Maximizing the Potential for DNA Technology

NCVC is hosting a webinar November 18th at 1pm ET: Maximizing the Potential for DNA Technology. “The goals of this webinar are to expose participants to the “big picture” of how forensic DNA came to be the potent crime-fighting tool that it is today, and for participants to learn about today’s most extensive and innovative applications of forensic DNA in the United States and abroad. The speaker will highlight the importance of DNA databasing for identifying offenders and solving and preventing crimes and will present intriguing cases and innovative techniques using forensic DNA.”

Predicting Lethal IPV

Thanks to everyone who sent me the head’s up on this one–I love when readers forward events to me (hint). The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School is sponsoring a webinar November 12th, from 3-5pm ET: Can You Predict lethal Intimate Partner Violence? Participation is free of charge; you can register for the session here.

Physicians & Executions

ReachMD has a roundtable discussion on physicians and executions, facilitated by Dr. Atul Gawande. He is joined by Deborah Denno, professor of law at Fordham University; Dr. Robert Truog, professor of medical ethics, anesthesiology, and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School; and Dr. David Waisel, associate professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, in a conversation about lethal injection, the current protocol, possible alternatives, and the role of health care professionals in putting convicted criminals to death.

As with all ReachMD programs, they’re free of charge, but require site registration to access.

Preventing Violence

The Prevention Institute has created a new resource on their website: Preventing Violence: Quick Links. It’s a “web-based compilation of practical, solution-oriented resources for communities working to prevent violence before it occurs“. You’ll find some great tools for community-wide planning and engagement. Best of all, if this is an area of interest for you, you can sign up for email alerts, so that you’re informed as additional resources are added to the page.

Forced Sex by Intimate Partners

Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell is one of this year’s keynote speakers for the IAFN Scientific Assembly in Atlanta later in the month. Many of you are familiar with her research on intimate partner violence and lethality. Earlier in the year, Men Can Stop Rape invited Dr. Campbell to address their participants at the Men and Women as Allies National Conference on the Primary Prevention of Men’s Violence Against Women. Her presentation focused on forced sex by a range of intimate partners.

Statistics and Juries

Today’s post is an incredibly wonky one–many of you will bail right off the bat, and of those of you who decide to check out this video, several of you won’t make it past the 2 minute mark. So what is the fascinating offering I’m posting? It’s actually a session from TED that I find to be really interesting: how statistics fool juries. If you don’t feel like you can commit to the full video, skip ahead to the 14 minute mark, where the reason for my posting the video becomes clear.

New Online Courses at IAFN

Two new online courses have been announced at IAFN: SANE Dialogues: Focus Group on the Use of nPEP in SANE Programs and Patterns of Injury in Non-Accidental Childhood Fatalities. They’re free for members; non-members pay $10 each. It would appear that there are CEUs attached, but I could not find any specifics related to how many for either course. If you’re a Firefox user, be forewarned: you may not be able to complete the posttest to get credit for the course, so Internet Explorer is really the only way to access this content (which frankly sucks for Mac users like me).

Domestic Violence Among Women of Color

HRSA‘s Maternal and Child Health Bureau has an archived webcast, Domestic Violence Among Women of Color. It’s a 90 minute session and is presented by an esteeemed panel that includes Dr. Jacquelyn Campbell of Johns Hopkins University. The site gives you multiple options for accessing the webcast, including audio, PowerPoint slides, and written transcripts. Truthfully, it feels like the surface is only skimmed on this issue; any portion of the presentation could be its own 90+ minute program. Nevertheless, there are few offerings available on the distinct issues facing abused women of color, so I’m pleased this is available in an archived edition.

Video Game as Learning Tool

It’s an interesting idea–using a computer game to provide education about genocide. That’s what mtvU has done with Darfur is Dying, “a narrative-based simulation where the user, from the standpoint of a displaced Darfurian, negotiates forces that threaten the survival of his or her refuge camp. It offers a faint glimpse of what it’s like for the more than 2.5 million who have been internally displaced by the crisis in Sudan.”

Weekend Extra: Workplace Violence

This weekend has been yet another sad reminder of the epidemic of workplace violence. It’s obviously not a new phenomenon, but right now it seems to be happening with frightening frequency. The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) actually has a tool for hospitals (cleverly known as the Hospital eTool) that addresses a wide variety of hazards in the workplace, such as blood-borne pathogens and medical lasers(!). There’s also a section on workplace violence.

…And Genocide Prevention Month

By way of The Hub, April is also Genocide Prevention Month.

I think that’s all of them, now.

Youth Violence Prevention

This week is Youth Violence Prevention Week and NCJRS has a site dedicated to the topic. By clicking on the right hand column of the main page, you can access fully-linked separate pages on stats; gun violence; youth violence; research; school violence; and gangs. Most of the links lead to federal sites (most of those within DOJ/NIJ), so it’s not definitive, but it’s pretty extensive.

Firearms

The University of Utah Eccles Health Science Library has an online firearms tutorial available here. It’s easy to use and has almost no bells and whistles (but it has photos!) so you should be able to view this on any computer. I’m not sure when the course was last updated (some of the statistics look old), but the mechanics of firearms and the appearance of gunshot wounds haven’t really changed, so age shouldn’t be a significant issue. It was created for pathologists, meaning it has a medical, rather than law enforcement, flavor.

Articles of Note

I’m auditioning a new feature to the site: a monthly look at what’s new and notable in the literature. Obviously this won’t be a comprehensive review, since A.) there are hundreds of journals to comb through and who has that kind of time? and B.) my interests skew in a pretty specific direction so I’m sure there’s stuff out there that wouldn’t necessarily catch my attention but would be compelling and/or relevant to many of you.

International Forensic Investigation Course

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has a pretty incredible online course on international forensic investigation. What may be most unbelievable is that it is offered free of charge. Although it doesn’t appear that CEs are attached, don’t let that deter you–there is some seriously chewy content in this offering.