对当前影响社会稳定的国际国内形势的分析

我们认为当前的国际环境是:总体和平、局部战争;总体缓和、局部紧张;总体稳定、局部动荡。和平、发展、合作依然是时代的主潮流。科学认识和准确把握当前的国际国内形势,是做好维护社会稳定工作的重要前提。     

DNA recovery from different evidences in 300 cases of sexual assault

Almost 60% of the DNA evidences analyzed in our laboratory correspond to sexual assault cases. With the aim to assess the efficiency of the DNA IQ System (Promega) in recovering the perpetrator DNA profile, the statistical analysis of results obtained in 300 casework was performed. In such cases, 850 evidence samples were processed. In 71% of the cases the perpetrator DNA profile was detected in at least one of the submitted casework samples, with a minimum of 13 STRs markers typed using the AmpFlSTR Identifiler PCR amplification kit (Applied Biosystem). When the suspect DNA profile was available, 67% matched with the evidence.With regard to the type of evidence, the best performance corresponded to panties, with more than 70% of success in recovering male profile, whereas the efficiency of vaginal swabs was almost 60%, with a higher incidence of victim/perpetrator mixed profiles.     

Sexual Assault Case Outcomes: Disentangling the Overlapping Decisions of Police and Prosecutors

The rape reform movement of the 1970s and 1980s was designed to improve the likelihood of prosecution and conviction in sexual assault cases. However, there is evidence that the attrition rate for sexual assaults reported to the police remains high, and that the locus of case attrition is arresting and charging decisions. In this paper, we analyze police and prosecutorial decision-making in sexual assault cases using quantitative data on sexual assaults reported to the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in 2008. We argue that decisions made by police and prosecutors should not be examined in isolation from one another and that researchers who analyze arrest decisions by examining only cases that are formally cleared by arrest or who focus only on charging decisions that follow the arrest of a suspect may be ignoring important aspects of police and prosecutorial decision-making. This is confirmed by the results of our study, which reveal that a significant proportion of cases in which the police appear to have probable cause to make an arrest do not result in the arrest of the suspect and that a substantial number of cases are rejected for prosecution by the district attorney before an arrest is made. Moreover, the factors that predict arrest and charging vary depending upon the way in which the outcome is operationally defined. These results have a number of important policy implications for police and prosecutors handling sexual assault cases.     

Sexual victimization against transgender women in prison: Consent and coercion in context

In this article, we conjoin two long‐standing lines of inquiry in criminology—the study of prison life and the study of sexual assault—by using original qualitative and quantitative data from 315 transgender women incarcerated in 27 California men's prisons. In so doing, we advance an analysis of the factors and processes that shape their experience of sexual victimization in prison. The results of qualitative analysis of 198 reported incidents of sexual victimization exhibit a range of types of sexual victimization experienced by transgender women in prison and reveal the centrality of relationships to their experiences of victimization. Findings from logistic regression models buttress the qualitative results, highlighting a factor that consistently and powerfully indicates vulnerability to sexual victimization is involvement in consensual sexual relationships with male prisoners. Together, the data demonstrate the prominence of intimate partner violence in prison, complicate the distinction between consent and unwanted sexual experiences in the lives of transgender women in prisons for men, and shine a light on the workings of gender in a total institution that privileges heteronormativity at the expense of the safety of transgender women in prisons for men. We discuss the implications of our findings in light of timely policy concerns.     

A Fatal Mediastinitis Due to a Neck Trauma from an Undeclared Assault

History of neck trauma should be promptly investigated in patients with severe infections of the chest as mediastinitis. We present a forensic case of a death due to a mediastinitis in a patient with an undetected fracture of the superior horn of the thyroid cartilage that was exclusively revealed at autopsy examination. Histological analyses of the neck tissues showed signs of pharyngeal mucosal microperforation caused by the fracture and surrounded by an inflammatory reaction. The fracture was caused by a not declared manual strangulation attempt, happened several days before medical evaluations. We share our experience to emphasize the importance of revealing the etiologies of fatal infections of the mediastinum both for clinical and forensic purposes.     

Evaluation of usefulness of further Y-STR analysis in sexual assault cases on PSA positive samples resulting in female autosomal STR profiling

Samples from male to female sexual assault cases that are positive for the presumptive prostate specific antigen (PSA) test often do not result in a male autosomal STR profile. Due to highly unequal proportions of female and male DNA in typical sexual assault samples, routine autosomal STR analysis often fails to detect the DNA of the assailant, even after differential extraction of the samples. Previous studies have already shown the value of Y-STR analysis in such cases [1]. In Belgium, forensic DNA laboratories are only allowed to perform Y-STR profiling on sexual assault samples by a specific requisition, after routine autosomal STR analysis has been performed. However, a request for additional Y-STR analysis is rather exceptional.In this study, we evaluated the usefulness of further Y-STR analysis. For 100 PSA positive rinses and swabs from male to female sexual assault cases resulting in female autosomal STR profiling, 7% resulted in a full or partial Y-STR profile useful for comparison, using the 23-loci Y-STR PowerPlex Y23 System (Promega). The success rate raised to 12.5% with a higher DNA input in the PCR mix. In conclusion, these results support the usefulness of performing Y-STRs analysis on the sperm DNA extracts to identify the alleged assailant in sexual assault cases.     

A voice or a choice? Children’s views on participating in decisions about post-separation contact with domestically abusive fathers

ABSTRACT

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child explicitly calls for children to be granted the right to participate in legal proceedings that affect them. Despite this legal obligation and an evolving consensus that recognises children as social and competent actors, this rhetoric has struggled to achieve translation into meaningful practice reality, particularly when decisions are being made about contact arrangements for children where there has been a prior history of domestic violence. Drawing on the narratives of children who participated in three separate research projects in Ireland between 2009 and 2015, this paper will consider the manner in which they were involved in the decision-making process and the extent to which their views were ascertained and their voices heard. This paper concludes by raising the key question of how the child’s best interests can be served if the child’s views are not sought, heard or considered.     

Culture in transition: Awareness and appropriate response to domestic violence among Hmong American college students

This explanatory study examined Hmong college students’ experience, awareness, and appropriate response to domestic violence in the Hmong community, using a survey (n?=?231) at one of the largest Hmong-serving institutions in the United States. Findings indicated that 32.8% of Hmong college women had some violence from their romantic partners and two thirds of Hmong college men and women were aware of violence in the Hmong community. Those young generation Hmong reported that the most appropriate method to solve conflicts within the Hmong community is through the traditional clan system. These results can be used to begin formulating research-based cultural competence education for providers in the criminal justice system and facilitate discussions on youth perceptions.