Objective: A sizable body of criminology literature has suggested that personality factors are critical to the development of aggressive behaviour. While research on personality focusing on aggression often revolves on "Eynseck Three Factor Model" and "Big Five Model", research on "Alternative Five Factor Model" (AFFM) is rather inadequate. Objective: The present study aimed to examine the association between five types of personality traits and subscales of aggression. Methods: This observational cross-sectional study was conducted in two prisons in Peninsular Malaysia among 198 Malay adult male inmates. The participants were selected based on the purposive sampling method from those who were convicted for various types of crime. Two psychometric instruments adapted to the Malaysian context were used: Malay version of Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire-40-Cross Culture (ZKPQ-M-40-CC) and Aggression Questionnaire (AQ-M). Pearson correlation coefficient test was conducted to determine the association between five types of personality traits and subscales of aggression. Results: The results showed that there was a significant association between certain types of personality traits and subscales of aggression. The results were discussed in relation to theory and the context of crime. Conclusion: There is evidence that personality traits are linked to aggressive behaviour which may lead a person to commit offenses. ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 15 (2): July - December 2014: 176-185.
Apart from environmental and social factors, psychological traits is largely linked with criminal and delinquent behaviour. The purpose of this article is to review four critical psychological traits of individuals that may lead to criminal behaviour in a nutshell. Methods: An archival research methodology was employed in this study where relevant search for literatures on these four psychological traits was made across search engines such as Google Scholar with relevant articles selected for this review. The literatures were microscopically reviewed in order to demonstrate the linkage between psychological traits and criminal behaviour. Results: Four psychological traits: personality trait, low selfcontrol, aggression behaviour, and cognitive distortion were chosen to address such linkages. All these four traits were discussed thoroughly in relation to crime and criminality contexts. Conclusion: It is crucial to understand the role of these traits and in-depth understanding of each psychological trait with relation of criminal behaviour offers an opportunity to the public at large to expand their knowledge on the importance of practicing and equipping oneself with healthy psychological traits to hinder from criminal and delinquent acts. ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 16 (2): July – December 2015: XX XX.
Introduction: Crime is an immoral act capable of tearing the well-being of society and the nation. Various factors have been accredited as potential factors for crime engagement for example natural inclination, nurture or a combination of these factors. Within the domain of natural inclination, lack of self-control is often viewed as the primary cause of crime and delinquency. However, there are no valid and reliable Malay language psychometric instruments to measure the level of self-control among Malaysians.
Objective: The aim of this study was to validate the Self Control Scale (SCS) for use among Malay speaking populations. Henceforth the Malay language version is identified as SCS-M.
Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 150 inmates incarcerated within two prisons in Peninsular Malaysia in June 2012. Forward and Backward translations of the original SCS were carried out followed by content and face validation processes. Exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach's Alpha reliability analysis were performed.
Result: Both content and face validation processes showed promising and good outcomes. Preliminary analysis for factor analysis supported factorability of the items. The factor loadings of SCS-M items did not correspond to the original six SCS dimensions. Since SCS is often administered as a unidimensional scale, a forced one factor analysis was performed and items with factor loadings exceeding 0.3 were retained. The result of internal consistency reliability of SCS-M demonstrated a good Cronbach's alpha value of 0.80.
Conclusion: The findings supported that SCS-M is a valid and reliable unidimensional scale to measure the level of self-control among Malay speaking populations. It is anticipated that the emergence of SCS-M is vital for self-control assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation purposes.
Animal species identification is one of the important fields in forensic science. Unlike human forensics which makes use of DNA fingerprinting techniques to identify individuals of the same species - humans, animal forensic species identification is much more complicated as it involves the ability to identify and distinguish between hundreds to thousands of species when the material evidence is only a trace of animal tissue without the presence of any visual physical morphology. It is even more difficult when the specimen is an unknown and no reference material is available. Animal species identification is not only important for the prevention of wildlife crimes for the purpose of wildlife protection and conservation but it is also becoming more and more significant in food safety issues especially for the meat industry. Owing to the demand and the necessity of providing such services for regulation and enforcement in the context of environmental protection, food safety and biosafety, the Department of Chemistry (DOC)
Malaysia has initiated the use of DNA techniques employing the most widely used genetic markers as part of its scientific solution for animal species identification.
Cadaver body bags are the conventional method to contain a human body or human remains, which includes the use for storage and transportation of the deceased at any crime scene or disaster scene. During disasters, most often than not, the first responders including the police will be equipped with cadaver body bags to do scene processing of human remains and collection of personal belongings at the disaster site. However, in an unanticipated large scale disasters involving hundreds and thousands of fatalities, cadaver body bags supplies may be scarce. The authors have therefore innovated the cling film plastic wrap as an alternative for the cadaver body bag used at the disaster site. The plastic wrap was tested on six different experimental subjects, i.e. both adult and child mannequins; body parts of the mannequin figure (arm and hand); a human adult subject and an unknown dead body. The strengths of the cling film plastic wrap are discussed in comparison with the cadaver body bag in the aspects of costing, weight, duration of the wrap, water and body fluid resistant properties, visibility and other advantages. An average savings of more than 5000% are noted for both adult body wrap and child body wrap compared to the cadaver body wrap. This simply means that the authors can either wrap 25 adult dead bodies or 80 children dead bodies with the cost of 1 cadaver body bag. The cling film plastic wrap has proven to have significant innovation impact for dead body management particularly by the first responders in large scale disasters. With proper handling of dead bodies, first responders can manage the dead with dignity and respect in an overwhelmed situation to facilitate the humanitarian victim identification process later.
Objective: Pritchard Criteria are adopted in a Malaysian criminal-justice system while assessing fitness to plead. There is limited data on the reason of unfitness to plead for female offenders in Malaysia.
Methods: A case series of five patients hospitalized to Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta, Malaysia due to unfitness to plead was presented and discussed.
Result: The offences include three homicides, one assault, and one stealing. All of them were diagnosed to have schizophrenia with prominent looseness of association. Four of them subsequently treated as Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia (TRS) with a minimal response toward clozapine.
Conclusion: Looseness of association may be a contributing factor for unfitness to plead among Malaysian female offenders, which can result in indeterminate hospitalization. This should be confirmed in a larger prospective study.
This paper is based on literature review on the legal, political and social context of Malaysia regarding child welfare and social work. Children are an asset and younger generations will become the leaders of the country in future. In the Malaysian context, a variety of factors impact on how children are defined. These include the Islamic perspective, local cultural practices, approaches based on biological growth and relevant legislation. Such varying definitions can cause confusion in the application of law and could result in injustice. When talking regarding the social problems concerning children in Malaysia, there include abuse, neglect, abandonment of babies, street children, children beyond parental control, children involved with crime, underage marriage, prostitution and child trafficking.However, the shortage of professional social workers who can effectively manage abuse and child neglect cases is a serious problem.
Introduction: Substance abuse is both a social and public health problem with a substantial burden to society. Opioid dependence results in unemployment, crimes, family disruption, and transmission of diseases. In Malaysia, methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) has been introduced as a harm reduction method. However, relapse during treatment remains an issue to be resolved that hinders successful outcome in the therapy. Spirituality in the treatment of substance abuse disorders has yet to be fully explored. This study aims to examine how MMT clients who relapsed perceive spiritual deficits as an influence and association of spiritual practice with relapse. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study done from June-July 2016. All MMT clients undergoing therapy at 3 treatment centers in Terengganu, Malaysia who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria and consented were included in the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was filled via face to face interview and spiritual practice was assessed using Hatta Islamic Religiosity Scale. 121 questionnaires were assessed and data was analyzed using SPSS version 22 for quantitative data. Results: All respondents were males of Malay race and Islamic religion. Current relapse, defined as any episode of intake of opioid for the past one month after a period of abstinence was 34%. Only three out of 42 clients who relapsed had some spirituality theme in their perceived cause of their relapse. However, a significant majority of those relapsed had a spiritual practice score of less than the mean practice score. Conclusion: Relapse in opioid addiction remains high in those receiving MMT in Terengganu, Malaysia. Spirituality may have a subconscious influence towards relapse in addiction in MMT clients. Further effort should be taken to inculcate spirituality intervention effective to prevent relapse which may contribute towards achieving a more successful therapy outcomes.
This study investigates bullying and victimisation in juvenile rehabilitation institutions in Malaysia, where research on this phenomenon has been particularly limited. It examines the prevalence of bullying and victimisation in these settings and investigates the role of personal characteristics and aspects of institutional environments, and explores how these factors relate to bullying behaviour. The study comprised a survey completed by 289 male and female young people, aged 12 to 21 years old, in 8 juvenile rehabilitation institutions, using the scale version of Direct and Indirect Prisoner Behaviour Checklist (DIPC-SCALEDr) and the Measuring the Quality of Prison Life (MQPL) instruments. The findings showed that 95 percent of young people reported at least one behaviour indicative of bullying others, and 99 percent reported at least one behaviour indicative of victimisation in a month. Seven predictors were found to underpin bullying behaviour, including three personal characteristics (i.e. time spent in the institution, experiences of punishment inside the institution, and gang membership) and four institutional dimensions (i.e respect; bureaucratic legitimacy; fairness; and family contact). To conclude, bullying behaviour seemed to be normalized in juvenile rehabilitation institutions. As the heart of institution, staff members play an important role to control bullying behaviour amongst young people. The importance of these findings for bullying prevention strategies and directions for future research are discussed.
Short tandem repeat (STR) loci are widely used as genetic marker for ancestral and forensic analyses. The latter application includes for paternity testing and DNA profiling of samples collected from scenes of crime and suspects. This survey provides the first dataset for 21 STR loci across the Akan population in Ghana by genotyping of 109 unrelated healthy individuals using Investigator 24plex kit. None of the STR loci screened deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium after applying Bonferroni correction. Overall, 224 unique alleles were observed with allele frequencies ranging from 0.005 to 0.518. The combined match probability, combined power of exclusion and combined power discrimination were 1 in 4.07 × 10-25, 0.999999999 and 1, respectively. Principal coordinate analysis carried out using 21 STR allele frequency data mapped the Akans with Nigerian subpopulation groups (Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba), but separated from Thais of Thailand, Chechen of Jordan and Tijuana of Mexico.
This paper investigates the pattern of sexual offence cases attended at the One Stop Crisis Center (OSCC) of the Accident and Emergency Department, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Kelantan. A total of 439 reported sexual offence cases were examined over a period of 4 years from 2000 to 2003. Sexual offence constituted by male partner or boyfriend in 18.9%, by relatives in 27.3% and by "others" in 53.8% of cases. Only 0.7% of victims did not attempt to lodge a police report. There is a significant relationship between occupation and the risk of experiencing sexual violence. Students were mostly targeted by the perpetrator throughout the study period. Among the offences, rape cases were the highest in number, among those who attended at the OSCC, HUSM with a total of 72.7%; followed by 27.3% of incest; 26.4% of child sexual abuse; 4.8% of sodomy and lastly 1.6% of gerontophilia cases. Only 70% of the specimens obtained from sexual offences victims were sent for laboratory analysis. The result remained negative in 82.4% specimens and thus the laboratory analysis result is merely functioning as a supportive evidence for sexual offence cases attended at OSCC. The studies showed that most of the sexual assault perpetrators were known to the victims. The place of crime was also known to the perpetrators. Health sectors of various levels should be working in conjunction to promote a societal changes to improve more of the women's right and thus to reduce the violence crime.
Short tandem repeat (STR) typing continues to be the primary workhorse in forensic DNA profiling. Therefore, the present review discusses the prominent role of STR marker in criminal justice system. All over the world, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) profiling provides evidence that may be used to convict criminals, as an irrefutable proof of wrongful convictions, invaluable links to the actual perpetrators of crimes, and could also deter some offenders from committing more serious offences. Clearly, DNA profiling tools have also aided forensic scientists to re-evaluate old cases that were considered closed as a result of inadequate evidence. In carrying out this review, a comprehensive electronic literature search using PubMed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar and Google Search were used, and all works meeting the subject matter were considered, including reviews, retrospective studies, observational studies and original articles. Case reports presented here, further demonstrates the crucial role of forensic DNA profiling in mitigating and providing compelling evidence for the resolution of crimes. For case report 1, there was a 100% match between the DNA recovered from the items found in the crime scene, and the suspect's DNA sample collected via buccal swab following 15 STR loci examination. Case report 2 further highlights the indispensable contribution of DNA database in solving crime. Therefore, it has become very necessary for developing countries like Nigeria to develop a national DNA database and make policies and legislatures that will further expand and enable the practice of forensic genetics, particularly DNA profiling.
Infant abandonment and infanticide are poorly understood in Malaysia. The information available in the public arena comes predominantly from anecdotal sources. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence and characteristics of infanticide and illegal infant abandonment in Malaysia and to estimate annual rates for the most recent decade. Summaries of data about infanticide and illegal infant abandonment were gathered from police records; the annual number of live births was ascertained from the national registry. The estimated inferred infanticide rates for Malaysia were compared with the infanticide rates among countries of very high, high, medium, and low rankings on the Human Development, Gender Inequality, and Gini indices. From 1999 to 2011, 1,069 cases of illegal infant abandonment were recorded and 1,147 people were arrested as suspected perpetrators. The estimated inferred infanticide rate fluctuated between 4.82 and 9.11 per 100,000 live births, a moderate rate relative to the infanticide rates of other countries. There are substantial missing data, with details undocumented for about 78-87% of cases and suspected perpetrators. Of the documented cases, it appeared that more boys than girls were victims and that suspected perpetrators were predominantly Malays who were women, usually mothers of the victim; the possibility of arrest bias must be acknowledged. Economic and social inequality, particularly gender inequality, might contribute to the phenomena of infanticide and abandonment. Strategies to reduce rates of infanticide and illegal infant abandonment in Malaysia will require strengthening of the surveillance system and attention to the gender-based inequalities that underpin human development.
Matched MeSH terms: Crime/statistics & numerical data
BACKGROUND: Several studies have reported significant positive correlations between smoking during pregnancy by mothers and the involvement of their offspring in criminal/delinquent behaviour later in life, but these findings have been described as modest and the criminality based on official conviction statistics.
AIMS: We sought to verify this relationship and probe for more details on the basis of self-reported offending among college students.
METHODS: Independently completed questionnaires were collected from 6332 students and their mothers. The students provided information about their delinquent acts, if any, according to eight categories. Their mothers provided retrospective reports of their smoking habits, if any, during pregnancy.
FINDINGS: Mothers who recalled having smoked during pregnancy were significantly more likely than non-smoking mothers to have offspring who self-reported engaging in some types of delinquency. This relationship was more evident for female offspring than for male offspring and was most pronounced for illegal drug use by the offspring. There was, however, no relationship between offspring offending and estimated number of cigarettes smoked by mothers, month of pregnancy when smoked or consistency of smoking throughout pregnancy.
CONCLUSION: Overall, our study confirms that maternal smoking during pregnancy is associated with offspring involvement in delinquency, but the lack of critical timing or dose-response relationships between maternal smoking and later offspring delinquency cast doubt on the possibility that the associations are due to teratogenic effects of tobacco smoke.
Study site: college students at 20 US and two Canadian universities
Matched MeSH terms: Crime/statistics & numerical data
BACKGROUND:
Illicit cigarette consumption has increased worldwide. It is important to understand this problem thoroughly.
OBJECTIVES:
To investigate behaviours and factors associated with illicit cigarette consumption in southern Thailand.
DESIGN:
A survey and qualitative study were conducted in a border province in southern Thailand next to Malaysia. A modified snowballing technique was used to recruit 300 illicit and 150 non-illicit cigarette smokers. A questionnaire was used to interview subjects. Illicit cigarette packs were obtained in order to identify their characteristics. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was used for data analysis.
RESULTS:
Smoking of illicit cigarettes has become accepted in the communities. They were available in supermarkets and vendor shops. Friends and other illicit smokers known by illicit cigarette smokers were an important source of information for access to illicit cigarette products. The main factors associated with smoking illicit cigarettes, compared with smoking non-illicit cigarettes, were younger age, higher education and higher average monthly expenditure on cigarettes (most illicit smokers smoked illicit cigarettes (average price per packet = 33 THB (US$1.1), while most non-illicit smokers smoked hand-rolled cigarettes (average price per packet = 7 THB (US$0.2)) and knowledge of other illicit cigarette smokers. The low price of illicit cigarettes was the main reason for their use. Selling strategies included sale of singles, sale in shops and direct sale through social networking.
CONCLUSIONS:
Illicit cigarette consumption has become more acceptable especially among young adult smokers. Age and extent of social networks are important factors associated with smoking illicit cigarettes.
KEYWORDS:
Smoking behaviour; border province; cessation; cigarette consumption; global health; hand-rolled/RYO tobacco; health services; illegal tobacco products; illicit cigarette
The illegal ivory trade continues to drive elephant poaching. Large ivory seizures in Africa and Asia are still commonplace. Wildlife forensics is recognised as a key enforcement tool to combat this trade. However, the time and resources required to effectively test large ivory seizures is often prohibitive. This limits or delays testing, which may impede investigations and/or prosecutions. Typically, DNA analysis of an ivory seizure involves pairing and sorting the tusks, sampling the tusks, powdering the sample, decalcification, then DNA extraction. Here, we optimize the most time-consuming components of this process: sampling and decalcification. Firstly, using simulations, we demonstrate that tusks do not need to be paired to ensure an adequate number of unique elephants are sampled in a large seizure. Secondly, we determined that directly powdering the ivory using a Dremel drill with a high-speed cutter bit, instead of cutting the ivory with a circular saw and subsequently powdering the sample in liquid nitrogen with a freezer mill, produces comparable results. Finally, we optimized a rapid 2 -h decalcification protocol that produces comparable results to a standard 3-day protocol. We tested/optimised the protocols on 33 raw and worked ivory samples, and demonstrated their utility on a case study, successfully identifying 94% of samples taken from 123 tusks. Using these new rapid protocols, the entire sampling and DNA extraction process takes less than one day and requires less-expensive equipment. We expect that the implementation of these rapid protocols will promote more consistent and timely testing of ivory seizures suitable for enforcement action.
The first ever mass identification operation of skeletal remains conducted for the clandestine graves in Malaysia consisted of 165 individuals unearthed from 28 human trafficking transit camps located in Wang Kelian, along the Thai-Malaysia border. A DVI response was triggered in which expert teams comprising of pathologists, anthropologists, odontologists, radiologists and DNA experts were gathered at the identified operation centre. The Department of Forensic Medicine, Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Alor Star, Kedah, located approximately 75km away from Wang Kelian, was temporarily converted into a victim identification centre (VIC) as it is the nearest available forensic facility to the mass grave site. The mortuary operation was conducted over a period of 3 months from June to September 2015, and was divided into two phases; phase 1 involving the postmortem examination of the remains of 116 suspected individuals and for phase 2 the remains of 49 suspected individuals. The fact that the graves were of unknown individuals afforded the mass identification operation a sufficient duration of 2 weeks as preparatory phase enabling procedurals and daily victim identification workflow to be established, and the setting up of a temporary body storage for the designated mortuary. The temporary body storage has proven to be a significant factor in enabling the successful conclusion of the VIC operation to the final phase of temporary controlled burials. Recognition from two international observers, Mr. Andréas Patiño Umaña, from the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and Prof. Noel Woodford from Victoria Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM) had proven the mortuary operation was in compliance to the international quality and standards. The overall victim identification and mortuary operation identified a number of significant challenges, in particular the management of commingled human remains as well as the compilation of postmortem data in the absence of antemortem data for future reconciliation. CF Index in this DVI operation is 9%, indicating the primary identifications in this operation were effective. Limitations and further improvements of the mass identification operation will be discussed. This paper details the planning, preparations and management of the mass identification operation on the exhumed human remains which was also a forensic humanitarian service for the dead with dignity and respect.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of online interpersonal victimisation and its association with patterns of social networking site (SNS) use, offline victimisation, offline perpetration and parental conflict among Malaysian adolescents using SNS.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study of students from randomly selected public secondary schools in the state of Negeri Sembilan was conducted using an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire examined patterns of SNS use and included measures of online victimisation, online perpetration, offline victimisation and parental conflict. A response rate of 91% from a total of 1634 yielded a sample of 1487 students between 15 years and 16 years of age.
RESULTS: Ninety-two per cent of respondents had used at least one SNS. More than half of SNS users (52.2%) reported experiences of online victimisation over the past 12 months. Boys were significantly more likely to experience online harassment compared with girls (52.2% vs 43.3%, p<0.001). There were no significant gender differences in experiences of unwanted sexual solicitation. Adolescents who engaged in perpetration behaviours online had almost six times higher odds of reporting frequent online victimisation compared with online behaviours involving personal disclosure. There was a significant dose-response relationship between engagement in multiple types of online behaviour and the risk of frequent online victimisation. Both online and offline perpetrations were associated with an increased risk of victimisation. Those who were victimised offline or experienced parental conflict were twice as likely to report online victimisation.
CONCLUSION: Interventions to prevent online electronic aggression should target perpetration behaviour both online and offline. Youth should be equipped with skills in communication and decision-making in relationships that can be applied across a spectrum of contexts both online and offline.
When public health researchers study the health effects of disasters (whether "naturally-occurring," disasters due to failure of technology, or disasters due to terrorism), some aspects of the post-disaster situation of victims are often overlooked. Social science research has shown that the vast majority of people tend to behave altruistically during and after a disaster. Nevertheless, cases of victimization of survivors do occur. They can include post-disaster victimization of survivors by other individuals (including fellow survivors, opportunistic outsiders, and even unethical aid workers and rogue members of the police, armed forces or international organizations such as the United Nations), groups (such as organized criminal gangs) and institutions (through neglect, incompetence, bureaucratic inefficiency or through institutionalized discriminatory practices). In this article, various kinds of post-disaster victimization that can occur are discussed.
Southeast and East Asia has become a global hub for methamphetamine production and trafficking over the past decade. This paper describes the rise of methamphetamine supply and to what extent use of the drug is occurring in the region.
Matched MeSH terms: Crime/statistics & numerical data