Comparability of the MMPI-2 F(p) and F scales and the SIRS in clinical use with suspected malingerers

Relationships among Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS) scores and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--2 (MMPI-2) F(p) and F scores were examined for 63 suspected malingerers evaluated at either of two psychiatric facilities. Despite differences between facilities in terms of seriousness of subjects' offenses, mean scores on the malingering tests were similar. Cutting scores for F(p) and F resulting in substantial correspondence between these scales and the SIRS were derived. Use of the cut score for F(p) proposed by Arbisi and Ben-Porath (1995) resulted in less agreement with the SIRS than did a lower cut score. No substantial difference between F(p) and F in each scale's overall agreement with the SIRS was observed. A principal components analysis of the SIRS primary scales produced two factors, interpreted as Overreporting of Symptoms and Implausible Symptoms. F(p) was observed to correlate significantly with Implausible Symptoms but not with Overreporting of Symptoms; F was significantly correlated with both factors.     

Market Demand for Civic Affairs News

This paper uses time series methods to test the relationship between civic affairs content and audience share for the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news in the mid-1990s. Because these programs competed in the same market, but varied the amount of their civic affairs coverage, they present an excellent opportunity to analyze this relationship. The study uses hand-coded news abstracts and O.J. Simpson murder trial coverage as separate measures of news content. The study finds that lower levels of civic affairs content and higher levels of O.J. news are associated with greater audience share.     

Crime in the Australian fishing industry: Key issues

This research suggests that opportunities exist for a wide range of criminal activity in Australia’s commercial fishing sector.Organised crime is attracted to the fishing industry because it is percieved as being a low-risk, high-gain endeavour involving high-value, low-volume product with a lucrative overseas market. Jurisdictions are trying to implement strategies to inhabit these activities in valuable, but diminishing sectors, such as abalone. These efforts have to extend across all attractive seafood products, for example, seahorse and shark fin. To do so sucessfully will require a range of operational, legeslative and educational strategies, implemented uniformly and (where possible) simultaneously across jurisdictions and bolstered by international support and cooperation. This will inhibit the likehood of displacement and will result in a greater ability by fisheries enforcement agencies to focus their resources. Disclaimer: This research paper does not necessarily reflect the policy position of the Australian Government. The Australian Institute of Criminology (the Institute) and the Commonwealth of Australia accept no responsibility for the content, accuracy or completeness of [this] material... This material is made available on the understanding that neither the Institute nor the Commonwealth is thereby engaged in rendering professional or expert advice. The material may include views of third parties and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute or the Commonwealth.     

Issues regarding the clinical use of the Classification of Violence Risk (COVR) assessment instrument

The MacArthur Study of Mental Disorder and Violence produced an instrument for classifying hospitalized psychiatric patients according to their risk of behaving violently following discharge. The instrument, Classification of Violence Risk (COVR) has been computerized and is now commercially available to clinicians. A validation study performed by the original researchers showed that when the instrument was applied to a new sample of patients, it demonstrated a considerable reduction in positive predictive power. Potential factors affecting the instrument's accuracy in applied settings are reviewed. It is concluded that, until additional research clarifies uncertainty about the instrument, clinicians would do well to be very cautious in utilizing COVR results to make judgments as to violence risk, particularly when the test results suggest a high risk of future violence.     

Transnational organised cyber crime: distinguishing threat from reality

Cybercrime has become an integral part of the transnational threat landscape and conjures up pressing images of nefarious and increasingly complex online activity. More recently, the concept of ‘organised crime’ has been attributed to cybercriminality. There has been subsequent disagreement and confusion concerning whether such crime is a derivation of traditional organised crime or an evolution of such crime within the online space. This opaque state of affairs has been exacerbated by the relative lack of clear evidence attesting to and supporting either scenario. Technological advances have always been used to the advantage of the criminal fraternity. The crucial question that remains is whether those advances have merely facilitated the commission of physical crime or whether in fact they have led to the creation of a new wave of traditional, but virtual, organised crime.     

The Impact of War on Calorie Food Demand in Bangladesh

Daily per capita calorie intake in Bangladesh averaged almost 2,100 (kilo)calories in the 1960s but fell to 1,840 in 1972 following the war of independence in 1971, and only by 1987 did it reach 2,000 again. This article examines the long-run relationship between per capita income, food prices and per capita calorie intake using aggregate data for Bangladesh for 1962–97 and the recent cointegration procedure of Johansen et al., which permits structural breaks. Results show that a long-run relationship exists and that the war reduced average calorie intake permanently by 10 per cent. Impulse responses show that income Granger-causes calorie intake but not vice versa.