Mandated accreditation of crime laboratories is a fairly new phenomenon. The state of Texas was the first to require that crime laboratories be accredited in order to be able to present evidence in a criminal proceeding. The laws that govern this are Texas House Bill 2703 and Texas House Bill 1068. The goal of this study is see how the enactment of these laws impacted crime laboratories. There are 42 crime laboratories that are accredited in the state of Texas. This study was conducted by the use of telephone survey interviews. Results indicated that mandated accreditation is a step in the right direction to ensure that objectivity is maintained during the processing and evaluation of physical evidence.

Serious and violent juvenile offenders cause a disproportionate amount of harm to society, yet this population receives very little attention within the realm of empirical research. This research study examined the recidivism outcomes of 296 serious and violent offenders previously exposed to rehabilitative treatment in the Capital and Serious Violent Offender Program provided by the Texas Youth Commission. This group of juveniles was followed for three years following their release from institutionalization. This analysis revealed that 52% of those released were rearrested at least once during the follow-up period for any offense, while 48% of those released desisted from crime altogether. Of those 296 released, 34% were rearrested for at least one new felony offense. The analyses indicate that those involved in various forms of institutional misconduct during institutionalization were significantly more likely to recidivate. African-American race and institutional misconduct in the form of rule infractions emerged as the most consistent predictors of recidivism for this sample. This study concludes with a discussion of policy implications and risk assessment related to the decisions that are made to release this population of violent juvenile offenders.

Electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes was largely unregulated prior to 1978. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (hereinafter "FISA") was enacted to implement a judicial authorization process for foreign intelligence electronic surveillance that would effectively balance competing needs for national security and civil liberty under the Fourth Amendment. This study examines the evolution of FISA and its effectiveness under the Fourth Amendment, as assessed by federal reviewing courts and scholars since the statute's enactment. The study concludes that the FISA electronic surveillance authorization process has been effective in providing a constitutional mechanism to obtain foreign intelligence information.

Research has consistently shown that intimate partner homicide (IPH) rates have been on a steady downward decline over the past two decades. A relatively recent movement in IPH research, however, has emphasized the need for further dissecting the aggregate trends by factors such as gender, race, and victim-offender relationship. In response to these issues, this study looks at the relationship between IPHs and factors such as gender, race, and age. The present study explores officially reported IPH cases in Dallas, Texas between the years 1990-1997. Specific attention will be paid to the victim's and suspect's age, race, and gender. The findings of the study will assist in identifying significant characteristics of these IPH incidents which may lead to a greater understanding of the types of relationships in which IPH is more likely to occur. Studying the relationship between IPHs and these factors, as this research aims to do, is important to understanding what IPH incident characteristics need more attention to help prevent future incidents from occurring. As a result of this research, a better understanding of whether IPH may occur in certain types of relationships will be reached and then can be further utilized to educate.