Elections to the USSR Academy of Sciences

25 December 1984: The General Assembly of the USSR Academy of Sciences elected the following to the Department of Philosophy and Law:

Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Director of the Institute of State and Law of the USSR Academy of Sciences V. N. Kudriavtsev;     

A High Level of Interfacing: Society,Man, and Nature in the Age of Microelectronics,Information Science,and Biotechnology

Note from the editors of Voprosy filosofii: On 14-15 November 1984 the Scientific Council on the Philosophical and Social Problems of Science and Technology, under the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, jointly with the Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences, will hold an All-Union Conference, "Social and Methodological Problems of Scientific and Technical Progress" (Chairman of the Organization Committee: Academician P. N. Fedoseev, Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences).     

The Establishment of the Academy of Political Science

On 28 June 1995 a new public organization, the Academy of Political Science, was introduced in Moscow. Here we publish a talk given at the ceremony by Anatolii Vasil'evich Dmitriev, president of the Russian Political Science Association (RPSA) and a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).     

The road to accreditation

The formation and initial efforts of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Accreditation and Standards Committee are described. The rationale for the accreditation guidelines adopted by the Academy is explained. Further efforts of the Committee to achieve the goal of the designation of the Academy as the accreditation agency for postsecondary criminal justice education programs are set forth.     

Does the stereotypical personality reported for the male police officer fit that of the female police officer

This research, using the content, validity and clinical scales found in the MMPI-2, investigates the differences in the psychological makeup of male versus female police recruits. The research design involves testing of police recruits on the first day of their academy experience. The literature on the police personality suggest that there exists a stereotype for male officers, a finding replicated in this study. The findings of this research also suggest that female officers do not generally fit the stereotype found in the study of male officers. An earlier version of this paper was present at the 1996 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, March 12–16, 1996, Las Vegas, Nevada.     

Support for life in prison without the possibility of parole among death penalty proponents

Past research provides a fairly consistent portrait of the death penalty supporter. However, when offered an alternative to death, such as life in prison without the possibility of parole (LWOP), support for the death penalty tends to diminish. Unfortunately, very little is known about death penalty proponents who support the LWOP option. This study compares death penalty supporters who favor the LWOP alternative with death penalty supporters who oppose this option. Income significantly influences LWOP opinions. The implications of these results and suggestions for further research are discussed. An earlier version of this paper was delivered at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in Boston, MA.     

The present direction of research in forensic odontology

Forensic odontology is receiving increased attention in the literature and has become a widely recognized field of expertise with broad ramifications. With this growth, research is needed to solve the most pressing problems of the discipline. The purpose of this paper is to identify current trends in research in forensic odontology. The review consisted of studies using the scientific method and reports of new techniques being tested. Also, abstracts from the annual meeting of the Odontology Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences from 1980 to 1987 have been reviewed to determine the current areas of emphasis in forensic dentistry.     

Sidney Kaye, Ph.D. Internationally renowned forensic toxicologist

The importance of Dr. Sidney Kaye's contributions in the field of forensic science cannot be over-emphasized. He can be called a pioneer in the field of forensic science and forensic toxicology because of the many contributions he has made to analysis, the literature and poison control, as well as activities in alcohol and drug analysis. He has been fortunate in being a part of history through his relationship, as a student, to Dr. Alexander Gettler, the founder of modern-day forensic toxicology, and by working with Dr. Gradwohl in Saint Louis, Missouri in the 1950s, when the American forensic sciences were being organized. Dr. Kaye is one of the founders of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the foremost and largest forensic science organization in the World. It is for these reasons that he received the Alexander O. Gettler Award by the Toxicology Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, for outstanding analytical achievements in forensic toxicology, at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 14, 1985.     

Community Correction Officer Perceptions Of Ex-Offender Reentry Needs And Challenges

Research into community corrections officers’ perceptions of the needs of ex-offenders has largely been overlooked. While some empirical research has emerged regarding federal parole officers’ perceptions, it is conceptually incomplete. A gap in the literature remains regarding the concordance or discordance between offenders and community corrections officers’ perceptions of offender needs and the opportunities for success upon release. Using a sample of community corrections officers in Seattle, Washington, this research examined officer perception of ex-offender needs, the value officers’ placed on the specific needs, and the opportunities available for offenders to meet their needs. Differences between officers emerged including the finding that female officers rated needs and challenges for offenders significantly different than male officers. Policy implications of the research are discussed. This research was made possible due to a grant award from the College of Arts and Sciences at Seattle University. This research was first presented at the 2005 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Conference in Chicago. We are grateful to Mac Pevey and Keven Bovenkamp from the Washington State Department of Corrections and Bill Corn and Tim McTighe from United States Probation and Pretrial Services for their support, assistance, and for making the study possible. A special thanks to our research assistant Tania Reyes who was instrumental in collecting the data for this investigation.     

Federal-state cooperation in science and technology programs

During the past several years participants in the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable, chaired by Richard Celeste, have discussed cooperation in science and technology programs between state and federal agencies. The result is the following paper on the potential for and means of promoting such cooperation. The roundtable is sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine. [It was] created in 1984 to provide a forum where scientists, administrators, and policy makers from government, university, and industry can come together on an ongoing basis to explore ways to improve the productivity of the nation's research enterprise. The object is to try to understand issues, to inject imaginative thought into the system, and to provide a setting for discussion and the seeking of common ground. The roundtable does not make recommendations, nor of fer specific advice; it develops options and brings interested parties together.     

Joinder of criminal offenses: A review of the legal and psychological literature

Criminal courts routinely allow a defendant to be tried for multiple charges in a single trial. The practice is known as joinder of offenses. The issue of joinder of offenses is examined from a legal and psychological perspective. Relevant court decisions and their implications are discussed. In addition, the recent research conducted by social scientists concerning the possible reasons for the prejudicial effects of joinder of offenses is critically reviewed. Suggestions are offered, based upon previous joinder research, for the direction of future research into the loci of the effect and into potential remedies.This paper is an elaboration of one presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Chicago, March 1984.     

Review of Political Sciences in the USSR. An Index of the Soviet Literature, 1975-1979

The Eleventh World Congress of the International Political Science Association, held in Moscow in August 1979, was a noteworthy event in international scholarly affairs. Among the publications whose appearance was timed for the congress, one's attention is drawn by the bibliographical index of the Soviet literature in the years 1975-1979 prepared by the Sector on Bibliographic Research Information on State and Law of the Institute of Scientific Information in the Social Sciences, USSR Academy of Sciences. The significance of this work lies principally in the fact that it is essentially the first attempt at compiling and publishing an extensive bibliography of political sciences in the USSR. Its appearance is all the more timely because political scientists abroad have little information on research of this kind in the USSR. The bibliographic index is designed not only for the Soviet but for the foreign reader, and for that reason it is published in Russian and in English. The book has a detailed index of names, which facilitates the search for needed literature.     

Confronting AIDS

Book Reviews in This Article:
Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, Confronting AIDS: Directions for Public Health, Health Care, and Research .     

Survey of physician members of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences

There are approximately 1000 physician members of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) dispersed into all but one of the ten AAFS Sections. Section membership does not necessarily define their disciplines, specialties, interests or activities. A survey was performed to explore the demographics of the physician members and their views on their Sections and the Academy as a whole. The responses were predominantly favorable but some areas of improvement were suggested. The detailed results also indicate the increasing globalization of the physician membership and the catholicity of medicolegal interests.     

Criminal justice faculty and criminal justice students: A case for the missing data

This article reviews the most current criminal justice education research. It examines the interrelationship between the work of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the Joint Commission on Criminology and Criminal Justice Education and Standards, and the National Advisory Commission on Higher Education for Police, and describes and compares some of their more important findings. Discussed are types of criminal justice programs; characteristics of criminal justice faculty, particularly in terms of earned academic degrees; agency work experience; commitment to research and teaching; types of criminal justice curricula, as typified by certain educational philosophies; and criminal justice students. Although this article notes several areas with which future research might become fruitfully involved, the area in need of most immediate attention, and the area that current research has all but ignored, is the criminal justice student.     

Assessing the prestige of journals in criminal justice: A research note

This study extends earlier periodical prestige research by determining journal prestige for three criminal justice membership categories and reexamines the emergent rankings, controlling for a potentially salient variable—previous journal publication. Data for the project were derived from questionnaire responses of 1,028 criminal justice educators who were members of either the American Society of Criminology, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, or both associations, via a three-wave mail survey. Generally, the findings demonstrated conflicting or competing professional ideologies operating in assessments of the relative importance of criminal justice publications. Particularly, respondents' subjective evaluations established two relatively divergent stratification systems of journal prestige.     

Criminal justice/criminology journal rankings: ASC versus ACJS

This note analyzes the perceived prestige rankings of selected criminal justice/criminology journals comparing samples from the American Society of Criminology (ASC) and the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS). The results indicate that inter- and intrasample comparisons show little agreement with regard to the rankings along both quality and consistency dimensions. However, a closer analysis shows that no significant differences were found between the journal mean weights assigned by members of ASC and ACJS. It is argued that research into journal prestige is important for researchers/authors, editors, and publishers of journals, as well as the consumers of journals.     

Accreditation and the state of North Carolina: The revitalization of national standards

From the mid to late 70s, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) developed a process for accrediting post-secondary criminal justice education programs. The academy gave form to the program by developing guidelines and a complex organizational network. However, the program did not reach fruition for a variety of economic and political reasons and it is doubtful that the Academy will attempt to resurrect the program soon. Even though the accreditation movement was abandoned on the national level, the North Carolina Association of Criminal Justice Educators (NCACJE) decided to implement the program and stepped into a very lengthy and political process.     

The Life of an Academic: Examining the Correlates of Job Satisfaction Among Criminology/Criminal Justice Faculty

This research examined job satisfaction among members (N?=?1,057) of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) and the Academy of Criminal justice Sciences (ACJS). In particular, the research looked at what factors are related to job satisfaction (enjoyment). We explored substantive personal and professional correlates such as stress, family life, and scholarly productivity. A host of demographic factors including gender, race and income, were also included in the analysis. The multivariate analysis revealed that those criminologists with more journal article publications, and devote more time to family and friends, had high job satisfaction. Conversely, criminologists living in the south had low job satisfaction compared to those living in other parts of the country. The paper ends with a call for the continuing exploration of the personal and professional correlates of job satisfaction among criminologists.     

Confocal microscopy analysis of breech face marks on fired cartridge cases from 10 consecutively manufactured pistol slides

Recent publications from the National Academy of Sciences have called for additional foundational research in the field of firearm and toolmark analysis. We examined test fires from 10 pistol slides with consecutively manufactured breech faces. A total of nine test fires from each pistol slide, for a total of 90 test fired cartridge cases, were compared using confocal microscopy combined with three-dimensional cross-correlation analysis algorithms. A total of 8010 comparisons were performed (720 matches and 7290 nonmatches). The average score for matches was 0.82 with a standard deviation of 0.06. The average score for nonmatches was 0.20 with a standard deviation of 0.03. Additionally, subclass toolmarks were observed on the breech faces, but the presence of subclass was not detected in the correlation analysis. There was no overlap of scores between matching and nonmatching test fires. This provides objective data that support the AFTE (Association of Firearms and Tool Mark Examiners) theory of identification.