Observer determination of the make,model, and year of questioned vehicles

Often, criminal acts involving a vehicle are caught on digital video surveillance systems. While potentially useful for an investigation, the recording conditions are typically less than optimal for the extraction of key information for the identification of the perpetrator, such as a license plate. Providing the make, model and year of a questioned vehicle is a common request for examiners, to narrow the field of potential suspect vehicles. This study seeks to compare the performance of a nonpeer-reviewed make, model, and year determination between two separate groups, specifically, trained forensic image examiners and nontrained individuals. Results show that even with varied image capture conditions and quality, the trained forensic image examiners more correctly and completely identified the test group of questioned vehicles make, model, and year.     

An Analysis of the Joint Board or County Model as the Structural Basis for Effective Australian Local Governance

Australian policy‐makers continue to rely on municipal amalgamation as the main engine of structural reform in local government, despite strong evidence that it diminishes participation and representation without improving service efficiency. Several promising, but neglected alternative models of structural reform have been developed, including ad hoc resource sharing models, Regional Organisations of Councils, virtual local government, and agency models. In an encouraging response to the recent policy of enforced council amalgamations in NSW, the Shires Association of NSW (2004) has recently proposed a ‘Joint Board model’ of local governance and invited comment on this model. This article takes up this challenge and seeks to place the Joint Board model in conceptual context and evaluate its characteristics and simulated cost savings.     

Relationships between psychosocial development and personality disorder symptomatology in late adolescents

The present study investigated the extent to which psychosocial development through the first five stages of Erik Erikson's theory of personality development is associated with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (third edition, revised; DSM-III-R) Axis II personality disorder symptomatology in a late adolescent sample of undergraduate students. The Inventory of Psychosocial Development (IPD) and the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire—Revised (PDQ-R) were administered to a mixed-sex sample of 106 undergraduate students. The results of this research were that IPD scores assessing negative resolutions of the first five Eriksonian developmental stages consistently predicted scores on the PDQ-R composite scale and the PDQ-R impairment/distress index—both measures of overall personality disorder symptomatology. The IPD subscales varied substantially in the extent to which they predicted scores on the 13 PDQ-R subscales that assess symptoms of specific DSM-III-R personality disorders—ranging from the trust vs. mistrust subscale, which predicted scores on 12 of the 13 PDQ-R subscales, to the initiative vs. guilt subscale, which predicted scores on only 6 of the 13 PDQ-R subscales. Implications of these findings for our understanding of the relationship between psychosocial development and psychopathology are discussed in the context of previous research in this area, and suggestions for future research are offered.Received Ph.D. from Temple University. Research interests include personality disorders, depression, and life events.     

Is it a fair deal to tell tales on the tabloids?

Legal context. A recent High Court judgment, Fraser-WoodwardLimited v BBC and Brighter Pictures Limited, is of key interestto those that use or advise upon the use of copyright materialfor the purposes of criticism or review. Key points. This case involved the use of newspaper photographsof David and Victoria Beckham in a television documentary aboutthe relationship between celebrities and the press. The programmeillustrated its theme using screenshots of tabloid newspaperpages, which inevitably included a number of photographs. Theclaimant was the copyright holder in respect of a number ofthe photographs, and alleged that their reproduction in theTV programme was an infringement of copyright. The defendantssuccessfully relied upon the fair dealing and incidental inclusiondefences to copyright infringement. Practical significance. Although each fair dealing case willultimately turn on its own facts, Mann J gave a very usefulreview of the state of copyright law in this difficult area.     

Differentiating among racial/ethnic groups and its implications for understanding juvenile justice decision making

Both theory and research have been refined to gain a better understanding of when race and ethnicity matter in justice proceedings. In the present research, this line of inquiry was continued by differentiating among minority youth to assess the extent being African American, Native American, and Asian American influenced juvenile justice decision making and how these effects compared to one another and Whites. Utilizing an interpretation of the symbolic threat thesis that emphasizes stereotyping, the authors anticipated Native Americans to be responded to more severely than African Americans, followed by Asian Americans who were anticipated to be responded to more like Whites. The results indicated partial support for these expectations.     

The impact of health maintenance organizations and competition on hospitals in Minneapolis/St. Paul

The Healthcare Educational and Research Foundation (HERF) in Minneapolis undertook a two-year research project to study the effects of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and competition on the hospital industry in Minneapolis/St. Paul. This article summarizes HERF's major findings surrounding three key questions: (1) do the HMOs in Minneapolis/St. Paul use fewer hospital resources relative to conventional payers?; (2) do recent overall community trends in inpatient use suggest evidence of hospital utilization-reducing effects attributable to HMOs?; and (3) given the highly visible competitive process among Minneapolis/St. Paul providers, do hospital cost and revenue data suggest any evidence of cost-containment? The findings (based on data through 1982) indicate that for comparable patients, Twin Cities HMOs appear to use fewer medical care resources per hospitalized patient. There was, however, no clear evidence of community-wide, utilization-reducing effects directly attributable to the "competitive effect" of HMO introduction and development in the market. In addition, there was no empirical evidence that HMOs (which had enrolled 25 percent of the consumer market by 1982), or other large buyers of inpatient services, have selected hospitals on the basis of price as hypothesized by competition advocates.