DNA Phenotyping: Snapshot of a Criminal.

Recent progresses in genomic technologies provide both opportunities and challenges to forensics.

COVID-19 amplified racial disparities in the US criminal legal system.

The criminal legal system in the USA drives an incarceration rate that is the highest on the planet, with disparities by class and race among its signature features1-3. During the first year of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the number of incarcerated people in the USA decreased by at least 17%-the largest, fastest reduction in prison population in American history4. Here we ask how this reduction influenced the racial composition of US prisons and consider possible mechanisms for these dynamics. Using an original dataset curated from public sources on prison demographics across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, we show that incarcerated white people benefited disproportionately from the decrease in the US prison population and that the fraction of incarcerated Black and Latino people sharply increased. This pattern of increased racial disparity exists across prison systems in nearly every state and reverses a decade-long trend before 2020 and the onset of COVID-19, when the proportion of incarcerated white people was increasing amid declining numbers of incarcerated Black people5. Although a variety of factors underlie these trends, we find that racial inequities in average sentence length are a major contributor. Ultimately, this study reveals how disruptions caused by COVID-19 exacerbated racial inequalities in the criminal legal system, and highlights key forces that sustain mass incarceration. To advance opportunities for data-driven social science, we publicly released the data associated with this study at Zenodo6.

Interpretable algorithmic forensics.

One of the most troubling trends in criminal investigations is the growing use of "black box" technology, in which law enforcement rely on artificial intelligence (AI) models or algorithms that are either too complex for people to understand or they simply conceal how it functions. In criminal cases, black box systems have proliferated in forensic areas such as DNA mixture interpretation, facial recognition, and recidivism risk assessments. The champions and critics of AI argue, mistakenly, that we face a catch 22: While black box AI is not understandable by people, they assume that it produces more accurate forensic evidence. In this Article, we question this assertion, which has so powerfully affected judges, policymakers, and academics. We describe a mature body of computer science research showing how "glass box" AI-designed to be interpretable-can be more accurate than black box alternatives. Indeed, black box AI performs predictably worse in settings like the criminal system. Debunking the black box performance myth has implications for forensic evidence, constitutional criminal procedure rights, and legislative policy. Absent some compelling-or even credible-government interest in keeping AI as a black box, and given the constitutional rights and public safety interests at stake, we argue that a substantial burden rests on the government to justify black box AI in criminal cases. We conclude by calling for judicial rulings and legislation to safeguard a right to interpretable forensic AI.

Advancing interdisciplinary science for disrupting wildlife trafficking networks.

Wildlife trafficking, whether local or transnational in scope, undermines sustainable development efforts, degrades cultural resources, endangers species, erodes the local and global economy, and facilitates the spread of zoonotic diseases. Wildlife trafficking networks (WTNs) occupy a unique gray space in supply chains-straddling licit and illicit networks, supporting legitimate and criminal workforces, and often demonstrating high resilience in their sourcing flexibility and adaptability. Authorities in different sectors desire, but frequently lack knowledge about how to allocate resources to disrupt illicit wildlife supply networks and prevent negative collateral impacts. Novel conceptualizations and a deeper scientific understanding of WTN structures are needed to help unravel the dynamics of interaction between disruption and resilience while accommodating socioenvironmental context. We use the case of ploughshare tortoise trafficking to help illustrate the potential of key advancements in interdisciplinary thinking. Insights herein suggest a significant need and opportunity for scientists to generate new science-based recommendations for WTN-related data collection and analysis for supply chain visibility, shifts in illicit supply chain dominance, network resilience, or limits of the supplier base.

Preferences predict who commits crime among young men.

Understanding who commits crime and why is a key topic in social science and important for the design of crime prevention policy. In theory, people who commit crime face different social and economic incentives for criminal activity than other people, or they evaluate the costs and benefits of crime differently because they have different preferences. Empirical evidence on the role of preferences is scarce. Theoretically, risk-tolerant, impatient, and self-interested people are more prone to commit crime than risk-averse, patient, and altruistic people. We test these predictions with a unique combination of data where we use incentivized experiments to elicit the preferences of young men and link these experimental data to their criminal records. In addition, our data allow us to control extensively for other characteristics such as cognitive skills, socioeconomic background, and self-control problems. We find that preferences are strongly associated with actual criminal behavior. Impatience and, in particular, risk tolerance are still strong predictors when we include the full battery of controls. Crime propensities are 8 to 10 percentage points higher for the most risk-tolerant individuals compared to the most risk averse. This effect is half the size of the effect of cognitive skills, which is known to be a very strong predictor of criminal behavior. Looking into different types of crime, we find that preferences significantly predict property offenses, while self-control problems significantly predict violent, drug, and sexual offenses.

The Associations Between Medical and Mental Health Conditions and Health Care Utilization in US Adults with Past-Year Criminal Legal Involvement.

BACKGROUND: Every year, millions of US adults return home from prison or jail, and they visit the emergency department and experience hospitalizations at higher rates than the general population. Little is known about the primary conditions that drive this acute care use. OBJECTIVE: To determine the individual and combined associations between medical and mental health conditions and acute health care utilization among individuals with recent criminal legal involvement in a nationally representative sample of US adults. DESIGN: We examined the association between having medical or mental, or both, conditions (compared to none), and acute care utilization using negative binomial regression models adjusted for relevant socio-demographic covariates. PARTICIPANTS: Adult respondents to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (2015-2019) who reported past year criminal legal involvement. MAIN MEASURES: Self-reported visits to the emergency department and nights spent hospitalized. RESULTS: Among 9039 respondents, 12.4% had a medical condition only, 34.6% had a mental health condition only, and 19.2% had both mental and medical conditions. In adjusted models, incident rate ratio (IRR) for ED use for medical conditions only was 1.32 (95% CI 1.05, 1.66); for mental conditions only, the IRR was 1.36 (95% CI 1.18, 1.57); for both conditions, the IRR was 2.13 (95% CI 1.81, 2.51). For inpatient use, IRR for medical only: 1.73 (95% CI 1.08, 2.76); for mental only, IRR: 2.47 (95% CI 1.68, 3.65); for both, IRR: 4.26 (95% CI 2.91, 6.25). CONCLUSION: Medical and mental health needs appear to contribute equally to increased acute care utilization among those with recent criminal legal involvement. This underscores the need to identify and test interventions which comprehensively address both medical and mental health conditions for individuals returning to the community to improve both health care access and quality.

State Medicaid Initiatives Targeting Substance Use Disorder in Criminal Legal Settings, 2021.

Objectives. To document state Medicaid pre- and postrelease initiatives for individuals in the criminal legal system with substance use disorder (SUD). Methods. An Internet-based survey was sent in 2021 to Medicaid directors in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia to determine whether they were pursuing initiatives for persons with SUD across 3 criminal legal settings: jails, prisons, and community corrections. A 90% response rate was obtained. Results. In 2021, the majority of states did not report any targeted Medicaid initiatives for persons with SUD residing in criminal legal settings. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia adopted at least 1 Medicaid initiative for persons with SUD across the 3 criminal legal settings. The most commonly adopted initiatives were in the areas of medication for opioid use disorder treatment and Medicaid enrollment. Out of 24 possible initiatives for each state (8 initiatives across 3 criminal legal settings), the 2 most commonly adopted were (1) provision of medication treatment of opioid use disorder before release from criminal legal settings (16 states) and (2) facilitation of Medicaid enrollment through suspension rather than termination of Medicaid enrollment upon entry to a criminal legal setting (14 states). Initiatives pertaining to Medicaid SUD care coordination were adopted by the fewest (9) states. Conclusions. In 2021, states' involvement in Medicaid SUD initiatives for criminal legal populations remained low. Increased adoption of Medicaid SUD initiatives across criminal legal settings is needed, especially knowing the high rate of overdose mortality among this group. (Am J Public Health. 2024;114(5):527-530. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307604).

An analysis of published study designs in PubMed prisoner health abstracts from 1963 to 2023: a text mining study.

BACKGROUND: The challenging nature of studies with incarcerated populations and other offender groups can impede the conduct of research, particularly that involving complex study designs such as randomised control trials and clinical interventions. Providing an overview of study designs employed in this area can offer insights into this issue and how research quality may impact on health and justice outcomes. METHODS: We used a rule-based approach to extract study designs from a sample of 34,481 PubMed abstracts related to epidemiological criminology published between 1963 and 2023. The results were compared against an accepted hierarchy of scientific evidence. RESULTS: We evaluated our method in a random sample of 100 PubMed abstracts. An F1-Score of 92.2% was returned. Of 34,481 study abstracts, almost 40.0% (13,671) had an extracted study design. The most common study design was observational (37.3%; 5101) while experimental research in the form of trials (randomised, non-randomised) was present in 16.9% (2319). Mapped against the current hierarchy of scientific evidence, 13.7% (1874) of extracted study designs could not be categorised. Among the remaining studies, most were observational (17.2%; 2343) followed by systematic reviews (10.5%; 1432) with randomised controlled trials accounting for 8.7% (1196) of studies and meta-analysis for 1.4% (190) of studies. CONCLUSIONS: It is possible to extract epidemiological study designs from a large-scale PubMed sample computationally. However, the number of trials, systematic reviews, and meta-analysis is relatively small - just 1 in 5 articles. Despite an increase over time in the total number of articles, study design details in the abstracts were missing. Epidemiological criminology still lacks the experimental evidence needed to address the health needs of the marginalized and isolated population that is prisoners and offenders.

Interruptions in HIV and Behavioral Health Care for Criminal-Legal Involved People Living with HIV Following Implementation of Decarceration and Shelter in Place in San Francisco, California.

Decarceration policies, enacted for SARS-CoV-2 mitigation in carceral settings, potentially exacerbated barriers to care for people living with HIV (PWH) with criminal legal involvement (CLI) during Shelter-in-Place (SIP) by limiting opportunities for engagement in provisions of HIV and behavioral health care. We compared health care engagement for PWH with CLI in San Francisco, California before and after decarceration and SIP using interrupted time series analyses. Administrative data identified PWH booked at the San Francisco County Jail with at least one clinic encounter from 01/01/2018-03/31/2020 within the municipal health care network. Monthly proportions of HIV, substance use, psychiatric and acute care encounters before (05/01/2019-02/29/2020) and after (03/01/2020-12/31/2020) SIP and decarceration were compared using Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) log-binomial and logistic regression models, clustering on the patient-level. Of 436 patients, mean age was 43 years (standard-deviation 11); 88% cisgender-male; 39% white, 66% homeless; 67% had trimorbidity by Elixhauser score (medical comorbidity, psychotic disorder or depression, and substance use disorder). Clinical encounters immediately dropped following SIP for HIV (aOR = 0.77; 95% CI: 0.67, 0.90) and substance use visits (aRR = 0.83; 95% CI: 0.70, 0.99) and declined in subsequent months. Differential reductions in clinical encounters were seen among Black/African Americans (aRR = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.88, 0.99) and people experiencing homelessness (aRR = 0.92; 95% CI: 0.87, 0.98). Significant reductions in care were observed for PWH with CLI during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among Black/African Americans and people experiencing homelessness. Strategies to End the HIV Epidemic must improve engagement across diverse care settings to improve outcomes for this key population.

Psychometric Properties of the FTCD and Brief WISDM: Support for Validity in a Legal-System-Involved Sample.

INTRODUCTION: The Fagerström test for cigarette dependence (FTCD) and Brief Wisconsin index of smoking dependence motives (WISDM) are widely used measures of smoking dependence. The FTCD was previously found to have 1-factor and 2-factor structures and Brief WISDM has been found to have an 11-factor and 11-factor hierarchical structure. As such, the current study sought to further investigate the psychometric properties of the FTCD and Brief WISDM with a novel criminal-legal system-involved sample using both a factor-analytic and an item response theory (IRT) approach. AIMS AND METHODS: Data from 517 criminal-legal system-involved adults (ie, 18 years of age or older) who smoke from Alabama, USA were analyzed. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted on 1-factor and 2-factor structures of the FTCD and 1-factor, 11-factor, and 11-factor hierarchical structures of the Brief WISDM. IRT analyses investigating item discrimination and threshold parameters were also conducted on the brief WISDM. RESULTS: The CFA showed poor fit for a single-factor structure and mixed results for two 2-factor results for the FTCD. CFA also showed poor fit for a single-factor and mixed results for the 11-factor model. Initial IRT investigations using the 11-factor model showed strong item discrimination, but non-ordered threshold parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Two-factor structures for the FTCD and the 11-factor model for the Brief WISDM were partially supported in a criminal-legal population, suggesting continued support for the multidimensional structure of the measures. Additionally, exploratory IRT analyses suggested good discrimination across the use spectrum for the Brief WISDM. IMPLICATIONS: The Fagerström Test of Cigarette Dependence (FTCD) and Brief Wisconsin index of smoking dependence motives (WISDM) are two widely used measures of nicotine dependence, though previous research has shown mixed results for their internal consistency and factor structure. The current study used a unique sample of criminal-legal-involved participants who generally have moderate to high levels of nicotine dependence. The current study found that the FTCD displayed poor internal consistency, a poor fit for a single-factor model, but mixed support for two two-factor models. The Brief-WISDM was found to have strong internal consistency, a poor fit for a single-factor model, but mixed fit for an 11-factor model and good item discrimination.

Cross-Cultural Validity of Sexual Recidivism Risk Assessments Using Static-99R, STABLE-2007, and the VRS-SO.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The overrepresentation of certain racial/ethnic groups in criminal legal systems raises concerns about the cross-cultural application of risk assessment tools. We provide a framework for conceptualizing and measuring racial bias/fairness and review research for three tools assessing risk of sexual recidivism: Static-99R, STABLE-2007, and VRS-SO. RECENT FINDINGS: Most cross-cultural research examines Static-99R and generally supports its use with Black, White, Hispanic, and Asian men. Preliminary research also supports STABLE-2007 with Asian men. Findings are most concerning for Indigenous men, where Static-99R and STABLE-2007 significantly predict sexual recidivism, but with significantly and meaningfully lower accuracy compared to White men. For the VRS-SO and the combined Static-99R/STABLE-2007 risk levels, predictive accuracy was not significantly lower for Indigenous men, for which we discuss several possible explanations. We offer considerations for risk scale selection with Indigenous men and highlight recent guidance produced for cross-cultural risk assessment.

Dynamic Protective Factors Relevant to Sexual Offending.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Focusing on protective factors rather than risk factors potentially better aligns assessment with strengths-based treatment. We examine research into the assessment of protective factors to see whether it can play this role relative to sexual offending. RECENT FINDINGS: Structured asses sment of protective factors is well developed relative to violent offending but only recently studied relative to sexual offending. Nevertheless, multiple measures of protective factors have now been trialed with men who have committed sexual offenses and shown to predict reduced recidivism. Although research into individual scales is limited, overlapping content between scales suggests that protective factors aligning with constructs of Resilience, Adaptive Sexuality, and Prosocial Connection and Reward are all relevant to sexual offending. Protective factors relevant to sexual offending are sufficiently well identified that they can usefully be used for treatment need assessment, treatment planning during therapy, and case management. They can also make some contribution to risk assessment. The Structured Assessment of PROtective Factors against Sexual Offending (SAPROF-SO) is currently the most comprehensive measure of protective factors relevant to sexual offending.

Personal insult disrupts regulatory brain networks in violent offenders.

The failure to adequately regulate negative emotions represents a prominent characteristic of violent offenders. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we used technical, nonsocial frustration to elicit anger in violent offenders (n = 19) and then increased the provocation by adding personal insults (social provocation). The aim was to investigate neural connectivity patterns involved in anger processing, to detect the effect of increasing provocation by personal insult, and to compare anger-related connectivity patterns between offenders and noncriminal controls (n = 12). During technical frustration, the offenders showed increased neural connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex compared to the controls. Conversely, personal insults, and thus increased levels of provocation, resulted in a significant reduction of neural connectivity between regions involved in cognitive control in the offenders but not controls. We conclude that, when (nonsocially) frustrated, offenders were able to employ regulatory brain networks by displaying stronger connectivity between regulatory prefrontal and limbic regions than noncriminal controls. In addition, offenders seemed particularly sensitive to personal insults, which led to increased implicit aggression (by means of motoric responses) and reduced connectivity in networks involved in cognitive control (including dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, precuneus, middle/superior temporal regions).

Neuropsychological Functioning in Sexual Offenders With and Without Pedophilic Disorder.

This study sought to examine neuropsychological functioning in men with pedophilic disorder (PD), in order to assess whether findings from prior neuropsychological studies are replicated in a diverse sample including men with non-contact sexual offenses. It was hypothesized that when non-contact offenders are included in the study, a slowed processing speed will emerge as the only finding unique to men with PD. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered to 58 men convicted of a sexual offense, 20 of whom were classified as having PD. The sample included men with contact sexual offenses (n = 33), non-contact sexual offenses (n = 5), and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) offenses (n = 20). Test performance was compared by PD status. Participants with PD performed significantly better on verbal memory and visual discrimination than those without PD. Men with PD made more errors on a set-shifting task but no significant differences were seen in domains of attention, intellectual functioning, visual learning and memory, visuospatial ability, or language ability. Effect sizes were generally small, although some medium effects were seen (visual discrimination and verbal learning and memory). Scores in both groups (with and without PD) were generally in the average range across tasks. Within the subgroup of CSAM offenders, minimal differences emerged between those with and without PD, although those with PD were slower on visuomotor set-shifting but made fewer errors (d = - 0.89). CSAM offenders with PD were in the high average range on many tasks of intellectual functioning; however, a potential trend was identified such that CSAM offenders without PD had lower scores on a task of verbal learning and memory, with medium effect sizes observed. As few differences in neuropsychological functioning emerged when comparing offenders with and without PD, differences demonstrated in prior research may be better attributed to contact offending status rather than sexual interest.

Making a Bad Situation Worse: Current and Potential Unintended Consequences of Juvenile Registration for Sexual Offences.

Within the US, children and adolescents who engage in sexually abusive behavior are often subjected to sex offender registration and notification requirements, which contribute to stigmatization and forfeiture of their civil rights without empirical basis (Lancaster, 2011; Pickett et al., 2023; Zilney & Zilney, 2009). To date, 39 states subject children with adjudicated sexual offenses to sex offender registration requirements, with most recent estimates revealing that approximately 200,000 youth have been placed on sex offender registries within the US and many are now on the registry as adults (Pickett et al., 2020). This severe response-by both members of the public and policymakers-toward children who engage in inappropriate sexual behavior is imposed upon children and adolescents with adjudicated sexual offenses in an effort to meet goals of reducing sexual violence and increasing community safety. Within the current discourse, we review the history of registration and notification practices for adolescents with sexual offenses, describe what registration and notification policies entail, and then present empirical and theoretical evidence of the harmful outcomes associated with implementation of registration and notification requirements for sexual offenses. Thus, the predominant aim of this discourse is to encourage thoughtful and critical examination of registration and notification policies and their iatrogenic impacts.

"One a Day Keeps the Prison Away": Understanding the Experiences of Individuals Convicted of Sexual Offences Receiving Anti-Androgens for the Treatment of Problematic Sexual Arousal.

Problematic sexual arousal (PSA) is an umbrella term to describe a range of clinical presentations related to excessive sexual thinking (e.g., sexual preoccupation) and sexual behavior (e.g., hypersexuality). Although such concepts are known to affect sexual recidivism among individuals convicted of sexual offences, PSA is not routinely or directly targeted in offending behavior programs in England and Wales. However, in recent years, there have been moves to incorporate pharmacological interventions for addressing this among people with sexual offence histories. Although some work to understand the experiences of those taking SSRI medication for this purpose has emerged, little is known about the experiences of service users taking anti-androgen medication. In this study, we interviewed all individuals in prison taking anti-androgens for the treatment of problematic sexual arousal following convictions for sexual offences in England at the time of data collection (N = 10). Using a phenomenologically oriented thematic analysis, we established themes pertaining to "Differing needs: Motivations for treatment," "Medication as a risk management strategy," and how the medication helped the men in their pursuit of "Discovering a 'new me'." This work contributes important knowledge to inform the development of ethical and effective prescribing of anti-androgen medication with this population and offer recommendations for both future research and the development of clinical practice.

Randomized controlled internal pilot trial of a diversion programme for adolescents in police custody who possess illicit substances.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents involved in criminal proceedings are significantly more likely to re-offend than a similar population diverted away from criminal justice. Adolescents who use substances and offend are at higher risk of experiencing negative social, psychological and physical problems that often persist into adulthood. There is some evidence that brief interventions combined with appropriate psychoeducation may be effective in reducing adolescent substance use. METHODS: Prospective two-armed, individually randomized internal pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) with follow-up at 6 months. Young people across three police forces-Kent, Cornwall and Sefton-arrested in possession of class B or C illicit substances were randomly allocated to receive the ReFrame intervention or business as usual. In total, 102 participants were eligible of whom 76 consented and 73 were followed up at 6 months. Outcomes addressed offending behaviour, frequency of substance use, wellbeing and mental health. The study was conducted between February and December 2022. RESULTS: All progression criteria were met, 80% of those eligible consented, 96% adhered to their allocated treatment and 88% were followed up at the primary endpoint. CONCLUSIONS: The feasibility of conducting the pilot trial was a success and it will now proceed to a definitive RCT.

Contextualizing medications for opioid use disorder and peer support service provision in the probation system with implementation science.

BACKGROUND: Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) is an evidence-based approach that reduces opioid-related mortality, particularly among criminal legal-involved persons who are at increased risk of adverse outcomes related to OUD. Implementing evidence-based approaches in the context of probation settings requires an in-depth understanding of specific contexts to improve intervention efficacy and effectiveness. Here, we use the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment (EPIS) framework to understand implementation contexts for MOUD provision in the probation setting. METHODS: In-depth individual interviews were conducted with key programmatic stakeholders (treatment providers and probation staff involved in service provision for people on probation). The study examined stakeholder perspectives regarding MOUD and Peer Support Service (PSS) implementation among people who are involved in community supervision. Deductive and inductive thematic analysis was conducted, and subsequently the codes, subcodes, and themes were mapped onto the EPIS framework to better understand implementation contexts. RESULTS: We deduced key inner, outer, and bridging contexts that shape treatment service provision for individuals with OUD who are on probation. Inner contexts include a strong organizational climate that supports MOUD implementation and enthusiasm for peer support services. Outer contexts include difficulty navigating insurance among providers, treatment costs, and systemic stigma towards MOUD. Bridging contexts include a lack of collaboration/communication between relevant agencies (e.g., probation and courts). CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate the implementation is complex and requires a coordinated effort between correctional systems, probation agencies, and community-based treatment providers.