Profiling the volatile organic compound signature of illicit drugs.

This article examines systematic breaches of medical confidentiality in Argentina's reproductive healthcare system, where healthcare providers often report patients experiencing obstetric emergencies to law enforcement agencies. Drawing on judicial records, interviews with healthcare professionals, and analysis of medical curricula, the study shows how structural weaknesses, regulatory ambiguities, and biases in medical education undermine professional confidentiality, turning hospitals into patients' entry points to the criminal justice system rather than spaces of care. Despite strong constitutional protections and Supreme Court rulings affirming patients' rights to confidentiality, significant gaps persist between legal standards and practice. Situating Argentina within broader Latin American patterns, the article argues that clearer institutional guidelines, improved professional training, and consistent judicial interpretation are needed to align medical practice with human rights standards and rebuild patient trust.

Many sexual assault victims choose not to report their assault to police, and identifying characteristics that predict non-reporting can highlight areas for improvement in the criminal legal system's response to sexual assault. In the current study, we analyzed 655 medical forensic records collected at a hospital-based forensic nursing program to determine what victim and assault characteristics predict victims' reporting decisions after sexual assault. Using logistic regression, we determined that increased victim age (OR = 1.02, p = .02), receiving the medical forensic exam within 24 hr of the assault (OR = 2.51, p < .001), anogenital injury (OR = 1.60, p = .008), and physical non-anogenital injury (OR = 1.47, p = .04) predicted increased odds of police reporting. While intermittent memory loss did not significantly relate to reporting, complete memory loss predicted a significantly lower likelihood of reporting the assault (OR = 0.45, p < .001). There was no significant difference in reporting between White victims and Black or African American victims, but victims who were Hispanic or Latine (OR = 1.76, p = .02) or whose race and ethnicity was reflected in a category inclusive of Asian or Pacific Islander, Arab or Middle Eastern, Bi- or Multiracial, and other identities (OR = 2.01, p = .02) were significantly more likely to report than White victims. Physical force, presence of a weapon, and the presence of multiple perpetrators did not relate to police reporting. Findings suggest that victims may make reporting decisions, in part, based on perceptions of evidentiary strength. Law enforcement agencies committed to investigating all reported assaults should explore ways to communicate to victims that evidence can be an outcome of a police investigation and is not a prerequisite to reporting sexual assault.

ABSTRACT Identifying violent extremists online before their engagement in physical violence is an ongoing need for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers around the world. Yet the evidence base about their posting footprints or differences in their online behaviors compared to their non-violent counterparts is noticeably scarce. Even less is empirically known about the relationship between their posting behaviors, membership in a violent extremist group, and risk for categorization as violent. This study drew from a unique sample of violent and non-violent right-wing extremists to examine the effect of violent extremist group membership on posting behaviors and risk for violence categorization within a sub-forum of the largest white supremacy web-forum. This study also examined how violence status and violent extremist group membership predicts time to going dormant in the online space. Firth logistic regression modeling was used to examine whether group membership predicted risk for violence categorization. Hazard modeling and survival analysis were then used to examine extremist group membership and violence status as predictors of time to dormancy. Several noteworthy posting patterns were identified in the data that may assist law enforcement and intelligence agencies in identifying credible threats online.

Fraud and scams are some of the most common crimes in the world, inflicting staggering emotional, financial, health, and psychological suffering on millions of individuals each year. Despite this widespread and extensive impact, the psychological research on what renders some individuals more susceptible to fraudulent solicitations, what mechanisms scammers use to lure potential victims, what therapeutic programs can help victims, what educational/preventive programs can reduce compliance, what can be done to increase reporting, and what policies are needed to safeguard the public is just emerging. To address this pressing social problem, this article has several goals. First, it is designed to provide readers with state-of-the-art insights into fraud research: what has been done thus far and what is urgently missing. Its second purpose is to highlight the urgency of the problem and encourage researchers to conduct relevant research in their domain of expertise. Our primary goal, however, is to reach beyond the academic sphere. To fight fraud, we must unite forces with private and not-for-profit organizations, education providers, financial institutions, government entities, grassroots organizations, international organizations, law enforcement agencies, and many more. To that end, we hope this article draws the attention of a wide range of stakeholders and encourages collaborations that produce direct action.

The effects of recreational marijuana legalization on driving under the influence of marijuana in a neighboring state: A cross-border quasi-experiment.

ABSTRACT ‘The law is the law’, or so it seems. In practice, laws must be interpreted, and heritage laws are a prime example. Lawmakers (i.e. politicians and lawyers, hopefully working in consultation with enforcement agencies and heritage practitioners) may have general and specific views on how laws operate in practice and how that vision may be realised; after all, new laws are generally designed to change the status quo or (at least) protect it. It is also possible that the practical implementation of certain heritage law (largely the responsibility of law enforcement agencies) might evolve from this. This can be attributed to cultural or societal issues and/or (most likely) due to resource allocation. In this paper, we take the example of processing treasure finds in parts of the United Kingdom, specifically in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which are covered by the Treasure Act 1996, and (secondly) ways of dealing with avocational metal-detecting, in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, where most archaeological works, including metal-detecting, are licenced. These examples will show that the law is open to interpretation that this is often due to resourcing (or lack thereof), and that practices will vary from one territory/jurisdiction to another.

ObjectiveThis study conducted a comprehensive analysis of psychological and institutional factors that lead to the transformation of criminal behaviour in conditions of armed conflict, using the Russian-Ukrainian war as a case study.MethodThis research was based on qualitative analysis of secondary data. The study examined reports and analytical materials from international monitoring missions, including the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and Amnesty International. These sources were compared with theoretical approaches from criminal psychology and criminology in order to identify patterns in behavioural transformation under wartime conditions.ResultsThe findings demonstrate that the transformation of criminal behaviour occurs at 3 interconnected levels. First, the destruction or weakening of legitimate legal institutions in occupied territories creates an institutional vacuum and a state of anomie, which facilitates opportunistic crimes such as looting and organised criminal activity, including enforced disappearances. Second, among combatants there is a normalisation of violence supported by psychological mechanisms such as dehumanisation and moral disengagement, which contributes to systematic war crimes, including torture, sexual violence, and indiscriminate attacks. Third, changes occur in the behaviour of the civilian population, manifested in survival-related crimes, aggression caused by trauma, and forced criminalisation through collaboration with occupying authorities.ConclusionsThis report describes how armed conflict significantly alters patterns of criminal behaviour through the interaction of institutional collapse and psychological adaptation to violence. The results emphasise the need to incorporate psychological factors into post-war justice mechanisms and conflict-zone law enforcement strategies. They may also contribute to the development of post-war rehabilitation programs, improvements in transitional justice systems, and the training of peacekeeping personnel and law enforcement agencies operating in conflict environments.

In India, sexual offenses against children are gender neutralized and addressed by the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act of 2012. Still, the medical/legal literature, clinical suspicion, and judicial discourse continue to be implicitly gendered, resulting in poor detection rates of sexual offenses against male children and inadequate interpretation thereof. The available evidence base is consistent in indicating that a large proportion of child sexual abuse victims are males. Social stigma, delayed presentation, and lack of physician knowledge complicate underreporting and diagnosis. Male children present late and mostly without any visible physical injury, making it challenging to interpret and legally prove. This short communication proposes a structured and evidence-based classification of sexual offenses against male children, explicitly in line with the current Indian legal system. The classification includes penetrative sexual assaults, nonpenetrative sexual assaults, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, and child sexual abuse materials, including aggravated and institutional abuses, in relation to the relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Through the integration of patterns of abuse common in male victims, which include anal/sexual/penetrative abuse, coercive acts, non-contact crimes, and online abuse, with corresponding legal provisions under the POCSO Act, this classification scheme aims to address the gaps between medical diagnosis and legal determination. In addition, the article provides information on major medico-legal concerns, including the mandatory reporting law, the absence of tangible evidence, and the importance of meticulous medical documentation of the history of the abuse, behavioral symptoms, and evidence from the Internet. Collaboration among experts from various disciplines, such as pediatric medicine, forensic science, law enforcement agencies, and child protection services, is also vital. Male children should be considered vulnerable victims, too. With a POCSOoriented and male-friendly classification scheme, improved awareness and understanding in cases of child sexual abuse in India can be achieved.

ABSTRACT Practitioners’ preparedness for working with technology-facilitated child sexual abuse (TF-CSEA) has attracted limited attention in Australia. This study maps the capacity of the Australian sexual assault sector to support victims of TF-CSEA, including victims of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and online child sexual extortion. A national survey of 124 practitioners was conducted to assess individual, organisational, and systemic dimensions of sector capacity. Practitioners’ self-reported experiences were treated as indicators of the sector’s collective readiness. Quantitative data from closed questions were analysed descriptively, and qualitative responses were coded thematically. Most practitioners reported only moderate preparedness to support victims, and few had access to specialist training or TF-CSEA-specific resources. Services predominantly relied on traditional “in-person” child sexual abuse (CSA) frameworks that offer limited guidance for managing digital evidence, online harms, and cross-jurisdictional issues. Practitioners identified systemic barriers, including fragmented interagency coordination, unclear referral pathways, and insufficient policy support. The findings highlight that sector capacity limitations reflect structural and policy constraints rather than practitioner deficits. This underscores the need for investment in specialist training, national coordination frameworks, and updated service systems that address online forms of abuse in Australia. IMPLICATIONS Advanced, accredited training can help social workers and related professionals keep pace with effective supports for children and adults who have experienced technology-facilitated child sexual abuse. Extending existing child sexual abuse practice frameworks to include online harms can strengthen social work and allied practice in responding to legal, digital, and psychological complexities. Clearer collaboration between social workers, law enforcement, and online safety agencies can improve referral pathways and reduce uncertainty for victims seeking support.

Identifying static and dynamic risk factors for child sexual offending is essential for risk assessment and the guidance of therapeutic interventions. However, individuals who commit offences involving child sexual abuse material (CSAM) offenders, especially those that are unknown to law enforcement agencies, have been less extensively studied. This study investigated static and dynamic risk factors for undetected CSAM offending. A sample of n = 102 men who are diagnosed with paedophilic disorder and had voluntarily participated in a German prevention project focusing on individuals at risk of offending were examined. A binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore the associations between risk factors and CSAM-offending (CSAM offenders: n = 72; non-CSAM offenders: n = 30). Hypersexuality as measured by the subscale ‘consequences’ of the HBI-19 and offence-supportive cognitions significantly increased the odds of CSAM offending. The present study underscores the importance of examining the generalisability of static and dynamic risk factors for CSA to the group of CSAM offenders. A major strength of this study is that it investigates a group of offenders that is difficult to approach: men with a paedophilic and/or hebephilic sexual preference disorder who are unknown to law enforcement agencies.

This study challenges the assumption that collaboration beyond work-unit boundaries consistently enhances performance and demonstrates that the impacts of inter-unit collaboration are not uniform across different government agencies. Using multi-group analysis of Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) data, we compare two U.S. federal agencies with contrasting institutional logics: a bureaucratic law enforcement agency (ICE) and an entrepreneurial science research center (GSFC). In doing so, we propose a model explaining how inter-unit collaboration influences performance through knowledge acquisition and resource availability as mediating variables. The analysis revealed that inter-unit collaboration had a significantly greater impact on work unit performance in the bureaucratic ICE than in the entrepreneurial GSFC. Specifically, the total effect of inter-unit collaboration on unit performance was 0.166 for ICE and 0.087 for GSFC, whereas the total effect of intra-unit collaboration reached 0.525 and 0.686, respectively. These findings contradict our hypothesis that inter-unit collaboration will be more beneficial in entrepreneurial agencies. Looking closely at the mediating paths, we argue that high technical complexity and rigid task compartmentalization in scientific agencies create barriers to lateral sharing, whereas law enforcement tasks are often case-based and emergency-driven and require more effective real-time coordination among units. Paradoxically, this unexpected result reinforces our initial assumption that inter-unit collaboration can produce diverse outcomes by showing that the nature of tasks and the resulting collaboration structures—factors we initially overlooked—serve as contingencies for performance gains.

ABSTRACT This article interrogates how the U.S. driver's license achieved its central status in the governance and criminalization of non-citizens. It identifies the means through which it was used to construct a dichotomy between verifiable citizens and unverifiable non-citizens by tracing the license's historical development. Such a historical approach, in combination with ethnographic engagement, allows for an analysis that does not treat the REAL ID as merely a novel border technology, but as an extension of an older technology of racial containment centered around the photographic portrait. The article examines the two-decade-long implementation of the REAL ID, and its function as a technology of containment targeting non-citizens-especially those without status. It draws on archival and ethnographic research on driver's license discourse, attitudes, and laws in Massachusetts, including a campaign seeking to expand eligibility to all drivers regardless of status. The article advances a two-part argument. First, the post-9/11 call for interoperable identification systems formally extended the role of the driver's license from an infrastructure largely used to regulate the mobility of Black citizens into one meant to detect, immobilize, and deter non-citizens. Second, the implementation of this identity infrastructure, which was expected to ensure the smooth circulation of information (Chaar-López, I., 2019. Sensing intruders: race and the automation of border control. American quarterly, 71 (2), 495-518) contributed to the production of conditions of viscous mobility for illegalized non-citizens. Under conditions of viscous mobility, illegalized residents do not fully lose their right to mobility, but experience mobility as highly contained and risk-laden; circulating increases the potential opportunities to be ID'd, detained, and deported. Viscous mobility is produced through state and law enforcement agencies' advancement of centralized identity technologies and interoperable databases, cooperative agreements between police and immigration enforcement agencies, multi-sited enforcement patterns, and bureaucratic delay.

There is a dearth of data on "successful" criminal offenders who escape detection and no research on emotion processes characterizing this group. This study examines whether autonomic fear conditioning at age 3 years is associated with adult successful and unsuccessful (caught) criminal offending. Participants (N = 940) were drawn from a birth cohort on the island of Mauritius. Autonomic fear conditioning was assessed at age 3, with skin conductance recorded to reinforced (CS+) and unreinforced (CS-) auditory stimuli. Self-report criminal offending was assessed at age 39. Offenders were divided into successful and unsuccessful groups based on detection/conviction at ages 23 and 39 and compared with noncriminal controls. There was a significant Group × Conditional Stimulus interaction (p = .019). A breakdown of this interaction indicated that successful criminals showed significantly greater responding to the CS+ than both unsuccessful criminals (p = .003) and controls (p < .001), with no group differences on CS-, indicating superior conditioning in successful criminals. Three sensitivity analyses confirmed these findings. We hypothesize that enhanced fear conditioning in successful offenders results in an enhanced ability to detect environmental cues associated with punishment, resulting in escape from law enforcement agencies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Illegal logging is a serious environmental problem in Indonesia due to its direct impact on forest destruction, biodiversity loss, and increased carbon emissions. The Indonesian government has established various public policies and legal instruments to address illegal logging practices, such as the Forestry Law, the licensing system, and strengthening law enforcement agencies. However, the effectiveness of these policies remains a concern, given that illegal logging cases continue to occur in various regions. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of public policies in enforcing environmental law, focusing on illegal logging cases in Indonesia. The method used in this study is a normative juridical approach by examining regulations, government policies, and secondary data from reports from relevant institutions and previous research results. Analysis shows that despite comprehensive public policy design, its implementation still faces various obstacles, such as weak oversight, poor coordination between institutions, limited human resources, and corrupt practices. Furthermore, social and economic factors in communities surrounding forests also influence the success of environmental law enforcement. Therefore, strengthening law enforcement agencies, transparency and accountability, and active community involvement in forest management are essential. With these improvements, public policy is expected to be more effective in preventing and combating illegal logging for the sake of environmental sustainability in Indonesia.

The pathology of contemporary wildlife governance in Africa stems from the Convention Relative to the Preservation of Fauna and Flora in their Natural State, 1933. The Convention established a legal framework that led to the development of wildlife laws and regulations (WLRs) that are inconsistent with the socio-ecological conditions and livelihood practices of African communities. A systematic comparison of national WLRs across African jurisdictions reveals similarities and path dependency in the legal framework, demonstrating an enduring colonial legacy. This framework relies on protected areas (PAs) as a principal tool for wildlife governance. The establishment of PAs led to the dispossession and erasure of the custodianship of the African people of their land. PAs also created a distinction between the ‘wild’ and the ‘people,’ a departure from most African communities’ relational approach to human–nature interactions. This PA governance model employs two primary methods to preserve wildlife: One focuses on preventing threats, and the other on controlling property rights. These methods of preserving wildlife require a law enforcement agency, often a militarized institution, to guard the boundaries of the PAs and prevent surrounding communities from accessing and using resources without conferred property rights. The resulting governance systems alienate African communities, furthering human–wildlife separation. Moreover, this governance model is not responsive to the challenges facing wildlife, which are exacerbated by rapid urbanization resulting from population growth. Effective wildlife governance requires breaking free from this legal approach established by preservationists in the early 20th century and centering the customary rights and livelihood needs of African communities.

Toxicological testing for drugs of abuse (DOAs) is an essential tool for healthcare practitioners and law enforcement agencies. Oral fluid (OF) is an alternative biological fluid for detecting recent DOA intake and is widely employed in forensic investigations. In the current study, a relatively novel and “green” fabric phase sorptive extraction (FPSE) procedure for sample preparation was coupled to liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) to provide simplicity, cost-effectiveness, rapidity, low solvent consumption, and high analytical performance for the quantitative determination of ten commonly encountered DOAs and metabolites: amphetamine, benzoylecgonine, cocaine, codeine, ecgonine methyl ester, methadone, methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine, 6-monoacetylmorphine, and morphine. The FPSE procedure was optimized by testing different filters, pH, extraction time, and solvents. The validated method demonstrated excellent linearity for all analytes, selectivity, acceptable precision, and high sensitivity (ranges for limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) were 0.01–2 ng/mL and 0.03–6 ng/mL, respectively). Autosampler and short-term freeze stability exceeded 95% and 90% for all analytes, respectively. Overall, the combination of FPSE with LC–MS/MS provided a sensitive, selective, and environmentally friendly innovative analytical approach for the determination of DOA in OF and is suitable for both screening and confirmatory forensic and clinical applications.

Recent decisions by the Trump administration to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents to American cities have raised significant questions about the role of local law enforcement agencies in immigration enforcement. The partnership between immigration enforcement and local police, such as the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), has a long and contested history. Beginning in 1979, LAPD’s Special Order 40 ostensibly prevented police officers from collaborating with federal immigration agents. However, the LAPD often found ways to circumvent the policy during periods of crisis, including the 1992 Los Angeles unrest and the war on gangs in the 1990s. Collaboration between ICE and local police, this article suggests, threatens to weaken trust in law enforcement and undermine public safety.

Since the 1980s, quality management mechanisms gradually emerged in forensic science as a response to the challenges faced by the discipline across the globe. However, in recent years, there has been debates about whether current quality assurance and accreditation frameworks are fit-for-purpose, in particular regarding crime scene examination. Therefore, this proof-of-concept study aims to provide some preliminary empirical insights into this question and explore some of the challenges associated with the assessment of the impact of accreditation of crime scene units under both ISO/IEC 17025 and the AS 5388 quality standards. To do so, open-sourced data drawn from the Report on Government Services (RoGS) were analysed using an exploratory difference-in-difference framework and multiple linear regression models to compare pre- and post-accreditation finalisation rates for various offences, in unaccredited and accredited Australian law enforcement agencies. The findings suggest that, based on the data available and within the methodological limitations of this study, accreditation under the ISO/IEC 17025 quality standard had mostly no significant improvement or decline in finalisation rates. In contrast, accreditation under the AS 5388 quality standard was consistently associated with significantly higher finalisation rates among accredited agencies compared to their non-accredited counterparts. While these results echo ongoing debates and uncertainties regarding the positive and/or negative impacts of accreditation and quality assurance in forensic science (if any), above all, they underscore the challenges of defining clear objectives, developing appropriate metrics, and designing robust methodological approaches for a more comprehensive empirical assessment of their effects. Although finalisation rates alone provide a limited indicator, this study represents a valuable first step toward a systematic evaluation of the impact of quality assurance and accreditation in forensic science.

Sudden cardiac death remains a major clinical and social challenge. The number of cases still remains higher in Italy, both involving patients suffering from overt heart disease and those otherwise healthy. The heterogeneous mechanisms leading to cardiac arrest call for a comprehensive preventive strategy plan that combines clinical assessment, advanced diagnostic tools, and public health initiatives. The need for counteracting a transient period of elevated risk - as in post-infarction - forces to the use of a wearable cardioverter-defibrillator as it provides temporary protection while awaiting definitive reassessment. On the contrary, when cardiac arrest affects young and apparently healthy individuals, preventive efforts necessarily extend to their families to identify inherited conditions that would otherwise remain unrecognized. In the out-of-hospital setting, survival largely depends on the actions taken within the first few minutes. Therefore accessible defibrillators, widespread community training, and the active involvement of law enforcement agencies and schools can significantly enhance the response to out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. This paper ultimately outlines a roadmap that integrates clinical risk stratification, the expansion of territorial networks, broad training initiatives, and consistent institutional coordination. The goal is to establish a coherent national framework that can reduce regional disparities, enhance the early identification of at-risk individuals, and improve survival rates after cardiac arrest.