On Statutory Rape, Strict Liability, and the Public Welfare Offense Model

Statutory Rape. At the center of a long-standing debate on whether its commission should require proof of a criminal mens rea, the prosecution of statutory rape offers a revealing look at the struggle to demarcate the parameters of the public welfare offense doctrine. Specifically, with respect to statutory rape, disagreement is deep and entrenched on whether statutory rape should be categorized as a public welfare offense, which would render irrelevant defendant\u27s lack of knowledge of the victim\u27s age. And despite wholesale revamping of state statutory rape laws on issues of age, gender, and potential grading and punishment, the debate on whether to require a criminal mens rea or embrace strict liability continues. So, how has it come to pass that this particular crime has engendered such serious division of thought regarding the requirement of a mens rea? This Article argues that, fueled in part by a misplaced reliance on dicta from the landmark decision of Morissette v. United States, most states have concluded that statutory rape is a strict liability offense. But as this Article shows, the landscape has changed dramatically since Morissette was written in 1952. Like the child\u27s puzzle book that asks the question, Which item doesn\u27t belong? this Article argues that the public welfare offense model\u27s application to statutory rape is, by current standards, strained and outmoded. Statutory rape as a strict liability crime only works because blameworthiness - a cornerstone of punishment - has been replaced by a different sensibility: the strict assumption of the risk that the actor bears when engaging in sexual activity. This paradigmatic shift from blameworthiness to assumption of the risk remains a vital rationale in statutory rape only if the actor can be expected to appreciate that engaging in a broad range of sexual activities may be proscribed by statute. As this Article demonstrates, because of Lawrence v. Texas and its progeny, it may no longer be accurate to say that engaging in sexual activity is the criminally risky business envisioned by the Morissette Court in 1952 when statutory rape was just one of many statutes criminalizing sexual activity. And without notice that engaging in adult sexual behavior may be subject to widespread regulation, this Article concludes that it is time for the United States Supreme Court to redefine the parameters of the public welfare offense doctrine as it applies to statutory rape and allow defendants to mount a reasonable mistake-of-age defense

On Statutory Rape, Strict Liability, and the Public Welfare Offense Model

Statutory Rape. At the center of a long-standing debate on whether its commission should require proof of a criminal mens rea, the prosecution of statutory rape offers a revealing look at the struggle to demarcate the parameters of the public welfare offense doctrine. Specifically, with respect to statutory rape, disagreement is deep and entrenched on whether statutory rape should be categorized as a public welfare offense, which would render irrelevant defendant\u27s lack of knowledge of the victim\u27s age. And despite wholesale revamping of state statutory rape laws on issues of age, gender, and potential grading and punishment, the debate on whether to require a criminal mens rea or embrace strict liability continues. So, how has it come to pass that this particular crime has engendered such serious division of thought regarding the requirement of a mens rea? This Article argues that, fueled in part by a misplaced reliance on dicta from the landmark decision of Morissette v. United States, most states have concluded that statutory rape is a strict liability offense. But as this Article shows, the landscape has changed dramatically since Morissette was written in 1952. Like the child\u27s puzzle book that asks the question, Which item doesn\u27t belong? this Article argues that the public welfare offense model\u27s application to statutory rape is, by current standards, strained and outmoded. Statutory rape as a strict liability crime only works because blameworthiness - a cornerstone of punishment - has been replaced by a different sensibility: the strict assumption of the risk that the actor bears when engaging in sexual activity. This paradigmatic shift from blameworthiness to assumption of the risk remains a vital rationale in statutory rape only if the actor can be expected to appreciate that engaging in a broad range of sexual activities may be proscribed by statute. As this Article demonstrates, because of Lawrence v. Texas and its progeny, it may no longer be accurate to say that engaging in sexual activity is the criminally risky business envisioned by the Morissette Court in 1952 when statutory rape was just one of many statutes criminalizing sexual activity. And without notice that engaging in adult sexual behavior may be subject to widespread regulation, this Article concludes that it is time for the United States Supreme Court to redefine the parameters of the public welfare offense doctrine as it applies to statutory rape and allow defendants to mount a reasonable mistake-of-age defense

The Spectroscopically Determined Substellar Mass Function of the Orion Nebula Cluster

We present a spectroscopic study of candidate brown dwarf members of the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC). We obtained new J- and/or K-band spectra of ~100 objects within the ONC which are expected to be substellar based on their K,(H-K) magnitudes and colors. Spectral classification in the near-infrared of young low mass objects is described, including the effects of surface gravity, veiling due to circumstellar material, and reddening. From our derived spectral types and existing near-infrared photometry we construct an HR diagram for the cluster. Masses are inferred for each object and used to derive the brown dwarf fraction and assess the mass function for the inner 5.'1 x 5.'1 of the ONC, down to ~0.02 solar masses. The derived logarithmic mass function rises to a peak at ~0.2 solar masses, similar to previous IMF determinations derived from purely photometric methods, but falls off more sharply at the hydrogen-burning limit before leveling through the substellar regime. We compare the mass function derived here for the inner ONC to those presented in recent literature for the sparsely populated Taurus cloud members and the rich cluster IC 348. We find good agreement between the shapes and peak values of the ONC and IC 348 mass distributions, but little similarity between the ONC and Taurus results.Comment: Accepted for Publication in Apj. Added Erratu

A Large-Area Search for Low-Mass Objects in Upper Scorpius II: Age and Mass Distributions

We present continued results from a wide-field, ~150 deg^2, optical photometric and spectroscopic survey of the northern part of the ~5 Myr-old Upper Scorpius OB Association. Photometry and spectral types were used to derive effective temperatures and luminosities and place newly identified association members onto a theoretical Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. From our survey, we have discovered 145 new low mass members of the association, and determined ~10% of these objects to be actively accreting material from a surrounding circumstellar disk. Based on comparison of the spatial distributions of low and high mass association members, we find no evidence for spatial segregation by mass within the northern portion of the association. Measured data are combined with pre-main sequence evolutionary models to derive a mass and age for each star. Using Monte Carlo simulations we show that, taking into account known observational uncertainties, the observed age dispersion for the low mass population in USco is consistent with all stars forming in a single burst ~5 Myr ago, and place an upper limit of +/-3 Myr on the age spread if the star formation rate has been constant in time. We derive the first spectroscopic mass function for USco that extends into the substellar regime, and compare these results to those for three other young clusters and associations.Comment: 22 pages plus 3 tables. Acccepted for publication in Ap

Arginine and antioxidant supplement on performance in elderly male cyclists: a randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human exercise capacity declines with advancing age. These changes often result in loss of physical fitness and more rapid senescence. Nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated in improvement of exercise capacity through vascular smooth muscle relaxation in both coronary and skeletal muscle arteries, as well as via independent mechanisms. Antioxidants may prevent nitric oxide inactivation by oxygen free radicals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an L-arginine and antioxidant supplement on exercise performance in elderly male cyclists.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a two-arm prospectively randomized double-blinded and placebo-controlled trial. Sixteen male cyclists were randomized to receive either a proprietary supplement (Niteworks^®, Herbalife International Inc., Century City, CA) or a placebo powder. Exercise parameters were assessed by maximal incremental exercise testing performed on a stationary cycle ergometer using breath-by-breath analysis at baseline, week one and week three.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was no difference between baseline exercise parameters. In the supplemented group, anaerobic threshold increased by 16.7% (2.38 ± 0.18 L/min, p < 0.01) at week 1, and the effect was sustained by week 3 with a 14.2% (2.33 ± 0.44 L/min, p < 0.01). In the control group, there was no change in anaerobic threshold at weeks 1 and 3 compared to baseline (1.88 ± 0.20 L/min at week 1, and 1.86 ± 0.21 L/min at week 3). The anaerobic threshold for the supplement groups was significantly higher than that of placebo group at week 1 and week 3. There were no significant changes noted in VO₂max between control and intervention groups at either week 1 or week 3 by comparison to baseline.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>An arginine and antioxidant-containing supplement increased the anaerobic threshold at both week one and week three in elderly cyclists. No effect on VO₂max was observed. This study indicated a potential role of L-arginine and antioxidant supplementation in improving exercise performance in elderly.</p

Mixed Spices at Culinary Doses Have Prebiotic Effects in Healthy Adults: A Pilot Study.

Spices were used as food preservatives prior to the advent of refrigeration, suggesting the possibility of effects on microbiota. Previous studies have shown prebiotic activities in animals and in vitro, but there has not been a demonstration of prebiotic or postbiotic effects at culinary doses in humans. In this randomized placebo-controlled study, we determined in twenty-nine healthy adults the effects on the gut microbiota of the consumption daily of capsules containing 5 g of mixed spices at culinary doses by comparison to a matched control group consuming a maltodextrin placebo capsule. The 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing data were used for microbial characterization. Spice consumption resulted in a significant reduction in Firmicutes abundance (p &lt; 0.033) and a trend of enrichment in Bacteroidetes (p &lt; 0.097) compared to placebo group. Twenty-six operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were different between the spice and placebo groups after intervention. Furthermore, there was a significant negative correlation between fecal short-chain fatty acid propionate concentration and Firmicutes abundance in spice intervention group (p &lt; 0.04). The production of individual fecal short-chain fatty acid was not significantly changed by spice consumption in this study. Mixed spices consumption significantly modified gut microbiota, suggesting a prebiotic effect of spice consumption at culinary doses

A Large-Area Search for Low Mass Objects in Upper Scorpius I: The Photometric Campaign and New Brown Dwarfs

We present a wide-field photometric survey covering ~200 deg^2 toward the Upper Scorpius OB association. Data taken in the R and I bands with the Quest-2 camera on the Palomar 48-inch telescope were combined with the 2MASS JHK survey and used to select candidate pre-main sequence stars. Follow-up spectroscopy with the Palomar 200-inch telescope of 62 candidate late-type members identified 43 stars that have surface gravity signatures consistent with association membership. From the optical/near-infrared photometry and derived spectral types we construct an HR diagram for the new members and find 30 likely new brown dwarfs, nearly doubling the known substellar population of the Upper Scorpius OB association. Continuation of our spectroscopic campaign should reveal hundreds on new stellar and substellar members.Comment: 36 pages including 14 figures and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in A

The Greater Taurus–Auriga Ecosystem. I. There is a Distributed Older Population

The census of Taurus–Auriga has been assembled over seven decades and inherited the biases and incompleteness of the input studies. The unusual shape of its inferred initial mass function (IMF) and the existence of isolated disk-bearing stars suggest that additional (likely disk-free) members remain to be discovered. We therefore have begun a global reassessment of the census of Taurus–Auriga that exploits new data and better definitions of youth and kinematic membership. As a first step, we reconsider the membership of all disk-free candidate members from the literature with spectral type ≥F0, 3^h50^m < α < 5^h40^m, and 14° < δ < 34°. We combine data from the literature with Keck/HIRES and UH88/SNIFS spectra to test the membership of these candidates using the positions in the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram, proper motions, radial velocities, Hα, lithium, and surface gravity. We find 218 confirmed or likely Taurus members, 160 confirmed or likely interlopers, and only 18 that lack sufficient evidence to draw firm conclusions. A significant fraction of these stars (81/218 = 37%) are not included in the most recent canonical member lists. There are few additional members to the immediate vicinity of the molecular clouds, preserving the IMFs that have been deemed anomalous in past work. Many of the likely Taurus members are instead distributed broadly across the search area. When combined with the known disk hosts, our updated census reveals two regimes: a high-density population with a high disk fraction (indicative of youth) that broadly traces the molecular clouds, and a low-density population with low disk fraction (hence likely older) that most likely represents previous generations of star formation

A Correlation Between Circumstellar Disks and Rotation in the Upper Scorpius OB Association

We present projected rotational velocities for 20 early-type (B8-A9) and 74 late-type (F2-M8) members of the ~5 Myr old Upper Scorpius OB Association derived from high dispersion optical spectra obtained with the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) on Keck I and the Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle (MIKE) on the Magellan Clay telescope. The spectroscopic sample is composed of stars and brown dwarfs with infrared signatures of circumstellar disks, both primordial and debris, and non-excess sources of comparable spectral type. We merge projected rotational velocities, accretion diagnostics, and Spitzer Space Telescope Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) and Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) 24 micron photometry to examine the relationship between rotation and circumstellar disks. The rotational velocities are strongly correlated with spectral type, a proxy for mass, such that the median vsini for B8-A9 type stars is: 195(+/-)70 km/s, F2-K4: 37.8(+/-)7.4 km/s, K5-K9: 13.8(+21.3/-8.2) km/s, M0-M5: 16.52(+/-)5.3 km/s, and M5.5-M8: 17.72(+/-)8.1 km/s. We find with a probability of >0.99 that M-type stars and brown dwarfs having infrared excess suggestive of circumstellar disks rotate more slowly than their non-excess counterparts. A similar correlation is present among F2-K9 type stars, but only at the ~97% confidence level. Among the early-type (B8-A9) members, rotational velocities of the debris-disk and non-disk populations are indistinguishable. Considering the late-type (F2-M8) stars and brown dwarfs, we find a low fraction of slowly rotating, non-excess sources relative to younger star forming regions, suggesting that most have spun up following disk dissipation. The few late-type (F2-M5) debris disk sources, which may be representative of stars that have recently dispersed their inner disks, are evenly divided between slow and moderate rotators.Comment: 41 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa