On terror, drugs and racial profiling

We show that for racial profiling (defined as policy rules that employ statistical discrimination based on racial attributes) to be efficient in fighting ordinary crime, it needs to focus on the racial composition of marginal offenders. Efficiency thus may counter-intuitively call for targeting the group with the lower offending rates. In the context of terror, however, it has to be based primarily on differences in offending rates across racial population groups (group-wise averages). We demonstrate that, assuming correlation between race and crime, racial profiling would nearly always be efficient. Finally, we discuss equity considerations and suggest that if awarding compensation is perceived to be a viable policy option, it should be paid on an ex ante basis.     

浅析犯罪心理画像的基本方法

犯罪心理画像在一些案件的侦破过程中，在描绘、刻画犯罪行为人特征，缩小嫌疑范围方面起着意想不到的作用。犯罪心理画像的方法主要有归纳式和演绎式两种，两种方法各有所长，应共同发挥作用，以达到描绘、刻画犯罪行为人相关特征更加准确的目的。     

UPHOLDING STUDENTS’ DUE PROCESS RIGHTS: WHY STUDENTS ARE IN NEED OF BETTER REPRESENTATION AT,AND ALTERNATIVES TO,SCHOOL SUSPENSION HEARINGS

Suspension is the most common form of discipline in our schools. In some cases students facing suspension are removed from school for an extended period of time or referred for expulsion based on the findings made at the student's suspension hearing. Nevertheless, students have no legal right to have counsel participate in, or advocate at, suspension hearings. Additionally, schools for the most part do not offer students alternatives to suspension, such as mediation sessions or other programs designed to allow students to complete school or community work while on suspension. This Note discusses the problems associated with school suspension and suspension hearings. It also explains why providing students with legal advocates at suspension hearings will help promote due process and facilitate better decision making on the part of the student. Finally, it advocates for mediation as an alternative to suspension and suspension hearings, as research suggests that mediation would reduce suspension rates and the costs associated therewith.     

生化案件紧急处置研究

美国“9·11”事件之后,生化威胁成为世界各国所面临的恐怖威胁之一。我们应该在明确生化案件紧急处置基本原则的基础上,建立包括生化威胁识别、评估、确认以及任务执行、文件记录等方面在内的生化事件风险评估和管理模型。     

光谱成像检验技术

光谱成像组合了光谱技术和成像技术。通过运用成像光谱仪 ,光谱成像方法可以记录被检验物体在一个较宽光谱范围内均匀密集分布的窄波段反射光或荧光亮度分布影像 ,形成含有物体亮度信息和光谱信息的光谱影像集。这种技术方法可以用于物证的形态特征检验和物质成分检验。相对传统光谱检验或成像检验技术 ,光谱成像检验的能力和效果都具有明显优势。     

大鼠死后骨骼肌FTIR光谱变化与死亡时间的关系

目的应用傅立叶变换红外光谱(FTIR)分析大鼠死后骨骼肌随死亡时间推移的化学降解过程,为死亡时间推断提供新的研究方法。方法大鼠断颈处死后置于(20±2)℃环境,不同的死亡时间点提取大鼠大腿骨骼肌组织,并运用FTIR光谱仪测定不同化学基团随死亡时间的变化。结果随着死亡时间的推移,大鼠骨骼肌组织不同吸收峰的峰强随着死亡时间增加呈现出四种不同的变化方式:增加、下降、稳定、波动,且不同峰强比显示了相似的时间变化趋势。结论FTIR光谱分析技术有望成为法医实践中推断死亡时间的新方法。     

Branding the Image of a Fox: The Psychological Profile of EU President Herman Van Rompuy

This article presents the branding case of EU president Herman Van Rompuy. The branding of the political image is at the heart of being “in control.” Political candidates, even those with a damaged reputation, are therefore challenged to produce an image that projects nothing but the positive side of their characters or the traits that fit the position they desire. Which are the personality traits required, in the given context, from a chief executive of the European Union? And which are the traits projected by Van Rompuy? This article introduces the psychological profiling technique by Immelman (2004 Immelman, A. (2004). Millon inventory of diagnostic criteria manual (2nd ed.). (Available from Aubrey Immelman, Dept. of Psychology, St. John's University, Collegeville, MN 56321, USA). [Google Scholar]) as a political marketing technique. Thanks to this personality assessment that refers to the public image, it becomes possible to brand the profile of the current EU president and to compare the personal profile with the desired one.     

Preliminary Validation of Handheld X‐Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry: Distinguishing Osseous and Dental Tissue from Nonbone Material of Similar Chemical Composition

One of the tasks of a forensic anthropologist is to sort human bone fragments from other materials, which can be difficult when dealing with highly fragmented and taphonomically modified material. The purpose of this research is to develop a method using handheld X‐ray fluorescence (HHXRF) spectrometry to distinguish human and nonhuman bone/teeth from nonbone materials of similar chemical composition using multivariate statistical analyses. The sample materials were derived primarily from previous studies: human bone and teeth, nonhuman bone, nonbiological materials, nonbone biological materials, and taphonomically modified materials. The testing included two phases, testing both the reliability of the instrument and the accuracy of the technique. The results indicate that osseous and dental tissue can be distinguished from nonbone material of similar chemical composition with a high degree of accuracy (94%). While it was not possible to discriminate rock apatite and synthetic hydroxyapatite from bone/teeth, this technique successfully discriminated ivory and octocoral.     

‘Whiteness,’ criminality,and the double standards of deviance/social control

White criminality is increasingly defined and controlled via the medical model. This is made possible by the white racial frame, which constructs ‘whiteness’ as normative and white deviance as individual aberration or mental illness. Conversely, the white racial frame constructs Blackness as synonymous with criminality. Media depictions of crime and criminals play a central role in furthering this framing, which provides the underlying legitimation for disparities in social control. The result is double standards of definition and control which medicalize whiteness and criminalize Blackness. This differential framing of whiteness and Blackness provides the foundation for the expansion of both the medical and prison industrial complexes, which are characterized by real racial differences despite comparable patterns of deviance across racial lines.     

A more efficient extraction method of human bone resulting in improved DNA profiling

Eight human bone samples, from a forensic case, were extracted in parallel using our standard protocol with and without PTB in the buffer. Both methods were sometimes inadequate for (complete) STR profiling, while the presence of PTB even decreases the DNA yield.The complete decalcification of the bone extraction residues in an EDTA-solution with SDS recovered sufficient amounts of DNA, which resulted in complete STR profiling for all samples. Complete decalcification without SDS yielded even higher amounts of DNA and also complete STR profiling for all samples.Similar results were obtained for the DNA extraction from a human tooth.