Procedural justice training for police recruits: results of a randomized controlled trial

Journal of Experimental Criminology - Procedural justice training for police officers is designed to improve officers’ interactions with the public. Aside from the fact that it is a given...     

Integrated Administrative Data & Criminal Justice Research

Using integrated administrative data from criminal justice and social service systems can harness information in meaningful ways that transcend traditional “silos” and allow communities to focus collective attention on important social issues that cross systemic boundaries. Despite recent advances in use of integrated administrative data, practical information to promote adoption by new users is lacking. Here we provide an introduction to potential uses of integrated administrative data for criminal justice researchers, including general benefits of using integrated data as well as implications for innovative research design. We describe a case example of data integration through a state data warehouse for a federally funded project on impact of incarceration on families. The project utilizes data from eight agencies (corrections, juvenile justice, mental health, substance use, social services, health, education, and environmental control) and includes development of an Online Analytical Processing cube. We draw from lessons learned to provide specific recommendations for developing researcher-practitioner partnerships that use integrated administrative data to improve translational criminal justice research and evidence-based practice and policy.     

English High Court decides that “making available” over the internet only occurs in the jurisdiction where the servers are based

The English High Court has considered the meaning of “making available to the public” by online transmission in the context of database rights and has determined that the act of making available is only committed in the country where the host server is located, and not the country where the material is accessed by the public.     

Quantitative assessment of evidential weight for a fingerprint comparison I. Generalisation to the comparison of a mark with set of ten prints from a suspect

The authors have published elsewhere a quantitative method for assessing weight of evidence in the case where a finger mark from a crime scene is compared with a control print taken from a single finger of a suspect. The approach is based on the notion of calculating a likelihood ratio (LR) that addresses a pair of propositions relating to the single finger that was the origin of the crime mark. In practice, things are rather different because the crime mark will not just be compared with a single finger from a suspect but with a set of prints from all of his/her fingers; likewise, when the mark is compared with a database, this will consist of ten print records from random individuals. It is clear that "finger propositions" are not realistic in this situation and we show how our approach may be generalised to address a pair of propositions that relate to the person that made the crime mark. It often is the case that information is present at the crime scene that enables some inference to be drawn relating to which of the offender's ten fingers left a particular mark of interest. This kind of inference may profitably be drawn into the formal analysis. We illustrate our approach with an example.     

Expert evidence accountability: new developments and challenges

A series of developments in relation to the accountability of expert witnesses and the admissibility of their opinions is taking place. This extends to encroachments in the United Kingdom on expert witness immunity, the imposition of disciplinary liability for registered health practitioners in Australia and the United Kingdom, and recommendations from the United Kingdom Law Commission for a systematised procedure for reliability determination as a prerequisite for admissibility rulings. This combination of measures is indicative of international concern about the contemporary role of expert witnesses. It highlights the need for both empirical information about whether the anecdotal and experiential concerns about expert evidence are well-founded and for the provision of better and clearer guidance to experts and litigators alike about the underpinnings and methodologies that are permissible for admissible and probative expert opinions.     

Developing and Validating a New Classroom Climate Observation Assessment Tool

The climate of school classrooms, shaped by a combination of teacher practices and peer processes, is an important determinant for children's psychosocial functioning and is a primary factor affecting bullying and victimization. Given that there are relatively few theoretically-grounded and validated assessment tools designed to measure the social climate of classrooms, our research team developed an observation tool through participatory action research (PAR). This article details how the assessment tool was designed and preliminarily validated in 18 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade classrooms in a large urban public school district. The goals of this study are to illustrate the feasibility of a PAR paradigm in measurement development, ascertain the psychometric properties of the assessment tool, and determine associations with different indices of classroom levels of relational and physical aggression.     

Long-tail liability law reform

There is a need for the law to evolve so that corporations are obliged to make proper provision for liabilities to unascertained future creditors. However, implementation of long-tail liabilities is far from straightforward and has many repercussions for both corporations and personal injury law. In October 2005 the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer requested the Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee to consider a "referred proposal" designed to achieve comprehensive and principled law reform. Analysis of the referred proposal reveals many shortcomings, a number of which have been addressed by the Committee in its June 2007 Discussion Paper, Long-Tail Liabilities: The Treatment of Unascertained Future Personal Injury Claims. This editorial urges further and reflective analysis of the referred proposal and of the Committee's tentative suggestions in order to achieve a balance among the entitlements of unascertained future creditors, other known creditors, shareholders, corporations' financial viability, and the conceptual integrity of corporations law.