Identifying risk factors in stalking: a review of current research

Stalking is a behaviour which can cause substantial damage to its victims, whether the perpetrator is violent or not. Victims face a range of risks including not only assault, but persistent or recurrent stalking and varying degrees of psychological and social damage. The responsibility for assessing and managing these risks often falls to the mental health professional, yet the emerging stalking risk assessment literature is at too early a stage to provide clinicians with empirically derived evidence upon which to base their clinical practice. This paper reviews existing research to identify those factors currently believed to be associated with increased risk of physical and sexual assault; with persistent and/or recurrent stalking; and, with psychological and social damage.     

Knocking at the wrong door: insured workers' inadequate psychiatric care and workers' compensation claims

ObjectiveTo describe the prevalence of inadequately evaluated and treated psychopathology among insured workers making workers' compensation claims for psychiatric disability whose cases were reviewed by one forensic psychiatrist. To assess the relationship of inadequate evaluation and treatment to the outcomes of these workers' compensation claims.MethodsRecords of a series of 185 workers' compensation cases reviewed in 1998 and 1999 by a California forensic psychiatrist were abstracted. Patient factors (gender, Axis II pathology, psychosocial circumstances, substance abuse), case factors (psychiatric injury secondary to physical injury, or secondary to psychological stresses), type of provider (mental health, or other), adequacy of evaluation and treatment, forensic psychiatrist's recommendation, and claim outcome were categorized. The relationships between case characteristics, adequacy of care, and claim outcome were described.Results22% of cases had adequate evaluation, 48% superficial, and 30% had no evaluation. 11% had adequate treatment, 67% superficial, and 22% had no treatment. Compared to claims for psychiatric disability related to a physical injury, claims related to psychosocial stresses more often had superficial diagnostic evaluations and treatments. Those with superficial treatment were less likely to have their claim granted (19.3%) than those with no treatment (47.5%) or those with adequate treatment (36.8%). Success of claim was not related to provider type.ConclusionsThe majority of the studied workers with employer-provided health insurance who sought workers' compensation for disability due to mental illness did so inappropriately, in that the workplace did not cause the psychopathology. Their seeking workers' compensation was plausibly due to the observed inadequate evaluation and treatment available through their employer-provided health insurance. The adequacy of their care influenced the likelihood their claim would be granted. The relations observed here merit further research to establish their generality and to determine their causes.     

BIDDING MARKETS

The existence of a "bidding market" is commonly cited as a reasonto tolerate the creation or maintenance of highly concentratedmarkets. We discuss three erroneous arguments to that effect:the "consultants' fallacy" that "market power is impossible,"the "academics' fallacy" that (often) "market power does notmatter," and the "regulators' fallacy" that "intervention againstpernicious market power is unnecessary," in markets characterizedby auctions or bidding processes.Furthermore we argue that theterm "bidding market" as it is widely used in antitrust is unhelpfulor misleading. Auctions and bidding processes do have some specialfeatures—including their price formation processes, common-valuesbehavior, and bid-taker power—but the significance ofthese features has been overemphasized, and they often implya need for stricter rather than more lenient competition policy.     

The Intergenerational Cycle of Criminality—Association with Psychopathy*

Abstract: Preventive interventions early in life are likely to lower the risk of intergenerational transmission of criminal behavior. We investigated if psychopathy among homicidal offenders is associated with criminal offending among the offenders’ offspring. The basic sample consisted of consecutive Finnish homicide offenders (during 1995–2004) who had been subjected to a forensic psychiatric examination and rated for a file‐based PCL‐R, and their offspring. Criminal behavior among both genders of the offspring was more common than in the general population. In general, the offspring’s crimes against others (e.g., threat, intimidation, deprivation of freedom, breach of domicile) were associated with their parent’s psychopathy. A grandfather’s major mental disorder was associated with a high rate of crime committed by the offspring. Especially, the sons of male psychopathic homicidal offenders had the highest rate of committing crimes, which was often expressed as vandalism. However, both genders of offspring seem to require special preventive programs to ameliorate these problems.     

Validation of Ultrastructural Analysis of Mitochondrial Deposits in Cardiomyocytes as a Method of Detecting Early Acute Myocardial Infarction in Humans*

Abstract: In the present study, ultrastructural analysis of mitochondrial deposits (black dots within mitochondria) as a method for the detection of early acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was evaluated. In 24 patients with AMI and six controls, analysis was performed in the heart of infarcted patients and noninfarcted controls. In the infarction area in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)‐diagnosed AMI, the percentage of positive mitochondria was significantly higher compared to corresponding heart tissue in control patients and compared to noninfarcted areas within these patients. Also in patients with a clinically diagnosed AMI but no LDH decoloration, a significant higher percentage of positive mitochondria was found in the left ventricle compared to controls and noninfarcted areas. In patients with AMI, an increase in mitochondria with deposits was found in the infarction area compared to controls and noninfarcted tissue within the same patient, suggesting that electron microscopical changes in mitochondria can be used for the diagnosis of AMI less than 3 h old.     

Discrimination of Falls and Blows in Blunt Head Trauma: A Multi‐Criteria Approach

Abstract: In the discrimination of falls versus blows, the hat brim line (HBL) rule is mentioned in several textbooks as the most useful single criterion. Recent studies, however, have found that the HBL rule is only moderately valid and that its use on its own is not recommended. The purpose of this 6‐year retrospective study was to find additional individually useful criteria in the distinction of falls from blows. Overall, the following criteria were found to point toward blows: more than three lacerations, laceration length of 7 cm or more, comminuted or depressed calvarial fractures, lacerations or fractures located above the HBL, left‐side lateralization of lacerations or fractures, more than four facial contusions or lacerations, presence of ear lacerations, presence of facial fractures, and presence of postcranial osseous and/or visceral trauma. Based on the most discriminating criteria, a decision tree was constructed to be potentially applicable to future cases.     

Latent Profile Approach to Duration of Stalking

Abstract: Stalking behavior and victim–stalker relationship are often the principal known factors in a stalking case. Thus, they are of great importance when trying to identify factors contributing to stalking duration. The present study aims to identify distinct subgroups of stalking victims based on measures of behavioral stalking dimensions. These victim subgroups, stalking dimensions, and victim–stalker relationship are examined in relation to stalking duration. Using a sample of 137 university students, latent profile analysis (LPA) revealed five distinct victim subgroups based on stalker behavior dimensions: surveillance, low‐profile, social lurker, wide scope, and baseline stalkers. The subgroups were significantly related to stalking duration and explained a considerable amount of the variance along with the stalking dimensions and victim–stalker relationship. Connections to stalking literature and utility of person‐orientated methods in stalking research are discussed.     

Speech Watermarking: An Approach for the Forensic Analysis of Digital Telephonic Recordings*

Abstract: In this article, the authors discuss the problem of forensic authentication of digital audio recordings. Although forensic audio has been addressed in several articles, the existing approaches are focused on analog magnetic recordings, which are less prevalent because of the large amount of digital recorders available on the market (optical, solid state, hard disks, etc.). An approach based on digital signal processing that consists of spread spectrum techniques for speech watermarking is presented. This approach presents the advantage that the authentication is based on the signal itself rather than the recording format. Thus, it is valid for usual recording devices in police‐controlled telephone intercepts. In addition, our proposal allows for the introduction of relevant information such as the recording date and time and all the relevant data (this is not always possible with classical systems). Our experimental results reveal that the speech watermarking procedure does not interfere in a significant way with the posterior forensic speaker identification.