Feature Channels: Crime and Forensic Science

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Released: 18-Dec-2012 4:30 PM EST
Community Support Plays Vital Role in Coping with Tragedies
Virginia Tech

Community support has remarkable benefits for people coping with traumatic mass shootings, according to an American-Finnish research study.

Released: 17-Dec-2012 5:00 PM EST
Director of WUSTL’s Center for Violence and Injury Prevention Comments on School Tragedy in Connecticut​
Washington University in St. Louis

Melissa Jonson-Reid, PhD, professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, is director of the CDC-funded Center for Violence and Injury Protection. She responds to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Released: 26-Nov-2012 5:00 PM EST
California Western School of Law Program Helps Young Offenders Avoid Cycle of Violence and Jail
Academy Communications

Award-winning law school course sends students into local detention facilities teach mediation skills to juvenile detainees, help them avoid life of incarceration.

Released: 19-Nov-2012 2:00 PM EST
School Exclusion Policies Stigmatize Arrested Teens and Contribute to Educational Failure
University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin)

University of Texas at Austin sociologist finds school exclusion policies and lack of support from teachers contribute to high dropout rate among students who have been arrested.

Released: 12-Nov-2012 3:20 PM EST
Civil Asset Forfeiture and Federal Equitable Sharing
Appalachian State University

Civil asset forfeiture allows law enforcement agencies in many states to seize property or assets of a criminal suspect and proceed to have them forfeited to the government even if the individual is never convicted of the original charge. Professors study the practice that requires no criminal conviction.

Released: 8-Nov-2012 10:15 AM EST
MSU Security Expert Offers Tips for Avoiding 'Phishing' Scams
Mississippi State University

In every corner of the Internet, high-tech "phishers" are baiting their hooks as the holiday season begins, hoping to lure a prize catch--the account data and personal information of unsuspecting computer-users all across the country.

Released: 24-Oct-2012 5:00 AM EDT
CA Leads Nation in Exonerations of Wrongfully Convicted
University of California, Berkeley, School of Law

A new criminal justice initiative today released a study showing that 200 or more wrongful convictions have been thrown out since 1989 in California, costing those convicted more than 1,300 years of freedom and taxpayers $129 million.

Released: 19-Oct-2012 6:00 AM EDT
Criminal Punishment and Politics: Elected Judges Take Tougher Stance Prior to Elections
University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business

The last few months leading up to an election can be a critical, political game changer. One right or one wrong move can quickly change a candidate’s standing at the polls. New UC Berkeley research suggests that judges who are elected, rather than appointed, respond to this political pressure by handing down more severe criminal sentences – as much as 10 percent longer –in the last three months before an election compared with the beginning of their terms.

Released: 15-Oct-2012 6:15 PM EDT
Evidence Does Not Support Three-Strikes Law as Crime Deterrent
University of California, Riverside

Contrary to what police, politicians and the public believe, research by a University of California, Riverside criminologist has found that the state's three-strikes law has done nothing to reduce the crime rate.

Released: 11-Oct-2012 9:40 AM EDT
New Book by WIU Law Enforcement Faculty Emeritus Focuses on Importance of Voting
Western Illinois University

A new book by a retired faculty member in the Western Illinois University School of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration (LEJA) focuses on the importance of voting. According to LEJA Professor Emeritus Clyde Cronkhite, "Law Enforcement and Justice Administration: Strategies for the 21st Century" (published by Jones & Bartlett Learning), in the republic form of government, laws and how they are enforced are meant to be a reflection of the will of the majority.

Released: 27-Sep-2012 4:00 PM EDT
Challenges for Families of Those Jailed
Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech human development research studies how incarcedation affects the inmate's family.

Released: 18-Sep-2012 11:00 AM EDT
A Survivor Remembers: A Mass Murder on the Iraqi Front Lines; A Fellow Soldier Accused
Weekly Scientist

In 2009, U.S. Army sergeant John Russell killed five fellow soldiers at a clinic in Iraq. His defense team has been telling his story ever since. Now, an exclusive interview presents the other side.

Released: 18-Sep-2012 11:00 AM EDT
Tasered Youths Fare as Well as Adults, New Research Says
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist

Adolescents who are tasered by law enforcement officers do not appear to be at higher risk for serious injury than adults, according to new a new study from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers.

Released: 11-Sep-2012 10:00 AM EDT
Powerful Tool to Fight Wildlife Crime Unveiled
Wildlife Conservation Society

A free high-tech tool to combat the wildlife poaching crisis was offered to grassroots rangers by a consortium of conservation organizations at the World Conservation Congress.

Released: 4-Sep-2012 3:35 PM EDT
Book Says Black Women Face More Violence Under 'Prison Nation'
University of Illinois Chicago

Black women in poor neighborhoods have faced increasing violence because public policy has focused on unconditional punishment, not prevention, according to a new book by a public policy expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

13-Aug-2012 1:00 PM EDT
“CSI” Technology Holds Potential in Everyday Medicine
American Chemical Society (ACS)

A scientific instrument featured on CSI and CSI: Miami for instant fingerprint analysis is forging another life in real-world medicine, helping during brain surgery and ensuring that cancer patients get effective doses of chemotherapy, a scientist said here today at the 244th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

13-Aug-2012 1:00 PM EDT
The Innocence Project: Science Helping Innocent People Proven Guilty
American Chemical Society (ACS)

A symposium that showcases chemistry’s pivotal role in righting some of the highest-profile cases of innocent people proven guilty unfolds today at the 244th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society. It features presentations by forensic scientists, attorneys and others who used science to right wrongs, freeing innocent people and saving the lives of prisoners on death row.

12-Aug-2012 11:00 PM EDT
Psychopaths Get a Break From Biology
University of Utah

A University of Utah survey of judges in 19 states found that if a convicted criminal is a psychopath, judges consider it an aggravating factor in sentencing, but if judges also hear biological explanations for the disorder, they reduce the sentence by about a year on average.

Released: 14-Aug-2012 4:40 PM EDT
Rural Substance Abuse Treatment Admissions Significantly More Likely Than Urban Counterparts to Be Referred by Criminal Justice System
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA)

New report shows significant differences in demographics and abuse patterns of substance abuse treatment admissions in rural versus urban communities.

Released: 13-Aug-2012 10:00 AM EDT
Fugitive Surrenders in Churches Work
Case Western Reserve University

Researchers at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University reflected on the results of an initiative called the Fugitive Safe Surrender Program (FSS) that started in a single house of worship and since spread across the country and touched more than 35,000 lives.

Released: 1-Aug-2012 10:50 AM EDT
Jailhouse Phone Calls Reveal When Domestic Abusers Most Likely to Attack
Ohio State University

An analysis of jailhouse phone calls between men charged with felony domestic violence and their victims allowed researchers for the first time to see exactly what triggered episodes of violent abuse.

Released: 31-Jul-2012 11:50 AM EDT
New Research Focuses on Treatment for Perpetrator, Not Victim
University of Houston

A new University of Houston (UH) experiment takes an unconventional look at the treatment for domestic violence, otherwise known as intimate partner violence (IPV), by focusing on changing the perpetrators’ psychological abuse during arguments rather than addressing his sexist beliefs.

25-Jul-2012 8:00 AM EDT
Study: Conciliatory Tactics More Effective Than Punishment in Reducing Terrorism
American Sociological Association (ASA)

Policies that reward abstinence from terrorism are more successful in reducing such acts of violence than tactics that aim to punish terrorists, suggests a new study in the August issue of the American Sociological Review.

Released: 25-Jul-2012 4:00 PM EDT
Tighter Background Checks Associated with Fewer Firearm Deaths
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Researcher says states with stricter gun laws report fewer deaths by firearm, but Internet availability can undermine that.

Released: 13-Jul-2012 11:30 AM EDT
Randomized Trial Finds Counseling Reduces Youth Violence
University of Chicago

A new study by the University of Chicago, in partnership with the Chicago Public Schools and local nonprofits Youth Guidance and World Sport Chicago, provides rigorous scientific evidence that a violence reduction program succeeded in creating a sizable decline in violent crime arrests among youth who participated in group counseling and mentoring.

Released: 12-Jul-2012 4:30 PM EDT
Advanced Drug Testing Method Detects 'Spice' Drugs
RTI International

A new method of drug testing developed by researchers at RTI International makes it possible to detect a wider range of synthetically-produced ‘designer’ drugs.

Released: 28-Jun-2012 8:00 AM EDT
Study Suggests Tasers Don’t Cause Cardiac Complications
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist

William P. Bozeman, M.D., an associate professor of emergency medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, and colleagues reviewed 1,201 cases of real-life Taser uses by law enforcement agencies but found none in which the devices could be linked to cardiac complications, even when the Taser probes landed on the upper chest area and may have delivered a shock across the heart.

Released: 27-Jun-2012 6:30 PM EDT
Drug Traffickers Struggle to Leave 'the Game;' Fear Losing Their Power, Status
Oregon State University

Drug traffickers who want to leave the “game” behind often struggle to do so because they fear loss of power and status, a new study shows. Those who do leave the illegal drug trade often do so because of a complex mixture of issues including fatherhood, drug use and abuse, and threat of punishment by authorities or fear of retaliation. Researchers concluded that traffickers need ways that allow them to leave the drug business without surrendering their entire identity.

Released: 21-Jun-2012 11:00 AM EDT
Routine Justice: Research Shows How Racial and Gender Profiling Can Affect Outcome of Traffic Stops
Kansas State University

A Kansas State University researcher is finding that racial profiling can involve an additional factor: gender. The researcher is analyzing police actions during routine traffic stops to understand how race and gender are connected.

Released: 18-Jun-2012 9:45 AM EDT
It Takes a Village: Youth Expert Says Positive Adult, Community Involvement Keeps Teens From Trouble
Kansas State University

Two experts discuss how to keep rural teens involved in the community this summer, turning them into productive citizens.

Released: 4-Jun-2012 2:20 PM EDT
Three Florida State University Criminologists Rank Among 'Hit Parade' of Scholarly Productivity
Florida State University

Three faculty members of Florida State University’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice — Kevin Beaver, Abigail Fagan and Brian Stults — are among the nation’s most productive criminology and criminal justice scholars, according to a study that uses academic rank to reveal both rising academic stars and the top stars overall.

Released: 1-Jun-2012 7:00 AM EDT
National Expert Available to Provide Commentary During Child Sexual Abuse Trial of Former Penn State Coach Jerry Sandusky
University of New Hampshire

David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes against Children Research Center and professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, is available to provide expert commentary during the child sexual abuse trial of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Released: 30-May-2012 8:15 AM EDT
Reported Child Abuse Claims Often Difficult to Prove
University of New Hampshire

Only a quarter of all reported cases of child abuse are found to have sufficient evidence to take action, with higher-income children in rural areas more likely than their urban counterparts to have a report of child abuse substantiated, according to new research from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.

Released: 29-May-2012 12:00 PM EDT
Three Percent of US Executions Since 1900 Were Botched
Amherst College

Of approximately 9,000 executions that took place from 1900 to 2011, 270 of them involved some problem, according to a study by Amherst College professor Austin Sarat, who created a database of all the “departures from the protocol of killing someone sentenced to death” in the past 111 years.

Released: 21-May-2012 4:10 PM EDT
One Month in Jail: The Sentence in the Ravi Case
University of Maryland, Baltimore

Prof. Danielle Citron, an international authority on privacy and cyber-harassment, issued a statement on the sentencing of Dharun Ravi in the Rutgers spycam case.

Released: 15-May-2012 12:50 PM EDT
Atrocities Prevention Board Could Significantly Change U.S. Foreign Policy
Washington University in St. Louis

President Barack Obama recently announced the establishment of an Atrocities Prevention Board as part of his comprehensive strategy to prevent genocide and mass atrocities. “For the first time, the National Intelligence Council will prepare an estimate on the global risk of mass atrocities and genocide,” says Leila Nadya Sadat, JD, international law expert and director of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. “By sensitizing the diplomatic and intelligence communities to atrocities risk and systematizing responses to potential crises, the policies of the Atrocities Prevention Board could significantly change in U.S. foreign policy,” she says.

Released: 14-May-2012 11:05 AM EDT
Chicago Police Cameras More Effective When Clustered
University of Illinois Chicago

Chicago's network of police cameras is more effective at reducing crime in high-crime areas than in low-crime areas, according to a new study.

Released: 8-May-2012 2:25 PM EDT
Researchers Explore Alternatives to Reducing Crime at High-Crime Locations
University of Cincinnati

At the heart of the proposal is reducing crime and costs to taxpayers.

Released: 3-May-2012 3:20 PM EDT
‘The Wire’ Course Trend Began with UWM Scholar
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Baltimore and Milwaukee are two cities UWM Professor Marc Levine has lived in and researched. So it’s no surprise that Levine’s course based on the HBO series “The Wire” began the university trend of using it to teach urban studies. This semester, the fourth year of Levine’s course, former cast member Sonja Sohn, who played police detective Kima Greggs, made an appearance.



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