The optimisation of fingermark enhancement by VMD and Lumicyano™ on thermal paper

The enhancement of fingermarks on thermal paper can be challenging due to background staining caused by polar solvents used in fingermark enhancement techniques such as ninhydrin. This study explored a commercial one-step superglue fuming process, Lumicyano™, and Vacuum Metal Deposition (VMD) to develop fingermarks on this substrate and overcome this issue. Different sequential treatments involving Lumicyano™ and a combination of VMD methods were investigated with varying degrees of success with some sequences being highly sensitive. The VMD processes, however, were observed to generally be more effective at enhancing marks, whereas Lumicyano™ provided little or no benefit on this paper type. The results indicate that Lumicyano™ is only beneficial as a pre-treatment when the entire sequence of gold/zinc and silver/zinc is taken to completion. The gold/zinc and silver/zinc VMD processes were optimised on five different thermal papers, and the optimised techniques were then directly compared to determine which was more successful on each thermal paper type as a single treatment.     

The expression of cultural and religious practice： A constitutional test

Various conventions and national constitutions are differently worded and the interpretation of national constitutions, in particular, reflects different approaches to the concepts of equality and non-discrimination. Different approaches adopted in the different national jurisdictions arise not only from different textual provisions and from different historical circumstances, but also from different jurisprudential and philosophical understanding of equality. The jurisprudence of courts makes clear that the proper reach of the equality right must be determined by reference to the society＇s history and the underlying values of the Constitution. It has been observed that a major constitutional object is the creation of a non-racial and non-sexist egalitarian society underpinned by human dignity, the rule of law, a democratic ethos and human rights. From there emerges a concept of equality that goes beyond mere formal equality and mere non-discrimination which requires identical treatment, whatever the starting point or impact. The question is, how does the state, in limiting religious freedom, conform to the standards of an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom？ The hope is that the conclusion of this paper will then be able to be extended to more controversial cases, in particular, involving limits on the right to freedom of expression, culture and belief.     

A general test of self-control theory: has its importance been exaggerated?

Self-control theory has been tested for 2 decades. However, mixed results and measurement problems have made it difficult to ascertain its true utility. This study addresses recent concerns and includes variables such as risk, consequences, criminal opportunity, an interaction term, and bond controls in one complete test. It also addresses self-control's ability to explain different forms of crime and whether the support that it has garnered has been exaggerated. Results of both cross-sectional and semilongitudinal tests indicate that self-control significantly predicts a higher probability of involvement in property and drug crime but is virtually silent in its ability to explain violence. Furthermore, it can be tentatively stated that support for the theory wanes over time. Finally, neglected concepts such as opportunity, risk, consequences, and bond controls may be important to the theory's ability to explain crime, and further negligence of these concepts may hamper a true understanding of its impact.     

Is stalking a learned phenomenon? An empirical test of social learning theory

Purpose

We examine the extent to which components of social learning theory (i.e., definitions, differential reinforcement, and differential association/modeling) predict stalking victimization and perpetration using survey data from a large sample of college students.

Methods

Among a sample of 2,766 college students, logistic regression models were estimated to analyze the relationships between social learning theory and stalking perpetration and victimization.

Results

Results suggest that victimization and perpetration are functions of social learning. The findings also indicated that females were significantly more likely to be both stalking victims and perpetrators.

Conclusions

Regarding stalking perpetration and victimization, our results suggest that there may be responses, attitudes, and behaviors that are learned, modified, or reinforced primarily through interaction with peers. Overall, social learning theory concepts appear to be important predictors of stalking perpetration and victimization that help to develop theoretical explanations for stalking.     

Some comments on Antonelli and Quatraro’s paper of measuring effect of biased technology on TFP

The paper is a response to Antonelli and Quatraro’s paper named “The effects of biased technological change on total factor productivity: empirical evidence from a sample of OECD”. We point out that “so-called novel method” which is used to identify and disentangle the effects of the direction of technological change on total factor productivity (TFP) in the article is wrongly implemented. Antonelli and Quatraro introduce Solow’s methodology as part of his basic model to represent the effect of neutral technical change, ignoring the intrinsic consequence of Solow’s calculating which called technical progress productivity is far from neutral. Hence, his methodology has little significance, neither the empirical analysis. Lastly, we give a new method measuring whether the technology is appropriate to the factor endowments’ changing. That’s the effect of biased technology on TFP.     

“To develop and test:” The inventive difference between evaluation and experimentation

The National Research Council (NRC) Report on Improving Evaluation of Anticrime Programs raises a fundamental question about the mission of evaluation research. The implicit premise of the report is that the mission of evaluation is to answer questions about programs developed by others; in short, to test anti-crime programs. In contrast, the mission of experimental criminology has, historically, been to develop anti-crime programs as well as to test them. There are times when an arm’s-length relationship between program and evaluation may be appropriate. Yet, such a separation necessarily produces a courtroom-like adjudication role for evaluators, rather than the laboratory-like, participant–inventor role that has characterized the best of experimental criminology. The recent case of the Chicago police’s “evaluating” the use of sequential suspect identification methods developed by academic psychologists shows the many flaws of the “testing-only” model. This suggests that providing “effective guidance of criminal justice policy and practice,” as the NRC report defines its focus [Lipsey, M. ed (2005). http://newton.nap.edu/pdf/0309097061/pdf_image/R1.pdf] will not only require evaluation research (defined as arm’s-length testing) but the full toolbox of experimental criminology to develop and test anti-crime programs.

IsTeen Court effective for repeat offenders? A test of the restorative justice approach

Teen Courts are an effective judicial alternative for many youth offenders. The majority of youth courts deal solely with first-time offenders. However, repeat offenders are at a greater risk for future crime. Is Teen Court effective with more experienced offenders? In this study, the authors examine the outcomes of 26 Whatcom County Teen Court offenders with at least one prior conviction. The sentence completion rate was higher and the recidivism was lower for the Teen Court offenders when compared with a sample of first-time Court Diversion offenders. This objective evidence of program success is augmented by an offender's perspective on his or her court experience. These perspectives as well as the continued voluntary involvement with Teen Court are discussed in relation to empowerment theory.     

Terraskin® the paper made from stone: a study of a new writing support for forensic purposes

Can a mineral paper be called paper? Until now all known writing supports have been ancient stones and tablets, parchment, and paper of vegetable origin, such as papyrus and fiber pulp paper. Some years ago polymeric banknotes appeared in Australia, and in 2004 mineral paper (stone plus polymer) emerged as an ecological alternative to pulp paper. In this article we study the physical and elemental features of a mineral paper such as the behavior of Terraskin? paper. We also study its behavior as a writing support, either for handwriting or printing, and compare these results with those usually obtained for paper made from pulp.     

A snapshot of scja members: An analysis of paper presentations at the 1998–2003 scja annual meetings

This paper contains an analysis of papers scheduled for presentation at the annual meetings of the Southern Criminal Justice Association during a six-year period (1998–2003). The goal is to discover which research topics are most popular and which are least popular in order to develop a clearer picture of what the SCJA is, what its members value, what they stand for, and what they think is important.     

Towards Europeanisation through the proportionality test? The impact of free movement law on medical professional discipline

Medical doctors can exercise their free movement rights to escape the control of professional regulation at the national level. This “darker side” of free movement of doctors has received a lot of attention. This article will show that the free movement provisions play an increasingly important role in medical disciplinary cases. The application of free movement law can make a positive contribution to the protection of patient safety. However, disciplinary tribunals are unfamiliar with the structure of arguments based on the free movement provisions. While the case law on free movement of patients has encouraged a process of internationalisation of medical standards, free movement of doctors has not yet led to a similar process of Europeanisation of medical professional rules. Nevertheless, the proportionality test requires that disciplinary tribunals engage in a process of comparison between their own rules and the rules in other Member States.     

Do photos of police-civilian interactions influence public opinion about the police? A multimethod test of media effects

Journal of Experimental Criminology - To test whether exposure to news images depicting law enforcement affects public attitudes toward the police. Participants drawn from a national online panel...     

Lamenting the list: a partial test of Sherman’s defiance theory as applied to female sex offenders

Through the community notification and sex offender registry laws that have been passed, the USA has created a strict legal environment that requires sex offenders to remain in compliance with the registry requirements placed on them by the state once they are released back into their communities. A variety of unintended consequences, such as unemployment and housing issues, have resulted from these laws and have the potential to impact the reentry efforts of released sex offenders. Using Sherman’s defiance theory as a theoretical lens, the current study examines the experiences of registered female sex offenders living in Florida. One hundred and six registered female sex offenders were surveyed to examine their experiences while on the registry, and whether those events influence feelings of defiance toward the registry and criminal justice systems. Results suggest that these offenders indeed experience unintended consequences due to their registration status, which in turn shows support for the four canonical elements of Sherman’s theory by inferring that these women feel unjustly punished and stigmatized. Research findings, policy implications, and limitations are discussed.     

Perceived arrest risk,psychic rewards,and offense specialization: A partial test of rational choice theory†

In prior tests of Beckerian rational choice theory, the notion that individuals are responsive to the (dis)incentives associated with crime has been supported. Much of this research has comprised composite scores of perceived rewards and risks of multiple, often disparate, crime types that are then used to predict “general” offending behavior. Although the results of such prior tests are informative, we believe that this tendency has resulted in two shortcomings. First, a central component of mathematical rational choice theory is overlooked, namely, that responsivity to incentives will be crime specific. That is, offenders should prefer crime types that subjectively offer greater rewards and fewer risks relative to other crimes. Second, individual differences in offending specialization are not addressed, of which Clarke and Cornish (1985) and Shover (1996) argued rational choice theories are well suited to explain. Using a sample of serious offenders, we find that in a given time period, individuals are more likely to engage in crime types they viewed as more intrinsically rewarding and less risky compared with other crimes. Furthermore, individuals displayed greater specialization in violence to the extent they view violence as more rewarding and less risky than property offenses     

A test of Sprinzak’s split delegitimization’s theory of the life course of far-right organizational behavior

This article applies Sprinzak’s theory of split delegitimization to the American far-right. We examine a sample of 30 violent and 30 nonviolent far-right groups for each year of their existence, drawn from the Extremist Crime Database, and explore the violent and legal behavioral patterns over their lifecycle. Sprinzak hypothesized that far-right groups undergo a radicalization process through three stages, conflict of legitimacy, crisis of confidence, and crisis of legitimacy. He predicted that terrorism would occur at the peak of group radicalization or during the third stage. Results supported Sprinzak’s conceptualization of conflict of legitimacy and crisis of confidence stages. Groups initially selected nongovernment targets, but after experiencing disillusionment with the ruling regime, they equally attacked government and nongovernment targets. Importantly, prolonged and increasingly violent acts against government targets were not observed.