The Mitigating Effects of Suspicion on Post-Identification Feedback and on Retrospective Eyewitness Memory

Three studies examined procedures for reducing the post-identification feedback effect. After viewing a video event, participants were then asked to identify a suspect from a target-absent photo lineup. After making their identification, some participants were given information suggesting that their identification was correct, while others were given no information about the accuracy of their identification. Some participants who received confirming feedback were also given reasons to entertain suspicion regarding the motives of the lineup administrator, either immediately (Experiment 1) or after a one-week retention interval (Experiment 2). Suspicious perceivers failed to demonstrate the confidence inflation effects typically associated with confirming post-identification feedback. In Experiment 3, the confidence prophylactic effect was tested both immediately and after a one-week retention interval. The effect of confidence prophylactic varied with retention interval such that it eliminated the effects of post-identification feedback immediately but not after a retention interval. However, the suspicion manipulation eliminated the post-identification feedback effects at both time intervals. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Can the direct cardiac effects of the electric pulses generated by the TASER X26 cause immediate or delayed sudden cardiac arrest in normal adults?

There is only a small amount of experimental data about whether the TASER X26, a nonlethal weapon that delivers a series of brief electrical pulses to cause involuntary muscular contraction to temporarily incapacitate an individual, can initiate ventricular fibrillation to cause sudden cardiac arrest either immediately or sometime after its use. Therefore, this paper uses the fundamental law of electrostimulation and experimental data from the literature to estimate the likelihood of such events. Because of the short duration of the TASER pulses, the large duration of the cardiac cell membrane time constant, the small fraction of current from electrodes on the body surface that passes through the heart, and the resultant high pacing threshold from the body surface, the fundamental law of electrostimulation predicts that the TASER pulses will not stimulate an ectopic beat in the large majority of normal adults. Since the immediate initiation of ventricular fibrillation in a normal heart requires a very premature stimulated ectopic beat and the threshold for such premature beats is higher than less premature beats, it is unlikely that TASER pulses can immediately initiate ventricular fibrillation in such individuals through the direct effect of the electric field generated through the heart by the TASER. In the absence of preexisting heart disease, the delayed development of ventricular fibrillation requires the electrical stimuli to cause electroporation or myocardial necrosis. However, the electrical thresholds for electroporation and necrosis are many times higher than that required to stimulate an ectopic beat. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that the TASER X26 can cause ventricular fibrillation minutes to hours after its use through direct cardiac effects of the electric field generated by the TASER.     

A study of the potential risk of gunshot residue transfer from special units of the police to arrested suspects

The presence of gunshot residues (GSRs) on arrested suspects can help the Court to form an opinion regarding the possibility of utilization of firearms by these suspects. Since the presence of a few particles can in some cases already have a strong indicative value, the GSR experts have to evaluate in their daily work the risk of a potential contamination of these suspects during their arrest. A few studies conducted on police officers and police facilities concluded that the risk of secondary transfer on arrested suspects is quite negligible. However, the case of special force units of the police should be taken into account, since these units can be assumed to be highly contaminated by GSR due to their intensive training. The aim of this study is to evaluate this possibility of particle transfer by performing simulations of arrests by special force police units, according to both low and high contamination scenarios. The results show that secondary transfers of GSR during these simulations are in most cases not negligible, even for the low contamination scenario. This is especially apparent on the vests of the target persons, with an average of 7 GSR particles (2 PbBaSb and 5 TiZn) found on the stubs used on these materials. Of course, the major contamination levels were observed in the case of the high contamination scenario, due to the use of highly contaminated gloves by the police officers during the arrests. Some recommendations are proposed to take into account this risk of contamination and to try to minimize it, or at least to better identify it.     

Lethal esophageal rupture following treatment with Sengstaken-Blakemore Tube in management of variceal bleeding: A 10-year autopsy study

The possible causal link between damage to the heart and acute pancreatitis and other pancreatic diseases has been considered in both adults and children, particularly in cases of sudden, unexpected death. However, the cardiac pathological findings so far reported in the literature are neither specific enough, nor of a kind to prove a direct pancreatic pathogenesis. We describe the occurrence of steatonecrosis developed in areas of lipomatous infiltration of the heart following acute exacerbation of latent chronic pancreatitis. The presence of mature adipocytes in the myocardium is an adequate substrate for the pancreatic lipase to give rise to the steatonecrosis, which is a well-known marker of acute pancreatitis. As far as we are aware, this is the first reported case of heart steatonecrosis in the literature.     

Objective paper structure comparison: Assessing comparison algorithms

More than just being a substrate, paper can also provide evidence for the provenance of documents. An earlier paper described a method to compare paper structure, based on the Fourier power spectra of light transmission images. Good results were obtained by using the 2D correlation of images derived from the power spectra as a similarity score, but the method was very computationally intensive. Different comparison algorithms are evaluated in this paper, using information theoretical criteria. An angular invariant algorithm turned out to be as effective as the original one but 4 orders of magnitude faster, making the use of much larger databases possible.     

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of sodium and potassium cyanide as a forensic signature

Sodium and potassium cyanide are highly toxic, produced in large amounts by the chemical industry, and linked to numerous high-profile crimes. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified cyanide as one of the most probable agents to be used in a chemical terrorism event. We investigated whether stable C and N isotopic content of sodium and potassium cyanide could serve as a forensic signature for sample matching, using a collection of 65 cyanide samples. Upon analysis, a few of the cyanide samples displayed nonhomogeneous isotopic content associated with degradation to a carbonate salt and loss of hydrogen cyanide. Most samples had highly reproducible isotope content. Of the 65 cyanide samples, >95% could be properly matched based on C and N isotope ratios, with a false match rate <3%. These results suggest that stable C and N isotope ratios are a useful forensic signature for matching cyanide samples.     

Federalizing energy? Agenda change and the politics of fracking

This paper focuses on agenda change affecting the politics of ??fracking operations?? in the US, a process of extracting natural gas from underground shale formations. We examine how the movement of this policy issue between the state and federal levels of government has become increasingly contentious because of rising public concern about pollution impacts. Using information obtained from documentary sources and media content analysis, we found that the natural gas policy coalition has largely focused on a political strategy based on maintaining fracking regulatory controls at the state level, while the environmental policy coalition has pushed for increased regulation of drilling practices in general, including a larger policy and oversight role for federal agencies such as EPA.     

An Unconditional Quantile Regression Based Decomposition of Spatial Welfare Inequalities in Ghana

Ghana has witnessed tremendous economic growth since the 1990s and attained the Millennium Development Goals target of halving poverty. This notwithstanding, inequality in Ghana increased over the same period, suggesting growth benefits were not equitably distributed. This study provides evidence on the determinants of household consumption expenditure and factors that explain rural-urban welfare gaps between 1998 and 2013. The study employs an unconditional quantile regression and recently proposed decomposition technique based on re-centred influence functions. We find significant spatial differences in consumption expenditure across selected quantiles, with rural-urban inequalities driven largely by differences in returns to households’ endowments.     

Beyond Profiling: The Institutional Sources of Racial Disparities in Policing

American policing faces a crisis of legitimacy. A key source of this crisis is a widespread police practice commonly endorsed by police leaders to fight crime. This is the investigatory stop, used to check out people who seem suspicious and to seize illegal drugs and guns and make arrests. Using data from an original scientific survey of drivers in the Kansas City metropolitan area, the authors show that racial disparities in police stops are concentrated in investigatory vehicle stops. In these stops, but not others, officers disproportionately stop African Americans and question and search them. The overwhelming majority of people stopped in this way are innocent, and the experience causes psychological harm and erodes trust in and cooperation with the police. Many of the most controversial police shootings during the past two years occurred in these stops. Reforming this practice is an essential step toward restoring trust in the police.