Abusive Pediatric Thoracolumbar Fracture Due to Forced Hyperextension: Case Report,Biomechanical Considerations,and Review of the Literature

Pediatric thoracolumbar fractures are rare due to the physiological differences which afford greater resilience to the immature spine. Most pediatric thoracolumbar fractures occur as the result of high energy trauma, such as motor vehicle accidents, and modes of reasonable accidental injuries are limited by age and developmental capabilities of the child. These fractures can occur as the result of inflicted blunt force trauma and child abuse, and in most cases, the mechanism of injury to the spine is not known. We report the death of a 29-month-old man due to blunt force trauma to the back and forced hyperextension of the thoracolumbar spine causing fracture of the fourth lumbar (L4) vertebral body. A complete forensic examination revealed a previous healing fracture of the anterior aspect of the L4 vertebral body, with acute disruption of the anterior longitudinal ligament overlying the fracture site, complete fracture of the vertebral body, and fatal retroperitoneal hemorrhage. We present a review of the biomechanical considerations of the pediatric spine, a survey of pediatric spinal fractures, and a review of the literature on pediatric abusive thoracolumbar fractures. In this case, there was never a provided explanation for how the injury occurred; however, understanding the biomechanics of the pediatric spine allowed for the determination of the mechanism, force required to produce this specific pattern of abusive spinal injury, and the manner of death.     

Examining the impact of mixing child molesters and rapists in group-based cognitive-behavioral treatment for sexual offenders

This study examines the relationship between recidivism rates, therapeutic climate, and composition of offenders in group-based cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) for sexual offenders. The Group Environment Scale (GES) is employed to measure social climate. The GES is administered to 73 male sexual offenders in groups of those who only victimized adults or children (five groups) or men who both victimized adults and those who victimized children (five groups). Group environment is not found to differ significantly as a function of group composition. Group member's ratings on the GES are in the medium to high range, indicating a generally positive group environment. Although the group environment overall does not differ between groups, groups do differ significantly in terms of expressiveness. There are no differences in recidivism rates between groups as a function of group composition. The results are discussed in the light of mixing child molesters and rapists in group-based CBT.     

Further investigation of findings reported for the Minnesota sex offender screening tool-revised

Among a number of widely used risk assessment instruments with adult sexual offenders, the Minnesota Sex Offender Screening Tool-Revised (MnSOST-R) has been subject to relatively few evaluation studies. Only two independent research groups have published replication studies in the peer-reviewed literature with data not provided by the MnSOST-R's developers, and the results regarding the accuracy of predicting sexual recidivism have been mixed. In this article, important differences between the Barbaree et al. and Langton et al. studies are presented. Analyses reported for the various subsets comprising these two samples indicate that coding discrepancies in the Barbaree et al. study account for the different findings, with a moderate level of predictive accuracy using the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve ultimately found for the MnSOST-R in both data sets.     

Disproportional Imprisonment of Black and Hispanic Males: Sentencing Discretion,Processing Outcomes,and Policy Structures

Disproportional incarceration of black and Hispanic men has been the subject of much critical commentary and empirical inquiry. Such disproportionality may be due to greater involvement of minority men in serious crime, to discretionary decisions by local justice officials, or to the differential impact of sentencing policies, such as mandatory minimums or sentencing guidelines, that differentially impact minority men. This study investigated the extent to which the disproportional punishment of black and Hispanic men, and local variation in such disproportionality, can be attributed to unexplained disparities in local sentencing decisions, as opposed to the extent to which such differences are mediated by sentencing policies, or case-processing and extralegal factors. We use 2005–2009 federal court and Pennsylvania state court data. Our findings suggest, particularly in Federal courts, that most disproportionality is determined by processes prior to sentencing, especially sentencing policies that differentially impact minority males.     

Assessing the reliability and validity of the Self-Report Psychopathy Scales in a UK offender population

This study assessed the reliability and validity of the Hare Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (Hare SRP) and the short form of the measure in a UK prison sample, using the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) as a reference measure. The Hare SRP and PCL-R were compared for 107 UK adult male prisoners. The SRP and SRP-SF total scores depicted excellent levels of internal consistency and homogeneity and correlated with each other with significant and large effects sizes. Total scores correlated with PCL-R total scores producing medium effect sizes and were significantly predictive of PCL-R total scores with small effect sizes. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Non-random assignment,vehicle safety inspection laws and highway fatalities

In this study, the distribution of inspection laws across states is endogenously determined by the relative strengths of lobbying groups within states. Previous studies that treat the laws as exogenous and find a 5 to 15 percent reduction in fatalities may have produced biased results. A selection bias model is developed in which non-random assignment is taken into account. Two equations are estimated: one explaining how many inspections are required, and the other explaining the effects of the inspections on fatalities per capita. Using single-equation techniques, results are obtained that are similar to prior studies. In the two-equation model that accounts for non-random assignment, inspection laws are not found to significantly reduce fatalities per capita.     

Unemployment and highway fatalities

We considered unemployment, an often overlooked covariate of highway fatalities, hypothesizing that (1) as unemployment rises, aggregate driving decreases, especially among the unemployed, and as driving decreases, fatalities should decrease; (2) unemployment may influence drinking--some among the unemployed may drink less due to lower incomes, while others may drink more due to stress so the net effect would be ambiguous; and (3) unemployment may increase aggregate levels of stress and unhappiness, which can result in poor concentration on driving and thus, in turn, should result in more accidents and deaths. We used data from fifty states and the District of Columbia from 1976-1980, representing 255 observations. (No prior study has as many observations or controls for as many covariates.) Using econometric models of the data, we present evidence for two of the three hypothesized effects of unemployment. We conclude that, if the number of miles driven is held constant, worsening unemployment leads to higher fatality rates, most likely due to stress effects. But because more unemployment means less driving, increases in unemployment, on balance, are associated with decreases in fatalities.