President’s Column Volume 53- 139

My dear colleagues and fellow Court Review readers, greetings. In my last column, I told you about AJA’s wonderful Cleveland conference in September, ably planned by our own Judges Michael Cicconetti, Eugene Lucci, and Gayle Williams-Byers. There, our past AJA Presidents also met and identified a key priority for AJA—enhancing the value of membership for members who are unable to attend conferences. This is the first of my three overlapping priorities for my term as AJA President. My second is to build on AJA’s advances toward furthering diversity in our organization and on the bench, while helping us all achieve better understanding of and responses to diversity issues in our courts. The third is to strengthen AJA’s ties to other national court-oriented organizations, reach out to national minority lawyer organizations with judicial divisions, and find new ways to collaborate with our national court-oriented partners

President’s Column- Shaffer Pg 3

My dear colleagues and Court Review readers, greetings I want to begin by highlighting our outstanding midyear conference in Memphis. It included an excellent minority community outreach event at the law school attended by three separate high schools, a well-attended group tour of the powerfully moving National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel, a welcoming address from a Supreme Court Justice, an outstanding day of educational programs, and a fabulous evening barbecue event at Albert’s on Beale Street. Justice Torres and Judge Betty Moore planned the conference, but Justice Torres and I agree Judge Moore, the conference chair, deserves huge kudos for it. She found our wonderful venue right across from Graceland, organized the outreach event and educational programs, introduced the speakers, planned the barbecue, and got so many sponsorships that the conference made a significant profit. Thank you again, Judge Moore

Therapeutic Domestic Violence Courts: An Efficient Approach to Adjudication?

Part II of this Article will explore the history of state intervention to confront domestic violence, along with some of the attitudes that contribute to the lack of adequate enforcement of recent legislative reforms. Part III of this Article will discuss the costs of domestic violence and the impact of superficial court treatment in reducing those costs. Part IV will outline the historical development, philosophy, and potential development of therapeutic courts, and in particular will examine the proven effectiveness of the drug court model and the potential benefits that are unique to domestic violence courts. Part V suggests further creation of domestic violence courts as a means to efficiently and effectively address the problems associated with enforcing domestic violence legislation and provide services for families dealing with domestic abuse

Therapeutic Domestic Violence Courts: An Efficient Approach to Adjudication?

Part II of this Article will explore the history of state intervention to confront domestic violence, along with some of the attitudes that contribute to the lack of adequate enforcement of recent legislative reforms. Part III of this Article will discuss the costs of domestic violence and the impact of superficial court treatment in reducing those costs. Part IV will outline the historical development, philosophy, and potential development of therapeutic courts, and in particular will examine the proven effectiveness of the drug court model and the potential benefits that are unique to domestic violence courts. Part V suggests further creation of domestic violence courts as a means to efficiently and effectively address the problems associated with enforcing domestic violence legislation and provide services for families dealing with domestic abuse

From Where Does Neisseria Acquire Foreign DNA: An Examination of the Source of Genomic and Pathogenic Islands and the Evolution of the Neisseria Genus

Background Pathogenicity islands (PAIs) or genomic islands (GEIs) are considered to be the result of a recent horizontal transfer. Detecting PAIs/GEIs as well as their putative source can provide insight into the organism’s pathogenicity within its host. Previously we introduced a tool called S-plot which provides a visual representation of the variation in compositional properties across and between genomic sequences. Utilizing S-plot and new functionality developed here, we examined 18 publicly available Neisseria genomes, including strains of both pathogenic and non-pathogenic species, in order to identify regions of unusual compositional properties (RUCPs) using both a sliding window as well as a gene-by-gene approach. Results Numerous GEIs and PAIs were identified including virulence genes previously found within the pathogenic Neisseria species. While some genes were conserved amongst all species, only pathogenic species, or an individual species, a number of genes were detected that are unique to an individual strain. While the majority of such genes have an origin unknown, a number of putative sources including pathogenic and capsule-containing bacteria were determined, indicative of gene exchange between Neisseria spp. and other bacteria within their microhabitat. Furthermore, we uncovered evidence that both N. meningitidis and N. gonorrhoeae have separately acquired DNA from their human host. Data suggests that all three Neisseria species have received horizontally transferred elements post-speciation. Conclusions Using this approach, we were able to not only find previously identified regions of virulence but also new regions which may be contributing to the virulence of the species. This comparative analysis provides a means for tracing the evolutionary history of the acquisition of foreign DNA within this genus. Looking specifically at the RUCPs present within the 18 genomes considered, a stronger similarity between N. meningitidis and N. lactamica is observed, suggesting that N. meningitidis arose before N. gonorrhoeae

Are Adolescent Risk Assessment Tools Sensitive to Change? A Framework and Examination of the SAVRY and the YLS/CMI

Although many adolescent risk assessment tools include an emphasis on dynamic factors, little research has examined the extent to which these tools are capable of measuring change. In this article, we outline a framework to evaluate a tool’s capacity to measure change. This framework includes: (1) measurement error and reliable change, and (2) sensitivity (i.e., internal, external, and relative sensitivity). We then used this framework to evaluate the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) and Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (YLS/CMI). Research assistants conducted 509 risk assessments with 146 adolescents on probation (101 male, 45 female), who were assessed every 3 months over a 1-year period. Internal sensitivity was partially supported, as a modest proportion of youth showed changes over time. External sensitivity (i.e., the association between change scores and reoffending) was also partially supported. In particular, 22% of the associations between change scores and any and violent reoffending were significant at a 6-month follow-up. However, only one change score (i.e., Peer Associations) remained significant after the Bonferroni correction was applied. Finally, relative sensitivity was not supported, as the SAVRY and YLS/CMI was not more dynamic than the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV). Specifically, the 1-year rank-order stability coefficients for the SAVRY, YLS/CMI, and PCL:YV Total Scores were .78, .75, and .76, respectively. Although the SAVRY and YLS/CMI hold promise, further efforts may help to enhance sensitivity to short-term changes in risk

The Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits: Reliability, Convergent Validity, and Predictive Validity for Reoffending in Adolescents on Probation

This prospective study assessed the reliability and validity of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) in a sample of 70 adolescent offenders. With the exception of the Unemotional subscale, ICU scores showed acceptable reliability. ICU total and Callousness scores demonstrated moderate associations with the Antisocial Process Screening Device and the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version. The ICU also demonstrated moderate predictive accuracy for violent reoffending over an 18-month follow-up period. While these findings provide some support for the ICU’s validity, more research is needed to determine if it is appropriate for use in applied settings with adolescent offenders

Improving Case Plans and Interventions for Adolescents on Probation: The Implementation of the SAVRY and a Structured Case Planning Form

Even when probation officers use risk assessment tools, many of their clients’ needs remain unaddressed. As such, we examined whether the implementation of the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) and a structured case planning form resulted in better case plans as compared to prior practices (i.e., a non-validated local tool and an unstructured plan). Our sample comprised 216 adolescents on probation who were matched via propensity scores. Adolescents in the SAVRY/Structured Plan condition had significantly better case plans than those in the pre-implementation condition. Specifically, following implementation, adolescents’ high need domains were more likely to be targeted in plans. Plans also scored higher on other quality indicators (e.g., level of detail). These improvements appeared to be due primarily to the structured plan rather than the SAVRY. Overall, our findings highlight that, just as structure can improve risk assessments, so too might structure improve case plans

Ten-year Trends in Physical Dating Victimization among Adolescent Boys and Girls in British Columbia, Canada

Physical dating violence (PDV) victimization among adolescents is a serious global problem. Although knowledge of trends in PDV victimization can help guide programming and health policies, little research has examined whether the prevalence of PDV victimization has increased, decreased, or remained stable over time among non-U.S.-based samples of youth. In addition, few studies have directly tested whether disparities in PDV victimization between boys and girls have narrowed, widened, or remained unchanged in recent years. To address these gaps, we used school-based data from the British Columbia Adolescent Health Surveys (BC AHS) of 2003, 2008, and 2013 (n boys = 18,441 and n girls = 17,459) to examine 10-year trends in PDV victimization. We also tested whether trends differed across self-reported sex. Data from the 2003 to 2013 BC AHS revealed that recent PDV victimization rates had significantly decreased among youth overall (5.9% to 5.0%) and boys (8.0% to 5.8%), but not girls (5.3% to 4.2%). Although boys had steeper declines than girls in PDV victimization rates, year-by-sex interactions indicate that the sex gap in PDV victimization had not significantly narrowed. Moreover, rates of PDV victimization over the 10-year period indicated significantly higher rates of PDV victimization among boys compared to girls. Despite positive declines in recent rates of PDV victimization among youth, important differences in rates of PDV victimization between boys and girls remain. These findings underscore the need for greater attention to sex differences in research and programming and health policies to reduce PDV victimization and the sex disparities therein