Pathways to Attrition: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Justifications for Police Designations of Sexual Assault Complaints

The present analysis is a reframing of an earlier study conducted by the author to compensate for perceived deficiencies in previous studies on police decisions in sexual assault complaints. Specifically, qualitative comparative analysis was employed at the micro-social level to reveal justification scenarios, employed by investigating officers, which resulted in attrition at the police level. It was found that police employed the legal model in justifying “unfounded” designations while police employed both legal and extralegal models in justifying designations of “departmental discretion.” Further rese arch, expanding the database through interview s and participant observation, is necessary to fully explore justification scenarios for police designations of sexual assault complaint

Reported sexual assault in a mid-size Ontario city: Probing police decisions in sexual assault complaints.

This study examined 243 complaints of sexual assault reported to the Windsor Police Service in 1992. Data was collected on the circumstances of the sexual assault incidents as well as on the characteristics of the sexual assault offenders and victims, to determine if the data fit existing literature on sexual assault in Canada. In general, the findings were consistent with the review of the literature. Nonetheless, a few unique findings did emerge. Results revealed a significant proportion of sexual assault victims under the age of twelve, calling attention to the need for more elementary school-based educational and prevention programs. In addition, the significant proportion of male victims found in this study propels a need to recognize sexual assault as gender-neutral in victimization. Furthermore, the finding that sexual assault frequently occurs over a period of time emphasizes the importance of understanding sexual assault as a multiple-incident occurrence that may substantially differ in effect and/or treatment from single-incident occurrences of sexual assault. Finally, an examination of the nature of attack revealed that sexual assault offenders are primarily opportunists who take advantage of particularly vulnerable targets. Police decision-making in sexual assault complaints was also probed. Findings revealed that police made decisions primarily on the basis of the legal model, which emphasizes a concern with the likelihood of prosecution. Factors that increased the likelihood of successful prosecution influenced officers to proceed with charges, while factors that decreased the likelihood of successful prosecution influenced officers to take no further action beyond initial investigations of complaints, or to unfound complaints. An examination of the filtering process at the police level revealed that nearly 70% of the sexual assault complaints made to the Windsor Police in 1992 did not proceed beyond the police level.Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1994 .S68. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 33-04, page: 1155. Supervisor: Thomas O\u27Reilly-Fleming. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1994

The SKP1-Like Gene Family of Arabidopsis Exhibits a High Degree of Differential Gene Expression and Gene Product Interaction during Development

The Arabidopsis thaliana genome encodes several families of polypeptides that are known or predicted to participate in the formation of the SCF-class of E3-ubiquitin ligase complexes. One such gene family encodes the Skp1-like class of polypeptide subunits, where 21 genes have been identified and are known to be expressed in Arabidopsis. Phylogenetic analysis based on deduced polypeptide sequence organizes the family of ASK proteins into 7 clades. The complexity of the ASK gene family, together with the close structural similarity among its members raises the prospect of significant functional redundancy among select paralogs. We have assessed the potential for functional redundancy within the ASK gene family by analyzing an expanded set of criteria that define redundancy with higher resolution. The criteria used include quantitative expression of locus-specific transcripts using qRT-PCR, assessment of the sub-cellular localization of individual ASK:YFP auto-fluorescent fusion proteins expressed in vivo as well as the in planta assessment of individual ASK-F-Box protein interactions using bimolecular fluorescent complementation techniques in combination with confocal imagery in live cells. The results indicate significant functional divergence of steady state transcript abundance and protein-protein interaction specificity involving ASK proteins in a pattern that is poorly predicted by sequence-based phylogeny. The information emerging from this and related studies will prove important for defining the functional intersection of expression, localization and gene product interaction that better predicts the formation of discrete SCF complexes, as a prelude to investigating their molecular mode of action

Confocal imaging and sub-cellular localization of ASK proteins in transgenic Arabidopsis. A&C

<p>; Propidium iodide-stained epidermal root cell walls or leaf epidermal cell walls and guard cell nuclei. <b>B</b>; Chlorophyll auto-fluorescence from the leaf mesophyll cell layer. <b>D–F</b>; stable expression of N-terminal YFP-tagged ASK3 protein in transgenic Arabidopsis. <b>G–I</b>; merged channels corresponding to panels (<b>A–C</b>) and (<b>D–F</b>).</p

Relative organ-specific abundance of cDNAs for select ASK genes.

<p>All gene expression was normalized relative to <i>ACTIN2</i> expression. <b>A</b>; Relative abundance of <i>ASK</i> gene cDNAs in flowers from stage 9 plants relative to seedlings. <b>B</b>; Relative abundance of <i>ASK</i> cDNAs in stage 15 flowers relative to seedlings. <b>C</b>; Relative expression of <i>ASK</i> genes in siliques relative to seedlings.</p