occur using both types of markers and how serious can be their impact in routine work. Our results demonstrate that a battery based exclusively on SNPs matching the informative power of current STR kits would be prone, if applied to routine paternity investigation, to the occurrence of cases where the statistical evidence would be inconclusive. We infer that the introduction of a SNP based strategy, as a substitute to the now classical STR approach poses statistical problems that must be carefully evaluated.     

Allele frequencies of sixteen STRs in the population of Northern Portugal

Allele frequencies of sixteen autossomal short tandem repeats (STRs), D3S1358, VWA, D16S539, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, TH01, FGA, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820, TPOX, CSF1PO, Penta D, Penta E (included in the PowerPlex 16 kit), and the SE33 (PowerPlex ES Monoplex System SE33) were determined in a sample of 200 healthy unrelated individuals from the north of Portugal.     

A classification of psychological factors leading to violent behavior in posttraumatic stress disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder has long been linked to violent behavior. However, the exact nature of that association remains poorly characterized due to the limitations of knowledge in the area of phenomenology, contextual factors, the biology, and the nature of the aggression involved in the disorder. A clear understanding of the genesis of violence in posttraumatic stress disorder can be helpful to those involved in assessing psychiatric-legal issues relevant to the disorder and in its therapeutic management. In this article, we review the potential psychological links between posttraumatic stress disorder secondary to combat exposure and violent behavior and suggest a tentative classification of the main psychological causes of violence in that syndrome.     

Effect of food insecurity on food purchases at home

Previous research has established a relationship between income and food security. In this article, we examine the effect of food security on food purchases, specifically on five food‐at‐home groups. Using a set of Tobit models, and after controlling for a set of confounding factors, we show that food security perception leads to the purchase of fruit and vegetables, meats and eggs, and dairy products while decreasing the purchase of fat and carbohydrates. However, we cannot be certain of the actual nutritional effect.