Educational Intentions Among Prison Inmates

The aim of the study was to examine the impact of geographical and cultural affiliation and learning problems on prison inmates' intentions to embark on education above their obtained level of education. Younger inmates, inmates who had reading or writing problems and inmates with less geographical and cultural affiliation to Norway were significantly more likely to report that they wished to start upper secondary school than older inmates, inmates who had no reading or writing problems and inmates with a strong affiliation to Norway. Likewise, younger inmates, inmates who had a non-Norwegian affiliation and inmates who had no problems with arithmetic or mathematics were significantly more likely than others to say that they wished to embark on university studies or other higher education.     

A forensic case study of a naturally mummified brain from the bushveld of South Africa

The present study reports our observations of a naturally mummified human brain found in the bushveld of South Africa. This case extends the geographic and climatic ranges in which mummified brains have been found, and it represents an additional case where no human activity has led to the mummification. The mummified brain was c. one fifth the size of a normal human brain, while the gyral and sulcal patterns of a typical human brain were clear. CT scanning of the brain revealed that subcortical structures, normally evident in this type of imaging, were not discernable, indicating a slow mummification process. Histological examination of the tissue revealed near complete degradation of the microanatomical structure, with only putative Nissl bodies remaining as identifiable neural microstructures. The specimen appears to have survived several veld fires, as well as a high annual rainfall, and a high relative humidity. It is thought that specific conditions amenable to brain mummification, but not other soft tissues, occurred in the skull of this specimen in the weeks postmortem.     

Effects of Educational Motives on Prisoners’ Participation in Education and Educational Desires

There are numerous individual and social benefits of increasing prisoners’ educational motivation and their level of education. During incarceration they can be motivated to consider education because of the value of education, their own resettlement, future job prospects, to break free from prison routines, or simply to be around others. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between prisoners’ educational motives and their participation in education or desires to start an education in prison. The participants were 750 prisoners who attended prison education in Norwegian prisons in 2009, plus 898 other prisoners. Three motive categories were identified: “Future planning”, “Social reasons and escapism”, and “Competence building” (learning for the sake of learning). The first factor explained more than twice of the variance of the sum of the two others. Prisoners with high scores in the competence building category were significantly more prone to participate in education in prison, also when other commonly used background variables were controlled for statistically. Among those who did not participate, high scores in competence building also predicted that they desired to start an education while incarcerated. Prisoners with high scores in the future planning category were less likely to participate in prison education. We then discuss why this latter somewhat surprising negative effect occurred.     

New soft tissue correction factors for stature estimation: results from magnetic resonance imaging

In stature reconstruction using Fully's method, it is essential that a soft tissue correction factor be added to skeletal height in order to obtain an estimate of living stature. While some anthropologists consider Fully's method to be the most reliable for stature estimation, others consider it to be inadequate as it seems to be underestimating living stature, possibly due to an error in the magnitude of Fully's soft tissue factors. A recent study by Raxter and co-workers revised Fully's technique and also presented a new "universally applicable" soft tissue correction factor. The present study examines the reliability of soft tissue correction factors of Fully and Raxter et al. on a living sample of indigenous South African males. The current study is based on data collected from 28 indigenous South African (ISA) male volunteers. Standing height of each subject was measured using a stadiometer. Fully's method was used in the calculation of total skeletal height from a full body MRI scan of each subject. Subsequent analyses of the acquired data revealed that the previously derived soft tissue correction factors are not applicable to the studied sample, and why they are not applicable. The correction factors of Fully and Raxter et al. both significantly underestimate living stature in a living sample of indigenous South African males. Consequently, a new correction factor was calculated based on the prediction of living stature from TSH using regression analysis.     

Music therapy for improving mental health problems of offenders in correctional settings: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives

The aim of this review was to assess the effectiveness of music therapy on improving the mental health of offenders in correctional settings.

Methods

Multiple databases and journals were searched to identify randomized controlled trials and quasi-randomized controlled trials of music therapy for offenders in correctional settings.

Results

Five studies (n?=?409; predominantly male) were included in random-effects meta-analyses. Music therapy was effective for promoting offenders’ self-esteem (Hedges’ g?=?0.55, p?<?0.001) and social functioning (g?=?0.35, p?<?0.05). Effects on anxiety and depression depended on the number of sessions. For both outcomes, the studies with 20 or more sessions had larger effects than the study that had fewer than 20 sessions, and this difference was statistically significant (Q?=?11.88, df?=?1, p?<?0.001, anxiety; Q?=?9.16, df?=?1, p?=?0.002, depression). No significant effects were found on behavior management or between different music therapy approaches.

Conclusions

Music therapy may be helpful for offenders to improve mental health. Future studies should consider including offenders of both genders, using larger sample sizes, and examining long-term effects. Publication bias may be an issue for this review given the small number of studies and the small sample sizes.

     

Learning and the Precision of International Investment Agreements

The international regime for the promotion and protection of foreign investment consists of a multitude of close to 3,000 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and related international investment agreements (IIAs). Yet, despite a growing body of research on IIAs, scholars in political economy have paid little attention to the legal language in the treaties themselves. In this research note, we draw on the conceptual apparatus of the legalization literature and focus on legal precision in BITs. We use a new data set created through quantitative text analysis to develop an index measuring legal precision. We then investigate the causes of the pronounced increase in precision in BITs and the considerable variation across treaties. We argue that capital-exporting countries are the primary drivers of change, and that they are motivated because they learn the implications of existing legal language from two sources: First, from the growing number of arbitration proceedings, and second, when they themselves are targeted by such claims. We provide statistical tests of our hypotheses and find ample support.