Statutory management of juvenile sexual offenders demands reliable, valid methods for assessing the risk posed by these youth. This study examined the predictive validity of the J-SOAP-II using samples of adolescent and pre-adolescent boys who were wards of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services. The base rate for sexual recidivism among the adolescents (14-16%) is generally in line with what has been reported. The equivalent base rate for the pre-adolescents (25-28%), however, was notably higher. Although the J-SOAP-II was developed for adolescents, the scale also worked with the pre-adolescents in predicting sexual recidivism over 7 years, with AUC values of 0.77, 0.74, 0.77, and 0.80 for Scales 1, 3, 4, and Total among the pre-adolescents and AUC values of 0.80, 0.82, and 0.83 for Scales 1, 4, and Total among the adolescents. Discussion focuses on extant J-SOAP research and sample dependent variability, as well as social policy implications.

Background The impact of the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory actions of Vitamin D on the duration of partial clinical remission (PR) in youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is unclear. Objective To determine the effect of adjunctive ergocalciferol on residual β-cell function (RBCF) and PR in youth with newly-diagnosed T1D who were maintained on a standardized insulin treatment protocol. Hypothesis Ergocalciferol supplementation increases RBCF and prolongs PR. Methods A 12-month randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 50,000 IU of ergocalciferol per week for 2 months, and then once every 2 weeks for 10 months, versus placebo in 36 subjects of ages 10-21years(y), with T1D of <3 months, and a stimulated C-peptide (SCP) level of ≥0.2nmol/L (≥0.6ng/mL). The ergocalciferol group had 18 randomized subjects (10m/ 8f), mean age 13.3±2.8y; while the control group had 18 subjects (14m/4f), age 14.3±2.9y. Results The ergocalciferol treatment group had significantly higher serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D at 6 months (p=0.01) and 9 months (p=0.02) than the placebo group. At 12 months, the ergocalciferol group had a significantly lower serum TNF-α concentration (p=0.03). There were no significant differences between the groups at each timepoint from baseline to 12 months for SCP concentration (p=0.08), HbA1c (p=0.09), insulin-dose-adjusted A1c (IDAA1c), or total daily dose of insulin. Temporal trends for rising HbA1c (p=0.044) and IDAA1c (p=0.015) were significantly blunted in the ergocalciferol group. Conclusions Ergocalciferol significantly reduced serum TNF-α concentration and the rates of increase in both A1c and IDAA1c suggesting a protection of RBCF and PR in youth with newly-diagnosed T1D.

Although less likely than their urban counterparts to have mental disorders, rural veterans with mental illness experienced a greater disease burden and were likely to incur greater health care costs. Improving access to mental health care for veterans in rural settings may narrow quality-of-life disparities among rural and urban veterans.

The recent Supreme Court ruling in U.S. v. Comstock (2010) upheld the constitutionality of The Adam Walsh Act, which provides for civil commitment of child pornography (CP) offenders certified as sexually dangerous, thereby approving litigation of all such prisoners in the federal system. The two studies reported here sought to address the question: What is the likelihood that an individual convicted of child pornography offenses has a prior history of a hands-on sexual offense involving a child or has a high probability of committing such an offense? Our sample consisted of 349 participants: 113 who committed an Internet sexual offense only and no other known or self-reported hands-on sexual offense, 176 child molesters who reported no Internet sexual offense, and 60 child molesters that reported committing an Internet sexual offense. Study 1 yielded two scales, one reflecting Antisocial Behavior (AB) and one reflecting Internet Preoccupation (IP). Those two scales predicted membership in the combined sample of child molesters with a high degree of accuracy (c = 0.75). Study two revealed that all three groups were discrete with respect to AB and IP. By increasing the IP scale by 1 point, the odds of being an IO rather than a CM increased by 86%. The plotted conditional probabilities increased linearly as values on the AB scale increase, from 0.27 when AB = 0 to 0.84 when AB = 13. Our results are discussed in terms of risk discrimination among possessors of child pornography, relevance of risk to the statutory third prong element of serious difficulty, and the policy implications of the findings reported here.