Securing the Border in Bosnia and Herzegovina: an Exploratory Analysis of the Impact of Training on Officers’ Knowledge and Experiences Related to Sex Trafficking

Across the globe law enforcement agencies are providing training specific to human trafficking in an effort to educate officers about trafficking indicators, techniques for evidence collection, and the provision of culturally sensitive and victim-centered assistance to trafficking victims. The effectiveness of said training, however, remains an understudied area. The primary goal of this study is to examine the influence training programs have on police officers’ knowledge and experiences related to sex trafficking. Utilizing self-report data from 363 border patrol agents in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a series of statistical analyses finds support for the hypotheses that trained officers will have a better understanding of sex trafficking indicators and field investigation techniques as well as more experience with sex trafficking cases. Somewhat unexpectedly, the results indicate that the vast majority of officers, regardless of training receipt, recognized a need for ongoing training and support. Implications of these findings will be discussed.     

Priority goals in international co-operation of the Republic of Serbia in the field of environment and sustainable development

The paper points to the significance of some factors of international co-operation in the field of environment and sustainable development as a general framework for understanding of the fundamental goals in international co-operation of the Republic of Serbia (RS). It is especially pointed to the place and importance of the activities that are carried out in the European Union (EU), to the harmonisation of national legislation with EU legislation including regulations in the field of climate change, to the significance of international environmental agreements and various forms of global, regional, subregional and bilateral co-operation as well as to the co-operation with international financial institutions which are important for environment and sustainable development. The paper is based on the thesis that the fundamental goals in international co-operation of RS in the field of environment and sustainable development are mostly determined by the “European perspective” of RS and in accordance with this, with global trends in the contemporary environmental and sustainable development policy and law. Opening the prospect of the EU membership (potential candidate status and the status of the candidate for EU membership) has resulted in the acceleration of the process of harmonisation of national legislation with the EU’s as well as speeding up the process of ratification of the international treaties in the field of the environmental protection.     

Quantitative determination of amphetamines, cocaine, and opiates in human hair by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

Hair of young subjects (N = 36) suspected for drug abuse was analysed for morphine, codeine, heroin, 6-acetylmorphine, cocaine, methadone, amphetamine, methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA). The analysis of morphine, codeine, heroin, 6-acetylmorphine, cocaine, and methadone in hair included incubation in methanol, solid-phase extraction, derivatisation by the mixture of propionic acid anhydride and pyridine, and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). For amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDA, MDMA, and MDEA analysis, hair samples were incubated in 1M sodium hydroxide, extracted with ethyl acetate, derivatised with heptafluorobutyric acid anhydride (HFBA), and assayed by GC/MS. The methods were reproducible (R.S.D. = 5.0-16.1%), accurate (85.1-100.6%), and sensitive (LoD = 0.05-0.30ng/mg). The applied methods confirmed consumption of heroin in 18 subjects based on positive 6-acetylmorphine. Among these 18 heroin consumers, methadone was found in four, MDMA in two, and cocaine in two subjects. Cocaine only was present in two, methadone only in two, methamphetamine only in two, and MDMA only in seven of the 36 subjects. In two out of nine coloured and bleached hair samples, no drug was found. Despite the small number of subjects, this study has been able to indicate the trend in drug abuse among young people in Croatia.     

From persecutors to protectors: Human rights and the F&M Global Barometer of Gay RightsTM (GBGR)

Sexual minorities are the most vulnerable minorities on the planet. Their existence challenges cultural norms, traditions, and power structures. They have been treated as social pariahs and scapegoats for the economic, political, or social ills in their countries. However, countries vary widely in the extent to which they are protective or repressive toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. This article systematically analyzes the global persecution and protection of sexual minorities through the application of the F&M Global Barometer of Gay Rights^TM (GBGR). Using GBGR world data from 2011 to 2014, we document the variance in levels of state and societal persecution and protection of sexual minorities in 188 countries. Our findings suggest that having a higher life expectancy, a democratic system, a lower percentage of rural population, and lower religiosity are significant predictors of whether a country will be more rights-protective toward its sexual minorities.     

Ethical analysis of a curious event of a forensic case becoming an involuntarily hospitalized psychiatric patient

It is not uncommon in forensic psychiatry that the duty to care for the patient conflicts with the responsibility to the court, or the duty to protect the public from harm from the potentially dangerous patient-offender. This paper exemplifies the scenario of what happens when the line between forensic and clinical psychiatry is crossed and whether crossing that boundary can be justified. Ethical discussion also embodies and clarifies the issues of unjustified violation of the patients’ autonomy and an undue infringement on their right to liberty on the arbitrary basis of existing or perceived mental illness. The paper provides an in-depth analysis of the issues of physicians’ conflicting duties, vulnerability of patient-offenders, and their human rights in the light of court orders and involuntary hospitalizations.

I argue that in order to promote ethical decision-making we must establish clear rules and guidelines for psychiatric practice, separate conflicting roles, and provide sufficient training of health-care professionals regarding topics of human rights and legislation governing clinical and forensic psychiatric practice. Empowering patients and enhancing their rights to autonomy and liberty can also be potent tools of promotion and protection of their human rights and prevention of ethical breaches in practice.     

Traumatic testicular displacement in motorcycle drivers

Testicular displacement is a rare clinical presentation of blunt scrotal injury that may take place in road traffic accidents involving motorcycle occupants. We are presenting two cases of motorcycle occupant fatalities, 21 and 24 years of age, where testicular displacement and other signs of groin trauma have been determined. In both cases, discrete external signs of scrotal trauma were noted on examination, while unilateral and bilateral traumatic testicular displacement, respectively, have been documented at autopsy. For motorcycle occupants involved in collision, it is necessary to perform a thorough analysis of injuries, in particular to look for specific trauma arising from fuel-tank impact to genitalia and/or groin. These injuries are of great medico-legal importance both at postmortem and in clinical cases involving motorcycle occupants involved in collision.     

Positive identification by a skull with multiple epigenetic traits and abnormal structure of the neurocranium, viscerocranium, and the skeleton

Wormian bones are small ossicles appearing within the cranial sutures in more than 40% of skulls, most commonly at the lambdoid suture and pterion. During the skeletal analysis of an unidentified male war victim, we observed multiple wormian bones and a patent metopic suture. Additionally, the right elbow was deformed, probably as a consequence of an old trauma. The skull was analyzed by cranial measurements and computerized tomography, revealing the presence of cranial deformities including hyperbrachicrania, localized reduction in hemispheral widths, increased cranial capacity, and sclerosis of the viscerocranium. Besides unique anatomical features and their anthropological value, such skeletal abnormalities also have a forensic value as the evidence to support the final identification of the victim.     

Changes in the relative importance of dynamic risk factors for recidivism during adolescence

This study examined which dynamic risk factors for recidivism play an important role during adolescence. The sample consisted of 13,613 American juveniles who had committed a criminal offense. The results showed that the importance of almost all dynamic risk factors, both in the social environment domain (school, family, relationships) and in the individual domain (attitude, skills, aggressiveness), decreased as juveniles grew older. Therefore, the potential effect of an intervention aimed at these factors will also decrease as juveniles grow older. The relative importance of the risk factors also changed: In early adolescence, risk factors in the family domain showed the strongest association with recidivism, whereas in late adolescence risk factors in the attitude, relationships, and school domain were more strongly related to recidivism. These results suggest that the focus of an intervention needs to be attuned to the age of the juvenile to achieve the maximum potential effect on recidivism.     

Poisoned social climate, collective responsibility, and the abuse at Abu Ghraib--Or, the establishment of "rule that is lack of rule"

The authors draw upon the experiences of one of the co-authors as an expert witness in sociology for mitigation at three of the courts-martial pertaining to the abuse at Abu Ghraib that were held at Ft. Hood, Texas in the year 2005 (for Javal Davis, Sabrina Harman, and Lynndie England). In addition, this paper is based upon the thousands of pages of affidavits, testimony, and U.S. Government reports concerning Abu Ghraib. These internal government reports, as well as the Levin-McCain report, point to collective responsibility and the responsibility of individuals high in the chain of command for establishing unlawful techniques. We review the shortcomings of a purely psychological approach for understanding the abuse, and turn to Durkheim's original understanding of anomie as a state of social derangement or rule by lack of rule to introduce the ideas of the social origins of and social responsibility for the abuse. We conclude with sociological suggestions for reforming some of the legal, medical, psychiatric, and other professional complicity in the abuse at Abu Ghraib.