Mandatory Reporting of Domestic Violence: What Do Abuse Survivors Think and What Variables Influence Those Opinions?

For decades, states have passed legislation to mandate reporting of criminal conduct and the abuse of vulnerable persons. Four types of mandatory reporting laws have been enacted, including laws that require reports of injuries associated with crime or due to use of certain weapons, abuse of children, abuse of vulnerable adults, and reporting of domestic violence. While studies have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of mandatory reporting laws in domestic violence cases, methodological weaknesses in this body of literature make it difficult to make broad statements about whether mandatory reporting laws advance women's protection or actually place them at additional risk. This study's sample is based on 388 surveys administered in-person to women who had sought services from one of Kentucky's 15 regional domestic violence shelters. In addition to querying women regarding their own experience with mandatory reporting laws, the survey explored the factors that influenced women's views. The study advances research into women's decisions to access shelters, medical, or mental health services and how they are influenced by advance knowledge that their case would be reported if they disclosed abuse. A new and troubling finding was that almost two in five women reported they would have been less likely to contact a domestic violence shelter if they knew in advance that a mandatory report would be made. Future research on mandatory reporting is needed with an eye toward changing state policies and laws to ensure that women feel free to seek the type of assistance they need for themselves and their children.

Nonfatal Strangulation as Part of Domestic Violence: A Review of Research.

This article reviews recent scholarship around the issue of nonfatal strangulation in cases of domestic violence. In the mid-1990s, the San Diego City Attorney's Office began a systematic study of attempted strangulation among 300 domestic violence cases, becoming one of the first systematic research studies to specifically examine the prevalence of attempted strangulation as a form of injury associated with ongoing domestic violence. Prior to this time, most of the research into strangulation was conducted postmortem, and little was known about the injuries and signs of attempted strangulation among surviving victims. This article reviews the research that has since been conducted around strangulation in domestic violence cases, highlighting topics that are more or less developed in the areas of criminology, forensic science, law, and medicine, and makes recommendations for future research and practice.

Fingolimod attenuates splenocyte-induced demyelination in cerebellar slice cultures.

The family of sphingosine-1-phosphate receptors (S1PRs) is G-protein-coupled, comprised of subtypes S1PR1-S1PR5 and activated by the endogenous ligand S1P. The phosphorylated version of Fingolimod (pFTY720), an oral therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS), induces S1PR1 internalisation in T cells, subsequent insensitivity to S1P gradients and sequestering of these cells within lymphoid organs, thus limiting immune response. S1PRs are also expressed in neuronal and glial cells where pFTY720 is suggested to directly protect against lysolecithin-induced deficits in myelination state in organotypic cerebellar slices. Of note, the effect of pFTY720 on immune cells already migrated into the CNS, prior to treatment, has not been well established. We have previously found that organotypic slice cultures do contain immune cells, which, in principle, could also be regulated by pFTY720 to maintain levels of myelin. Here, a mouse organotypic cerebellar slice and splenocyte co-culture model was thus used to investigate the effects of pFTY720 on splenocyte-induced demyelination. Spleen cells isolated from myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein immunised mice (MOG-splenocytes) or from 2D2 transgenic mice (2D2-splenocytes) both induced demyelination when co-cultured with mouse organotypic cerebellar slices, to a similar extent as lysolecithin. As expected, in vivo treatment of MOG-immunised mice with FTY720 inhibited demyelination induced by MOG-splenocytes. Importantly, in vitro treatment of MOG- and 2D2-splenocytes with pFTY720 also attenuated demyelination caused by these cells. In addition, while in vitro treatment of 2D2-splenocytes with pFTY720 did not alter cell phenotype, pFTY720 inhibited the release of the pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interferon gamma (IFNγ) and interleukin 6 (IL6) from these cells. This work suggests that treatment of splenocytes by pFTY720 attenuates demyelination and reduces pro-inflammatory cytokine release, which likely contributes to enhanced myelination state induced by pFTY720 in organotypic cerebellar slices.

Pathway specific modulation of S1P1 receptor signalling in rat and human astrocytes.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor subtype 1 (S1P1R) is modulated by phosphorylated FTY720 (pFTY720), which causes S1P1R internalization preventing lymphocyte migration thus limiting autoimmune response. Studies indicate that internalized S1P1Rs continue to signal, maintaining an inhibition of cAMP, thus raising question whether the effects of pFTY720 are due to transient initial agonism, functional antagonism and/or continued signalling. To further investigate this, the current study first determined if continued S1P1R activation is pathway specific. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Using human and rat astrocyte cultures, the effects of S1P1R activation on cAMP, pERK and Ca(2+) signalling was investigated. In addition, to examine the role of S1P1R redistribution on these events, a novel biologic (MNP301) that prevented pFTY720-mediated S1P1R redistribution was engineered. KEY RESULTS: The data showed that pFTY720 induced long-lasting S1P1R redistribution and continued cAMP signalling in rat astrocytes. In contrast, pFTY720 induced a transient increase of Ca(2+) in astrocytes and subsequent antagonism of Ca(2+) signalling. Notably, while leaving pFTY720-induced cAMP signalling intact, the novel MNP301 peptide attenuated S1P1R-mediated Ca(2+) and pERK signalling in cultured rat astrocytes. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: These findings suggested that pFTY720 causes continued cAMP signalling that is not dependent on S1P1R redistribution and induces functional antagonism of Ca(2+) signalling after transient stimulation. To our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating that pFTY720 causes continued signalling in one pathway (cAMP) versus functional antagonism of another pathway (Ca(2+)) and which also suggests that redistributed S1P1Rs may have differing signalling properties from those expressed at the surface.

Criminal offending among respondents to protective orders: crime types and patterns that predict victim risk.

Research has shown that respondents to protective orders have robust criminal histories and that criminal offending behavior often follows issuance of a protective order. Nonetheless, the specific nature of the association between protective orders and criminal offending remains unclear. This study uses two classes of statistical models to more clearly delineate that relationship. The models reveal factors and characteristics that appear to be associated with offending and protective order issuance and provide indications about when a victim is most at risk and when the justice system should be most ready to provide immediate protection.

The denial of emergency protection: factors associated with court decision making.

Despite the importance of civil orders of protection as a legal resource for victims of intimate partner violence, research is limited in this area, and most studies focus on the process following a court's initial issuance of an emergency order. The purpose of this study is to address a major gap in the literature by examining cases where victims of intimate partner violence are denied access to temporary orders of protection. The study sample included a review of 2,205 petitions that had been denied by a Kentucky court during the 2003 fiscal year. The study offers important insights into the characteristics of petitioners and respondents to denied orders and outlines individual, contextual, structural, qualitative/perceptual, and procedural factors associated with the denial of temporary or emergency protective orders. Recommendations for statutory changes, judicial education, and future research to remedy barriers to protection are offered.

Fear of acquaintance versus stranger rape as a "master status": towards refinement of the "shadow of sexual assault".

Using a sample of 1010 women from a southeastern state university, we explore whether associations between fear of sexual assault and other crime-specific fears vary based on presumed victim-offender relationship. More specifically, we assess the extent to which fear of stranger- and acquaintance-perpetrated sexual assaults differ in the extent to which they are correlated with fear of other crime victimizations. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that both fear of stranger-perpetrated sexual assault and fear of acquaintance-perpetrated sexual assault were positively associated with nearly all other crime-specific fears under examination. However, associations were particularly strong between fear of sexual assault by a stranger and fear of other stranger-perpetrated crimes. Findings have significant implications for how academic institutions should comprehensively address direct and indirect negative influences of violence against college women.