Time once again for Articles of Note, my list of the things that have caught my attention in the latest round of peer-reviewed journals. This month has quite a lot to explore, but as always, this list isn’t comprehensive (and it’s subject to my specific interests). The majority of links take you to the PubMed abstract, except where indicated. Click through for the PDF and active links; contact me for the list as a Word doc.
Tag: criminal justice
Hey, Toronto readers: I’m coming to your fair city for a wee bit of relaxation this weekend. You all know how much I love a good meal, so feel free to send your food suggestions my way. We’ll be there for the (US) holiday weekend, so I’ve basically got 3 days on the ground. I’m fortunate enough to get to eat a lot of terrific meals all over the world; the goal for this weekend is less emphasis on fancy, more emphasis on seriously authentic ethnic foods of all stripes. Toronto is such a cool, diverse city, we’re hoping to basically just graze our way through the weekend.
Now that we’ve taken care of the important stuff I can tell you that this past weekend was a bust. Really the best thing I can say about it was that I now no longer have staples in my head, so there’s the silver lining. I had plenty of time to read, though; here’s what caught my eye since last we spoke:
Ironically, I am in South Carolina today, teaching at a course focusing in part on investigating and prosecuting domestic violence. I tell you this because the Charleston, SC Post and Courier has just published an expose on domestic violence in the state, Till Death Do Us Part. The series, a result of an 8-month investigation, specifically looks at how the state is failing victims (the murder rate for women in South Carolina is twice that of the nation), examining issues related to patriarchy, access to guns, religion, legislation and more. Even if you don’t live in South Carolina, it’s a worthwhile and powerful read; the online site includes videos featuring survivors and their families, timelines, and more. Take some time out for this one.
Since Last We Spoke 8-18-14
Thank you to everyone who left me comments and sent emails with well wishes. I definitely took advantage of the time off and spent some quality time with my family. But it’s a new week, so convalescent time is over and back to work I go. I’m headed to the NAC one more time later in the week; until then much of my time will be spent refining a new curriculum (speaking of which: we still have room in this course for anyone interested–more info here). Before I get to my list of what’s caught my eye since last we spoke, a reminder that the National Sexual Assault Conference is happening this week in Pittsburgh. If you can’t be there (like me), follow along at #NSAC2014.
Since Last We Spoke 8-11-14
I’m with the Navy and Marines in Newport, RI this week, one of my favorite gigs of the year. It’s hard to believe it’s that time again, because of course the year has flown by. Less than 10 days left with my kiddo before she returns to school, so I’m especially grateful she’s traveling with me (she’s an excellent and experienced traveling companion, so it’s relatively effortless). Pretty quiet around our house this past weekend, so plenty of time to keep tabs on my social media feeds. And lots of news to stay on top of, so here’s what’s caught my eye since last we spoke:
I’d like to introduce a new series here on the site: Prepping for Court. The purpose is to introduce people to the articles and books that I think are solid, reliable publications that can help inform testimony. Of course I’ll start with adult sexual assault, since it’s still the most popular topic at FHO. For this first one I have broken it into different sections, because different cases will have different issues. But all of the resources listed here are ones that I think are quality, and since we don’t have the time (or will) to read everything that’s ever been published on a given subject, this should give clinicians (and attorneys) a good foundation. Disagree with any of these or think I’ve missed some? Let me know and we’ll address it.
Alcohol and Memory
RTI has a 2-day drug facilitated sexual assault workshop coming up August 11th and 12th–it’s live in DC and also virtual, so no need to be local to attend. Upon perusing the syllabus (PDF) I noticed that one of the guest speakers is Aaron White from NIH. If you’re not familiar with the name you should become acquainted–I think he’s written the best article there is about alcohol and memory: What Happened? Alcohol, Memory Blackouts, and the Brain. Not surprisingly, it’s what he’s lecturing on at the workshop. The article is old (2003), but it’s excellent and should be part of your arsenal–it’s a great primer and more than one forensic toxicologist has mentioned it as an essential read.
I’m on my way to the NAC (for the 2nd of 3 trips down there in a month)–we’re kicking off the inaugural run of a fantastic (I hope) interactive testimony course for SANEs and prosecutors. Considering we started working on this about 18 months ago, it’s exciting to finally see it come to fruition. And a bit nerve-wracking, as all 1st time courses can be. I was pretty focused on prep this weekend and didn’t spend a lot of time surfing the interwebs, but there were still a few things that caught my eye since last we spoke:
VAWnet has updated their special collection on intimate partner homicide prevention. You should range around the site a bit–there’s a lot here for clinicians and for the collaborative teams in which we participate.
OJJDP just released a new resource: Recognizing When a Child’s Injury or Illness Is Caused by Abuse (PDF). It’s written for law enforcement, so this is really more of a SART or MDT resource, than a clinical text. I was happy to see it addresses issues like aging bruises based on color (you can’t), and provides some good overview information about a variety of injuries and other findings. I haven’t gone through the whole thing, but it looks promising. Peds folks weigh in…
NCMEC has a free webinar coming up, Missing and Exploited: Child Sex Trafficking Reporting and Recovery Planning (PDF). The session will be held August 19th from 2-3:30pm ET. Click through for details:
Today is my sweet kid’s 13th birthday, so I am officially the parent of a teenager. I have no idea how that happened. A minute ago she was a newborn and now she’s this funny, interesting, incredibly smart kid who makes me proud every day. Naturally we spent the weekend celebrating (ziplining and dim sum, anyone?) and gorging on homemade Hostess-type treats (my spouse whipped up Twinkies, Ho-Hos and Cupcakes complete with squiggly frosting). Pretty much the only thing I could do after the weekend calorie bombardment was to loll around last night and surf my social media sites. Which is what I did. Here’s what caught my eye since last we spoke:
The newest edition of Futures Without Violence‘s Health E-Bulletin (PDF) is now available. Particularly useful is the 1st article on why the ACA-mandated domestic violence screening matters and the one on reproductive coercion. Worth your time.
Since Last We Spoke 7-21-14
We finally cleared the last of our houseguests yesterday (that’s 10 days of people in our tiny place for those of you tracking), so we’re back to status quo. I head down to the NAC for the Army this week, but aside from that it should be relatively mellow. I was busy playing tourist in my own city this weekend, but there was still plenty of time to catch up on the news of the day. Here’s what’s caught my eye since last we spoke:
If you aren’t looking to your state anti-violence coalitions for continuing education, you’re missing some great opportunities. State coalitions do a lot of training, and many are putting on webinars and online courses that have relevance far beyond their state’s borders. Click through for some of the upcoming events, and feel free to add others in the comments (I’ll take those outside the US, too, please):
Here we go: vacation is behind us and a modified (but still busy) travel season resumes for our household. Happily it’s not me on the road this week, but after taking a week off, I can hardly corral my to-do list. Always a trade-off, that whole taking time off thing. Hopefully US readers enjoyed a happy and relaxing 4th–we certainly did (and it was a far more social one than I am used to). But all in all, there was plenty of downtime and a good amount of reading therein. Here’s what’s caught my eye since last we spoke:
Here’s a piece worth your time: the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse at NDAA just published Crimes Against Children: Examining Technology’s Impact on Victimization and Witness Intimidation (PDF). Want to better understand how technology is impacting our pediatric patients and how offenders are gaining access to them? This is a great (and brief) overview of what’s out there right now, and what the issues are. Good for parents, as well. {Full disclosure: the author is my wife.}
Our friend Kim Nash is doing a webinar for the Family Justice Center Alliance on strangulation in the pediatric population. The session will be held July 10th from 10-11:30am PT. Click through for details:
Time once again for Articles of Note, our monthly overview of what’s new and noteworthy in the peer-reviewed literature. There’s plenty to check out for June–as always, links lead to PubMed abstracts. Contact me if you’d prefer this in a Word doc.