An analysis of ritualistic and religion-related child abuse allegations

A stratified random sample survey of clinical members of the American Psychological Association was conducted to determine the number and nature of cases involving alleged ritualistic and religion-related child abuse, whether reported directly by children or retrospectively by adults. Results indicated that only a minority of clinical psychologists have encountered ritual cases, but of those, the vast majority believe their clients' claims. Even so, the purported evidence for the allegations, especially in cases reported by adults claining to have suffered the abuse during childhood, is questionable. Most clients who allege ritual abuse are diagnosed as having multiple personality disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder, two increasingly popular, but controversial, psychological diagnoses.Clinical and legal implications are discussed and a future research agenda is urged.     

Costly Misconceptions of Law and Legal Services: The Small Business Owner vs. the Chicago Personal Property Tax

Inaccurate perceptions of the law by ordinary citizens, especially when resolution of conflicts caused by such perceptions is usually handled by lawyers, can lead to cynicism and distrust of government, the legal system, and the lawyers who participate in the system. The authors present some results of research into the functioning of a particular part of the system in a particular place to show how all participants keep the situation from being changed.     

Comparison of GC-MS and EIA results for the analysis of methadone in oral fluid

The purpose of these studies was to evaluate the performance characteristics of the Cozart Microplate Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) for the determination of methadone in oral fluid from patients in a drug misuse treatment program. Oral fluid specimens were collected using the Cozart RapiScan Collection system from 198 donors who were receiving treatment for their addiction and were monitored for drug misuse. Oral fluid specimens were also collected from forty volunteer donors who were not drug users. The specimens were analyzed in the laboratory by EIA and then analysed for methadone and its main metabolite EDDP by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 103 samples were confirmed positive for methadone. The Cozart Microplate EIA for d-Methadone in oral fluid using a cutoff of 30 ng/mL in diluted oral fluid had a sensitivity of 91.3% +/- 2.8% and a specificity of 100% +/- 1.0% vs. GC-MS.     

Current status of accreditation for drug testing in hair

At the annual meeting of the Society of Hair Testing in Vadstena, Sweden in 2006, a committee was appointed to address the issue of guidelines for hair testing and to assess the current status of accreditation amongst laboratories offering drug testing in hair. A short questionnaire was circulated amongst the membership and interested parties. Fifty-two responses were received from hair testing laboratories providing details on the amount and type of hair tests they offered and the status of accreditation within their facilities. Although the vast majority of laboratories follow current guidelines (83%), only nine laboratories were accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 for hair testing. A significant number of laboratories reporting that they were in the process of developing quality systems with a view to accrediting their methods within 2-3 years. This study provides an insight into the status of accreditation in hair testing laboratories and supports the need for guidelines to encourage best practice.     

Face-to-Face Confrontation: Effects of Closed-Circuit Technology on Children's Eyewitness Testimony and Jurors' Decisions

The present study was designed to examine effects of closed-circuit technology on children's testimony and jurors' perceptions of child witnesses. For the study, a series of elaborately staged mock trials was held. First, 5- to 6-year-old and 8- to 9-year-old children individually participated in a play session with an unfamiliar male confederate. Approximately 2 weeks later, children individually testified about the event at a downtown city courtroom. Mock juries composed of community recruits viewed the trials, with the child's testimony presented either live in open court or over closed-circuit television. Mock jurors made ratings concerning the child witness and the defendant, and deliberated to reach a verdict. Results indicated that overall, older children were more accurate witnesses than younger children. However, older, not younger children produced more inaccurate information in free recall. Compared to live testimony in open court, use of closed-circuit technology led to decreased suggestibility for younger children. Testifying in open court was also associated with children experiencing greater pretrial anxiety. Closed-circuit technology did not diminish factfinders' abilities to discriminate accurate from inaccurate child testimony, nor did it directly bias jurors against the defendant. However, closed-circuit testimony biased jurors against child witnesses. Moreover, jurors tended to base their impressions of witness credibility on perceived confidence and consistency. Implications for the use of closed- circuit technology when children testify are discussed.     

Generational differences in perceived responsibility for adolescent support: A study of adolescent females,mothers, and maternal grandmothers

The issue of parent and adolescent responsibilities was explored in a sample of 195 adolescent females, 192 mothers, and 153 maternal grandmothers to assess whether generational differences in views about responsibility, particularly financial ones, existed. A 43-item Responsibility Scale was developed, and principal components analysis of the instrument yielded five factors. Significant generational differences emerged on several items, with the largest generational differences being found on the items comprising a factor describing parental protection of family values. Whereas all three generations viewed parents as having responsibilities to provide material goods, adolescents were more likely to link parental provision of material goods with autonomy issues than were their mothers or grandmothers.This research was supported by a grant from the Grants and Research Funding Committee of Southeast Missouri State University.Received Ph.D. in clinical psychology from The University of Texas at Austin. Interests include competence, coping, risk, vulnerability, and intergenerational relationships.Received Ph.D. in developmental psychology from West Virginia University. Interests include life-span developmental psychology, cognition and aging, problem-solving, intergenerational issues, and courtship violence.     

SAYS TUKA

This article discusses and provides examples of the revolutionary poetry of Tukaram (“Tuka”), the seventeenth-century writer who represented the culmination of three centuries of a radical bhakti (devotional) movement that aimed to bring together women and men of low caste to proclaim their equality and reject Brahmanic ritualism and caste hierarchy. The backdrop to this discussion of Tuka's songs is the recent reassessment of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries in India–an era of Muslim rule and linkages to the modern world through Islam– as an “early modern” period of time.     

New perspectives on the subcontinent

Abstract

Kathleen Gough and Hari Sharma's Imperialism and Revolution in South Asia marks something of a breakthrough in the field of South Asia scholarship: the first edited collection of Marxist writings by both Western and Asian scholars, journalists and activists covering most of the crucial issues in the field. It shows some omissions and contains some unresolved and not clearly delineated debates, but this is inevitable given the vast amount of work still to be done and the important questions of theory and practice still debated among Marxists; it has some unevenness in articles but at the same time contains some of the best of recent analysis. All in all it is a fine collection.