Chaos in The Courtroom Reconsidered: Emotional Bias and Juror Nullification

A widespread presumption in the law is that giving jurors nullification instructions would result in "chaos"-jurors guided not by law but by their emotions and personal biases. We propose a model of juror nullification that posits an interaction between the nature of the trial (viz. whether the fairness of the law is at issue), nullification instructions, and emotional biases on juror decision-making. Mock jurors considered a trial online which varied the presence a nullification instructions, whether the trial raised issues of the law's fairness (murder for profit vs. euthanasia), and emotionally biasing information (that affected jurors' liking for the victim). Only when jurors were in receipt of nullification instructions in a nullification-relevant trial were they sensitive to emotionally biasing information. Emotional biases did not affect evidence processing but did affect emotional reactions and verdicts, providing the strongest support to date for the chaos theory.     

Returning to Delinquency: Factors Effecting the Survivorship of Juvenile Shoplifters

This article examines a program designed to provide a family court with a means of lessening the probability that youths on probation for shoplifting will return to criminal behavior. A single staff member within the family court screened possible participants, all of whom were defined as first-time shoplifting offenders and had been assigned to formal or informal probation. Each individual was invited to participate in a four-hour clinic, during which time the realities and possible consequences of shoplifting were explained. If they were able to successfully complete six months of supervised probation, then only the administrative record remained; the conviction itself was expunged. Over a period of nine months, a total of 154 juveniles were invited; however, only 100 actually took part in all facets of the program. A total of 30 clinic attendees and 14 nonparticipants were excluded from the present analysis, owing to missing data, or the fact that at the time of follow-up, they were legally classified as adults. The prior and subsequent court contacts of 110 subjects are reviewed. While less than 3% of either group had subsequent shoplifting arrests, nearly 26% of the program group and 35% of the nonparticipants were rearrested. Factors associated with long-term success and failure are examined. Possible reasons for these observations are discussed, with specific grounding in the shoplifting literature and the concepts of juvenile diversion and “net-widening.”     

The 5-year course of intimate partner violence among White, Black, and Hispanic couples in the United States

This article examines the 5-year incidence, prevalence, and recurrence of intimate partner violence (IPV) among White, Black, and Hispanic intact couples in the United States. A national multistage household probability sample of couples, age 18 years or older, was interviewed in 1995 with a response rate of 85%, and reinterviewed in 2000 with a response rate of 72%. Results indicate that the incidence and recurrence of IPV are higher for Blacks and Hispanics than for Whites. Compared to Whites, Hispanics are 2.5 times more likely to initiate IPV between baseline and follow-up and Blacks are 3.7 times more likely to report IPV at baseline and follow-up. Couples reporting severe IPV in 1995 are more likely than others to report severe IPV at follow-up. The rate of recurrence for severe IPV among Black and Hispanic couples is 6 and 4 times higher, respectively, than the rate among Whites. The results suggest that Blacks and Hispanics may be more affected by IPV.     

Child abuse and chronic pain in a community survey of women

This study examined the relationship between a self-reported history of child physical and sexual abuse and chronic pain among women (N = 3,381) in a provincewide community sample. Chronic pain was significantly associated with physical abuse, education, and age of the respondents and was unrelated to child sexual abuse alone or in combination with physical abuse, mental disorder (anxiety, depression, or substance abuse), or low income. Number of health problems and mental health disorders did not mediate the relationship between physical abuse and chronic pain. Despite considerable evidence from the clinical literature linking exposure to child maltreatment and chronic pain in adulthood, this may well be the first population-based study to investigate this relationship for child physical and sexual abuse independently. The significant association between childhood history of physical abuse and pain in adulthood calls for a greater awareness of the potential for chronic pain problems associated with this type of maltreatment. Further research is needed to understand the mechanism for this complex relationship.     

Institutional shrinkage: The deviant case of Swiss banking secrecy

Using the Mahoney–Thelen causal model one would expect “layering” to be the dominant kind of institutional change affecting Swiss banking secrecy. Our research into governance in Swiss banking shows that it does not fit this theoretical model. Applying deviant case analysis we have refined our understanding of institutional change. We argue that the removal of rules and the momentum of pressure should be acknowledged when explaining variations of institutional change and we suggest that the processes of shrinkage should not be ignored.     

A test for carrion fly full siblings: a tool for detecting postmortem relocation of a corpse

We propose a genetic test for full sibship for a pair of carrion flies that could reveal the postmortem relocation of a corpse. A carrion fly larva is sometimes left behind when a corpse is moved. The discovery of full sibling larvae of approximately the same developmental stage at two locations would strongly suggest that a corpse was moved between those two sites. Distributions of pairwise comparisons of relatedness (R) coefficients were generated using amplified fragment length polymorphism profiles for nine samples of laboratory-generated full siblings as well as for a reference sample of nonfull sibling Phormia regina (Diptera: Calliphoridae). The mean relative R coefficient, a pairwise measure of the proportion of shared alleles, was 0.479 (±0.289 SD) for full siblings, close to the theoretical expectation of 0.5. A likelihood ratio (LR) test was based on observed distributions of R. R >0.55 corresponded to an LR >1000 favoring full sibship for that pair of individuals.     

Why Is Fast Track the Way to Go? Justifications for Early Agreement in the Co‐Decision Procedure and Their Effects

Since the introduction of the co‐decision procedure by way of the Maastricht Treaty, the procedure has been transformed considerably. One of the most striking innovations is the possibility to adopt a legislative act in first reading. This article aims to answer the questions whether the increasing use of this fast track procedure is in line with Treaty provisions and/or intra/inter‐institutional rules, and what the effects are of these stipulations. The empirical findings presented in this study indicate that two reasons for taking the fast track gain dominance in the practical political process, ie the political priorities of the Council and European Parliament (EP) and whether these actors consider a legislative file as urgent. From a study of two directives, it becomes clear that this dominance of factors has consequences for the type of early agreement reached (first or early second), the quality of the adopted legislation and its implementation at the national level.     

Social learning and self-control: assessing the moderating potential of criminal propensity

Social learning theory is one of the most prominent general theories of crime. Yet recent research has called into question its applicability to all offenders. Specifically, the influence of antisocial peers has been found to exert a stronger effect among those individuals evincing higher levels of criminal propensity (deemed social amplification), whereas other components of the theory have either not been shown to interact with criminal propensity or not been tested. This study examines several social learning theory components to determine whether its influence is dependent on an individual's level of self-control. Results suggest little support for the social amplification hypothesis as the components of social learning theory were found to operate similarly across individuals regardless one's level of self-control. Implications for criminological theory are discussed.