Gender difference or indifference? Detective decision making in sexual assault cases

Prior research examining sexual assault case decision making has failed to account for the demographic characteristics of the criminal justice practitioners charged with making case decisions. Inclusion of such information is important because it provides researchers with a greater understanding of how criminal justice practitioners' own gender, race, age, and past experiences affect their judgments. This study seeks to examine whether gender differences exist in detectives' arrest decisions in sexual assault cases. Victim, suspect, incident, and detective characteristics are collected from police case and investigatory files on 328 criminal sexual assault cases involving adult female victims reported to a large Midwestern police department in 2003. Logistic regression is used to determine whether detective gender predicted the odds of arrest after controlling for incident, victim, and suspect characteristics. It is hypothesized that cases involving female detectives would be more likely to result in arrest after controlling for other incident, victim, and suspect characteristics. However, contrary to expectations, female detectives are significantly less likely than male detectives to arrest suspects in sexual assault cases even after controlling for the influence of other factors shown to predict arrest. The findings support prior research that suggests female practitioners may not necessarily be more sensitive toward female victims despite previous assumptions that this would hold true. The findings suggest that efforts to hire female police officers for the purposes of dealing with female-related victimization may ultimately undermine efforts to improve victim experiences with the criminal justice system. They further suggest that both researchers and police administrators need to rethink the best ways to serve female victims beyond hiring mandates.     

Parental-leave policy for male lawyers in Helsinki and Montreal: cultural and professional barriers to male lawyers’ use of paternity and parental leaves

Family policies in Finland and French Canada (Québec) include fathers’ rights to paternity and parental leaves, which have resulted in more fathers using parental leave. Yet this policy has a limited outreach to male-dominated professions, including the legal profession. In this article, we examine attitudes to paternity and parental leaves among male lawyers and the motives behind their decisions to use or not use them. We approach the issue from the perspective of the legal profession’s professional ethos, which impacts lawyers’ attitudes and practices regarding work-life balance. In our analysis, we draw on 20 Finnish and 18 Quebecois interviews with current and former male lawyers from private law practices in two urban civil-law contexts: Helsinki, Finland and Montreal, Canada. The findings indicate that, in traditionally male-dominated professions, it is not enough to provide men with a statutory right to paternity and parental leave. There is also a need for organisational solutions and peer encouragement in the work environment so that men feel comfortable taking leave.     

New Zealand lawyers and conveyancers disciplinary tribunal cases involving vulnerable clients, 2011–2017*

ABSTRACT

This research analyses disciplinary decisions of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal (NZLCDT) from 2011 to 2017 that involve vulnerable clients. Increasingly, scholarship discusses vulnerability as an ethical concept, including in the legal context. Based on published decisions, the present study inquires whether some legal clients’ vulnerability warrants special attention. Twenty-five of the 193 clients in the NZLCDT decisions qualified as vulnerable based upon age, gender, mental health/neuro-disability or immigrant status. The results may inform disciplinary bodies and inspire preventive strategies by lawyers, educators and regulatory bodies. Ultimately, this evidence-based analysis magnifies the importance of client-centred approaches to risk reduction in legal practice.     

The role of alternative hypotheses in reducing bias in forensic medical experts’ decision making

Medical opinions are often essential evidence in criminal cases but relatively little is known about the factors that impact forensic doctors’ decision making. This research examines the role and impact of having an alternative hypothesis while forming a medical opinion. A scenario-based experiment with forensic doctors (n = 20) was conducted. In two out of three scenarios, the existence of alternative hypotheses impacted the actual opinions reached, the confidence in the judgments and the perceived consistency with the plaintiff hypothesis. Investigative and legal actors should be aware of the possibility of biases and importance of having alternative hypotheses when requesting and evaluating medical opinions.     

The case against lawyers’ contingent fees and the misapplication of principal-agent models

In this paper the case against the principal-agent modeling of most economic transactions is made about liberalizations of professional services that introduced in many European countries schemes of professionals’ remuneration contingent on outcomes—i.e. “contingent fees” for lawyers. If the relationship between the professional and clients is seen according to the principal-agent model, contingency fees can be economically justified. The case is quite different, however, if the situation is seen as one of authority under bounded rationality and unforeseen/asymmetrically gathered events. A game theoretical thought experiment aimed at checking the case for or against using agency models is carried out. It shows that (i) in the case of a self-interested professional, notwithstanding that overall utilitarian efficiency may be safeguarded, contingent fees leads to not respecting the fiduciary obligations (to detriment of Pareto optimality, impartial and loyal treatment of all clients, and the obligation to promote all the clients’ welfare). (ii) In the case of the professional’s willingness to comply with deontology standards—requiring impartial protection of all the clients’ rights and welfare, under a condition of minimal individual rationality—contingent fees lead nevertheless to making useless deontological motivations and to a loss of efficiency in utilitarian sense. A Pareto optimal, impartial, as well as efficient, arrangement aimed at maximizing the total volume of damage compensation is then considered. Nevertheless the main result is that, even if motivations to conform to such principles were available, under a contingent fee contract the professional could not carry out them because of the logic of the incentive contract. Thus, notwithstanding its widespread acceptance in the law and economics literature, agency theory seems not suitable in general for designing efficient and fair contracts and economic institutions.     

Parents’ knowledge and attitudes about youths’ interrogation rights

Some states and police agencies require youth to consult with parents before or during interrogation by police, yet these policies rely on the untested assumption that parents themselves are knowledgeable about police interrogation practices and youths’ rights. This study assessed knowledge of, and attitudes about, juvenile interrogations in a sample of parents (N?=?294) recruited from urban locales. On average, parents correctly answered fewer than half of the questions about juvenile interrogation practices; knowledge about parental notification procedures was especially poor. At the same time, parents strongly endorsed youths’ rights to support (including support from parents) during police questioning contexts and only moderately endorsed youths’ decision-making autonomy, even for older youth who are legally adults.     

Sustainability through an integrated approach to decision making? A law and regulation case study

Many legal fields are relevant to all kinds of problems; however, decision makers often take a narrow approach, looking only at the base of the claim or the issue they are established to consider. This can led to imbalanced outcomes. There is a particular risk of this in respect of decisions regarding key societal challenges, which might be the subject of law and policymaking from several different perspectives. This paper explores the need and bases for a more integrated approach to decision making. It does so using a case study, and explores a range of laws that could be relevant to a business seeking to use technology and resources that could address climate change, the different decisions that courts can make (with a focus on the nature of the action, outcome and forum), and the resulting conflicts, synergies and areas of enquiry.     

Lawmaking and sentencing in rape and child sexual abuse cases in Poland – dead end or rational criminal policy?

Criminal Law Forum - Sexual offences have assumed crucial importance in Polish criminal policy in recent years. Several statutes have been enacted with a view to implementing a more appropriate...     

‘Wrong’ cases and ‘wrong’ plaintiffs: intergenerational relationships and legal consciousness in China

Legal consciousness is not a monolithic concept even in the minds of individual actors. Invoking the law is sometimes viewed positively and at other times not. My study reveals that ordinary people in China consider lawsuits seeking divorce to be acceptable but strongly disapprove of lawsuits seeking intergenerational support. My detailed analysis of this sharp contrast suggests that people consider legal mobilization favourably when claims are brought by the ‘right’ people in the ‘right’ cases, but that they bitterly oppose it when the ‘wrong’ people bring the ‘wrong’ kinds of cases. In this article, I explain how these categories of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ legal claims and plaintiffs come into being and how they shape the legal consciousness of potential litigants in China.     

Parents’ and non-parents’ beliefs about the cues to deception in children

Previous research has suggested that certain groups of experts are better at detecting deception than others. A possible explanation for this finding is that some expert groups have different beliefs about the cues to deception. This study investigated these beliefs in one such expert group, namely parents. Four different scenarios were presented, each scenario depicting a deception for a child at a different age. For each one, participants were asked to indicate whether behaviours would occur more or less frequently during deception. Some differences were found between parents and non-parents for overall beliefs, however there were few differences in their awareness of situational variations, with all participants being aware that deceptive behaviour could change across situations. Results are discussed in terms of the relationship between beliefs and expertise as well as the importance of direct versus indirect experience in the formation of beliefs about the cues to deception.     

‘Fat cat’ lawyers and ‘illegal’ migrants: the impact of intersecting hostilities and toxic narratives on access to justice

ABSTRACT

This article examines how three spheres of hostility intersect to prevent effective access to justice for those living with insecure immigration status. The neoliberal governance model, the barren justice landscape and the hostile environment are supported by the cynical construction of the ‘fat cat’ lawyer and the toxic ‘folk devil’ narrative of the ‘bogus’ asylum seeker. To the extent that the judiciary have frustrated the more obvious, ideologically driven, attempts to restrict access to justice for migrants, the austerity predicated measures pursuant to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) have completely altered the legal landscape. The analysis is informed by the findings of the ‘Legal advice and support for persons with insecure status’ project (hereafter LAPIS) in Nottingham which explores the challenges faced by service providers and the lived experiences of those with insecurity of status. It is clear that access to justice is a passport to the realisation of other rights, yet participants struggled to access a remedy because legal advice is too often out of reach.     

‘Welcome to the rape camp’: Sexual exploitation and the internet in cambodia

Abstract

Summary: This article reports a piece of original research into the links between the trafficking in women and children across the globe and how such trafficking practices have been facilitated by developments in technology and telecommunications. The connections between prostitution in the Mekong Sub-Region, pornography on the Internet, and sex tourism have also been researched, based on the experiences of women and children and the men who exploit them.     

Why do rape survivors volunteer for face-to-face interviews? A meta-study of victims' reasons for and concerns about research participation

There is growing interest in understanding how different research methods are perceived by victims of violence and what survivors will reveal to researchers (termed meta-research or meta-studies). The purpose of this project was to conduct a qualitative meta-study on why rape survivors chose to participate in community-based, face-to-face interviews. Participants mentioned four primary reasons for why they decided to participate in this study: (a) to help other survivors, (b) to help themselves, (c) to support research on rape/sexual assault, and (d) to receive financial compensation. Implications for designing research recruitment protocols are discussed.     

The verdict is in: how did they decide? Using drivers’ self-reported data to understand officers’ decision making during traffic stop encounters

ABSTRACT

In the United States, traffic stop is the most common form of police-citizen encounter, and for many citizens, it is the only way they will ever interact with the police. The frequency of traffic stop encounters has therefore attracted a significant research interest. In the past several years, researchers have attempted to explain the dynamics of these interactions, with the hope to change attitudes and influence policy formation. To supplement the efforts of previous researchers, the current effort analyzed self-reported data from citizens to understand police decision making at three decision points during traffic stop encounters. Specifically, the present study aims to answer three questions: what variables predict whether an officer will let a citizen go without doing anything or decide to do something? If the officer decides to do something, what influences the officer’s decision to choose an outcome over others? What are the drivers of use of force in traffic stop encounters? Results from the regression models suggest that reasons for the stop, verbal assault, officer and suspect characteristics are important predictors of police decision making behavior during traffic stop interaction. The findings have serious implications for developing better police-citizen relationships as well as improving public attitudes toward the local police.     

Attitudes,anger, and nullification instructions influence jurors’ verdicts in euthanasia cases

Courts have historically avoided informing jurors about their nullification power (i.e. the power to return a not-guilty verdict when their conscience demands it but the law directs otherwise), fearing that such knowledge would prompt disregard for the law and reliance on attitudes and emotions rather than evidence. We investigated jurors’ inclination to nullify the law in a morally ambiguous case of physician-assisted suicide, testing the impact of euthanasia attitudes on case judgments as well as moderators and mediators of that effect. Mock jurors with pro-euthanasia attitudes were overall less likely to vote guilty than anti-euthanasia jurors, especially when they were given jury instructions informing them of jurors’ power to nullify. Nullification instructions also exacerbated the effect of jurors’ attitudes on anger, disgust, and moral outrage toward the defendant – emotions that mediated the effect of attitudes on verdicts. We also tested the impact of incidentally induced anger on jurors’ reliance on their attitudes rather than the law, given anger’s propensity to increase certainty and heuristic processing. Anger enhanced mock jurors’ reliance on their attitudes under certain conditions. Theoretical and practical implications for understanding juror decision-making are discussed.