Predictive hotspot mapping plays a critical role in hotspot policing. Existing methods such as the popular kernel density estimation (KDE) do not consider the temporal dimension of crime. Building upon recent works in related fields, this article proposes a spatio-temporal framework for predictive hotspot mapping and evaluation. Comparing to existing work in this scope, the proposed framework has four major features: (1) a spatio-temporal kernel density estimation (STKDE) method is applied to include the temporal component in predictive hotspot mapping, (2) a data-driven optimization technique, the likelihood cross-validation, is used to select the most appropriate bandwidths, (3) a statistical significance test is designed to filter out false positives in the density estimates, and (4) a new metric, the predictive accuracy index (PAI) curve, is proposed to evaluate predictive hotspots at multiple areal scales. The framework is illustrated in a case study of residential burglaries in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2011, and the results validate its utility.

Social workers are well-equipped by experience and education to play a pivotal role in death penalty mitigation teams. They offer expertise in researching complete social histories, providing for people under threat of execution, and helping those individuals cope with that threat. The social worker's primary role is to develop the client's story through an extensive empirical inquiry into the person's life. An equally important role for social workers is to work with the multidisciplinary defense team to ensure that the client's life story becomes a part of the defense. This article, through a case example of a condemned prisoner, examines the mitigation team concept, focusing on the social work role.

Providing an effective defense for individuals charged with capital crimes requires a diligent, thorough investigation by a mitigation specialist. However, research suggests that mitigation often plays a small role in the decision for life. Jurors often make sentencing decisions prematurely, basing those decisions on their personal reactions to the defendant (for example, fear, anger), their confusion about the rules of law, and their lack of understanding regarding their role and responsibilities. This article proposes an evidence-based conceptual model of the complicating problems surrounding mitigation practice and a focused discussion about how traditional social work mitigation strategies might be evolved to a set of best practices that more effectively ensure jurors' careful consideration of mitigation evidence.

This article uses the case study method to examine the lives of three youths with disabilities living in the southern part of the United States who have followed a pathway to death row. An empirically established developmental and theoretical framework is used to examine issues related to the in¯uence of disabilities and race on children and youths, and their pathway to delinquency and crime. Through criminological life-history research methods, the study demonstrates the path taken by three youths with disabilities and showcases how the analysis of information gleaned from these life stories creates new narratives about pathways to death row. Moreover, the presentation of these narratives to legislators and policy-makers has in¯uenced reform in the American juvenile justice system.The combined use of life-history research and social work advocacy provides a more effective and successful method by which to request and secure the resources necessary for intervening in the youth pathway to death row. Finally, this collaborative research effort has resulted in the passage of legislative acts that have created early intervention truancy prevention centersÐcenters based on the stories about these three young men in their elementary school years.