WHAT WE KNOW NOW: FINDINGS FROM DEPENDENCY MEDIATION RESEARCH

After approximately 15 years of research on court-based dependency mediation programs, answers have emerged for many, but not all, of the questions that surround dependency mediation. This article explores what has been learned about court-based dependency mediation through research and what new and persisting questions remain. The article reviews empirical studies of child protection mediation. The topics considered include what we have learned about the organization and structure of mediation programs, what have we learned about settlement in mediation, and whether there are benefits to mediation beyond the mere fact that settlements are reached.     

Forensic Analysis of Explosives Using Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS)—Part 2: Forensic Inter-Laboratory Trial: Bulk Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotopes in a Range of Chemical Compounds (Australia and New Zealand)

Abstract:  Comparability of data over time and between laboratories is a key issue for consideration in the development of global databases, and more broadly for quality assurance in general. One mechanism that can be utilized for evaluating traceability is an inter-laboratory trial. This paper addresses an inter-laboratory trial conducted across a number of Australian and New Zealand isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) laboratories. The main objective of this trial was to determine whether IRMS laboratories in these countries would record comparable values for the distributed samples. Four carbon containing and four nitrogen containing compounds were distributed to seven laboratories in Australia and one in New Zealand. The laboratories were requested to analyze the samples using their standard procedures. The data from each laboratory was evaluated collectively using International Standard ISO 13528 ( Statistical methods for use in proficiency testing by inter-laboratory comparisons ). "Warning signals" were raised against one participant in this trial. "Action signals" requiring corrective action were raised against four participants. These participants reviewed the data and possible sources for the discrepancies. This inter-laboratory trial was successful in providing an initial snapshot of the potential for traceability between the participating laboratories. The statistical methods described in this article could be used as a model for others needing to evaluate stable isotope results derived from multiple laboratories, e.g., inter-laboratory trials/proficiency testing. Ongoing trials will be conducted to improve traceability across the Australian and New Zealand IRMS community.     

WHY A LAWYER?—THE IMPORTANCE OF CLIENT‐DIRECTED LEGAL REPRESENTATION FOR YOUTH

This article begins with a discussion about the importance of ensuring that all children have lawyers in abuse and neglect cases. Lawyers provide a vital role in giving youth a voice in proceedings that sound profoundly affect their lives. The article then discusses why the client‐directed lawyer's role is consistent with federal law and legal ethics. Finally, the article discusses the growing support for client‐directed representation and what the American Bar Association has done to support this type of child representation.     

INVOLVING YOUTH IN THE DEPENDENCY COURT PROCESS: THE WASHINGTON STATE EXPERIENCE

In 2008, the Washington State legislature established a pilot program in four designated sites wherein youth ages twelve years and older had the right to (1) receive notice of all dependency hearings that involve them, (2) be present at such hearings, and (3) be heard personally. Pursuant to the legislation, upon request by the youth, the court participating in the pilot program is permitted to conduct an in‐chambers interview with the youth to determine his or her wishes regarding issues pending before the court. The legislation further required that the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Department of Social and Health Services collaborate in implementing and assessing the effectiveness of the program. This article details the development of the pilot program, its implementation, and evaluation results as of the date of this publication.     

Case of Fatal Starvation: Can Stable Isotope Analysis Serve to Support Morphological Diagnosis and Approximate the Length of Starvation?

The diagnosis of death as a result of starvation is established on anthropological measurements, visual appearance of the deceased on external and internal examination, microscopic analysis, laboratory testing, and exclusion of other causes of death. Herein, we present our findings on a case of 95‐year‐old man who died of starvation. After the diagnosis of starvation was established by traditional forensic medicine methods, we have conducted retrospective segmental analysis of stable carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotope ratios in hair sample. This method reveals periods of starvation through decrease in δ¹³C and increase in δ¹⁵N along the strand of hair. Our analysis revealed the decrease of 0.6 ‰ in δ¹³C during the last 10–12 weeks prior to death, similar as reported in other investigations. Also, a decrease of 0.7 ‰ in δ¹⁵N during the last 8–10 weeks prior to death was determined that was different than observed in previous studies.     

甲醛对一氧化碳中毒血检验干扰的研究

目的探讨甲醛对一氧化碳中毒血的检测是否产生干扰,提高一氧化碳中毒鉴定的可靠性。方法采用常用的血中一氧化碳或碳氧血红蛋白饱和度的检测方法对未加甲醛和加甲醛的血样分别进行实验研究。结果甲醛对加热法、氢氧化钠法、氯化钯法、分光光度法等检测方法均可产生不同程度的干扰。结论经福尔马林灌注或固定的检材不宜用于一氧化碳中毒血检测,否则可能导致错误的鉴定结论。     

Globus Pallidus Necrosis Unrelated to Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: Retrospective Analysis of 27 Cases of Basal Ganglia Necrosis

Bilateral globus pallidus necrosis is said to be characteristic of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. However, there has been no scientific test of this hypothesis. To examine the assertion that globus pallidus necrosis is typical of CO poisoning, this study examined autopsy cases from the King County Medical Examiner's Office (KCMEO) between 1994 and 2013. Twenty-seven cases with bilateral basal ganglia lesions were identified and examined for associated or causative disease or injury with the following results: 10 cases of drug overdose, seven heart disease, three asphyxia, two chronic ethanolism, two Huntington-like disorder, and one case each of remote trauma, rheumatic heart disease, and cerebral artery gas embolism. Additionally, review of all known cases at KCMEO of CO poisoning found no evidence of globus pallidus or basal ganglia necrosis. Thus, this study provides no support for the assertion that globus pallidus necrosis is characteristic of CO poisoning.     

Effects of language mismatch in automatic forensic voice comparison using deep learning embeddings

In forensic voice comparison, deep learning has become widely popular recently. It is mainly used to learn speaker representations, called embeddings or embedding vectors. Speaker embeddings are often trained using corpora mostly containing widely spoken languages. Thus, language dependency is an important factor in automatic forensic voice comparison, especially when the target language is linguistically very different from that the model is trained on. In the case of a low-resource language, developing a corpus for forensic purposes containing enough speakers to train deep learning models is costly. This study aims to investigate whether a model pre-trained on multilingual (mostly English) corpus can be used on a target low-resource language (here, Hungarian), not represented by the model. Often multiple samples are not available from the offender (unknown speaker). Samples are therefore compared pairwise with and without speaker enrollment for suspect (known) speakers. Two corpora are used that were developed especially for forensic purposes and a third that is meant for traditional speaker verification. Speaker embedding vectors are extracted by the x-vector and ECAPA-TDNN techniques. Speaker verification was evaluated in the likelihood-ratio framework. A comparison is made between the language combinations (modeling, LR calibration, and evaluation). The results were evaluated by Cllr_min and EER metrics. It was found that the model pre-trained on a different language but on a corpus with a significant number of speakers can be used on samples with language mismatch. Sample duration and speaking style also seem to affect the performance.     

Paired stable carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of human enamel for forensic human geolocation: An exploratory study

Stable carbon isotope analysis has proven utility for reconstructing dietary information in humans in past populations. The usefulness of stable carbon for forensic geolocation has been little investigated, largely because of the globalization of the human diet seemingly rendering it inconsequential. This study queried this assumption at a country-wide level on a known sample group. Stable carbon isotope values were obtained from human enamel with known biographical and geographical information to determine whether stable carbon, when paired with stable oxygen isotope values, could differentiate Canadians from non-Canadians. Samples originating outside of Canada were separated into three regions, and a linear discriminant analysis was used to generate discriminant functions that best separate the regions according to the stable carbon and oxygen isotope values. The results revealed two functions, where the first function explained 92.1% and the second 7.9% of the variance. Although some overlap in stable carbon and oxygen values was observed for individuals from both the United States and Canada, differences were observed between those from Canada and other geographical regions. This study demonstrated that pairing the dietary isotope carbon with the geolocator stable oxygen isotope, produced an interesting separation geographically, one that might well be helpful when attempting a geolocation query on unknown human remains.     

不同来源一氧化碳中毒死亡者血液中COHb含量分析

目的探索一氧化碳中毒存在的个体差异性,分析女性可能存在的抵御一氧化碳中毒的机制。方法收集207例不同来源的一氧化碳中毒死亡者血液,测量COHb含量,将案例按照不同的因素分类进行统计学分析。结果不同一氧化碳的来源对于死者的COHb浓度影响显著,而性别对于COHb浓度影响不显著,少年儿童和老年人有可能对COHb的抵御能力差于成年人。