Mighty Morphin’ age progression: how artist,age range,and morphing influences the similarity of forensic age progressions to target individuals

When children go missing, authorities sometimes release age progressed images that are intended to approximate the person's current appearance. The current studies measured the influence of the range between the time when the child went missing and the age portrayed in the age progression on the similarity between the progressions and current images of the targets. Experiment 1 examined whole face images and Experiment 2 examined internal features only. Eight artists were recruited to produce progressions at three age ranges. Also included were averaged (morphed) images made of progressions of the same individual at a given range by different artists. Progressions across shorter ranges produced images more similar than those across longer ranges, and target comparisons yielded higher similarity ratings than foil comparisons. Although there was much variability among artists, the morphed images performed better than the average rating given to all age progressions.     

The impact of interpersonal style on aggression and treatment non-completion in patients with personality disorder admitted to a medium secure psychiatric unit

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of interpersonal style and psychopathy on treatment non-completion and aggressive behaviour. Participants were patients with personality disorder admitted for treatment to a structured group program operating within a medium secure psychiatric hospital. Assessment of personality disorder and psychopathy occurred prior to admission. Interpersonal style was assessed on admission with the Impact Message Inventory (IMI), a self-report transactional inventory. Files were subsequently reviewed to determine whether patients were aggressive during their hospital stay and whether they were prematurely expelled from the unit and therefore did not complete treatment. Results showed that patients who completed treatment were more nurturing and help-seeking. Aggressive patients were more competitive and dominant. Psychopathy did not differentiate treatment completers from non-completers or aggressive from non-aggressive patients. Clinical implications and opportunities for further research are explored.     

Criminal attitudes and psychopathic personality attributes of youth gang offenders in Singapore

Gang-affiliated youth are responsible for a disproportionate amount of serious and violent offenses. However, there is scant focus on the psychological variables that could be important for treatment planning and program development. Awareness of these variables is important for treatment planning and program development and also, potentially, for understanding which youth may be attracted to gangs. This study compared the criminal attitudes and psychopathic personality attributes of gang- and nongang-affiliated youth offenders (N=168) residing in youth correctional institutions in Singapore. Multivariate analyses indicated that favorable attitudes toward gangs (ATG), violence, and criminal associates remained significantly associated with gang membership after accounting for favorable attitudes toward violence and criminal associates, as well as increased attitudes of entitlement and impulsive/irresponsible traits. These attitudes were likely to perpetuate gang affiliation and criminal behavior, and thus should be a focus for intervention and rehabilitation efforts.     

Are the misinformed more punitive? Beliefs and misconceptions in forensic psychology

Misconceptions about psycho-legal issues are widespread and threaten the fabric of our legal system. The present study examines how misconception endorsement is related to tough-on-crime beliefs and sentencing decisions. Two hundred and fifty-six students completed a 50-item questionnaire assessing misconceptions related to forensic psychology and determined sentences in four mock-jury scenarios at the beginning and end of an introductory forensic psychology course. Misconception endorsement decreased significantly from 32% to 21%, with every subscale (police and interrogations, service provision, mental illness, memory and cognition, tough on crime) experiencing a significant decrease from pre-test to post-test. This drop in endorsement is meaningful, as misconceptions and beliefs are typically very difficult to change. Additionally, misconception endorsement was positively correlated with tough-on-crime beliefs and punitive (mock) sentencing. This study provides a valuable resource for endorsement rates of psycho-legal misconceptions and the propensity of individual misconceptions to change. It also makes a strong argument for the usefulness of psychology and law courses in reducing potentially harmful misconceptions and tough-on-crime beliefs.     

The impact of increasing vs. decreasing harassing behaviours on perceptions of hypothetical instances of repeated sexual harassment

ABSTRACT

Sexual harassment is a traditionally underreported crime. One factor that might affect perceptions and willingness to report harassment is its occurrence over time: harassing behaviours that gradually increase or decrease in severity over time might impact its perception. In the present research, 177 female participants read a series of daily scenarios about increasing, decreasing, or steady harassment, and completed measures regarding their perceptions of and willingness to report it. Participants displayed increases and decreases in negative reactions as harassment increased and decreased, respectively, suggesting that each instance of sexual harassment is interpreted independently of earlier harassing behaviours, and that early, strongly harassing behaviours have little impact on how subsequent instances of harassment are perceived. This explanation is supported by the similar ratings in the midpoint (day 4) of the scenario series, regardless of whether harassment was increasing or decreasing.     

Sibling incest: A literature review and a clinical study

Abstract

Few previous studies have explored the characteristics and dynamics of adolescent sibling incest. The objectives of this paper were twofold: first, to conduct a literature review that accounts for earlier research in the area, and secondly, to conduct a clinical study to explore differences regarding the characteristics of a group of adolescent sibling incest offenders (n=21) compared to a group of adolescent non-sibling offenders (n=24). Comparisons were made regarding variables such as family dysfunction, the offenders' prior victimization and offending behaviour. The data were derived from intake assessment files and semi-structured interviews with 45 adolescents who had sexually offended. The sibling incest offender group had grown up more often in dysfunctional families. Moreover, the results indicated that the offending behaviour in the sibling incest group was more severe. The study gives some empirical support for the possibility that sibling incest can be one sign, among others, of maltreatment during childhood.     

The behavioural consequences of institutional rules: republicans in the US house

The Republicans gained a majority in the US House from the 1994 elections, and upon taking office they rewrote the rules that determine legislative power relations. This paper combines a 1996 attitudinal survey of US Representatives with demographic information, status within the House, and party position to examine the impact of the 1995 rule changes on satisfaction, ambition, and retirement. This paper demonstrates that member reactions to reform are explained jointly by their partisanship and their relative position within their party. Senior members of any party dislike rules making power more exclusive, and dissatisfaction increases the likelihood of retirement.     

European democracy,parliamentary decline and the ‘democratic deficit’ of the European Union

This article examines two different, yet interrelated, phenomena: parliamentary decline in western Europe and the ‘democratic deficit’ of the European Union (EU). It argues that the latter has helped to consolidate, and in certain areas, facilitate, the former. This is illustrated by two sets of empirical studies, covering first the European Community (and in particular the Common Agricultural Policy and Economic and Monetary Union) and then the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and co‐operation in Justice and Home Affairs. The main conclusion to be drawn is that a simple reordering of some policies within and across different pillars will not remedy the current democratic shortfalls of the EU which stem as much from the inadequacy of existing parliamentary structures to hold EU decision makers to account, as from the absence of a European demos. The combined effects of the above are particularly crucial for the democratic viability of the emerging European polity which, as with any other political system in the modern democratic era, needs to strike a balance between efficiency and accountability.     

Book reviews

Stuart M. Kaye. International Fisheries Management. Kluwer Law International, The Hague, Netherlands, 2001. 606 pp. (hard cover). $172.00

Rosalee Love. Reefscape, Joseph Henry Press, Washington D.C., 2001. 264 pp. (hard cover). $24.95

Olav Schram Stokke (ed.), Governing High Seas Fisheries: The Interplay of Global and Regional Regimes, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001. 365 pp. (hard cover). $95.00

Norman J. Vig and Michael E. Kraft (eds.). Environmental Policy: New Directions for the Twenty‐First Century. 4th ed. Congressional Quarterly Press, Washington D.C., 2000. 416 pp. (paperback). $39.95

Joseph Franke and Teresa M. Telecky. Reptiles as Pets: An Examination of the Trade in Live Reptiles in the United States. The Humane Society of the United States, Washington D.C. 2001. 146 pp. (paperback). $10     

The Philippines: In search of identity

The Philippines: A Singular and a Plural Place, (second edition) by David Joel Steinberg. Westview Press, Oxford and Boulder Co. 1990, xiv + 224 pp. £11.95 paperback. ISBN 0–8133–0766‐X;

Rebellion and Repression in the Philippines, by Richard J. Kessler. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1989. xii+227 pp. £22.50 ($30.00). ISBN 0–300–04406–2;

Red Revolution: Inside the Philippine Guerrilla Movement, by Gregg R. Jones. Westview Press, Boulder Co. and London, 1990. xxii+360 pp. £10.50 paperback. ISBN 0–8733–0877–1;

The Philippine Revolution: The Leader's View, by Jose Maria Sison with Rainer Werning. Taylor and Francis, New York and London, 1989. xxix + 241 pp. £25 cloth, £11 paperback. ISBN 0–8448–1580–2 and 0–8448–1581–0.