Federal Bureau Of Investigation Research Articles

Temporal and spatial effects of mass shootings on gun demand

AbstractMass shootings in the U.S. have been at the center of the public crisis debate for a long time. Combining information on mass shootings with background check reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, this study applies mass shootings as exogenous shocks and reveals that the demand for guns is especially strong in the month in which a shooting occurs, and it decays with time. In addition, results confirm a spatial spillover effect of mass shootings, in which a mass shooting in one state affects gun demand in other states. The magnitude of the effect depends on the distance between the states. Our analysis also explores the difference in the effects between states with loose regulations on handguns and long guns and those with strict regulations. In the former, gun demand increases significantly after mass shootings, whereas in the latter the increase is insignificant. Finally, this study shows that consumers respond heterogeneously given the different characteristics of mass shootings, such as the number of victims and location.

Developmental validation of NeoTyper autosomal STR kit

BackgroundShort Tandem Repeats (STRs) are pivotal to efficient human DNA profiling. Including mini-STRs can further improve the assay's efficiency. The FBI's (Federal Bureau of Investigation) expanded Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) list contains twenty STRs for human identification. The NeoTyper Autosomal kit developed by Neom Scientific Solutions Pvt. Ltd. enables the amplification of 28 loci, which include markers from the expanded CODIS list, are National DNA Index System (NDIS) recommended markers, and comply with the NDIS recommended allelic range. In addition, the kit also includes 8 more markers including Penta D and Penta E. The NeoTyper Autosomal kit STR markers includes 14 mini-STR which makes it very effective for the human identification of the degraded samples like unidentified body remains.This is a developmental validation study for NeoTyper, based on the listed Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM) guidelines. MethodologyWe extracted the human genomic DNA from blood and FFPE (Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded) samples, and performed PCR amplification for the 28 loci using the developed kit, NeoTyper, which features a six-dye chemistry. The amplified products were run on 3500xL Genetic Analyzer. We used GeneMapper ID-X v.1.4 (Applied Biosystems) to analyse peak height and allele calling. Developmental validation parameters, including genetic characterization, analysis of sensitivity, female-male mixture, precision, and accuracy (repeatability and reproducibility), were investigated and analysed. Furthermore, intra- and inter-laboratory comparisons, as well as mini-STR analysis and validation were done. ResultsThe developed NeoTyper Autosomal kit demonstrated 100 % sensitivity up to a DNA concentration of 62.5 pg, as measured by the number of alleles called. The assay also demonstrated good precision (measured in terms of standard deviation, SD ranging between 0.60 and 0.77) and reproducibility, with alleles called at 100 % accuracy. Furthermore, precision was high (measured as SD ranging from 0.50 to 0.66), with a 100 % accuracy. In 90.9 % of the samples (10 out of 11 female-male sample varied ratio), the mixture analysis revealed 100 % of the alleles being called. A comparative analysis of mini-STRs in GlobalFiler and NeoTyper Autosomal kit revealed a 100 % accuracy of the NeoTyper mini-STRs. ConclusionIn conclusion, the NeoTyper Autosomal kit developed by Neom Scientific Solutions Pvt. Ltd. enables the amplification of 28 loci, which includes markers from expanded CODIS list; are NDIS accepted markers and comply with their recommended allelic range. The integration of mini-STRs in the kit demonstrates its efficacy and reliability, particularly when addressing the difficulties posed by degraded samples. This developmental validation study demonstrates consistent performance with high sensitivity, precision and accuracy (repeatability and reproducibility) which is indicative of an advanced and efficient system for human identification.

Relational freedom and the Ilan Pappe case: an anthropological proposal for freedom

PurposeThis article problematizes the concept of freedom rooted in liberalism, examining the detention of historian Ilan Pappe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at Detroit Airport in the United States as an emblematic case study.Design/methodology/approachThe research adopts a methodological triangulation approach, based on an analysis that combines data about the event and theories about the concept of freedom, problematizing authors who focused on the relationship between the individual and society in a liberal context, where individualism serves as the basis for specific conceptions of social relations.FindingsThrough the use of authors such as John Stuart Mill and John Locke, as well as the contributions of authors like Norbert Elias, it is argued that true freedom is relational, rooted in social interdependencies and the social construction of an individuality that is not individualistic but intrinsically linked to collective aspects.Social implicationsPappe’s case illustrates the tensions between individual freedom and collective interests, highlighting the need to reassess freedom of expression in complex political and social contexts.Originality/valueThis article proposes a more inclusive and interconnected view of human freedom, where individual and collective interests are negotiated within a dynamic web of social relations.

Perpetrator characteristics and firearm use in pediatric homicides: Supplementary Homicide Reports - United States, 1976 to 2020

BackgroundDescribe trends in perpetrator characteristics and firearm use in pediatric homicides across the United States.MethodsMultiply-imputed data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 1976–2020 Supplementary Homicide Reports were used to estimate perpetrator characteristics (sex, age, and relationship to victim) and firearm use in pediatric homicides. Descriptive analyses were stratified by victim age group, sex, race, and five-year time periods.ResultsFamily members were the most common perpetrator of infant and toddler (ages 0–4) and child (ages 5–12) homicides, whereas acquaintances accounted for the majority of adolescent (ages 13–19) homicides. Perpetrator characteristics vary across victim sex and race, particularly among adolescents. Despite overall stability, there were changes in perpetrator characteristics from 1976 to 2020. There was a sustained increase in the proportion of homicides committed with a firearm. In 2016–2020, the proportion of firearm-involved homicides was an all-time high for infant and toddler (14.8%), child (53.1%), and adolescent victims (88.5%).ConclusionsPolicy interventions that improve family stability and well-being may be most effective at preventing infant, toddler, and child homicides, whereas programs that target peer and community relationships, as well as policies that focus on firearm access, may be more crucial for preventing adolescent homicides.

Terrorism and War Crimes: Two Sides of The Same Coin?

The definition of terrorism is not consensual, even within the same country. Indeed, in the United States of America, a country where the fight against terrorism is one of the present political priorities, the definition varies depending on whether the source is the Department of Defense (DoD), the US Code, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Department of State, but this lack of consensus does not mean that terrorism is not considered a crime according to the Resolution 49/6026 of 17 February 1995 of the United Nations General Assembly. However, many experts on the thematic do not accept the definition of terrorism as an international crime in time of peace defending that terrorism is essentially the violation of domestic laws which have their genesis in treaties to which states may or may not adhere, and this explains why some countries refuse to reduce their sovereignty and do not accept to transfer the jurisdiction for crimes of international terrorism to supranational institutions. According to this vision, terrorism must be included as a subtype in one of the four modalities that are already recognized by international law. This article reflects on the relationship between terrorism and the modalities of war crimes judged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and seeks to show that the seriousness of the terrorist threat justifies that terrorism should be considered an autonomous international crime.

The U.S. National Cybersecurity Strategy: A Vehicle with an International Journey

The U.S. National Cybersecurity Strategy is focused on the five pillars of defending critical infrastructure: detect, disrupt, and dismantle threat actors; improve market resilience and security; invest in future resilience; and create international partnerships with shared goals. The National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan is focused on critical infrastructure supporting energy, financial, healthcare, information technology, and manufacturing sectors. In the U.S. alone, the SolarWinds supply chain attack affected nine federal agencies and about 100 companies. Ransomware attacks such as the Colonial Pipelines, the largest U.S. oil pipeline, disrupted supplies of gasoline and fuel to the U.S. East Coast and the JBS USA as the largest meat processor ransomware attack affecting one-fifth of the nation’s meat supply. The U.S. National Cybersecurity Strategy as a response to the U.S.’s critical infrastructure concerns led to the creation of two core cybersecurity documents which were crafted jointly with several other allies. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) crafted the Shifting the Balance of Cybersecurity Risk: Principles and Approaches for Secure by Design Software with joint agreement with National Security Agency (NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and 15 international government agencies to give international vendors a roadmap of the expected cybersecurity hygiene required from their products. (CISA, 2023a; Car & De Luca, 2022) Building on the Shifting the Balance of Cybersecurity Risk: Principles and Approaches for Secure by Design Software, CISA, FBI and NSA met with cybersecurity organizations from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and United Kingdom and jointly created The Case for Memory Safe Roadmaps: Why Both C-Suite Executives and Technical Experts Need to Take Memory Safe Coding Seriously as a core issue identified in the earlier guidance. (CISA, 2023c). These led by the U.S. helped initiate an international cybersecurity norm insisting international software manufacturers demonstrate product security and transparency. They showed how a global community can rally to solve cybersecurity challenges that have existed for decades. This led to twenty of the largest international software vendors creating the Minimum Viable Secure Product (MSVP) Working Group to address the requirements levied by these documents; CISA has joined this working group to help shape procurement, contractual controls, self-assessment, and system development lifecycle (SDLC) with these vendors. (CISA, 2024d; MSVP, n.d.) This research argues that the U.S. National Security Council (NSC) should leverage the talent pool of CISA, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Department of Defense (DoD), FBI, and NSA to improve detection, information sharing, security standards, and implementation for not only the U.S.’s government and commercial sectors, but also helps our allies and partners. The DoD and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) have made great strides in improving security by integrating improvements with Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA), Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM), Software Supply Chain Security, Cybersecurity Safety Review Board (CSRB), Cybersecurity Incident & Vulnerability Response Playbooks, and DoD National Security Systems (NSS) standards. The NSC should coordinate through CISA to develop a collaborative effort to not only benefit the U.S. critical infrastructure but also help our allies and partners.

A collaborative study on the precision of the Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms used for DNA profile interpretation

Several fully continuous probabilistic genotyping software (PGS) use Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms (MCMC) to assign weights to different proposed genotype combinations at a locus. Replicate interpretations of the same profile in these software are expected not to produce identical weights and likelihood ratio (LR) values due to the Monte Carlo aspect. This paper reports a detailed precision study under reproducibility conditions conducted as a collaborative exercise across the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR). Replicate interpretations generated across the three laboratories used the same input files, software version, and settings but different random number seed and different computers. This work demonstrates that using different computers to analyze replicate interpretations does not contribute to any variations in LR values. The study quantifies the magnitude of differences in the assigned LRs that is only due to run-to-run MCMC variability and addresses the potential explanations for the observed differences.

The Rule of Law in Red and Blue: Affective Polarization and Support for Legal Institutions in the United States

A defining feature of democracies is an independent legal system, where elites and the public alike accept the broader legitimacy of its actions, even if they run counter to political preferences. Existing scholarship suggests that public support for rule of law institutions is rooted in perceptions of procedural fairness. However, amid increasing levels of affective polarization, we posit a partisan presidential heuristic wherein citizens’ views of legal institutions are influenced by their partisanship and signals from the president. Through multiple experiments, we demonstrate that support for two key institutions—the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice—is substantially derived from the intersection of one’s partisan identity and their partisan proximity to the president. These effects are strongest among respondents exhibiting high levels of affective partisanship. Our results suggest that in forming perceptions of the rule of law, partisan politics is increasingly competing with perceptions of procedural fairness, thereby subverting support for legal institutions in the United States.

REAL TIME FACE ATTENDANCE SYSTEM USING DEEP LEARNING

One's face is a physical depiction of who they are. As a result, we have suggested a facial recognition- based automatic student attendance system. The usage of face recognition technology in everyday life is particularly beneficial for security control systems. Face recognition is used by the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) for criminal investigations as well as the airport security system to identify criminals. In the first step of our suggested method, video framing, the camera is activated using a user-friendly interface. The Viola-Jones method is used to identify and segment the face ROI from the video frame. If necessary, image size scaling is done at the pre-processing step to prevent information loss. After using the median filter to reduce noise, color pictures are transformed into grayscale versions. Then, to improve the contrast of the pictures, contrast-limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) is applied. Principal component analysis (PCA) and improved local binary pattern (LBP) are used appropriately in the face identification stage to extract the characteristics from facial pictures. By minimizing the lighting impact and boosting identification rates, the improved local binary pattern outperforms the original local binary pattern in our suggested method. The features that were retrieved from the training pictures and the features that were extracted from the test images are then compared. The face pictures are then identified and categorized using the upgraded LBP, PCA, and algorithm that produced the best results. The acknowledged student's attendance will then be recorded and saved in the excel file. A warning will be sent if a student signs in more than once. The student who is not enrolled will also be allowed to register right away. When two photographs per person are trained, the average recognition accuracy is 100% for high-quality images, 94.12% for low-quality images, and 95.76% for the face database.

Insider Threats to the Military Health System: A Systematic Background Check of TRICARE West Providers.

To address the pandemic, the Defense Health Agency (DHA) expanded its TRICARE civilian provider network by 30.1%. In 2022, the DHA Annual Report stated that TRICARE's provider directories were only 80% accurate. Unlike Medicare, the DHA does not publicly reveal National Provider Identification (NPI) numbers. As a result, TRICARE's 9.6 million beneficiaries lack the means to verify their doctor's credentials. Since 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has excluded 17,706 physicians and other providers from federal health programs due to billing fraud, neglect, drug-related convictions, and other offenses. These providers and their NPIs are included on the OIG's List of Excluded Individuals and Entities (LEIE). Patients who receive care from excluded providers face higher risks of hospitalization and mortality. We sought to assess the extent to which TRICARE screens health care provider names on their referral website against criminal databases. Between January 1-31, 2023, we used TRICARE West's provider directory to search for all providers within a 5-mile radius of 798 zip codes (38 per state, ≥10,000 residents each, randomly entered). We then copied and pasted all directory results' first and last names, business names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, degree types, practice specialties, and active or closed statuses into a CSV file. We cross-referenced the search results against US and state databases for medical and criminal misconduct, including the OIG-LEIE and General Services Administration's (GSA) SAM.gov exclusion lists, the HHS Office of Civil Rights Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) breach reports, 15 available state Medicaid exclusion lists (state), the International Trade Administration's Consolidated Screening List (CSL), 3 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) debarment lists, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) list of January 6 federal defendants, and the OIG-HHS list of fugitives (FUG). Our provider search yielded 111,619 raw results; 54 zip codes contained no data. After removing 72,156 (64.65%) duplicate entries, closed offices, and non-TRICARE West locations, we identified 39,463 active provider names. Within this baseline sample group, there were 2398 (6.08%) total matches against all exclusion and sanction databases, including 2197 on the OIG-LEIE, 2311 on the GSA-SAM.gov list, 2 on the HIPAA list, 54 on the state Medicaid exclusion lists, 69 on the CSL, 3 on the FDA lists, 53 on the FBI list, and 10 on the FUG. TRICARE's civilian provider roster merits further scrutiny by law enforcement. Following the National Institute of Standards and Technology 800, the DHA can mitigate privacy, safety, and security clearance threats by implementing an insider threat management model, robust enforcement of the False Claims Act, and mandatory security risk assessments. These are the views of the author, not the Department of Defense or the US government.

Good Guys Became Bad Guys? Changing Representations of Asians and Other Races in Crime News During COVID-19

During COVID-19, Asian Americans were perceived as a threat to the American society, which could have led to heightened media scrutiny and a shift in media portrayals. This study examines this question with a quantitative analysis of crime stories sampled from five newspapers (2019–2021). Our results suggested that large-scale social events such as COVID-19 might have transformed media representations of Asians and other racial groups, with noteworthy variability: (a) When considering all types of crimes, during the pandemic, news about lawbreaking activities by Asian perpetrators almost doubled that of before-COVID period. No significant change was uncovered in the coverage of Asian victims. (b) However, on two types of crimes—“crimes against persons” and “violent crimes”—that have more newsworthiness and social import, stories about Asian victims during the COVID-19 were higher than those of the before-COVID period. (c) When comparing media representations with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data, the percentage of Asian perpetrators and victims in newspapers did not differ from that of the FBI in 2019 and 2020; however, Asians were overrepresented as victims in 2021.

Using National Incident-Based Reporting System Data to Explore Animal Cruelty Incidents that Occur with Intimate Partner and Family Violence: A Brief Report

Abstract Purpose This brief report extends what is known about “the link” between animal cruelty and intimate partner violence (IPV) and family violence (FV). Specifically, it uses animal cruelty data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) to explore characteristics of incidents where animal cruelty and IPV or FV occur together. Methods This exploratory study analyzes 278 animal cruelty incidents that occurred with IPV or FV from the 2020 NIBRS data using descriptive and bivariate analyses. Results Findings from the NIBRS animal cruelty data suggest the importance of parsing out specific intimate and family relationships. While these patterns are similar to IPV and FV that occur with crimes outside of animal cruelty, previous research on the link has not examined these relationships. This study also found the majority of animal cruelty incidents that occur with IPV or FV end in an arrest. No previous work has identified arrest patterns in these cases. Conclusions Although exploratory, this study highlights the value of NIBRS animal cruelty data and the opportunity to gain insights at the incident level of details that were previously unavailable from other animal cruelty studies that consider IPV and FV. This study provides a foundation for future research that can inform theoretical development and prevention efforts related to the link.

Prevalence of Nursing Students With Background Check Findings.

Background checks (BGC) have been used in nursing education since the 2000s. Little is known about the prevalence of BGC among nursing students or how these students compare to the general population. This retrospective study describes aggregated, de-identified BGC data from 2014-2019 in 16 large nursing programs in the United States. An independent samples t test was used to compare U.S. regional means and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regional arrest data. The mean percentage of nursing student BGC with findings was 3.2% (minimum .00%, maximum 13.33%, SD 2.98%). The mean prevalence of BGC findings does not significantly differ among U.S. regions. There was no significant difference between BGC results in nursing students and regional FBI arrest data. Excluding students with BGC findings has not been studied but may represent a structural barrier to diversification of the nursing profession. Additional research linking BGC findings to public protection is required. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(1):32-37.].

State bureau of investigation (SBI) and Federal bureau of investigation (FBI): comparative analysis of certain elements of administrative and legal status

State bureau of investigation (SBI) and Federal bureau of investigation (FBI): comparative analysis of certain elements of administrative and legal status

К вопросу о классификации следственных групп на основе сравнительного анализа уголовно-процессуального законодательства Российской Федерации и США

The authors in the content of the article carries out a comparative legal analysis of the criminal procedural and departmental legislation of the Russian Federation and the United States of America regulating the processes of organization and activity of investigative groups formed in the system of law enforcement and investigative bodies of these states. It is noted that the criminal procedure legislation of the United States, due to the peculiarities of the Anglo-Saxon system of law, has many differences in the field of regulatory regulation of criminal proceedings, especially pre-trial stages. The author defines the preliminary investigation bodies of the Russian Federation and the investigative bodies of the United States, whose structure provides for the possibility of organizing and operating investigative groups. Thus, it is determined that these bodies in Russia, in accordance with the criminal procedure legislation of the Russian Federation, include investigative bodies of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, as well as investigative units of internal affairs bodies. In the law enforcement and law enforcement practice of the United States, the investigative bodies include, in accordance with national legislation, the police, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, while it is established that the form of investigation is an inquiry carried out by the judicial authorities authorized to investigate crimes. In the substantive part of the presented article, the author analyzes the provisions on the classification of investigative groups of investigative bodies of the Russian Federation and the United States, that is, on the types of investigative groups provided, the grounds for their division into types depending on the grounds defined by legislation. Thus, it is determined that investigative groups of Russian investigative bodies can be formed in the divisions of the relevant investigative bodies on the grounds provided for in Part 1 of art. 163 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, at the same time, similar grounds for the creation and assignment of an investigation to an investigation team are also enshrined in American criminal procedure legislation. As a rule, such grounds are the complexity of the criminal case (meaning the complexity in the process of investigation, collecting evidence, evidentiary information and attaching them to the criminal case), as well as a large amount of procedural and (or) other work on the criminal case. Another similar aspect in the context of comparative legal analysis of investigative groups of law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation and the United States is the possibility of organizing investigative and operational and interdepartmental groups. However, according to US law, the organization of investigative and operational groups is directly provided for by the norms of departmental legislation, and according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, the possibility of organizing investigative and operational groups (as well as interdepartmental ones), unfortunately, is not provided, as a result of which the procedural registration of the creation of such groups is reflected exclusively in the acts of the bodies of inquiry. In conclusion, the author also analyzes the features of the creation of investigative groups of US law enforcement agencies associated with the wide differentiation of investigative groups depending on the activities carried out: the investigation of certain types and categories of crimes; the formation, accumulation, systematization and improvement of law enforcement practices related to the activities of investigative groups to investigate crimes; the permanent nature of the activities of various investigative teams, which determines to a certain extent their effectiveness.

The First U.S.-Based Soviet Nuclear Spy: The Saga of Clarence Hiskey and Arthur Adams

Abstract Years before anything was publicly disclosed about the nuclear espionage of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Klaus Fuchs, and Theodore Hall, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and U.S. Army Intelligence identified Clarence Hiskey, a Manhattan Project scientist, as a Soviet spy helping to provide highly sensitive nuclear weapons information. The two agencies kept watch on a Soviet intelligence officer, Arthur Adams, who was living illegally in the United States and serving as Hiskey's control officer. Despite an extensive investigation, neither Hiskey nor Adams was ever arrested. Although Adams was named in a sensational tabloid newspaper article shortly after the end of World War II and closely shadowed by the FBI, he was able to flee to the Soviet Union. Hiskey was never indicted for espionage. Based on material released from declassified Russian archives and FBI files made available under the Freedom of Information Act, the article tells the story of the first U.S.-based nuclear spy and how he got away with it.

Common Healthcare Related Instruments Subjected To Magnetic Attraction Study (CHRISTMAS): prospective in situ experimental study.

To investigate the behaviour of common healthcare related objects in a 3 tesla (T) MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanner, examining their ability to self-propel towards the scanner bore and their potential for tissue penetration. Prospective in situ experimental study. Clinical 3 T MRI scanner. Customised rig designed and built to guide objects towards the scanner bore. 12 categories of objects commonly found in hospitals, or on patients or healthcare professionals, or near an MRI scanning room. Human tissue penetration simulated with ballistic gel (Federal Bureau of Investigation and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation graded). SANTA (site where applied newtonian mechanics triggers acceleration) measurements and depth of tissue penetration of the objects. SANTA measurements ranged from 0 cm for the 20 pence, 50 pence, and £2 coins to 152-161 cm for a knife and the biscuit tins. One penny, two pence, five pence, and 10 pence coins showed self-propulsion and acceleration towards the scanner bore at a distance >100 cm from the gantry entry point. Linear regression analysis showed no apparent correlation between the weight of the objects and their SANTA measurements (R2<0.1). Only five objects penetrated the ballistic gel (simulated human tissue). The deepest penetration was by the knife (5.5 cm), closely followed by the teaspoon (5.0 cm), fork (4.0 cm), spoon (3.5 cm), and a 10 pence coin (0.5 cm). Although the biscuit tins did not penetrate the simulated human tissue, they exerted substantial impact force which could potentially cause bone fractures. A smartphone, digital thermometer, metallic credit card, and pen torch remained fully functional after several passes into the MRI scanner. No discernible loss of image quality for the MRI scanner after the experiments was found. The study highlights the potential for harm (major tissue damage and bone fractures) when commonly found objects in a healthcare setting are unintentionally brought into the MRI scanner room. Patients and healthcare professionals need to be aware of the dangers associated with bringing ferromagnetic objects into the MRI environment.

Wheeling into school and out of crime: Evidence from linking driving licenses to minimum academic requirements

“No Pass No Drive” (NPND) laws deny or revoke driver's licenses to minors if they drop out of school, are frequent truants, show behavioral problems, or have a low academic performance. Using Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrest data, we exploit state, time, and cohort variation to show that NPND laws are associated with a significant decline in total crime, DUI and property crimes among 16 to 18 year old males, and in DUIs among 16 to 18 year old females. We argue that NPND laws are a relatively low cost policy alternative to compulsory attendance laws that increase education and generate positive externalities. To explore unreported in-school crimes, we use micro data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and find that NPND laws decrease in-school risky activities. However, we also find that they have unintended consequences for in-school risky behavior when accompanied with strict academic or behavioral requirements.

State Reporting Requirements for Involuntary Holds, Court-Ordered Guardianship, and the US National Firearm Background Check System

Firearm violence is a leading cause of death in the US. There is broad public agreement that individuals at high risk of perpetrating violence should not be allowed to purchase or possess firearms. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a national system intended to stop firearm purchases or possession by prohibited persons, but there is heterogeneity in how states interact with and report data to NICS. To examine variability in state requirements for NICS reporting for mental health prohibitions. This cross-sectional study in the US reviewed current statutes for all 50 states and the District of Columbia (enacted through the 2021 legislative session) regarding reporting mental health prohibitions to NICS or state systems. Data were analyzed from October 2022 to April 2023. For each state, the following were recorded: reliance on Federal Bureau of Investigation vs state point of contact for NICS checks; regulation requiring or allowing reporting to NICS for 3 hypothetical cases; and details on reporting responsibility and time frame. The number of NICS listings for adjudicated mental health reasons was obtained, and state rates per 1000 population were calculated. To compare states, we developed 3 hypothetical cases of individuals with risk of firearm violence, whether possibly temporary (involuntary commitment for decompensated psychosis, or involuntary short-term psychiatric hold for suicidal ideation) or chronic and progressive (court-appointed guardianship for dementia). A total of 39 states required and 5 allowed reporting to NICS for court-ordered, involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. Thirteen states required and 5 allowed reporting to NICS when a court determines an individual is mentally incompetent to manage their affairs (with or without guardianship). Two states required NICS reporting for short-term emergency psychiatric holds. Five states and the District of Columbia had no legislation explicitly requiring or allowing NICS reporting in the 3 scenarios. In this cross-sectional study of state laws, there was substantial heterogeneity in NICS reporting requirements and lack of clarity around processes. This raises questions about the ability of NICS to be used to block firearm purchases or possession by individuals with court-identified high risk of perpetrating violence toward themselves or others.

A simple undergraduate laboratory exercise for teaching the role of sentinel-level clinical microbiology testing in biological threat identification.

Undergraduate students in the biomedical sciences are mostly unaware of how clinical microbiology laboratories handle suspected agents of bioterrorism or emerging infectious diseases. The Public Health Security Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 requires the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to maintain a list of microbes that pose serious biological threats to human health and safety, including Tier 1 agents with the potential for use in bioterrorism. The Laboratory Response Network (LRN), founded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Association of Public Health Laboratories, coordinates the response of sentinel, reference, and national laboratories to these biothreats. The sentinel laboratories, which comprise most hospital-based and commercial laboratories, are the first to encounter a suspicious agent. For this reason, the LRN has published a series of testing guidelines to assist the sentinel laboratories in deciding whether a microbial isolate should be considered potentially hazardous and thus sent to a reference or national laboratory for further characterization. Here, we describe a simple laboratory exercise that teaches sentinel-level testing requirements in the context of an applied setting of a potential outbreak of anthrax that would require a sentinel laboratory to recognize a potential threat, attempt to rule it out, and refer to a national laboratory for identification.