Middle-class Offenders as Employees – Assessing the Risk:A 35-year Follow-up

A 35-year follow-up of a series of 317 middle-class offenders in England and Wales suggests that the dangers of employing offenders may be more limited than expected. Although 40% were subsequently convicted, only 8% were subsequently convicted of offenses that directly and adversely affected an employer. This work should challenge the “exaggerated fears” of employers. Interestingly, variables which normally predict subsequent criminal activity made no impact in trying to predict offenses against an employer

Developing Measures of Severity and Frequency of Reconviction

This report examines the scope for focusing on the seriousness and frequency of recidivism and presents methodology for determining how to measure offence seriousness, and how to measure frequency of offending. It also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of combining these two measures into a combined seriousness/frequency score. However, one needs to recognise that the task of providing alternative measures of recidivism is not simply a technical exercise, for there are both philosophical and practical issues to confront. Hence, while the main body of the report focuses largely on the feasibility of producing the alternative measures and provides some solid evidence of developing these approaches (sections 3-5), the philosophical issues – which embrace definitional, conceptual and moral concerns – are not overlooked (see section 2). Furthermore, some of the practical issues of introducing these measures are recognised in the final section (section 6). First, however, what are the stated aims and objectives of the work

Invasive bacterial infections in Gambians with sickle cell anaemia in an era of widespread Pneumococcal and Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccination

Background: There is relatively little data on the aetiology of bacterial infections in patients with sickle cell anaemia (SCA) in West Africa, and no data from countries that have implemented conjugate vaccines against both Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of SCA patients admitted to the Medical Research Council Unit, The Gambia during a five-year period when there was high coverage of Hib and Pneumococcal conjugate vaccination. We evaluated 161 admissions of 126 patients between April 2010 and April 2015. Results: Pathogenic bacteria were identified in blood cultures from 11 of the 131 admissions that had cultures taken (8.4%, 95% CI 4.5-14.1%). The most frequent isolate was Salmonella Typhimurium (6/11; 54.5%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (2/11; 18.2%) and other enteric Gram-negative pathogens (2/11; 18.2%) and there was one case of H. influenzae non-type b bacteraemia (1/11; 9.1%). There were no episodes of bacteraemia caused by S. pneumoniae or Hib. Conclusions: The low prevalence of S. pneumoniae and Hib, and the predominance of non-typhoidal Salmonella as a cause of bacteraemia suggest the need to reconsider optimal antimicrobial prophylaxis and the empirical treatment regimens for patients with SCA

Police overestimation of criminal career homogeneity

Police presumptions about criminal career trajectories have been little studied. The exploratory study reported here involved 42 police staff of varying rank and experience. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire which asked them to predict the type of offence that an individual with specified prior record was most likely to commit next. Participating police personnel substantially overstated the homogeneity of criminal careers, i.e. the nature of prior offences determined their prediction of their next offence more than available official data would deem reasonable. An incidental finding was that officers who rated the probability of further offending highest were also those who thought criminal careers most specialised. Theimplications for operational police decision making are discussed and held to be profound

Using the UK general offender database as a means to measure and analyse Organised Crime.

Purpose Organised Crime is notoriously difficult to define and measure, resulting in limited empirical evidence to inform policy makers and practitioners. This study explores the feasibility of identifying a greater number of organized crime offenders, currently captured (but invisible), within an existing national general crime database. Methodology All 2.1 million recorded offenders, captured over a four year period on the UK Police National Computer (PNC), were filtered across three criteria associated with organized crime (co-offending, commission of specific offences, three years imprisonment or more). The 4109 ‘organized crime’ offenders, identified by the process, were compared with ‘general’ and ‘serious’ offender control groups across a variety of personal and demographic variables. Findings Organized crime prosecutions are not random but concentrate in specific geographic areas and constitute 0.2% of the offender population. Offenders can be differentiated from general crime offenders on such measures as: criminal onset age, offence type and criminal recidivism. Research implications Using an offence based methodology, rather than relying on offenders identified through police proactive investigations, can provide empirical information from existing data sets, across a diverse range of legislative areas and cultures. This allows academics to enhance their analysis of organized crime, generating richer evidence on which policy makers and practitioners can more effectively deliver preventative and disruptive tactics. Originality This is the first time an ‘offence based’ methodology has been used in differentiating organised crime from other offenders in a general crime database

Changing patterns of offending over 30 years

The focus of this contribution is on the changing patterns of offending among young people (aged 16–20 years) over time. Using six ‘birth cohorts’ aged 16–20 in the late 1960s, early 1970s, late 1970s, early 1980s, late 1980s, early 1990s and late 1990s, the study shows that crime participation – in terms of the proportions ever convicted – declined for both males and females. There has also been an overall shift from more ‘specialist’ criminal behaviour to more ‘versatile’ behaviour. While the gap between male and female offending is narrowing, the differences remain large. Although fewer young people are coming before the courts, the changing case mix has probably influenced the perception that offending is getting worse. As those committing ‘lesser’ offences are being dealt with by other means, there are higher proportions of young people coming before the courts who exhibit greater versatility and more violence

An investigation into Toxoplasma gondii infection and the expression of Arginase-1 and iNOS in human lung tissue

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between Toxoplasma gondii infection and the expression of the immune modulating proteins Arginase-1 and iNOS in human lung biopsy samples. Previously, a 100% toxoplasmosis infection rate was found in 72 lung biopsy samples acquired from patients. This compared with 10% in healthy controls. Little is known of immune mechanisms acting on T. gondii infected lung tissue. Research on rat and mouse models found an association between resistance to the parasite and the expression of iNOS, whereas Arginase-1 expression was associated with susceptibility. The objectives of this study were to investigate the spatial distribution of iNOS and Arginase-1 expression in relation to T. gondii infection. Fifty-one of the samples, used in the Bajnok et al (2019) study, were sectioned onto slides and stained separately for the presence of T. gondii, Arginase-1, and iNOS using immunohistochemical specific staining. Analysis was performed on section images taken from randomised and specified fields of view. All samples were confirmed positive for toxoplasmosis. iNOS expression was consistently high throughout, whereas Arginase-1 was expressed minimally. No correlation was found in overall spatial distribution of T. gondii and Arginase-1 or iNOS expression. However, once the data was categorised into infection intensity grades, moderate positive spatial correlation could be seen between T. gondii and iNOS. Colocalisation analysis, using grid coordinates overlayed on the matched images, found a significant positive association in regions with high Arginase-1 and high T. gondii staining. Also, a negative association between iNOS and T. gondii high intensity staining was approaching significance. No tissue specific preferential staining could be determined for T. gondii, Arginase-1 and iNOS. In conclusion, interactions between Toxoplasma gondii, Arginase-1, and iNOS in these lung samples appear to be much more complicated than has been found in mice and rat model