A concept in search of a definition: The effects of reasonable doubt instructions on certainty of guilt standards and jury verdicts

Eighty (6-person) juries heard 1 of the 5 reasonable doubt instructions in a trial that either had strong evidence for guilt or favored acquittal. None of the instructions produced acceptable criteria of self-reported reasonable doubt, although instructions that informed juries to be firmly convinced (FC) elicited the highest standards of proof. The FC instructions yielded verdicts that tended to correspond with the evidence in both versions of the trial. FC juries focused proportionately more on the evidence and less on non-probative issues than juries given other instructions. Juries had lower self-reported standards of proof when the trial evidence was weak for conviction as opposed to when it was strong. The discussion addresses the surprisingly low self-reported standards of proof.     

An Investigation into the Relationship between Human Cranial and Pelvic Sexual Dimorphism

When faced with commingled remains, it might be assumed that a more “masculine” pelvis is associated with a more “masculine” cranium, but this relationship has not been specifically tested. This study uses geometric morphometric analyses of pelvic and cranial landmarks to assess whether there is an intra‐individual relationship between the degrees of sexual expression in these two skeletal regions. Principal component and discriminant function scores were used to assess sexual dimorphism in 113 U.S. Black individuals. Correlation values and partial least squares regression (PLS) were used to evaluate intra‐individual relationships. Results indicate that the os coxae is more sexually dimorphic than the cranium, with element shape being more sexually dimorphic than size. PLS and correlation results suggest no significant intra‐individual relationship between pelvic and cranial sexual size or shape expression. Thus, in commingled situations, associations between these skeletal elements cannot be inferred based on degree of “masculinity.”     

Revisiting Parental Monitoring: Evidence that Parental Solicitation Can be Effective When Needed Most

Studies using valid measures of monitoring activities have not found the anticipated main effects linking greater monitoring activity with fewer behavioral problems. This study focused on two contexts in which monitoring activities may be particularly influential. Early adolescents (n = 218, M age = 11.5 years, 51% female, 49% European American, 47% African American) reported their unsupervised time, beliefs about the legitimacy of their parents’ authority, and their own involvement in antisocial behavior. Mothers and adolescents reported their perceptions of adolescent disclosure and parental solicitation and control. Adolescents’ perceptions of greater parental solicitation at age 11 were associated with less antisocial behavior at age 12 (when controlling for age 11 antisocial behavior) among adolescents reporting large amounts of unsupervised time and weak legitimacy beliefs. Perceived parental solicitation may be an effective deterrent of antisocial behavior when adolescents spend a lot of time unsupervised and for adolescents who are likely to challenge the legitimacy of their parents’ authority.     

Book reviews

Naum Jasny, Soviet Economists of the Twenties: Names to be Remembered. Cambridge: at the University Press, 1972. ix + 218 pp. £3.80. $12.50.

Leonard Joel Kirsch, Soviet Wages: Changes in Structure and Administration since 1956. Cambridge, Mass. and London: The MIT Press, 1972. 237 pp. $12.50.

Robert C. Stuart, The Collective Farm in Soviet Agriculture. Lexington, Mass. and London: Lexington Books, D. C. Heath & Co., 1972. xx + 254 pp. $12.50.

Mose L. Harvey, Leon Goure and Vladimir Prokofieff, Science and Technology as an Instrument of Soviet Policy. Monographs in International Affairs: Center for Advanced International Studies, University of Miami, 1972. xvi + 219 pp. $5.95 (hard cover). $4.95 (paper cover).

I. S. Koropeckyj, Location Problems in Soviet Industry Before World War II. The Case of the Ukraine. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1971, and London: OUP, 1972. xiii + 219 pp. £5.75.

Chris Osakwe, The Participation of the Soviet Union in Universal International Organizations: A Political and Legal Analysis of Soviet Strategies and Aspirations inside ILO, UNESCO and WHO. Leiden: A. W. Sijthoff, 1972. xvi + 194 pp. Dfl. 35.—

Dieter Pfaff, Das Sowjetische Transportrecht ah Teil des Wirtschaftsverwaltungsrechts. Hamburg: Hansischer Gilden‐Verlag, Joachim Heitmann & Co., 1970. 147 pp.

Roger Pethybridge, The Spread of the Russian Revolution; Essays on London: Macmillan, 1972. xii + 238 pp. £4.50.

Peter Kenez, Civil War in South Russia, 1918: The First Year of the Volunteer Army. Berkeley, Calif, and London: University of California Press, 1971. 351 pp. $10.00. £4.75.

George Lenczowski, Soviet Advances in the Middle East. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1972. 176 pp. $4.00 (paperback).

Robert C. Williams, Culture in Exile. Russian Emigrés in Germany 1881–1941. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1972. xviii + 404 pp. $14.50. £6.90.

Lucjan Blit, The Origins of Polish Socialism: The History and Ideas of the First Polish Socialist Party 1878–1886. Cambridge: University Press, 1971. ix + 160 pp. £3.00 $10.00

Andrew C. Janos and William B. Slottman (eds.), Revolution in Perspective. Essays on the Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919. Berkeley, Calif, and London: University of California Press, 1972. (Russian and East European Studies.) x + 185 pp. $10.00. £4.50.