Elaborating on the Construct Validity of the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale in Incarcerated and Non-Incarcerated Samples

The Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP) is a promising, efficient measure of the psychopathic personality. Previous examinations of its latent structure have yielded inconsistent results; therefore, the goal of the current study was to evaluate previously reported two- and three-factor models in three separate groups of male correctional inmates (n = 573), male college students (n = 202), and female college students (n = 200). Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the best-fitting model across all the three groups was the three-factor model proposed by Brinkley et al. (Assessment 15:464–482, 2008). The convergent and discriminant validity of this three-factor structure as well as a revised 19-item total score were elaborated on in terms of predicting scores on conceptually relevant external criteria. The LSRP total and factor scales evidenced good convergent and discriminant validity with a few notable exceptions. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.     

Functional Neuroimaging of Symptom Validity Testing in Traumatic Brain Injury

The Word Memory Test (WMT) is a commonly used symptom validity test (SVT) that assesses recognition verbal memory. The task has been adapted for use within a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm so the neural correlates of WMT activation patterns can be studied. In the current investigation, performance on the delayed recognition subtest of the WMT was examined in two patients who sustained severe TBI and compared to ten healthy controls. The patients underwent comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations and structural MRI. All participants completed two versions of the WMT: full-effort and simulated poor effort conditions. Despite extensive structural brain damage, the fMRI activation patterns during full-effort WMT performance were somewhat similar in the two TBI patients and likewise, somewhat similar to controls. The fMRI activation pattern in both patients demonstrated intact activation of the basic neural structures necessary to perform the WMT. Dissimilar patterns of activation were obtained during the simulated poor effort condition of WMT performance suggesting that fMRI techniques may be sensitive in demonstrating non-credible cognitive performance. The results of our study represent the first fMRI investigation of normal and simulated poor effort SVT performance in individuals with documented brain damage. The implications of fMRI techniques in SVT research and their clinical application are discussed.     

Remanding Women in Custody: Concerns for Human Rights

Concern about the increasing population of women in prison has tended to focus on the sentencing of female offenders. It is often overlooked that about one in five women held in custody is there on remand, awaiting trial or sentence, and that most of them will not receive a prison sentence at the end of the process. This article examines the legal grounds for a custodial remand and explores the extent to which individual rights guaranteed under the European Convention are adequately protected. It is argued that women are particularly disadvantaged by the laws governing bail and by their practical application in the criminal justice system; and that the pre-trial detention of so many women routinely violates the spirit of the Convention by allowing questionable claims to social utility to prevail over the right to liberty and to a fair trial.     

Assessing the Validity of the Law of Crime Concentration Across Different Temporal Scales

Objectives

The present study examined if Weisburd’s (Criminology 53(2):133–157, 2015) law of crime concentration held across different theoretically relevant temporal scales.

Methods

The cumulative percentages of Philadelphia, PA USA street blocks and intersections experiencing 25 and 50 % of street robberies by hour of the day, days of the week, and seasons of the year were compared to the bandwidth percentages established by Weisburd (2015). Different analyses were used to determine the stability of the micro-places’ street robbery levels within the three temporal scales.

Results

We found that the cumulative percentages of street blocks and intersections experiencing 25 and 50 % of street robberies at each of the three temporal scales closely matched the bandwidth percentages expected from Weisburd (2015) and some micro-places experienced street robberies across all temporal periods while others had more isolated temporal concentrations.

Conclusion

Weisburd’s (2015) law of crime concentration holds across different theoretically relevant temporal scales, and future criminology of place studies should not ignore temporal crime patterns. Further, it may be possible to refine hot spots policing approaches by incorporating spatial–temporal crime concentrations.

     

Predictive Validity of the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery-Screening Module for Assessing Real-World Disability in Patients with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

The present study set out to examine the ecological validity of the Neuropsychological Assessment Battery-Screening Module (NAB-S) and to examine more specifically, whether performance on this test battery is related to real-world disability status in patients who have sustained a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) as a consequence of a motor vehicle collision (MVC). Seventy-nine patients were recruited from a random sample of litigating patients who incurred an mTBI and were referred for a neuropsychological examination due to subjective complaints of cognitive function. Of the total sample, 54 patients were categorized into the non-disabled group and 25 patients were categorized into the disabled group using the 4th edition of the American Medical Association (AMA) Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA; 1993). A multivariate analysis of variance revealed that performance on the NAB-S significantly differed between the two groups, and that memory and attention domains provided a more discriminative index of disability than general neuropsychological functions. In addition, discriminant function analyses revealed that the NAB-S correctly classified 73% of patients according to their group membership. The current findings provide evidence for the ecological validity of the NAB-S as a reliable index of real-world disability status as defined by the AMA Guides.     

Psychologists abandon the Nuremberg ethic: Concerns for detainee interrogations

In the aftermath of 9-11, the American Psychological Association, one of the largest U.S. health professions, changed its ethics code so that it now runs counter to the Nuremberg Ethic. This historic post-9-11 change allows psychologists to set aside their ethical responsibilities whenever they are in irreconcilable conflict with military orders, governmental regulations, national and local laws, and other forms of governing legal authority. This article discusses the history, wording, rationale, and implications of the ethical standard that U.S. psychologists adopted 7 years ago, particularly in light of concerns over health care professionals' involvement in detainee interrogations and the controversy over psychologists' prominent involvement in settings like the Guantánamo Bay Detainment Camp and the Abu Ghraib prison. It discusses possible approaches to the complex dilemmas arising when ethical responsibilities conflict with laws, regulations, or other governing legal authority.     

Competition for Sustainability: Sustainable Development Concerns in National and EC Competition Law

Competition law has become increasingly important in regulating the economy. This article aims to explore how domestic competition law relates to sustainable development. It distinguishes three ways that competition law can take into account environmental and social priorities: through substantive competition rules fostering social or ecological purposes; through exceptions, exemptions and exclusions; and through the enhanced application of competition laws. The first form is very interesting and currently not very widely used. Only a very few countries, such as South Africa, have included substantive provisions to promote social development in their competition laws. Most countries allow for some version of the second form of sustainable competition law. Few countries' laws are as outspoken about their public policy goals as is Spain in its new draft competition law. This new draft law explicitly lists environmental protection and social policies as grounds upon which the government could repeal a competition decision. The third form is relatively unproblematic as it creates a win-win situation for competition and sustainable development. This article surveys some of the most interesting competition law developments across the world and indicates where these domestic regimes take into account environmental or broader social issues when making competition-related decisions such as merger approvals.     

Studying Pretrial Publicity Effects: New Methods for Improving Ecological Validity and Testing External Validity

Although research examining the effects of pretrial publicity (PTP) on individuals' appraisals of a defendant and verdict decision making generally has been found to be internally valid, the external validity has been questioned by some social scientists as well as lawyers and judges. It is often proposed that the verisimilitude (or ecological validity) of the research should be increased in the service of increasing external validity; however, increasing verisimilitude can be costly in terms of both time and money. It is proposed that the Internet is a viable means of conducting PTP research that allows high verisimilitude without high costs. This is demonstrated with a study in which we used the Internet to examine PTP effects in an actual trial as it was taking place. Successful use of the Internet to conduct experimental research in other areas of psychology and law is discussed, as well as the importance of future research examining whether independent variables interact with methods in ways that undermine the generalizability of research findings.     

The Emergence of Environmental Concerns: Hydroelectric Schemes in Scotland

Regulating the environmental impacts of hydroelectric schemesis of increasing importance in the light of the strong policydrive towards expanding the proportion of energy gained fromrenewable sources. Yet hydroelectric schemes are significantin another way. They provide an unusual example of a technologythat has changed little over the last 100 years and thus offersa real opportunity to judge the impact of a changing regulatoryclimate. In Scotland, three distinct phases can be detected.Earlier controls focussed on the protection of private interests,especially fishing rights, with authorisations secured throughPrivate Acts of Parliament. This was followed by a period wherepromotion of such schemes lay with public bodies; though undergeneral statutory duties, ultimately the balancing of environmentaland other interests lay with such bodies who acted with fewexternal controls. Privatisation of electricity generation in1989, coupled with the growing development of relevant EuropeanCommunity legislation, dramatically shifted the regulatory balances.Environmental Assessment requirements and now the obligationsof the Water Framework Directive have substantially alteredthe concept and scope of environmental concerns in this field.     

Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence,Psychopathology, and Functional Impairment in Children and Adolescents: Moderator Effect of Sex and Age

This work examines the moderator effect of sex and age on the relationship between different types of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) and child psychopathology and functional impairment. One hundred and sixty-six Spanish children aged 4 –17 years exposed to intimate partner violence were assessed using a diagnostic interview and other instruments for the measurement of psychopathology and functional impairment. Participants were classified in three groups according to the degree of exposure: witness (N = 77), involved (N = 63) and victim (N = 26). According to mothers’ self-reports and mother-child combined information, boy victims of IPV showed more mood disorders than involved or witness boys. There were no other moderator effects of either sex or age. The effect of exposure to intimate partner violence among children was not dependent, in general, on the child’s sex or age, and this has important implications for the assessment, treatment, and prevention of children’s exposure to IPV.     

The Self-Report Symptom Inventory (SRSI): a New Instrument for the Assessment of Distorted Symptom Endorsement

Self-report instruments to detect distorted symptom reporting play a crucial role in clinical and forensic psychology. Most of the instruments currently available for this purpose only list implausible symptoms, which makes them easily identifiable as symptom validity tests. We developed the Self-Report Symptom Inventory (SRSI), combining five self-report scales of genuine symptoms with five pseudosymptom scales to screen for distorted symptom reporting in various domains (e.g., depression, post-traumatic stress). With a preliminary questionnaire version, we collected data in a heterogeneous sample (N?=?239) and performed an item selection, resulting in the final 107-item version. This version was evaluated in civil forensic patients, inmates of a prison, and a population-based sample; N?=?387). Data show that (a) SRSI pseudosymptom scores correlate highly (≥.80) with other instruments tapping distorted symptom endorsement, notably the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology; (b) High SRSI pseudosymptom scores tend to correlate with underperformance; and (c) The psychometric features of the SRSI are satisfactory, with internal consistency for the total scales >.90 and retest reliability >.85. The instrument appears to be a promising tool for examining symptom exaggeration, but further work is required, in particular cross-validation with other samples and different methods.     

Police Interviewing and Interrogation: A Self-Report Survey of Police Practices and Beliefs

By questionnaire, 631 police investigators reported on their interrogation beliefs and practices-the first such survey ever conducted. Overall, participants estimated that they were 77% accurate at truth and lie detection, that 81% of suspects waive Miranda rights, that the mean length of interrogation is 1.6 hours, and that they elicit self-incriminating statements from 68% of suspects, 4.78% from innocents. Overall, 81% felt that interrogations should be recorded. As for self-reported usage of various interrogation tactics, the most common were to physically isolate suspects, identify contradictions in suspects' accounts, establish rapport, confront suspects with evidence of their guilt, and appeal to self-interests. Results were discussed for their consistency with prior research, policy implications, and methodological shortcomings.     

Justice Concerns Can Feed Nationalistic Concerns and Impede Solidarity in the Euro Crisis: How Victim Sensitivity Translates into Political Attitudes

We investigated how victim sensitivity and news media exposure conjointly contribute to the formation of political attitudes in the context of the euro crisis. Study 1 (N = 208) showed that observer-sensitive individuals were more likely and victim-sensitive individuals were less likely to support solidarity with countries in need of financial support. These correlations were mediated by affective components of political attitudes, namely nationalistic concerns, resentment about and empathic concerns with debtor countries. In Study 2 (N = 51), using a pre–post within-subjects design, we showed that framing the euro crisis in an ‘exploitation frame” (compared to a ‘solidarity frame’) in news media reports was more likely to trigger nationalistic concerns and, consequently, decrease support of solidarity in victim-sensitive individuals compared to their less victim-sensitive counterparts. These results are in line with the SeMI model and previous findings that victim sensitivity is linked to fear of being exploited in intergroup relations.     

The Necessity of Multiple Test Methods in Conducting Assessments: The Role of the Rorschach and Self-Report

This article presents a logical and empirical argument for the necessity of a multi-method approach to psychological assessment. Both in clinical and forensic psychology, self-report methods such as questionnaires and interviews are popular. The Rorschach is presented in this article as an additional test method. The article describes recent meta-analyses that evaluate the construct validity of individual Rorschach scales and that serve as major guideposts in the development of a new Rorschach system (Rorschach Performance Assessment System). The combination of self-report and Rorschach methods is used to discuss the importance of multi-method assessment in the context of incremental validity and dissimulation. Practically speaking, the assessor should consider the test method as an indispensable part of the formula when choosing tests, writing reports, and generally understanding the client.     

道路交通事故眼损伤伤残评定的标准化和规范化

GB18667-2002《道路交通事故受伤人员伤残评定》标准（以下简称“标准”）中有关眼损伤的条款较为原则和笼统。随着“标准”的广泛应用,加之法医学和临床眼科学技术的不断进步,对眼损伤后遗症的检验技术和认识水平已有较大的提高。建议采用视力表投影仪代替国际视力表进行行为视力检查,存在屈光不正的应了解屈光度后再检查其矫正视力;疑有伪盲或伪装视力降低时,可行伪盲试验或伪装视力降低的检验,视觉电生理技术是测试伪盲或伪装视力降低的有效方法。运用电脑视野计可进行视野检查,动态视野检查结果可通过视野有效值换算为残存视野半径（或直径）;视野检查存在一定的干扰因素,分析时应密切结合原发损伤及其他检查结果。对于遗留复视等双眼视障碍的,可采用同视机等检查方法,检验结果应考察功能障碍与眼肌等原发性损伤的符合性。泪器损伤后遗留溢泪症状的,应采用相应的检查方法证实泪道狭窄或梗阻。眼睑下垂及眼睑畸形分为轻度及重度;眼睑畸形包括闭合不全、眼睑缺损及眼睑外翻等情形。影响视力的外伤性白内障符合“标准”相关条款的规定。根据现行“标准”对道路交通事故所致眼损伤进行伤残评定,应进行视觉功能检测、眼球结构检查、伪盲试验及视觉电生理检测,最后综合病史材料及既往情况综合分析,得出评定结果。统一对现行“标准”的理解,规范检测手段和结果评价原则,有助于道路交通事故眼损伤伤残评定的标准化和规范化。     

归纳法在判例主义法律推理中的有效性与论证

法律推理既具有逻辑特性又具有法学特性,所以法律推理的有效性也应当分别通过逻辑视角与法学精神进行论证.判例主义法律推理融类比推理、归纳推理与演绎推理为一体,具有良好的自我检验功能.归纳推理在判例主义法律推理中占有重要地位,虽然归纳推理在逻辑上仅仅具有相对的有效性即具有"归纳问题",但在"归纳原理"的作用下至少能够保证推理结论的"概率真理性".