Crime,punishment, family violence,and the cloak of legal invisibility

Abstract

In this article, the authors trace how the Anglo-Australian system of criminal law constructs crime within the family differently from other forms of crime. The zone of legal impunity for intrafamilial crime was carved out by special defences and immunities, such as provocation and marital rape, as well as policing policies and practices that effectively decriminalised “domestic” forms of physical and sexual abuse. Legal impunity was never absolute, and there were notable exceptions where the familial and gendered aspects of the crime in fact aggravated the offence, such as the law's treatment of spousal murder by females as a form of “petty treason”, warranting the most severe punishment of burning at the stake. Reforms in the late twentieth century removed overt forms of gender discrimination from the criminal law, exposing a new legal visibility of crime within “the family”, though as the authors conclude, there are still remnants of differential treatment in fields of sentencing law and practice.     

The Quantitation of Cocaine on U.S. Currency: Survey and Significance of the Levels of Contamination

It has long been suspected that the illicit distribution of cocaine in the United States has led to a large‐scale contamination of the currency supply. To investigate the extent of contamination, 418 currency samples (4174 bills) were collected from 90 locations around the United States from 1993 to 2009. The extent of their cocaine contamination was quantitated via gas chromatography/mass spectrometry or liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. The level of cocaine contamination was determined to average 2.34 ng/bill across all denominations ($1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100). Levels of cocaine contamination on currency submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory in criminal cases over the 1993–2001 timeframe had significantly higher contamination than currency in general circulation. A mathematical model was developed based on the background survey that indicates the likelihood of drawing a bill in specific concentration ranges. For example, there is a 0.8349 likelihood that random bill will have contamination less than 20 ng.     

Standardization of Histological Procedures for the Detection of Toxic Substances by Immunohistochemistry in Dipteran Larvae of Forensic Importance

Immunohistochemistry (IHC) technique is an alternative toxicological analysis to detect drugs in insects of forensic importance, but it requires thorough histological procedures. In this study, we tested different fixatives—phosphate‐buffered paraformaldehyde 4% (PP), Carnoy's fluid (CF), Kahle's solution (KS), ethanol in different concentrations, and ethanol associated to PP and CF, time of fixation and histological processes for dipteran larvae's tissue, aiming to develop a sample preparation protocol for IHC application. A suitable fixation was achieved using PP for 12 and 24 h, CF for 3 h, 70% ethanol for 19 days, and 70% ethanol/CF for 2 h/3 h. Postfixation using negative pressure, two immersions in xylene for 30 min each, and one in xylene plus paraffin for 45 min increased tissue preservation. An immunohistochemical test for cocaine detection was performed using monoclonal benzoylecgonine antibody from mouse, peroxidase‐conjugated anti‐mouse IgG and visualized by 3,3′‐diaminobenzidine method showed these histological procedures didn't compromise antigenicity.     

Play to the Whistle: A Pilot Investigation of a Sports-Based Intervention for Traumatized Girls in Residential Treatment

Adolescents in residential treatment settings have symptoms that prevent them from participation in normal youth activities, which in turn prevent development of social skills and competencies. A sports-based intervention called “Do the Good” (DtG) was designed for this population using trauma-informed treatment principles. This paper describes the intervention model and presents outcome data. A total of 88 female residential students aged 12 to 21 participated, including 62 students voluntarily enrolled in the sports league and 26 treatment-as-usual (TAU) comparisons. Positive behaviors (e.g., helping peers, perseverance) during games were observed and coded for sports league participants and their coaches. Mental health charts of DtG and TAU participants were reviewed for behavior and symptoms prior to program participation, and again post-program. Girls in the sports league exhibited reductions in restraints and time-outs, as well as internalizing and externalizing symptoms. These data provide evidence that sports-based interventions present a promising adjunctive approach for traumatized youth.     

Attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide: Effects of physician background,patient prognosis and patient mental health status

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate views toward physician-assisted suicide (PAS) as patient illness (terminal, not terminal), patient mental health (depressed, not depressed) and physician background (preoccupied, not preoccupied with death) are varied. Participants (N = 211) read a newspaper article and trial summary involving a PAS then gave their impressions of the patient, physician and PAS. Patient mental health did not affect decisions, but the preoccupied physician's testimony was seen as less believable (intent was seen as patient death, not an end of pain and suffering), and he was more likely to be seen as guilty than the non-preoccupied physician (reflected by both verdict and guilt level ratings). The terminal patient was seen as suffering more, wanting suicide more, and making a more rational decision to die than the non-terminal patient. Results are discussed in light of recent legal activity involving PAS.     

Contextualizing sentencing disparities: using conjunctive analysis of case configurations to identify patterns of variability

Using national data from felony cases processed in state courts (n = 48,006), the current study investigates the nature and magnitude of contextual variability associated with sentencing outcomes. Multivariate models are first estimated to identify the main effects of various offender and offense variables on sentencing decisions. Conjunctive analysis is then used to evaluate the contextual variability of each of these main effects across all observed combinations of offender and offense attributes. Separate analyses are also conducted among states with and without mandatory sentencing guidelines to explore whether these guidelines reduce this variability across different contexts. Findings from this study and its comparative methods are discussed in terms of implications for future research on criminal sentencing and assessing the contextual variability of the main effects of particular legal and extralegal factors.     

Knowing your audience: How the structure of international relations and organizational choices affect amnesty international’s advocacy

While research has addressed the effects of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) advocacy on human rights outcomes, less is known about how INGOs choose advocacy targets and tactics. We combine insights from political economy and constructivism to understand how INGOs come to choose targets and tactics through the concepts of information and leverage politics, first articulated by Keck and Sikkink (1998), and salience politics, or the need to select cases that energize organization members and donors. INGOs select potential targets for advocacy and choose their tactics based on considerations of leverage potential and political salience, both of which are a function of potential target states’ aid, trade, and security linkages with major Western powers. Using data on Amnesty International’s written advocacy efforts - background reports, press releases, and new data on Urgent Actions - we find robust evidence that Amnesty International accounts for these linkages with Western powers in choosing targets for its advocacy campaigns.     

Investigation into the merits of infrared imaging in the investigation of tattoos postmortem

Infrared imaging has a history of use in the forensic examination of artwork and documents and is investigated here for its wider use in the detection of tattoos on the human body postmortem. Infrared photographic and reflectographic techniques were tested on 18 living individuals, displaying a total of 30 tattoos. It was observed that neither age, sex, age of the tattoo, nor, most significantly, skin color affected the ability to image the tattoos using infrared imaging techniques. Second, a piglet carcass was tattooed and the impact of the decomposition process on the visibility of the tattoos assessed. Changes were recorded for 17 days and decomposition included partial mummification and skin discoloration. Crucially, the discoloration was recorded as greatly affecting the image quality using conventional photography, but was insignificant to the infrared recording of these tattoos. It was concluded that infrared reflectography was beneficial in the investigation into tattoos postmortem.