Unintended Consequences of Regulatory Restraints to Control Sexual Abuse of Female Prisoners in Correctional Facilities

Community activists and state legislators have expressed great concern over the sexual abuse of female prisoners by corrections officers (CO)s. The purpose of the current empirical case study was to explore COs’ experience with gender-mandated job roles in a correctional facility. Eleven retired COs were interviewed to determine if the job change prohibiting 15 male COs from working inside female prisoner housing units had an effect on employee morale. Data was collected using face-to-face interviews with semi structured open-ended questions. Five themes emerged in our findings: (1) process change, (2) interpersonal relationships, (3) employee development, (4) management optimization, and (5) strategies for improvement. The results revealed prohibiting male corrections officers from working inside female prisoner housing units decreased employee morale

Novel Approaches to the Study of Neonatal Infections

The pathogenesis of neonatal infection is incompletely understood. Neonatal immune immaturity and the microbial factors of virulence only partially explain the interindividual differences in the protective responses to the most common neonatal pathogens. Stratification of infants into high- and low-risk groups through epidemiological studies has been invaluable in designing preventive strategies and reducing the burden of neonatal infection. The discovery of the role of maternal antibodies (Abs) as, for instance, anti-capsular polysaccharide group B streptococcal (GBS) Abs, in protecting newborn infants against neonatal GBS sepsis, has been a milestone in the unraveling of the molecular underpinnings of susceptibility to infection in the neonatal age. Future work should aim at defining the cellular and molecular differences in the neonatal immune responses that account for individual susceptibility and resistance to common neonatal pathogens. The interplay between the genetic and immune backgrounds of the infant, changes in the infant's microbiome, maternal factors, and the pathogen's characteristics needs to be accurately described through human studies. Precise phenotyping and dissection of the clinical heterogeneity of neonatal infection should identify cohorts that can be studied through different study methodologies. Term and preterm infants should be investigated according to the most likely underlying mechanism, single-gene disorders and multifactorial predisposition, respectively. Novel technologies, including genotyping studies, exome and genome sequencing, analysis of the microbiome, and the study of the metabolome, are nowadays established and available and can be integrated to gain a better insight into the unexplained bases of individual susceptibility to neonatal infections

Confidence and trust in police: how sexual identity difference shapes perceptions of police

Previous research indicates that the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (‘LGBTI’) community and the heterosexual community vary in their perceptions of police. This study examines variations in the levels of perceptions of police in both communities, and determines whether or not an individual’s sexual identity helps to shape perceptions of police legitimacy and levels of trust in the police. Using a face-to-face survey, data were collected from 365 participants. The results show that respondents who identified themselves as LGBTI report more negative opinions than heterosexual participants regarding: police trust and police legitimacy; procedural justice; treatment quality from police; and respect from police. The research reported in this article indicates that sexual identity does impact on perceptions of policing, and can help to determine whether LGBTI people perceive the police to be legitimate. The findings have implications for theories of trust, and also build upon previous literature examining perceptions of police legitimac