Sexual Assault Case Processing: A Descriptive Model of Attrition and Decision Making

The outcomes of sexual assaults involving one suspect and one victim reported to the Anchorage Police Department (APD) in 2000 to 2003 were examined. Overall, 1,235 sexual assaults were reported to APD during this period, of which 1,074 involved one suspect and one victim. Data were collected on 1,052 of these cases to learn how the Alaska Department of Law disposed of these cases. Of the 1,052 cases examined, 188 (17.9%) were referred to the Department of Law, 127 were accepted for prosecution, and 111 resulted in a conviction. Clearly, the point of greatest attrition is from report to referral, with 85.2 percent of reported sexual assaults not being referred for prosecution. However, most offenders whose cases reach prosecutors are held accountable in some degree through the imposition of criminal sanctions.National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, United States Department of Justice. Grant No. 2004-WB-GX-0003.Acknowledgements / Executive Summary / Statement of Research / Data Collection / Overview of Case Progression / Results / Conclusions and Discussion / Appendice

Sexual Assault Case Processing: A Descriptive Model of Attrition and Decision Making

Originally published in the Alaska Justice Forum 23(1): 1, 4-8 (Spring 2006).This study examined the outcomes of sexual assault cases reported to the Anchorage Police Department between January 2000 and December 2003. The data include 1,052 cases involving one suspect and one victim (85% of all reported sexual assaults). Cases and charges were tracked through the Alaska Department of Law to determine what was referred, accepted, and convicted. * Overall, 18% of cases were referred for prosecution. The most common referred charge was a sexual assault in the first degree. Seventy-nine percent of referred charges were sexual assault charges. * Overall, 12% of cases were accepted for prosecution. The greatest point of attrition was from report to referral. Once referred, 68% of cases were accepted for prosecution. Sixty-eight percent of charges were accepted by the Department of Law as referred. The most common reasons for not accepting a charge as referred were evidentiary reasons. The most common accepted charge was also a sexual assault in the first degree. Seventy-five percent of accepted charges were sexual assault charges. * Overall, 11% of cases resulted in a conviction. Once accepted, 87% of cases resulted in a conviction. Although convictions were common in accepted cases, accepted charges were often dismissed. While 87% of accepted cases resulted in a conviction, 59% of accepted charges were dismissed. Ninety percent of guilty findings were a result of plea bargaining. With plea bargaining, some charges were dismissed but a conviction was still secured. Fifty-six percent of convicted charges were sexual assault charges. The most common convicted charge was for assault, followed by sexual assault in the second degree

Quantitative Analysis of Disparities in Juvenile Delinquency Referrals to the Fairbanks North Star Borough, FY2005-06

Minority youths in the Fairbanks North Star Borough are referred to the Alaska Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) for delinquent behavior at rates much higher than white youths.This report describes disproportionate minority contact with the Alaska juvenile justice system for youths referred to the Fairbanks office of the Division of Juvenile Justice during fiscal years 2005 and 2006 (July 1, 2004, to June 30, 2006). Possible sources of disproportionate minority contact are subsequently narrowed by examining the impact of race and ethnicity, gender, type of referral, and geography. By developing a detailed understanding of the scope of disproportionate minority contact, we become much better prepared to identify its causes and to develop evidence-based solutions.Alaska Division of Juvenile Justice. National Institute of Justice. Grant No. 2005-IJ-CX-0013. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Grant No. 2001-JF-FX-0005.Index of Tables and Figures / Acknowledgements / Executive Summary / Quantitative Analysis of Disparities in Referrals / Sample and Data / Analysis / Results / Summary and Conclusions / Appendix A - Technical Notes on Relative Rate Indices / Appendix B - Technical Notes on Fisher's Exact Test / Appendix C - Technical Notes on Relative EB Rate Indices / Appendix D - Map

Sexual Assault Study: Differences by Victim's Alcohol Use

Poster originally presented to the Anchorage Police Department and the 2004 Alaska Summit on Violence Against Women.This issue of Anchorage Community Indicators Series 2, "Sexual Assault Study," describes the spatial patterning and geographical concentration of 282 sexual assaults reported to the Anchorage Police Department in 2001 by victim's alcohol use.This research was supported by Grant No. 2000-RH-CX-K039 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and by a UAA Faculty Development Grant to the second author.Data Sexual assault densities by victim's alcohol use (maps) / Alcohol use (by suspect) / Victim injuries / Age (of victim; of suspect) / Race (of victim; of suspect) / Location (pick-up location; assault location) / Time to report / Relationshi

Teacher\u27s Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding Grade Retention as an Intervention

Despite the research demonstrating that grade retention is ineffective for improving students\u27 academic and social-emotional functioning, this practice continues to be used prevalently in schools. This correlational study investigated teachers\u27 knowledge and attitudes regarding grade retention. Additionally, this study attempted to understand teachers\u27 past retention practices based on attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control as specified by the Theory of Planned Behavior. Participants included 129 teachers. Results showed that teachers had limited knowledge of research and positive attitudes toward retention. Retention practices for the last three years were predicted by the Theory of Planned Behavior, but these variables accounted for minimal variance and did not predict retention practices for teachers\u27 entire careers. Teachers\u27 limited knowledge and positive retention attitudes were consistent with previous research and allude to the need to improve the communication of research findings to teachers in order to improve the gap between research and practice. The implications and limitations of the study and direction for future research are discussed

Physiotherapy students\u27 perceptions and experiences of clinical prediction rules

Objectives: Clinical reasoning can be difficult to teach to pre-professional physiotherapy students due to their lack of clinical experience. It may be that tools such as clinical prediction rules (CPRs) could aid the process, but there has been little investigation into their use in physiotherapy clinical education. This study aimed to determine the perceptions and experiences of physiotherapy students regarding CPRs, and whether they are learning about CPRs on clinical placement. Design: Cross-sectional survey using a paper-based questionnaire. Participants: Final year pre-professional physiotherapy students (n=371, response rate 77%) from five universities across five states of Australia. Results: Sixty percent of respondents had not heard of CPRs, and a further 19% had not clinically used CPRs. Only 21% reported using CPRs, and of these nearly three-quarters were rarely, if ever, learning about CPRs in the clinical setting. However most of those who used CPRs (78%) believed CPRs assisted in the development of clinical reasoning skills and none (0%) was opposed to the teaching of CPRs to students. The CPRs most commonly recognised and used by students were those for determining the need for an X-ray following injuries to the ankle and foot (67%), and for identifying deep venous thrombosis (63%). Conclusions: The large majority of students in this sample knew little, if anything, about CPRs and few had learned about, experienced or practiced them on clinical placement. However, students who were aware of CPRs found them helpful for their clinical reasoning and were in favour of learning more about them

Near-UV and optical spectroscopy of comets using the ISIS spectrograph on the <i>WHT</i>

We present an analysis of long-slit cometary spectroscopy using the dual-arm ISIS spectrograph on the 4.2 m WHT. Eleven comets were observed over two nights in 2016 March and we detected the OH (0-0) emission band at 3085 Å in the spectra of five of these comets. Emission bands of the species NH, CN, C3, C2, NH2 and [OI] were also detected. We used Haser modelling to determine molecular production rates and abundance ratios for the observed species. We found that our average abundances relative to OH and CN were generally consistent with those measured in previous studies

Ground-based monitoring of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko gas activity throughout the <i>Rosetta</i> mission

Simultaneously to the ESA Rosetta mission, a world-wide ground-based campaign provided measurements of the large scale activity of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko through measurement of optically active gas species and imaging of the overall dust coma. We present more than two years of observations performed with the FORS2 low resolution spectrograph at the VLT, TRAPPIST, and ACAM at the WHT. We focus on the evolution of the CN production, as a tracer of the comet activity. We find that it is asymmetric with respect to perihelion and different from that of the dust. The CN emission is detected for the first time at 1.34 au pre-perihelion and production rates then increase steeply to peak about two weeks after perihelion at (1.00±0.10) ×1025 molecules s−1, while the post-perihelion decrease is more shallow. The evolution of the comet activity is strongly influenced by seasonal effects, with enhanced CN production when the Southern hemisphere is illuminated

Gemini and Lowell observations of 67P/Churyumov−Gerasimenko during the <i>Rosetta</i> mission

We present observations of comet 67P/Churyumov−Gerasimenko acquired in support of the Rosetta mission. We obtained usable data on 68 nights from 2014 September until 2016 May, with data acquired regularly whenever the comet was observable. We collected an extensive set of near-IR J, H and Ks data throughout the apparition plus visible-light images in g', r', i' and z' when the comet was fainter. We also obtained broad-band R and narrow-band CN filter observations when the comet was brightest using telescopes at Lowell Observatory. The appearance was dominated by a central condensation and the tail until 2015 June. From 2015 August onwards, there were clear asymmetries in the coma, which enhancements revealed to be due to the presence of up to three features (i.e. jets). The features were similar in all broad-band filters; CN images did not show these features but were instead broadly enhanced in the southeastern hemisphere. Modelling using the parameters from Vincent et al. replicated the dust morphology reasonably well, indicating that the pole orientation and locations of active areas have been relatively unchanged over at least the last three apparitions. The dust production, as measured by A(0°)fρ peaked ∼30 d after perihelion and was consistent with predictions from previous apparitions. A(0°)fρ as a function of heliocentric distance was well fitted by a power law with slope −4.2 from 35 to 120 d post-perihelion. We detected photometric evidence of apparent outbursts on 2015 August 22 and 2015 September 19, although neither was discernible morphologically in this data set

The comet 17P/Holmes 2007 outburst: the early motion of the outburst material

Context. On October 24, 2007 the periodic comet 17P/Holmes underwent an astonishing outburst that increased its apparent total brightness from magnitude V\sim17 up to V\sim2.5 in roughly two days. We report on Wendelstein 0.8 m telescope (WST) photometric observations of the early evolution stages of the outburst. Aims. We studied the evolution of the structure morphology, its kinematic, and estimated the ejected dust mass. Methods. We analized 126 images in the BVRI photometric bands spread between 26/10/2007 and 20/11/2007. The bright comet core appeared well separated from that one of a quickly expanding dust cloud in all the data, and the bulk of the latter was contained in the field of view of our instrument. The ejected dust mass was derived on the base of differential photometry on background stars occulted by the moving cloud. Results. The two cores were moving apart from each other at a relative projected constant velocity of (9.87 +/- 0.07) arcsec/day (0.135 +/-0.001 km/sec). In the inner regions of the dust cloud we observed a linear increase in size at a mean constant velocity of (14.6+/-0.3) arcsec/day (0.200+/-0.004 km/sec). Evidence of a radial velocity gradient in the expanding cloud was also found. Our estimate for the expanding coma's mass was of the order of 10^{-2}-1 comet's mass implying a significant disintegration event. Conclusions. We interpreted our observations in the context of an explosive scenario which was more probably originated by some internal instability processes, rather than an impact with an asteroidal body. Due to the peculiar characteristics of this event, further observations and investigations are necessary in order to enlight the nature of the physical processes that determined it.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, A&A accepte