Parent-Child Agreement on Parent-to-Child Maltreatment

Parent-child agreement on child maltreatment was examined in a multigenerational study. Questionnaires on perpetrated and experienced child maltreatment were completed by 138 parent-child pairs. Multi-level analyses were conducted to explore whether parents and children agreed about levels of parent-to-child maltreatment (convergence), and to examine whether parents and children reported equal levels of child maltreatment (absolute differences). Direct and moderating effects of age and gender were examined as potential factors explaining differences between parent and child report. The associations between parent- and child-reported maltreatment were significant for all subtypes, but the strength of the associations was low to moderate. Moreover, children reported more parent-to-child neglect than parents did. Older participants reported more experienced maltreatment than younger participants, without evidence for differences in actual exposure. These findings support the value of multi-informant assessment of child maltreatment to improve accuracy, but also reveal the divergent perspectives of parents and children on child maltreatment.     

Can training improve eyewitness identification? The effect of internal feature focus on memory for faces

Evidence suggests that individuals rely on external features such as hair and face shape when processing and recognising unfamiliar faces. This is problematic in a forensic setting because hairstyle can be changed easily. In two studies we examined whether training individuals to focus more on the stable, internal features of the face (e.g. eyes, nose and mouth) and hence less on the changeable external features would improve identification accuracy. In Study 1, participants were instructed to focus on: (1) internal features, (2) external features, or (3) both internal and external features. Participants’ eye movements were monitored while they studied target faces, which they later tried to identify from an array that included the target with a changed appearance. In Study 2, participants were instructed to focus on: (1) internal features, (2) external features, or (3) given no instructions. Participants were required to identify target faces from line-ups, where they were presented either unchanged or with an altered hairstyle. Results suggested that training individuals to attend to internal features of unfamiliar faces may improve identification accuracy in the common situation where external features have changed between presentation and identification. However, internal feature focus may decrease identification accuracy when external features are unchanged.     

Is Income Inequality Related to Tolerance for Inequality?

Data from the International Social Survey Programme that includes individual respondents from 34 countries surveyed at four different times show that populations of countries with more actual income inequality also tolerate more income inequality, even after controlling for numerous individual- and country-level variables. Comparisons over time show that actual income inequality predicts later tolerance for income inequality, within 3–4 years, but earlier tolerance for income inequality does not predict later actual income inequality. These analyses therefore indicate that people adapt how much income inequality they tolerate to actual inequality. They contribute to a long-standing theoretical and empirical discussion about whether material structures influence or result from social norms.     

The Sexual Violence Risk-20: factor structure and psychometric properties

Although the Sexual Violence Risk-20 (SVR-20) is widely used, its psychometric properties have only been investigated in a limited number of studies. This study explored the factor structure of the SVR-20 and examined its psychometric properties. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the fit of the original three-domain model of the SVR-20. The CFA showed that the original structure was not satisfactory. Exploratory principal components analysis (PCA) was conducted in search of a more optimal factor structure. Psychometric properties (i.e., internal consistency, predictive value, and convergent validity) of both the original domains and alternative factors were investigated. The PCA and subsequent CFAs pointed in the direction of an alternative, more optimal three-factor solution. The three alternative factors were labeled as Antisociality, Sexual deviance, and Problematic thinking and produced better internal consistency coefficients than the original domains. However, the validity of the SVR-20 was modest and no evidence was found indicating that the alternative factors were better in this regard as compared to the original domains. Despite the overall superiority of actuarial measures in predicting recidivism, the structured professional judgment of the SVR-20 proved to be more predictive of sexual, violent, and general recidivism than its actuarial scoring method.     

Injuries of the female genitalia in cases of sexual assault

Sexual violence is a global problem that particularly affects women and children. A retrospective analysis of 390 clinical-forensic examinations and 120 autopsies regarding injuries of the female genitalia in cases of sexual violence was performed. In the majority of cases no injuries of the female genitalia were found. Autopsy cases showed significantly more (and more serious) injuries of the genitalia than clinical forensic examinations (43 % vs. 25 %; p = 0.0004). Predominantly found were injuries of the external anogenital area, mostly tears or soft tissue lesions. In the current literature, data regarding the rate of injuries in victims of sexual violence vary strongly and their comparability is limited. Regarding the reconstruction of an offence, a forensic examination with an appropriate documentation of the injuries is evidently crucial.     

Using DNA-barcoding to make the necrobiont beetle family Cholevidae accessible for forensic entomology

Although many cases of fatal hydrogen sulfide poisoning have been reported, in most of these cases, it resulted from the accidental inhalation of hydrogen sulfide gas. In recent years, we experienced 17 autopsy cases of fatal hydrogen sulfide poisoning due to the inhalation of intentionally generated hydrogen sulfide gas. In this study, the concentrations of sulfide and thiosulfate in blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid and pleural effusion were examined using GC/MS. The sulfide concentrations were blood: 0.11-31.84, urine: 0.01-1.28, cerebrospinal fluid: 0.02-1.59 and pleural effusion: 2.00-8.59 (μg/ml), while the thiosulfate concentrations were blood: 0-0.648, urine: 0-2.669, cerebrospinal fluid: 0.004-0.314 and pleural effusion: 0.019-0.140 (μmol/ml). In previous reports, the blood concentration of thiosulfate was said to be higher than that of sulfide in hydrogen sulfide poisoning cases, although the latter was higher than the former in 8 of the 14 cases examined in this study. These results are believed to be strongly influenced by the atmospheric concentration of hydrogen sulfide the victims were exposed to and the time interval between exposure and death.     

Guardianship for crime prevention: a critical review of the literature

Cohen and Felson??s (Cohen and Felson American Sociological Review 44(4):588?C608, 1979) routine activity theory posits that for a crime to occur three necessary elements must converge in time and space: motivated offenders, suitable targets, and the absence of capable guardianship. Capable guardians can serve as a key actor in the crime event model; one who can disrupt, either directly or indirectly, the interaction between a motivated offender and a suitable target. This article critically reviews the literature on guardianship for crime prevention. Our specific focus is two-fold: (1) to review the way guardianship has been operationalized and measured, and (2) to review experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations and field tests of guardianship. Research on routine activities has had an uneven focus resulting in the neglect of the guardianship component (Reynald Crime Prevention and Community Safety 11(1):1?C20, 2009; Sampson et al. Security Journal 23(1):37?C51, 2010; Tewksbury and Mustaine Criminal Justice and Behavior 30(3):302?C327, 2003; Wilcox et al. Criminology 45(4):771?C803 2007). Evaluations of guardianship-related interventions demonstrate support for the theoretical construct; however, high-quality field tests of guardianship are wholly lacking. Implications for theory and research are discussed.     

Examining the Link Between Domestic Violence Victimization and Loneliness in a Dutch Community Sample: A Comparison Between Victims and Nonvictims by Type D Personality

The current study investigated whether differences in loneliness scores between individuals with a distressed personality type (type D personality) and subjects without such a personality varied by domestic violence victimization. Participants (N = 625) were recruited by random sampling from the Municipal Basic Administration of the Dutch city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch and were invited to fill out a set of questionnaires on health status. For this study, only ratings for domestic violence victimization, type D personality, feelings of loneliness, and demographics were used. Statistical analyses yielded main effects on loneliness for both type D personality and history of domestic violence victimization. Above and beyond these main effects, their interaction was significantly associated with loneliness as well. However, this result seemed to apply to emotional loneliness in particular. Findings were discussed in light of previous research and study limitations.