Effectiveness of Risk-Needs-Responsivity-Based Family Violence Programs with Male Offenders

The following presents the outcome of an evaluation of family violence prevention programs for male offenders. The moderate and high intensity programs were designed and implemented to conform to the Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) principles. Results showed that program participation significantly reduced attitudes that supported violence against women and improved pro-social skills related to non-abusive relationships; treatment effects were moderate to high. Parole officer feedback generally reported positive changes in behavior and attitude associated with treatment. A post-release follow-up indicated that program completion significantly reduced spousal violence and general violent recidivism. Program participation did not, however, have a significant impact on non-violent crime. Results indicate that domestic violence programs respecting the RNR principles may be effective in reducing partner violence.     

No Common Ground: A Spatial-Relational Analysis of EU-China Relations

Journal of Chinese Political Science - It is no secret that EU member states cannot come to terms on a unified China-policy. Most studies on EU-China relations come to the conclusion that...     

Surveillance deputies: When ordinary people surveil for the state

The state has long relied on ordinary civilians to do surveillance work, but recent advances in networked technologies are expanding mechanisms for surveillance and social control. In this article, we analyze the phenomenon in which private individuals conduct surveillance on behalf of the state, often using private sector technologies to do so. We develop the concept of surveillance deputies to describe when ordinary people, rather than state actors, use their labor and economic resources to engage in such activity. Although surveillance deputies themselves are not new, their participation in everyday surveillance deputy work has rapidly increased under unique economic and technological conditions of our digital age. Drawing upon contemporary empirical examples, we hypothesize four conditions that contribute to surveillance deputization and strengthen its effects: (1) when interests between the state and civilians converge; (2) when law institutionalizes surveillance deputization or fails to clarify its boundaries; (3) when technological offerings expand personal surveillance capabilities; and (4) when unequal groups use surveillance to gain power or leverage resistance. In developing these hypotheses, we bridge research in law and society, sociology, surveillance studies, and science and technology studies and suggest avenues for future empirical investigation.     

Spheno-occipital synchondrosis fusion in modern Americans

This study examines spheno-occipital synchondrosis fusion in the modern American population and presents age ranges for forensic use. The sample includes 162 modern individuals aged 5-25 years. The basilar synchondrosis was scored as open, closing, or closed via direct inspection of the ectocranial site of the suture. Transition analysis was used to determine the average ages at which an individual transitions from unfused to fusing and from fusing to fused. The maximum likelihood estimates from the transition analysis indicate that females are most likely to transition from open to closing at 11.4 years and males at 16.5 years. Females transition from closing to closed at 13.7 years and males at 17.4 years. The probability distributions associated with these maximum likelihood estimates were used to derive age ranges for age estimation purposes. These results reflect sexual dimorphism in basilar synchondrosis fusion and agree approximately with average age at pubertal onset.     

Diversity of dental patterns: application on different ages using the Brazilian National Oral Health Survey

Methods of individual identification using human remains are widely used in forensic anthropology; however, there are few studies that use statistical methods in order to obtain a correct definition of parameters. The objectives of the study were to verify the diversity of dental patterns in the Brazilian population and analyse its application on different ages. Data from the Brazilian National Oral Health Survey were used to verify the presence and absence of dental treatment among 35,613 individuals of several age groups: 15-19, 35-44 and 65-74. Information referring to every dental element was described: higid (H), decayed (D), filled (F), missing (M) and prosthesis (P). Coincidences that were observed in pairs of homologous teeth were analysed according to clinical situation, gender and age. Ordinary findings (presented in more than 10% of pairs) and extraordinary ones (presented in less than 10% of pairs) were described. Total and conditional diversity estimates were performed. Among adolescents, H were the most frequent teeth, and the first molar teeth were the ones presenting less frequency of H. Among adults, the frequency of M teeth among females ranged from 15.17% to 71.59%, and among males they ranged from 9.00% to 87.20%. Among the elderly, M teeth were observed in the largest frequency, and anterior teeth presented fewer losses than posterior ones. M was the condition that most coincided with both sides in the elderly. In adults, some pairs of teeth presented H, but mostly pairs of teeth presented as M. Among adolescents, there was more concordance of the H component. Among male and female adolescents, we observed extraordinary findings in DMFP dental conditions in most of the teeth. Among adults, the less frequent dental condition was P, which was found in several teeth. The extraordinary findings among elderly male teeth were codes H, D, F and P; among females, they were H, D, F and P codes. The high prevalence of healthy teeth in adolescents and a high rate of edentulism in the elderly interfered with the analysis performed. However, when an estimation of diversity that corrects those distortions was used, all of the groups presented satisfactory results that were homogeneous in the performed analysis.     

Extended PCR conditions to reduce drop-out frequencies in low template STR typing including unequal mixtures

Forensic laboratories employ various approaches to obtain short tandem repeat (STR) profiles from minimal traces (<100 pg DNA input). Most approaches aim to sensitize DNA profiling by increasing the amplification level by a higher cycle number or enlarging the amount of PCR products analyzed during capillary electrophoresis. These methods have limitations when unequal mixtures are genotyped, since the major component will be over-amplified or over-loaded. This study explores an alternative strategy for improved detection of the minor components in low template (LT) DNA typing that may be better suited for the detection of the minor component in mixtures. The strategy increases the PCR amplification efficiency by extending the primer annealing time several folds. When the AmpF?STR^® Identifiler^® amplification parameters are changed to an annealing time of 20 min during all 28 cycles, the drop-out frequency is reduced for both pristine DNA and single or multiple donor mock case work samples. In addition, increased peak heights and slightly more drop-ins are observed while the heterozygous peak balance remains similar as with the conventional Identifiler protocol. By this extended protocol, full DNA profiles were obtained from only 12 sperm heads (which corresponds to 36 pg of DNA) that were collected by laser micro dissection. Notwithstanding the improved detection, allele drop-outs do persist, albeit in lower frequencies. Thus a LT interpretation strategy such as deducing consensus profiles from multiple independent amplifications is appropriate. The use of extended PCR conditions represents a general approach to improve detection of unequal mixtures as shown using four commercially available kits (AmpF?STR^® Identifiler, SEfiler Plus, NGM and Yfiler). The extended PCR protocol seems to amplify more of the molecules in LT samples during PCR, which results in a lower drop-out frequency.     

A Bayesian Approach to Age Estimation in Modern Americans from the Clavicle*

Abstract: Clavicles from 1289 individuals from cohorts spanning the 20th century were scored with two scoring systems. Transition analysis and Bayesian statistics were used to obtain robust age ranges that are less sensitive to the effects of age mimicry and developmental outliers than age ranges obtained using a percentile approach. Observer error tests showed that a simple three‐phase scoring system proved the least subjective, while retaining accuracy levels. Additionally, significant sexual dimorphism was detected in the onset of fusion, with women commencing fusion at least a year earlier than men (women transition to fusion at approximately 15 years of age and men at 16 years). Significant secular trends were apparent in the onset of skeletal maturation, with modern Americans transitioning to fusion approximately 4 years earlier than early 20th century Americans and 3.5 years earlier than Korean War era Americans. These results underscore the importance of using modern standards to estimate age in modern individuals.     

Examining Criminal Justice Practitioners’ Views on Collateral Consequences Policy

With the recent emphasis on reentry and the reintegration of offenders back into society, both academics and policy makers have voiced concern over both the process of applying collateral consequences in a particular case and the expanding number of collateral restrictions, some of which are quite severe. Many of these restrictions create significant barriers to reintegration for offenders released from incarceration. While reforms have been proposed, there is a lack of research examining the perceptions of criminal justice actors about collateral consequences of conviction. As parties most familiar with the application of consequences in cases, and the burdens they place on involved parties, the present study surveyed practitioners in a large Midwestern state. The findings suggest that judges, defense attorneys, probation and parole supervisors, and prosecutors are troubled by the role of collateral consequences in offender reentry and are not opposed to repealing or reforming some of these policies. Further, there are significant differences between practitioner groups as to reforms that should be implemented within the state’s criminal justice system.