Differentiating Between Genuine Damage and Falsified Damage to a Garment Following an Alleged Sexual Assault*

Abstract: An allegation of sexual assault was made in which a bra was torn off by the assailant causing extensive damage; however, it was observed that the hook and eye fastening was still intact. It was felt that it was not possible for a garment to receive such damage without damage to the hook and eye fastening, thus indicating that the complainant caused the damage to the bra herself to support a false allegation. Reconstruction experiments were conducted in which the conditions of the allegation were simulated utilizing a range of similar bras. Following the infliction of damage, the hook and eye fastenings were examined. In eight of nine experiments, the hook and eye fastening were intact, despite the application of enough force to cause separation of the bra cups in five of the experiments. This shows that bras may suffer extensive damage without damage to the hook and eye fastening.     

The Effects of Prior Workplace Behavior on Subsequent Sexual Harassment Judgments

A dual processing model of sexual harassment judgments predicted that the behavior of a complainant in a prior case would influence evaluations in an unrelated subsequent case. In the first of two experimental scenarios depicting social-sexual conduct at work, the female complainant's conduct was manipulated to be aggressive, submissive, ambiguous, or neutral. Half of the participants were asked to reflect upon the first scenario after reading it and before answering responsibility questions. The other half simply reviewed the scenario and answered the questions. When the complainant acted aggressively, her behavior in the first scenario caused men who reflected on the fact pattern to find less evidence of harassment. Most interestingly, an aggressive complainant observed in the first scenario caused participants (especially women) to rate lower the likelihood that a neutral complainant in a second independent case was the victim of gender discrimination. Across cases, men found less evidence of harassment than did women.     

The evidence notwithstanding--a case report on a rape.

This report concerns the rape of a woman by a stranger. The complainant stated that, during the course of the rape, penetration took place without ejaculation: these details were later confirmed by a suspect. This suspect, who was identified by the complainant, confessed and was convicted. Laboratory findings, however, indicated that the suspect could not have been the source of the semen found on the complainant's underpants. Further, a vaginal swab taken from the complainant contained intact sperm cells, an indication of a recent sexual contact. In spite of the presence of semen on the underwear which could not have come from the suspect, and the nonoccurrence of an ejaculation during the rape, the complainant maintained that she had not had a sexual contact for a month prior to the rape. This apparent contradiction and its implications are discussed.     

The use of hair as a toxicological tool in DFC casework

When drugging related offences are cited, most people think of sexual assault. However, the law covers any crime committed whilst the complainant is under the influence of alcohol or drugs i.e. the use of a drug to modify a person's behaviour for criminal gain. The case types encountered include robbery, blackmail and of course sexual offences.Hair analysis for drugs is now well established in Forensic Toxicology. Its use as an analytical tool in workplace testing, post-mortem toxicology and criminal cases is expanding both in the UK and worldwide, and it is now widely accepted as an alternative or complimentary matrix for these cases. This paper will provide a brief overview of hair testing in cases of Drug Facilitated Crime stressing the importance of timely sample collection. Its usefulness in cases of this type will be highlighted through case examples.     

The effects of complainant age and expert psychological testimony in a simulated child sexual abuse trial

Mock jurors viewed a videotape of a simulated child sexual abuse trial and then deliberated to a unanimous verdict. The complainant was described as either a 13- or 17-year-old female child. Jurors voted to convict more often when the younger complainant was seen, and the younger complainant was rated as more credible than the older complainant. Female jurors voted the defendant guilty more often and rated the complainant as being more credible than male jurors. Jurors voted to convict more often and rated the defendant as less credible when expert psychological testimony was specific to the case than when they were presented with either general expert testimony or no expert testimony. Jurors who saw a psychological expert testify became less accepting of child sexual abuse misconceptions than those in the no expert control condition. The implications of these findings are discussed.Millbrook Correctional Centre     

The Direction of Deception: Neuro-Linguistic Programming as a Lie Detection Tool

There is a myth in popular psychology, often echoed in police literature, but as yet untested, that specific eye movements pertain to lying and truth telling. According to this line of thought, eye movements to the sender??s right indicate lying, as the sender??s eyes are drawn to the side of his/her brain where their fabrication is being created. We have put this hypothesis, derived from ??Neuro-Linguistic Programming?? to the test in two experiments. In Experiment 1, a total of 204 participants (all air passengers) were interviewed at an international airport about their forthcoming trip. All participants answered one question truthfully and one question deceptively. Some participants answered a third question truthfully, whereas others answered the same question deceptively. No conclusive evidence was found for a relationship between specific eye movements and deception. In Experiment 2, a total of 31 participants discussed their real occupation in one interview and a pretend occupation in another interview. Only three of the 31 participants revealed the eye movement pattern predicted by NLP. Reasons for the existence of the myth that liars display specific eye movements are discussed.     

An Archival Analysis of Actual Cases of Historic Child Sexual Abuse: A Comparison of Jury and Bench Trials

Logistic regression analyses were used to predict verdicts from 466 Canadian jury and 644 Canadian judge-alone criminal trials involving delayed or historic allegations of child sexual abuse. Variables in regard to the complainant and offence were selected from the legal, clinical, and experimental literatures, including mock juror research. Of six variables that had been related to decisions reached in mock juror research concerning delayed allegations of child sexual abuse (i.e., repressed memory testimony, involvement in therapy, length of delay, age of complainant, presence of experts, and frequency of abuse) two (age of complainant and presence of expert) predicted verdicts. An additional five variables (duration, severity, complainant–accused relationship, threats, and complainant gender) were also examined: of these, threats and the complainant–accused relationship reliably predicted jury verdicts. For judge-alone trials, five variables predicted verdict: length of the delay, offence severity, claims of repression, the relationship between complainant and accused, and presence of an expert. Implications of the jurors' and judges' differential sensitivity to these variables for future simulation and archival research are discussed.     

Australia: Supreme Court of Western Australia orders retrial in case of man convicted of infecting girlfriend with HIV

On 3 October 2002, the District Court convicted an HIV-positive man, Houghton, of unlawfully causing grievous bodily harm to his girlfriend for having unprotected vaginal and anal intercourse with her. Houghton had not told her of his HIV status prior to intercourse. He had been aware of his status for some years before meeting the woman, but testified at his trial that he believed that he could not transmit HIV if he did not ejaculate inside the woman. The woman became HIV-positive as a result of the sexual intercourse. The question put before the jury was twofold: whether there had been bodily injury caused by the applicant to the complainant; and whether that injury was of sufficient severity to constitute grievous bodily harm. The jury found Houghton guilty and in doing so made a finding that the transmission of HIV constitutes grievous bodily harm.     

Using a Five-Stage Model to Evaluate Workplace Discrimination Injuries

Psychological assessment for workplace discrimination injuries is often complex, as each complainant has a particular personal history and context, including different coping skills, psychopathologies and unique life circumstances. A five-stage model based on best practice guidelines can assist forensic assessment practitioners in determining compensatory damages for psychological or psychiatric injuries and in formulating defensible, evidence-based reports that meet legal standards. The model incorporates legally relevant theories of causation to guide the evaluating psychologist to discern the nature and extent of any injury, and whether discrimination was the likely proximate cause. The focus is not on diagnosis but on functional performance (cognitive, affective, interpersonal and physical) in four key contexts: activities of daily living, relationships, the workplace and hedonic pursuits. This assessment method compares functioning in the complainant’s life until the “day before” the alleged discrimination event with the complainant’s condition at the time of the alleged discrimination, and any symptoms or reactions experienced subsequently. The five-stage model provides a systematic method to examine compensatory damages claims and increase the comprehensiveness and accuracy of the forensic evaluation.     

Clothing damage analysis and the phenomenon of the false sexual assault

This paper describes three recent false sexual assaults examined at the Victoria Forensic Science Centre laboratory where clothing damage analysis assisted in the resolution of the case. Suspected false reports of sexual assaults are often sensitive cases with little other forensic evidence. Any evidential value that can be obtained is thus valuable in order to minimize any ordeal to the complainant and any suspect and to conserve valuable resources. The findings illustrate the application of clothing damage analysis in a cross section of confirmed false sexual assault reports and the fact that the forensic examiner should be aware of the potential evidential value of this kind of analysis. Furthermore, the corroboration of a victim's scenario when the investigator has doubts may be no less valuable as it may minimize the adversarial ordeal that is often faced by a rape victim.     

Cardiac Sudden Death as a Result of Acute Coronary Artery Thrombosis During Chemotherapy for Testicular Carcinoma

Abstract: We report the first acute coronary fibrin thrombus arising upon atherosclerosis detected at autopsy in a man receiving chemotherapy for testicular carcinoma. The decedent was a smoker with no other known atherosclerotic risk factors. Histology revealed superficial atherosclerotic plaque erosion with endothelial necrosis and no intraplaque hemorrhage. A focus of intimal lymphoid infiltrates was noted away from the plaque. These findings raise the possibility of chemotherapy‐induced vascular damage as a factor in thrombogenesis. A review of Pubmed was performed which documented clinical reports of an association of chemotherapy with acute cardiac ischemia but no well described autopsy findings. Our case highlights the need for careful assessment of the coronary system in chemotherapy patients dying suddenly, particularly in the absence of significant atherosclerotic risk factors. Such postmortem examination will ensure thorough death investigation and may elucidate the pathogenesis of thrombosis with potential reduction in cardiac ischemic risks of chemotherapy patients.     

Attainability of International Environmental Agreements as a Social Situation

This paper applies the theory of social situations to study whether international environmental agreements (IEAs), mainly those on greenhouse gas emission reductions, can be attained. A game theoretic model is generally a black box for decision makers, where the mechanisms, which lead to solution(s) of the game, are not explicitly pointed out. This paper opens this black box by making the (institutional) move rules explicit. The usual pessimistic outcome with an ineffective and small size of stable coalitions among world regions is countered. Our model challenges conventional wisdom in the sense that large coalitions are possible outcomes of the cartel game, namely by incorporating: (1) farsightedness, and (2) coalitional moves with commitment as an alternative to myopic and individual moves which characterise the cartel game. We show that even if the international negotiations on climate change mitigation are modelled as an n-person prisoner's dilemma, one cannot rule out cooperation among world regions as a solution of the game. Indeed, in most analysed situations the grand coalition is among the solutions of the game. This shows that predictions based on cartel stability may be too pessimistic if it comes to analysing incentives to cooperate in implementing international environmental policy. Moreover, in an empirically calibrated model, we find three out of six instances where Russia (with or without the US) has an incentive to sign the Kyoto protocol.     

Validation of the Child Sexual Abuse Knowledge Questionnaire

A validation study of the Child Sexual Abuse Knowledge Questionnaire (CSA-KQ) was conducted on a sample of 1712 non-empanelled jurors in the greater Sydney area, Australia. The CSA-KQ contains nine items derived from empirical findings on common misconceptions about typical features of abuse offences, children’s responses to child sexual abuse, and their ability to give reliable evidence. Study 1 tested the factor structure of the questionnaire in a sample of 843 non-empanelled jurors. The best model indicated by exploratory factor analysis had two factors: the Impact of Sexual Abuse on Children and Contextual Influences on the Report. Study 2 cross-validated the findings and tested the predictive validity of the CSA-KQ in a realistic simulated trial in which an 11-year-old complainant alleged abuse by her grandfather. Confirmatory factor analysis replicated the findings of Study 1, showing strong reliability for each of the factors (ρ_y?=?0.70 to ρ_y?=?0.80) and for the CSA-KQ (ρ_y?=?0.76). CSA-KQ scores were significantly correlated with the perceived credibility of the complainant (r?=?0.23). Moreover, the CSA-KQ scores predicted verdict: jurors with greater knowledge about CSA were more likely to convict the defendant than jurors who knew less about CSA.     

完整构建我国的行政诉讼调解制度

<中华人民共和国行政诉讼法>第50条规定:"人民法院审理行政案件,不适用调解."在司法实践中,为了规避行政诉讼不适用调解的规定,法院出面由行政机关与原告"协商互让",或由被告改变原具体行政行为,原告申请撤诉获人民法院准许结案,从而导致了我国行政诉讼中的撤诉率一直居高不下.这表明,行政诉讼调解有实践需要且事实上存在.应当完整地构建我国行政诉讼调解制度,将调解结案作为法定的结案方式作出规定,赋予调解书与判决书同等的法律效力.     

Calculating likelihood ratios for a mixed DNA profile when a contribution from a genetic relative of a suspect is proposed

This technical note describes a practical method for evaluating evidence in the case of a two person conditioned DNA mixture where the defence proposition is that the unknown contributor is genetically related to the suspect. A conditioned mixture is one where the presence of DNA from one of two individuals is accepted by both prosecution and defence. A typical example would be a vaginal swab in an alleged rape case, where the presence of the complainant's DNA would be expected and samples have been taken from the complainant and a suspect. Much has been written about the interpretation of such mixtures and the calculation of the conditional genotype probabilities that must be carried out. In general, such treatments assume that the unknown contributor, under the defence proposition, is unrelated to the known individuals. In this paper, we consider the case where the defence proposition is that the unknown contributor is genetically related to the suspect. We describe a method, incorporating a flow chart and reference tables that facilitate manual calculations of the likelihood ratio for several postulated genetic relationships.     

The Effects of Limiting Punitive Damage Awards

In response to concerns that jury awards in tort cases are excessive and unpredictable, nearly every state legislature has enacted some version of tort reform that is intended to curb extravagant damage awards. One of the most important and controversial reforms involves capping (or limiting) the maximum punitive damage award. We conducted a jury analogue study to assess the impact of this reform. In particular, we examined the possibility that capping punitive awards would cause jurors to inflate their compensatory awards to satisfy their desires to punish the defendant, particularly in situations where the defendant's conduct was highly reprehensible. Relative to a condition in which punitive damages were unlimited, caps on punitive damages did not result in inflation of compensatory awards. However, jurors who had no option to award punitive damages assessed compensatory damages at a significantly higher level than did jurors who had the opportunity to do so. We discuss the policy implications of these findings.     

Court orders publication ban in trial for identity of HIV-positive witness

In September 2001, an Ontario trial judge in a criminal assault case ordered a ban on publishing the identities of both the HIV-positive complainant and the man accused of assaulting the complainant, or any evidence from the legal proceedings that would tend to identify them.     

行政投诉案件中原告资格的本土逻辑与实践反思

举报投诉人原告资格问题是行政诉讼理论和实践争议的焦点。《行诉解释》第12条第5项认可了投诉人的原告资格,但在理论和实践中仍存在较大的争议,需要梳理并回应。就保护规范理论而言,在实体法和程序法没有规定主观公权利的前提下,诉讼法及其司法解释也可以赋予投诉人原告资格,并可以据此推导出与原告资格相对应的主观公权利;就保护必要性而言,第5项中合法权益的规范功能能够替代保护必要性的适用;就投诉人的定位而言,第5项与司法实践存在冲突,建议将第5项对投诉人的定位由其他利害关系人改为行政相对人。