How Accurately Can Bruises Be Aged in Abused Children? Literature Review and Synthesis

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 254-257
Author(s):  
ARI J. SCHWARTZ ◽  
LAWRENCE R. RICCI
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Interobserver Reliability ◽  
Severe Case ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Abused Children ◽  
Color Wheel ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Supreme Court ◽  
History Of ◽  
Associated Risk Factors

Unlike the severe abuse that was reported in early child abuse literature, more moderate injuries comprise 60% of physical child abuse. These less-severe abuse cases, many with limited, ill-defined bruising, may be more difficult to diagnose than a severe case with multiple-system injury or a child with specific, clearly imprinted bruising. Additionally, as the US Supreme Court observed, "Child abuse is one of the most difficult crimes to detect and prosecute in large part because there often are no witnesses except the victim. Estimates of ages of bruises along with the aging of other injuries such as fractures and brain trauma may offer the only way to associate an injury with a particular perpetrator. Yet, as an aid to child abuse diagnosis and perpetrator identification, visual aging of bruises remains an inexact science, despite recent composite charts that suggest otherwise. Even though it has been stated that it is not possible to age bruises accurately based on color, these opinions have not been represented in the child abuse literature. The study of Langlois and Gresham, to date the only research-based study of bruise aging by appearance, has not yet been cited in the medical literature (Science Citation Index search, August 1994). The available literature does not permit the estimation of a bruise's age with any precision based solely on color. Even for the practitioner to state, as Wilson suggests, that a particular bruise is "consistent with" a specific age implies a level of certainty not supported by the literature. Bruises may be described as "older" if yellow, brown, or green are present, but practitioners should note the limitations of bruise age analysis. Of course, the practitioner must continue to describe the size, shape, location, and color of each bruise accurately. This is best done by written description and drawings along with careful photographic representation. Photographs of a bruise, however, depending on available light and technique, may not represent color accurately. A standard color wheel in the photograph may help. Future research should focus on a number of questions. A study of the aging of bruises, using contusions of known age and history-blinded examiners, could determine how accurate clinical estimates are. Interobserver reliability may also be assessed in such a study. The study of Langlois and Gresham should be repeated to confirm or to refute their findings. A photographic sequence of various bruises from appearance to resolution would give researchers and clinicians a reference of possible colors in different-aged bruises for standardized description. The estimated age of a bruise should never be the sole criteria for a diagnosis of child abuse, but, rather, one component of a comprehensive assessment that incorporates a careful history of the injury, past medical history, family history, associated risk factors, a detailed physical examination, and appropriate laboratory testing.

The Amistad Saga: A Transatlantic Dialogue

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Felipe-Gonzalez ◽  
Gibril R. Cole ◽  
Benjamin N. Lawrance
Keyword(s):  
Slave Trade ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Drama ◽  
Multiple Points ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Supreme Court ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
Triangular Trade ◽  
New Framework

The story of the slave ship La Amistad is one of the most celebrated and narrated 19th-century stories of the transatlantic slave trade. To fully appreciate the significance and impact of the events and circumstances of this fateful episode, it is important to examine its legacy from multiple points of the Atlantic world—vestiges of the triangular trade bequeathed by the Columbian Exchange. For a long time, the Amistad saga has been viewed from a very US-centric perspective because the dispute over the lives of the Africans rose to the US Supreme Court in 1840–1841. New archival and oral research in West Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean is rebalancing the narrative and revising the historical drama. Today, the Amistad story is widely recognized as a quintessentially Atlantic story, a story of mobility that moves back and forth across the Atlantic in multiple directions over many decades. The deployment of the phrase “Amistad saga” provides a vehicle with which to critique the socio-legal battles about transatlantic slave trading in Caribbean, North American, and West African history. The Amistad story is often described as pre-incidental to the US Civil War. The victory of African defendants is often framed as a self-congratulatory vindication of the successful resistance of enslaved Africans. The celebrated figure of “Joseph Cinqué” or Sengbe Pieh, the self-appointed leader of the Africans, and a replica of the ship itself are part of an Amistad memory industry that attempts to narrate the slave trade and its abolition. A new framework for teaching and understanding the history of the Amistad saga and its memory and forgetting through an Atlantic lens must combine historical and contemporary perspectives from the United States, Europe, Cuba, and Sierra Leone.

scholarly journals Polarization and the Judiciary

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 261-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Hasen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Supreme Court ◽  
Selection Mechanisms ◽  
Federal Judges

The increased polarization in the United States among the political branches and citizenry affects the selection, work, perception, and relative power of state and federal judges, including justices of the US Supreme Court. Polarization in the United States over the last few decades matters to the American judicial system in at least four ways. First, polarization affects judicial selection, whether the selection method is (sometimes partisan-based) elections or appointment by political actors. In times of greater polarization, governors and presidents who nominate judges, legislators who confirm judges, and voters who vote on judicial candidates are more apt to support or oppose judges on the basis of partisan affiliation or cues. Second, driven in part by selection mechanisms, polarization may be reflected in the decisions that judges make, especially on issues that divide people politically, such as abortion, guns, or affirmative action. The Supreme Court, for example, often divides along party and ideological lines in the most prominent and highly contested cases. Those ideological lines now overlap with party as we enter a period in which all the Court liberals have been appointed by Democratic presidents and all the Court conservatives have been appointed by Republican presidents. Third, increasingly polarized judicial decisions appear to be causing the public to view judges and judicial decision making (at least on the US Supreme Court) through a more partisan lens. Fourth, polarization may affect the separation of powers, by empowering courts against polarized legislative bodies sometimes paralyzed by gridlock. The review concludes by considering how increased polarization may interact with the judiciary and judicial branch going forward and by suggesting areas for future research.

LGBT Workers

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Pichler ◽  
Enrica N. Ruggs
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Critical Time ◽  
Gay Marriage ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Workplace Experiences ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Supreme Court ◽  
Bisexual And Transgender ◽  
Different Levels

Despite the large and growing representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) workers, this minority group has received relatively less attention in the management and organization literature compared with other minority groups. This is a critical time in history for LGBT workers in that public opinion has become much more favorable regarding homosexuality. The US Supreme Court has made important decisions concerning gay marriage; and although there is still no comprehensive antidiscrimination legislation at the federal level, a recent executive order provides employment protections for federal LGBT workers. This chapter reviews the literature on the workplace experiences of LGBT workers with a focus on synthesizing findings across studies, addressing research trends at different levels of analysis, and providing recommendations for areas for future research.

scholarly journals Understanding the elevated suicide risk of female soldiers during deployments

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 717-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. E. Street ◽  
S. E. Gilman ◽  
A. J. Rosellini ◽  
M. B. Stein ◽  
E. J. Bromet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Suicide Rate ◽  
Administrative Database ◽  
Survival Models ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Risk And Resilience ◽  
Us Army ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
The Us ◽  
Regular Army ◽  
History Of

BackgroundThe Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS) has found that the proportional elevation in the US Army enlisted soldier suicide rate during deployment (compared with the never-deployed or previously deployed) is significantly higher among women than men, raising the possibility of gender differences in the adverse psychological effects of deployment.MethodPerson-month survival models based on a consolidated administrative database for active duty enlisted Regular Army soldiers in 2004–2009 (n = 975 057) were used to characterize the gender × deployment interaction predicting suicide. Four explanatory hypotheses were explored involving the proportion of females in each soldier's occupation, the proportion of same-gender soldiers in each soldier's unit, whether the soldier reported sexual assault victimization in the previous 12 months, and the soldier's pre-deployment history of treated mental/behavioral disorders.ResultsThe suicide rate of currently deployed women (14.0/100 000 person-years) was 3.1–3.5 times the rates of other (i.e. never-deployed/previously deployed) women. The suicide rate of currently deployed men (22.6/100 000 person-years) was 0.9–1.2 times the rates of other men. The adjusted (for time trends, sociodemographics, and Army career variables) female:male odds ratio comparing the suicide rates of currently deployed v. other women v. men was 2.8 (95% confidence interval 1.1–6.8), became 2.4 after excluding soldiers with Direct Combat Arms occupations, and remained elevated (in the range 1.9–2.8) after adjusting for the hypothesized explanatory variables.ConclusionsThese results are valuable in excluding otherwise plausible hypotheses for the elevated suicide rate of deployed women and point to the importance of expanding future research on the psychological challenges of deployment for women.

Building the Judiciary: Law, Courts, and the Politics of Institutional Development. By Justin Crowe. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012. 328p. $80.00 cloth, $35.00 paper.

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 216-218
Author(s):  
Maria Popova
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Federal Judiciary ◽  
Princeton University ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Supreme Court ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Law Courts

Justin Crowe has written an accessible, thorough, and compelling history of the institutional development of the US Supreme Court and the federal judiciary it sits atop, from their inconspicuous inception in February 1790 to their current status as, perhaps, the most powerful judiciary in the world.

Structured Trauma-Focused CBT and Unstructured Play/Experiential Techniques in the Treatment of Sexually Abused Children: A Field Study With Practicing Clinicians

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Allen ◽  
Natalie Armstrong Hoskowitz
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Sexually Abused ◽  
Behavioral Therapy ◽  
Cognitive Behavioral ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Abused Children ◽  
Treatment Techniques ◽  
History Of ◽  
Experiential Techniques ◽  
Sexually Abused Children

Structured, trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques are widely considered an effective intervention for children who experienced sexual abuse. However, unstructured (i.e., nondirective) play/experiential techniques have a longer history of widespread promotion and are preferred by many practicing clinicians. No evidence is available, however, to determine how the integration of these techniques impacts treatment outcome. In this study, community-based clinicians who received training in a structured, trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral intervention administered pretreatment and posttreatment evaluations to 260 sexually abused children presenting with elevated posttraumatic stress. In addition, they completed a questionnaire describing the treatment techniques implemented with each child. Overall, significant improvement was observed for each of the six clinical outcomes. Regression analyses indicated that technique selection was a significant factor in posttreatment outcome for posttraumatic stress, dissociation, anxiety, and anger/aggression. In general, a greater utilization of the structured CBT techniques was related to lower posttreatment scores, whereas a higher frequency of play/experiential techniques was associated with higher posttreatment scores. However, no interaction effects were observed. The implication of these findings for clinical practice and future research are examined.

A History of Censorship in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Jennifer Elaine Steele
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intellectual Freedom ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Supreme Court ◽  
History Of

Censorship is a centuries-old issue for the United States. The importance of intellectual freedom and the freedom of speech is particularly evident in libraries, organizations dedicated to the access and spread of information. Issues regarding censorship and intellectual freedom have even reached the US Supreme Court. The following essay serves as a history of censorship in the United States, particularly in its libraries, and how the same issues of censorship have now transitioned into the digital age.

Work memory and inhibition in abused children

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S688-S688
Author(s):  
M.C. Jimenez Martinez
Keyword(s):  
Child Abuse ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Previous History ◽  
Work Memory ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Abused Children ◽  
History Of ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
The Relationship

IntroductionIt has been shown that children with a history of abuse tend to have a deficit in both their academic and cognitive abilities. Mesa-Gresa, P., & Moya-Albiol, L. (2011) [1]. This study aimed to identify the relationship between abuse (psychological, neglect, custody and abandonment) and the performance of executive functions of memory of verbal work and inhibition.MethodThe Executive Function battery (Gonzalez, M., & Ostrosky, F., 2012) [2] was applied to 38 preschoolers 4–5 year olds who have experience abuse and to 36 preschoolers who have not. Data was analysed using the test t for independent samples and the Chi-cuadrado from Pearson.ResultsInhibition was affected in children with psychological abuse and negligence. It means that children presented difficulty in controlling their behaviour. Children victim of abandonment showed lower performance of executive functions of memory of verbal work. Such function allows them to carry on daily activities efficiently. Conversely, children without previous history of abuse showed higher performance in both tests especially in inhibition.ConclusionFindings suggest that child abuse in preschoolers can influence the performance in their executive functions without difference in gender.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals Estimating Judicial Ideology

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-118
Author(s):  
Adam Bonica ◽  
Maya Sen
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Federal Courts ◽  
Future Research ◽  
State Court ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Supreme Court ◽  
Judicial Ideology ◽  
Rightward Movement

We review the substantial literature on estimating judicial ideology, from the US Supreme Court to the lowest state court. As a way to showcase the strengths and drawbacks of various measures, we further analyze trends in judicial polarization within the US federal courts. Our analysis shows substantial gaps in the ideology of judges appointed by Republican Presidents versus those appointed by Democrats. Similar to trends in Congressional polarization, the increasing gap is mostly driven by a rightward movement by judges appointed by Republicans. We conclude by noting important avenues for future research in the study of the ideology of judges.

Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration and Psychopathy: A Comprehensive Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily L. Robertson ◽  
Toni M. Walker ◽  
Paul J. Frick
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Child Abuse ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Psychopathic Traits ◽  
Medium Effect ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ipv Perpetration

Abstract. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the physical, sexual, and psychological abuse of an intimate partner and is a widespread, international public health crisis. An important proximate risk factor for IPV perpetration is the presence of psychopathic traits but there has not been a systematic review of the research linking psychopathic traits to IPV perpetration. We identified 43 studies using 13,476 participants (9,024 men and 4,452 women) across 10 countries that met our search criteria that led to the following conclusions. First, psychopathy was associated with IPV perpetration with medium effect sizes, even after accounting for various distal and proximate risk factors. Second, the different dimensions of psychopathy did not consistently differ in their prediction of IPV perpetration. Third, within individuals with a history of IPV perpetration, psychopathy did not relate to the frequency or severity of partner violence. Fourth, a few studies have tested the associations among child abuse, psychopathy, and IPV, with one study reporting that the combination of child abuse and psychopathic traits led to especially high risk for IPV perpetration. Lastly, we conclude by making recommendations for how future research and interventions should consider psychopathy to reduce the societal burden of IPV.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document