Congressional Intrusion to Specify State Voting Dates for National Offices

Through the nation's first century, states used their concurrentconstitutional right to schedule presidential and House electionsat widely varying times. Senators were also elected within thestates at diverse times. This study examines the gradual establishmentof uniform election dates and offers an explanation of why Congressfelt it appropriate to override state autonomy to eventuallyestablish uniformity of state practices.     

Catastrophe and the Public Service: A Case Study of the Government Response to the Destruction of the World Trade Center

The destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, resulted in a rapid response by government to evacuate the area and, in subsequent days, to bring the city back to a semblance of normalcy. This article provides a case study of government action in New York City during and after the World Trade Center catastrophe. What is most striking is the skill and intensity of government's response to the emergency and the hard work, dedication, and bravery of New York City's government officials. This article presents government and public service at its finest, under some of the most difficult conditions one can imagine.     

Incentives Increase the Rate of False but not True Secondary Confessions from Informants with an Allegiance to a Suspect

One hundred ninety-two students participated in an experimental simulation testing whether incentives would reduce the reluctance of informants to implicate a close other. Half of the students were made to feel interpersonally close to a confederate who either admitted to or denied a misdeed. All students were interrogated and encouraged to sign a secondary confession stating that the confederate had confessed to the misdeed; half were offered an incentive to do so. Contrary to expectations, closeness did not induce reluctance. Instead, the offer of incentive increased the number of participants willing to sign a secondary confession implicating a close other. Further analyses revealed that this increase occurred only for false secondary confessions. Implications for interrogation practices are discussed.     

Effects of personality,interrogation techniques and plausibility in an experimental false confession paradigm

Purpose. The goal of the present study was to investigate the effects of personality variables, interrogation techniques and the plausibility level of an alleged transgression on the experimental elicitation of false confessions. Methods. Two hundred and nineteen undergraduate students assessed on measures of compliance, self‐esteem, locus of control and interrogative suggestibility participated in the Kassin and Kiechel (1996) paradigm. Experimental manipulations included minimization and maximization interrogation techniques and high and low plausibility of the alleged typing mistake to examine rates of false confession and internalization. Results. The overall false confession and internalization rates across all conditions were 43 and 10%, respectively. An increased likelihood of false confession behaviour was associated with higher Shift scores on the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale, the use of minimization interrogation techniques and an increase in the plausibility of the allegation. Females were more likely to falsely confess than males in the high plausibility condition, whereas Caucasian and Asian participants were equally likely to falsely confess. Personality variables, such as compliance, most influenced the behaviour of males and Asians. Conclusions. The results of this study offer insight into false confession behaviour, suggesting that individuals who have a tendency to change their responses in the face of negative feedback may be more prone to false confession behaviour. The findings also serve to highlight the dangers of using minimization interrogation techniques and elucidate the limited generalizability of the paradigm to situations in which the alleged transgression is less plausible.     

The Effect of Body Mass on Outdoor Adult Human Decomposition

Forensic taphonomy explores factors impacting human decomposition. This study investigated the effect of body mass on the rate and pattern of adult human decomposition. Nine males and three females aged 49–95 years ranging in mass from 73 to 159 kg who were donated to the Complex for Forensic Anthropology Research between December 2012 and September 2015 were included in this study. Kelvin accumulated degree days (KADD) were used to assess the thermal energy required for subjects to reach several total body score (TBS) thresholds: early decomposition (TBS ≥6.0), TBS ≥12.5, advanced decomposition (TBS ≥19.0), TBS ≥23.0, and skeletonization (TBS ≥27.0). Results indicate no significant correlation between body mass and KADD at any TBS threshold. Body mass accounted for up to 24.0% of variation in decomposition rate depending on stage, and minor differences in decomposition pattern were observed. Body mass likely has a minimal impact on postmortem interval estimation.     

Development of a Nomenclature System for a Canine STR Multiplex Reagent Kit*†

Abstract: Despite the popularity of dogs in US households, canine DNA evidence remains largely untapped in forensic investigations partially because of the absence of well‐defined forensic short tandem repeats (STRs), lack of standardized and validated PCR protocols, STR reagent kits, and poorly developed nomenclature. A nomenclature system was established based on internationally recognized recommendations for human forensic STRs for a recently developed canine STR reagent kit. Representative alleles were sequenced from each of the 18 STRs and the sex‐typing marker included in the kit. This study also reflects on the impact of point mutations, insertions, and deletions within and outside the STR core repeat structures. An understanding of the STRs’ sequence and repeat structures will enable development of a robust and reliable allele nomenclature and improve the accuracy and precision of allele fragment sizing in canine forensic profiling. The expected allele sizes have been calculated, and their repeat stuctures defined based on sequence information.