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The Plethysmograph: A Review of Recent Literature James G. Barker and Robert J. Howell

November 21, 2018October 13, 2017 by admin

The penile plethysmograph is an individually applied physiological test, that measures the flow of blood to and from the genital area. Over the past 20 years the plethysmograph has evolved into a sophisticated computerized instrument capable of measuring slight changes in the circumference of the penis. Despite the sophistication of the current equipment technology, a question remains whether the information emitted is a valid and reliable means of assessing sexual preference. Much research has accompanied the evolution of the seismography. Generally, the plethysmograph is recognized as the best objective measure of male sexual arousal because blood flow into the penis is the only measure of sexual arousal that doesn't seem to be influenced by other factors. The objectiveability to measure penile arousal has helped the plethysmograph evolve into one of the important tests in the assessment and treatment of male sex offenders.

Ideally,

Acute Lung Injury Following Blood Transfusion: Expanding the Definition

November 21, 2018October 12, 2017 by admin

Abstract and Introduction

Abstract

Objective: Acute lung injury (ALI) is a well known complication following the transfusion of blood products and is commonly referred to as transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI). The objectives of this review are to summarize current knowledge of TRALI with an emphasis on issues pertinent to the intensivist and to define the newly recognized Delayed TRALI syndrome.

Data synthesis: The classic TRALI syndrome is an uncommon condition characterized by the abrupt onset of respiratory failure within hours of the transfusion of a blood product. It is usually caused by anti-leukocyte antibodies, resolves rapidly, and has a low mortality. A single unit of packed cells or blood component product is usually implicated in initiating this syndrome. It has, however, recently been recognized that the transfusion of blood products in critically ill or injured patients increases the risk (odds ratio 2.13; 95% confidence interval 1.75-2.52)...

Sexual Homicide A Motivational Model

November 21, 2018October 12, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Reports findings from an exploratory study of the background characteristics of 36 male sexual murderers, their behaviors and experiences in connection with their developmental stages, and the central role of sadistic fantasy and critical cognitive structures that support the act of sexual murder. All Ss were born in the 1940s and 1950s; 33 were White, and 80% were of average to superior intelligence. A 5-phase motivational model is presented: (1) ineffective social environment, (2) formative events, (3) critical personal traits and cognitive mapping process, (4) action toward others and self, and (5) feedback filter. Clinical implications are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)...

Drug-Related Deaths With Evidence Of Intracorporeal Drug Concealment At Autopsy: Five Case Reports.

November 21, 2018October 12, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Intracorporeal concealment of illicit drugs is a rare observation at coronial autopsy examinations. The article reports 5 cases of accidental drug overdoses at the Westmead Coronial Morgue, Sydney New South Wales, over a 6-year period with evidence of intracorporeal drug concealment known as body packing or body stuffing. Three different forms of anatomic concealment of drugs are illustrated, Case 2 involving therapeutic medication in the form of glass ampoules for parenteral injection not previously reported. Three deaths were the result of acute toxicity due to polydrug abuse rather than as a consequence of the body packing behavior and rupture of the drug packaging, with the intracorporeal drug concealments an adjunct finding at the autopsy examinations. The cause of death in Case 3 was the direct result of acute cocaine intoxication due to rupture of drug packages in the rectum and mucosal absorption. The article details forensic sociological aspects of drug concealment...

Shootings: What EMS Providers Need to Know

November 21, 2018October 12, 2017 by admin

Firearm-related injuries continue to be a significant public health problem, accounting for almost 20% of injury-related deaths in the United States.

From January 1993 to December 1998, an estimated 115,000 firearm-related injuries occurred annually in the U.S. Males were seven times more likely to die or be treated in emergency departments for gunshot wounds than females. In 2006 more than 30,000 persons died from firearm injuries in the United States.

Gunshot wounds to the head are the most lethal of all firearm injuries. It is estimated they have a fatality rate greater than 90%. Those to the myocardium have fatality rates reaching 80%. Intra-abdominal injuries from gunshot wounds tend to involve the small bowel (50%), colon (40%), liver (30%) and abdominal vascular structures (25%).

PENETRATING MOI

Gunshot wounds involve the transfer of energy to a target. The damage that occurs is directly related to the amount of energy exchanged between the penetrating...

The Plausibility of Adaptations for Homicide

February 20, 2019October 12, 2017 by admin

1 Introduction

People kill other people in every known culture around the world. The question is why. This chapter presents a new theory of homicide, Homicide Adaptation Theory, which proposes that humans evolved adaptations to facilitate killing. The new theory is contrasted with two competing conceptions of why people kill: The Byproduct Hypothesis and the Evolved Goal Hypothesis. Prior to presenting these competing views of homicide, we discuss the concept of “innateness” in relation to our conception of evolved homicide adaptations. 2 The Concept of Innateness from the perspective of Evolutionary Psychology The term “innateness” is used to refer to many different phenomena (see Elman, Johnson, & Bates, 1996). Our conceptualization of innateness falls in line with the standard definition used by evolutionary psychologists and biologists when referring to any adaptation. Selection has shaped the genes that pattern human ontogeny. These genes provide the blueprint for the development of... ...

Homicide in Black and White

November 21, 2018October 12, 2017 by admin

Abstract

African-Americans are six times as likely as white Americans to die at the hands of a murderer, and roughly seven times as likely to murder someone. Young black men are Öften times as likely to be murdered as young white men. This disparity is historic and pervasive, and cannot be accounted for by individual characteristics. Culture-of-violence and tail-of-the-distribution theories are also inadequate to explain the geographic and demographic pattern of the disparity. We argue that any satisfactory explanation must take into account the fact that murder can have a preemptive motive: people sometimes kill simply to avoid being killed. As a result, disputes can escalate dramatically in environments (endogenously) perceived to be dangerous, resulting in self-fulflling expectations of violence for particular dyadic interactions, and significant racial disparities in rates of murder and victimization. Because of strategic complementarity, small differences in fundamentals can cause large differences in murder rates..

Organized/Disorganized Continuum Phase 3 Individual Project Forensic Psychology

November 21, 2018October 12, 2017 by admin

Physical and Behavioral Evidence Based Crime Scene Analysis

The crime scene analysis approach that is taken in profiling works under the assumption that the crime scene will reflect the personality of the perpetrator. FBI profilers have been able to identify the characteristics of the organized and disorganized rapists and murderers. (Thorton, 2002) The profiler’s will use information that they gather from the crime scene and reflect on the nature of the crime in order to produce a psychological profile that would be consistent with the offender in question. The offender can be classified as organized or disorganized based on the information they were able to obtain from the crime scene and other aspects of the crime itself.

“An organized offender is thought to be very intelligent, socially competent and very charismatic.” (Curt Bartol, 2012) The disorganized offender is described as being of average intelligence, immature socially and a loner by default....

Multiple Murder And Criminal Careers: A Latent Class Analysis Of Multiple Homicide Offenders.

November 21, 2018October 12, 2017 by admin

Abstract

PURPOSE: To construct an empirically rigorous typology of multiple homicide offenders (MHOs).

METHOD: The current study conducted latent class analysis of the official records of 160 MHOs sampled from eight states to evaluate their criminal careers.

RESULTS: A 3-class solution best fit the data (-2LL=-1123.61, Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC)=2648.15, df=81, L(2)=1179.77). Class 1 (n=64, class assignment probability=.999) was the low-offending group marked by little criminal record and delayed arrest onset. Class 2 (n=51, class assignment probability=.957) was the severe group that represents the most violent and habitual criminals. Class 3 (n=45, class assignment probability=.959) was the moderate group whose offending careers were similar to Class 2.

CONCLUSION: A sustained criminal career with involvement in versatile forms of crime was observed for two of three classes of MHOs. Linkages to extant typologies and recommendations for additional research that incorporates clinical constructs are proffered.

The Self and the Psychology of Domestic Homicide-Suicide

November 21, 2018October 12, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Men commit the vast majority of domestic homicide-suicides (H-Ss) wherein a person kills their intimate partner (and/or other family members) before taking their own life. Studies of men who commit H-S have looked at the act from psychopathology and evolutionary psychology viewpoints. To complement those approaches, this article presents additional views of domestic H-S. Applications of theories from social (escape from self), developmental (evolution of self and continuity of self), gender role (power and the male role), and family violence psychology (abusive personality and proximal antecedents of abuse) are outlined. These conceptualizations are offered because they pertain to instability and deconstruction of the self amidst the life changes and intimate distress that precede many cases of domestic H-S....

Serving Survivors of Homicide Victims During Cold Case Investigations: A Guide for Developing a Law Enforcement Protocol

February 15, 2019October 12, 2017 by admin

INTRODUCTION

Statement of the Problem

Advancements in DNA technology and other forensic investigative tools have enabled law enforcement agencies to reopen cases left dormant for years. Although the number of cold cases investigated by agencies on a nationwide basis each year is currently not tracked, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) does track the number of offenses cleared. In 2009, 66.6 percent of the 13,242 murder and non-negligent manslaughter crimes in the United States were cleared by arrest or exceptional means.1 While this is a significant clearance rate, it leaves many homicides unsolved each year. In response to the advances in forensic technology, many law enforcement agencies have established cold case units with the hope that reexamining evidence will help solve more crimes. As cases are reopened, investigators are contacting survivors of homicide victims. Although survivors may be grateful that their loved one’s murder has renewed attention, the reopening of a case can...

Forensics With Sceneworks

November 21, 2018October 12, 2017 by admin

INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCEPT

We all have experienced the immense power of a text driven search in the internet via search engines: once we know the right keyword, the search-engines will "find it all", BUT if we don't ...., the screen stays empty.

On a smaller scale: is part of your job description to be a shareholder in the process of crime scene investigation? If so, did you ever have to communicate results via "clever named" folders or file names?

Here's our background: as a manufacturer of high-end (full spherical) cameras, some of our customers in the past were indeed police-photographers. They used the camera to document crime scenes. They figured: "... see the glas of water there. I actually do know that we have found a fingerprint on it. Wouldn't it be great to allow everyone in our team to immediately access the PDF with the fingerprint analysis by a simple mouse-click on the glass?...

November 21, 2018October 12, 2017 by admin

Because the investigation of cold cases is usually an arduous and time-consuming task, most law enforcement agencies in the United States are not able to dedicate the resources necessary to I u iu u IIsupport the cold case investigation process. However, when those cases are fully pursued and prosecuted, they often result in convictions and lengthy prison terms. Cold Cases: Evaluation Models with Follow-up Strategies for Investigators, Second Edition saves law enforcement time by providing detailed guidelines for determining if a cold case is solvable, and if so, how to organize, manage, and evaluate the investigation. It also provides techniques for developing investigative strategies to complement the evaluation process and resolve the crime.

This second edition features a new revised model and methodology for investigating cold cases suitable for all police and public safety agencies—large or small, domestic or international. This new model is more expeditious and convenient for departments that have less...

Three-Dimensional Reconstitution Of Bullet Trajectory In Gunshot Wounds: A Case Report

February 21, 2019October 12, 2017 by admin

Abstract

In the med ico-legal assessment of cases of aggression with firearms, imaging techniques have a particularly important role, especially in the study of a bullet’s path through the victim’s body. The analysis of these trajectories can be performed by the use of three-dimensional reconstitution techniques, namely Three-Dimensional Multi-Slice Computed Tomography (3D-MSCT). This imaging technique has been widely used in fatal cases, as a very important complement of the classical autopsy procedures, becoming known as ‘‘virtual autopsy” or ‘‘Virtopsy”. To our knowledge, no reports describing the use of 3D-MSCT in nonfatal cases have been described in the medico-legal literature. The authors present a case of a man with a gunshot injury, in the context of a multiple aggressor situation, in which it was not possible to extract the bullet. To accurately determine the bullet’s trajectory, 3D-MSCT was performed, thus contributing to a more reliable reconstruction of the crime scene in which ...

Need Drugs, Will Travel?: The Distances To Crime Of Illegal Drug Buyers

February 21, 2019October 12, 2017 by admin

Abstract Available online xxxx Purpose: This study examines distances to crime among illegal drug buyers while controlling for buyer, drug, and destination characteristics.

Methods: Geocoded arrests for drug buyers in an urban municipality, over a three year period, spatially identify major drug markets. Negative binomial regression is used to model compositional characteristics of drug arrestees and contextual effects of markets on distance to arrest (n=4,082).

Results: Trip distance to drug purchase arrest varies by drug market. Being white, and having prior contact with the criminal justice system correlated with longer trip distances. Additional compositional effects vary by drug type.

Conclusions: In line with prior journey to crime research and crime pattern theory, illicit drug buyers are arrested in close proximity of their homes. Future research should consider the extent to which short aggregate market distances reflect policing differentials and close social ties...

Bullet Trajectories at Crime Scenes

November 22, 2018October 11, 2017 by admin

Recommended Procedures for Documenting Bullet Trajectory

Crime scenes involving the use of firearms present unique challenges for the crime scene investigator, but using relatively simple techniques it is often possible to reconstruct the events that give some indication as to what occurred during the actual discharge of the weapon. By this I mean it is possible to determine the actual path or trajectory of the bullets, and using this information, determine the location of the shooter.

A number of factors must be taken into account including the position of cartridge cases ejected from automatic and semi-automatic weapons. It is therefore essential that the exact position of spent casings be marked and documented before any other investigative procedures are followed.

Document (Photograph & Sketch) Positions of Spent Cartridge Casings

Photography is the first necessity so it is imperative that the crime scene be afforded absolute security. Until spent cartridges are properly recorde...