CRIME IN EMERGING ADULTHOOD*

The extent to which local life circumstances influence criminal activity has been the focus of much theoretical debate. Although empirical research has been initiated, it remains limited. Herein, we use data on 524 serious offenders from the California Youth Authority for a seven‐year post‐parole period to examine the relationship between changes in local life circumstances and criminal activity. We extend previous research by employing a statistical model that accounts for the joint distribution of violent and nonviolent crime during the late teens and twenties in order to present information on patterns of criminal activity during a newly recognized developmental period of the life course, “emerging adulthood.”     

STR analysis of artificially degraded DNA-results of a collaborative European exercise

Degradation of human DNA extracted from forensic stains is, in most cases, the result of a natural process due to the exposure of the stain samples to the environment. Experiences with degraded DNA from casework samples show that every sample may exhibit different properties in this respect, and that it is difficult to systematically assess the performance of routinely used typing systems for the analysis of degraded DNA samples. Using a batch of artificially degraded DNA with an average fragment size of approx. 200 bp a collaborative exercise was carried out among 38 forensic laboratories from 17 European countries. The results were assessed according to correct allele detection, peak height and balance as well as the occurrence of artefacts. A number of common problems were identified based on these results such as strong peak imbalance in heterozygous genotypes for the larger short tandem repeat (STR) fragments after increased PCR cycle numbers, artefact signals and allelic drop-out. Based on the observations, strategies are discussed to overcome these problems. The strategies include careful balancing of the amount of template DNA and the PCR cycle numbers, the reaction volume and the amount of Taq polymerase. Furthermore, a careful evaluation of the results of the fragment analysis and of automated allele calling is necessary to identify the correct alleles and avoid artefacts.     

The effects of criminal justice contact on employment stability for white-collar and street-level offenders

Criminologists increasingly have studied the effects of criminal justice contact on a broad range of offenders' adult outcomes. However, virtually all of this research focuses exclusively on street-level offenders. With the use of a unique data set that includes street-level and white-collar offenders, we investigated the odds of regaining steady employment following criminal justice contact by offender type. Specifically, we investigated the effects of age of onset, number of prior arrests, total time sentenced, timing of first arrest, and timing of first incarceration on employment stability for both types of offenders, while controlling for family background factors, race, educational attainment, and age. Overall, we found that white-collar offenders are better able to rebound following contact with the criminal justice system. However, when the accrue multiple arrests and are arrested or incarcerated before the age of 24, white-collar offenders face the same obstacles to employment stability as their street-level counterparts.     

The epidemiology of female rape victims who seek immediate medical care: temporal trends in the incidence of sexual assault and acquaintance rape

Women who seek medical care following sexual assault are usually evaluated and treated in an emergency department (ED). Therefore, EDs can be an important source of sexual assault surveillance data. The authors compared the incidence of sexual assault presenting for emergency care in a single county during July to November of 1974 and 1991. Participants included all female sexual assault victims aged 14 and older who presented for ED evaluation. Treating physicians prospectively collected data using standardized forms. The z statistic was used to compare sexual assault incidence. There was a 60% increase in the incidence of sexual assault victims presenting for emergency care in 1991 compared to 1974, primarily due to an increase in the incidence of women presenting to the ED after rapes by known assailants. In contrast, the annual incidence of reported stranger assaults was similar in the two study years.     

Interrogation of short tandem repeats using fluorescent probes and melting curve analysis: A step towards rapid DNA identity screening

Current forensic DNA profiling methods rely on the analysis of samples at specialised laboratories with an average turnaround time of several days. The ability to rapidly determine a partial profile of short tandem repeats at the point-of-arrest would be of great benefit to police forces around the world, for example enabling a suspect to be rapidly included or excluded from an investigation. We have developed a homogeneous PCR method for the interrogation of STR loci utilising fluorescent oligonucleotide probes and melting curve analysis. Alleles of the D18S51, TH01 and D8S1179 loci were differentiated and identified on the basis of target length and probe melting temperature. Assay performance was evaluated by comparing melting peak data with the AmpFlSTR^® SGM Plus^® system. The method is compatible with direct analysis of unpurified buccal swab samples, enabling a partial STR profile to be generated within 1 h.     

A novel histological technique for distinguishing between epithelial cells in forensic casework

There are a number of forensic cases in which the identification of the epithelial cell type from which DNA originated would provide important probative evidence. This study aimed to develop a technique using histological staining of fixed cells to distinguish between skin, buccal and vaginal epithelium. First, 11 different stains were screened on formalin-fixed, wax-embedded cells from five women. Samples were analysed qualitatively by examining staining patterns (colour) and morphology (absence or presence of nuclei). Three of the staining methods – Dane's, Csaba's and Ayoub-Shklar – were successful in distinguishing skin epithelial cells from buccal and vaginal. Second, cells were smeared directly onto slides, fixed with one of five fixatives and stained with one of the three stains mentioned above. Methanol fixation, coupled with the Dane's staining method, specific to keratin, was the only technique that distinguished between all three cell types. Skin cells stained magenta, red and orange and lacked nuclei; buccal cells stained predominantly orange–pink with red nuclei; while vaginal cells stained bright orange with orange nuclei and a blue extracellular hue. This staining pattern in vaginal cells was consistent in samples collected from 50 women aged between 18 and 67. Identification of cell type from unlabelled micrographs by 10 trained observers showed a mean success rate of 95%. The results of this study demonstrate that histological staining may provide forensic scientists with a technique for distinguishing between skin, buccal and vaginal epithelial cells and thus would enable more conclusive analyses when investigating sexual assault cases.     

Charles Peirce’s Categories and the Growth of Reason

Charles Peirce’s semeiotic is inseparable from his account of the three categories of experience and his metaphysics. The discussion summarizes his account of the categories and considers the way they have ontological implications. These implications are then focused on Peirce’s Apapism, which is his way of referring to a theory of evolution. Finally, some suggestions are offered for a way the semeiotic with the metaphysical implications, especially their relevance for a theory of evolution, propose how Peirce might apply them for questions of jurisprudence.

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Characterization of 26 miniSTR loci for improved analysis of degraded DNA samples

An additional 20 novel mini-short tandem repeat (miniSTR) loci have been developed and characterized beyond the six previously developed by our laboratory for a total of 26 non-CODIS miniSTR markers. These new markers produce short PCR products in the target range of 50-150 base pairs (bp) by moving the primer sequences as close as possible-often directly next to the identified repeat region. These candidate loci were initially screened based on their small amplicon sizes and locations on chromosomes currently unoccupied by the 13 CODIS STR loci or at least 50 Mb away from them on the same chromosome. They were sequenced and evaluated across more than 600 samples, and their population statistics were determined. The heterozygosities of the new loci were compared with those of the 13 CODIS loci and all were found to be comparable. Only five of the new loci had lower values than the CODIS loci; however, all of these were much smaller in size. This data suggests that these 26 miniSTR loci will serve as useful complements to the CODIS loci to aid in the forensic analysis of degraded DNA, as well as missing persons work and parentage testing with limited next-of-kin reference samples.     

What is medical ethics consultation?

What happens when the field of ethics consultation meets the hermeneutics of suspicion.