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Of 483 inmates who were referred to a sex offender treatment program and followed for an average of 44 months of opportunity to reoffend, 38% were arrested for new violent or sexual offenses. After statistically controlling for the static variables that predicted reoffending, the treatment program was associated with a higher rate of sexual rearrests. (Author/GCP)

Gathered MMPI and demographic data on six groups, each of 25 men who required psychological pretrial assessment. The groups differed according to offense type. The remand's age on admission and whether he had been in corrections before the current offense were the best discriminators among the groups. (Author)

42 out of 93 Saskatchewan Indians (32 female (F) and 10 male (M)) with actinic prurigo were patch tested to standard series allergens between 1983 and 1987. Positive reactions were most frequently seen with nickel (3F:2M) and colophony. All 3 positive patch tests to colophony were in males. The same patients were also patch tested to extracts or 21 Saskatchewan plants and 3 Hollister-Stier plant extracts. Only 1 male and 2 females had positive patch tests. None of these 3 had rashes on the eyelids, behind the cars or under the chin. We conclude that plant contact dermatitis is unlikely to be mistaken fur actinic prurigo in Saskatchewan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent article, Jon P. Harkness presented the results of a spectral analysis of a wide variety of historical time series in order to test the existence of long swings in Canadian economic experience. While several similar studies had been carned out on the United States data, it was argued that such studies had generally been poorly conceived both with respect to spectral analysis and to the particular version of the long-swing hypothesis being tested. A new test for long cycles in deviations from trend of an economic variable was therefore devised which, it was felt, would be more compatible with spectral analysis. It is the intent of this note to briefly present the findings of a similar test carried out on the United States data. In using spectral analysis to test for long swings, the major task is to decide upon a method for estimating and removing the trend. Most studies, to date, formulate the long-swing hypothesis in terms of deviations from an exponential trend. However, there is not a priori reason why, in fact, the trend should be exponential. If it is not, trend removal will be incomplete and the spectral estimate will be biased against the long-swing hypothesis.

Sexual behavior is closely associated with delinquency and crime. Although psychopaths, by definition, have many short-term sexual relationships, it has not been shown that sexuality is a core aspect of psychopathy. A Darwinian view of psychopathy led to the hypothesis that psychopaths have a unique sexuality involving early, frequent, and coercive sex. Our subjects were 512 sex offenders assessed on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R). Five variables reflecting early, frequent, and coercive sex loaded on the same principal component in exploratory factor analysis on a subset of the sample, whereas PCL-R items pertaining to adult sexual behavior did not. Confirmatory factor analysis of the remaining subjects yielded a measurement model containing three inter-correlated factors - the traditional two PCL-R factors, and coercive and precocious sexuality. Taxometric analyses gave evidence of a natural discontinuity underlying coercive and precocious sexuality. Coercive and precocious sexuality yielded statistically significant associations with other study variables predicted by the Darwinian hypothesis. The present findings are consistent with prior empirical findings and support the hypothesis that psychopathy has been a nonpathological, reproductively viable, alternate life history strategy.

Early starting, lifetime criminal persistence has been called sociopathy, antisocial personality disorder, and psychopathy. There is, however, disagreement about its core features and which measure is best for identifying such individuals. In the 1st of 2 studies of male offenders (n = 74), we found a large association between scores on the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 1991) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV]; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) antisocial personality disorder criteria scored as a scale. The second study (n = 684) replicated this finding and found that, as previously shown for PCL-R scores, a discrete class (or taxon) also underlies scores on items reflecting antisocial personality disorder. The high association among these sets of items and their similarity in predicting violence suggested that the same natural class underlies each. Results indicated that life-course-persistent antisociality can be assessed well by measures of psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder.