Educate or Incarcerate: Girls in the Florida and Duval County Juvenile Justice Systems

The goal of this study was to develop a research-based legislative and service blueprint that will interrupt the escalating trend of girls' offending by elinimating the critical underlying risk factors

No Place to Hide: Understanding and Meeting the Needs of Girls in the California Juvenile Justice System

National data reveals that the number of juvinile arrests and delinquency cases have increased more rapidly for girls than for their male counterparts in recent years. On the surface, these broad national data seem to indicate dramatic increases in the proportion and seriousness of delinquent acts committed by girls. However, the reality behind the statistics is now hotly disputed by academics and policy makers

'Prove me the bam!': victimization and agency in the lives of young women who commit violent offences

This article reviews the evidence regarding young women’s involvement in violent crime and, drawing on recent research carried out in HMPYOI Cornton Vale in Scotland, provides an overview of the characteristics, needs and deeds of young women sentenced to imprisonment for violent offending. Through the use of direct quotations, the article suggests that young women’s anger and aggression is often related to their experiences of family violence and abuse, and the acquisition of a negative worldview in which other people are considered as being 'out to get you' or ready to 'put one over on you'. The young women survived in these circumstances, not by adopting discourses that cast them as exploited victims, but by drawing on (sub)cultural norms and values which promote pre-emptive violence and the defence of respect. The implications of these findings for those who work with such young women are also discussed

Molecular Interactions of Prodiginines with the BH3 Domain of Anti-Apoptotic Bcl-2 Family Members

Prodigiosin and obatoclax, members of the prodiginines family, are small molecules with anti-cancer properties that are currently under preclinical and clinical trials. The molecular target(s) of these agents, however, is an open question. Combining experimental and computational techniques we find that prodigiosin binds to the BH3 domain in some BCL-2 protein families, which play an important role in the apoptotic programmed cell death. In particular, our results indicate a large affinity of prodigiosin for MCL-1, an anti-apoptotic member of the BCL-2 family. In melanoma cells, we demonstrate that prodigiosin activates the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway by disrupting MCL-1/BAK complexes. Computer simulations with the PELE software allow the description of the induced fit process, obtaining a detailed atomic view of the molecular interactions. These results provide new data to understand the mechanism of action of these molecules, and assist in the development of more specific inhibitors of anti-apoptotic BCL-2 proteins.Spanish government and the European Union (FIS-PI10/00338) and from the ERC-2009-Adg 25027-PELE European project

The relationship of punishment- and victim-based moral orientation to prosocial, externalizing, and norm trespassing behaviour in delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents:a validation study of the Moral Orientation Measure

This study examined the reliability and validity of the Moral Orientation Measure (MOM), which was administered to 75 juvenile delinquents and 579 non-delinquent adolescents from lower socio-economic and educational backgrounds. Confirmatory factor analysis of a two-factor model, with punishment- and victim-based moral orientation as factors, showed an adequate fit to the data, indicating construct validity of the MOM. Moderate associations between moral orientation and sociomoral reasoning, as well as empathy, were also considered indicative of construct validity. Additional evidence for construct validity was found in only small associations between moral orientation and social desirability and verbal intelligence. Stronger victim-based orientation proved to be associated with less norm trespassing behaviour in non-delinquent adolescents and more prosocial behaviour in juvenile delinquents, which was considered indicative of concurrent validity. The results of this study strengthen the case for the MOM as a reliable and valid instrument to assess moral development in adolescents at risk of behavioural maladjustment, showing that moral orientation is differently associated with morally relevant behaviour in delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents

Bioinformatic approaches to the discovery of apoptotic proteins

The core of this research project revolves around the development of knowledge and expertise in the field of sequence homology identification techniques, as applied towards the discovery of Bcl2 family members. The use of such methods resulted in the uncovering of a Bcl2 Homology 3 (BH3) domain in a ubiquitin ligase enzyme known as upstream regulatory binding protein 1 (UreB1). A complete biochemical analysis unequivocally demonstrated binding of the UreB1 BH3 domain to MCL-1, an antiapoptotic member of the Bcl2 protein family. Furthermore, the discovery of a BH3 domain in UreB1 may provide a link in the established involvement of the ubiquitin pathway in the degradation of Mcl1 following certain apoptotic stimuli. In addition, using an independent domain modelling strategy, we describe the development of BISA, a web-accessible software package for sequence homology detection