Expert Testimony Pertaining to Battered Woman Syndrome: Its Impact on Jurors' Decisions

Participants (N = 200) were presented with a criminal homicide trial involving a battered woman who had killed her abuser. Within the trial, both the response history (passive, active) and presence of expert testimony pertaining to battered woman syndrome (present, absent) were systematically varied. As well, half of the participants in each of these conditions were provided with a nullification instruction informing them that they were free to disregard the law and acquit should a strict application of the law result in an unjust verdict. Results indicated that, compared to the passive response condition, the mock jurors were no less receptive to the expert testimony in the active response condition. The impact of the testimony on participants' verdicts, however, was moderated by the nullification instruction. That is, although the presence of the testimony did result in greater verdict leniency, this only occurred when the mock jurors had been released from a strict application of the law. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Asian Rejection?: International Refugee Law in Asia*

The majority of Asian states have not signed onto the major international refugee law instruments which promote refugee recognition and protection. Yet, second to Africa, the Asian region has had the highest number of refugees since the Second World War. Three explanations are usually offered to explain this puzzle —“good neighbourliness”, “economic costs” and “social disruption”. In this article I argue that each is flawed in important ways and then develop an alternative by explaining how limited Asian involvement in the drafting of international refugee law has led Asian states to reject Eurocentric refugee recognition practices.     

Prison or Voluntary Cooperation? The Possibility of Withdrawal from the European Union

Can a Member State choose to leave the European Union (EU)? Are there provisions in the Treaties that establish a right to withdraw? What would the political and economic implications be? In this article, these questions are addressed. In a first step, the Treaties of the EU and the provisions of international law are consulted in order to clarify if a legal right to withdraw exists. The conclusion is that there is no guaranteed legal right to withdraw in the current situation, but the entering into force of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe would create such a right. However, a formal right to withdraw does not necessarily mean that leaving the EU is a real option, and therefore the political and economic sides of the issue are also examined. From the literature on secession and Europeanization, a number of issues that could arise in a case of withdrawal are identified – namely ‘fear of fragmentation’, ‘lost investment’, ‘costs’ and ‘the effects of Europeanization’. The extent to which these issues were of importance is examined in the only existing case of withdrawal: Greenland. Subsequently, an assessment is made of the extent to which these issues could form obstacles for a Member State that wishes to withdraw in the current situation. The main conclusion is that large economic costs and the constitutional changes that follow from EU membership could rule out withdrawal as a realistic option.     

Pricing Outputs: A Case Study in Law Enforcement

This paper discusses the advantages and limitations of economic evaluation as a measurement methodology within the Australian government's outcome and output framework including preliminary benefit–cost analysis of Australian Federal Police investigations. The results suggest that the Australian Federal Police is returning over $5 to the community for every dollar invested in fraud and drug investigations. It is concluded that benefit–cost analysis is a useful tool for comparing the price of an output to the value of an outcome. The method has limitations. Not all outcomes will admit of easy assessment and the information may be difficult to collect. However, the use of surrogate measures and extrapolation of results may overcome most of these limitations.     

Distributive and Procedural Justice in Seven Nations

The paper examines the impact of distributive justice and procedural justice variables on judgments in seven countries (Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Spain, and the United States). Subjects were presented with each of two experimental vignettes: one in which the actor unsuccessfully appeals being fired from his job and one in which the actor unsuccessfully goes to an employment agency to seek a job; they were asked to rate the justness of the outcome and how fairly the actor had been treated. The vignettes manipulated deservingness and need of the actor (distributive justice factors) and impartiality and voice in the hearing (procedural justice factors). Four hypotheses were tested: first, a distributive justice hypothesis that deservingness would be more important than need in these settings; second, a procedural justice hypothesis that the importance of voice and impartiality vary depending on the nature of the encounter and the forum in which it is resolved; third, because of their recent socialist experience, Central and Eastern European respondents make greater use of need information and less use of deservingness information than Western respondents; and fourth, that distributive justice and procedural justice factors interact. The distributive justice hypothesis is supported in both vignettes. The procedural justice hypothesis receives some support. Impartiality is more important in the first vignette and voice is more important in the second vignette. The interaction hypothesis was not supported in the first vignette, but does receive some support in the second vignette. The cultural hypothesis is not supported in either vignette. The implications for distributive and procedural justice research are discussed.     

A field diagnostic test for the improvised explosive urea nitrate

A sensitive, specific and simple color test for the improvised explosive urea nitrate is described. It is based on the formation of a red pigment upon the reaction between urea nitrate and p-dimethylaminocinnamaldehyde (p-DMAC) under neutral conditions. Urea itself, which is the starting material for urea nitrate, does not react with p-DMAC under the same conditions. Other potential sources of false positive response e.g., common fertilizers, medications containing the urea moiety and various amines, do not produce the red pigment with p-DMAC. Exhibits collected from 10 terrorist cases have been tested with p-DMAC. The results were in full agreement with those obtained by instrumental techniques including GC/MS, XRD and IR.     

Assessment and aftercare for deliberate self-harm patients provided by a general hospital psychiatric service

We report on a sample of 135 deliberate self-harm (DSH) patients who were assessed by a general hospital DSH service, and on those who were offered aftercare by, or telephone open access to, the service. Patients' satisfaction with assessment and treatment, and their outcome were investigated at follow-up 12-20 months later. Four-fifths of patients reported the assessment following DSH to have been helpful and the assessor sympathetic. Thirty-three (24%) of the 135 patients assessed were offered treatment by the DSH service but 13 declined or failed to attend. Of the 20 who engaged in treatment, 17 (94%) were satisfied with their care. Open access to the DSH service by telephone was offered to 53 (39%) patients, nine (22%) of whom reported at follow-up that they had used this facility. A specialist DSH service can effectively assess and treat patients following DSH. It is important that the service is accessible and acceptable to patients.     

Negotiating obligations,creating rights: Conscientious objection and the redefinition of citizenship in Israel

This article examines the ways in which modes of inclusion in the community of citizens are constitutive of political identities and frame the kinds of contestations and claims of individuals and groups vis‐à‐vis the state's agents. It analyses the emergence of selective conscientious to warfare and military service in Israel during the Lebanon war (1982–85). The article is based on the interpretative analysis of interviews with 66 individuals who refused to serve in the war in Lebanon. It shows, through the interpretative analysis of interviews, how conscientious objectors mobilised the hegemonic discourse on citizenship obligations and the identities constructed by it, in order to negotiate and promote and alternative discourse on citizenship. It claims that conscientious objection in Israel embodies an alternative discourse on citizenship and on the subject of rights and obligations. This redefinition entails a reformulation of modes of participation in the political community and of the political culture that frames it.