The Role of Site Variance in the American Judicature Society Field Study Comparing Simultaneous and Sequential Lineups

Objectives

Police departments often use photo lineups for eyewitness identification purposes. A widely adopted lineup reform designed to reduce eyewitness misidentifications involves switching from the standard simultaneous photo presentation format to a sequential format. These two lineup procedures were recently tested in the American Judicature Society (AJS) field study, which was conducted in four different police jurisdictions. The results from two phases of that investigation reached opposite conclusions as to which lineup procedure is superior, and the purpose of our current investigation was to elucidate the role of site variance in shaping those contrasting conclusions.

Methods

In previous analyses, the field study data were either (1) aggregated across all four study sites or (2) drawn from only one study site (Austin, Texas). Here, we analyze the data separately for the Austin study site, where 69 % of the eyewitnesses were tested, and the other three study sites combined, where 31 % of the eyewitnesses were tested.

Results

The results indicate significant site variance between the Austin and non-Austin study sites. In addition, the results suggest that aggregating the data across sites played a determinative role in creating the apparent disagreement about which lineup procedure is diagnostically superior.

Conclusions

Once large differences across the AJS study sites are taken into consideration, there is no longer any disagreement about which lineup procedure is superior. The simultaneous procedure is diagnostically superior to the sequential procedure, but the sequential procedure sometimes induces more conservative responding (a result that can and often does masquerade as diagnostic superiority).

     

Mother–infant separations in prison. A systematic attachment-focused policy review

Abstract

Mothers in prison separated from their young children are an overlooked group. Attachment theory could provide a useful model to underpin interventions and better support women affected by separation from their infants. Current policy draws on a limited body of evidence and research has developed considerably since its first design. This review systematically searched all relevant UK prison policy and government documents with regards to mother and child separation in prison and analysed the extent to which these documents draw on attachment theory. Following initial searches, 58 documents were thematically analysed. Attachment was implicitly referred to in most documents but only explicitly mentioned in four. Global themes identified included ‘separation as trauma’. However, document groups varied in focusing either on the mother or the child and there were no joint perspectives. Developing and researching specific attachment-informed interventions might be one way forward as would further attachment-based research in this area.     

Matching consequences to behavior: implications of failing to distinguish between noncompliance and nonresponsivity

Neither punitive nor therapeutic approaches alone are effective at addressing the dual public health and public safety concerns associated with managing criminal behavior perpetrated by people who have psychiatric and substance use disorders. The optimal solution may instead require the integration of both criminal justice supervision and treatment. Using problem-solving courts (PSCs) as a model, we focus on one dimension of this integrated approach, distinguishing between behavior that stems from willful noncompliance with supervision and behavior that results from nonresponsivity to treatment. First, we discuss the public health and public safety consequences of using singular approaches to address the criminal behavior of this population. We then present lessons learned from PSCs that distinguish between noncompliant and nonresponsive behaviors in making treatment and supervision decisions. Finally, we consider how the concepts of nonresponsivity and noncompliance may be extended, via policy, to probation and parole settings as well as mental health and substance abuse treatment services outside the criminal justice setting in order to enhance public health and safety.     

The ability of the blowflies Calliphora vomitoria (Linnaeus), Calliphora vicina (Rob-Desvoidy) and Lucilia sericata (Meigen) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) and the muscid flies Muscina stabulans (Fallén) and Muscina prolapsa (Harris) (Diptera: Muscidae) to colonise buried remains

A novel method for the non-destructive age determination of a blood stain is described. It is based on the measurement of the visible reflectance spectrum of the haemoglobin component using a microspectrophotometer (MSP), spectral pre-processing and the application of supervised statistical classification techniques. The reflectance spectra of sample equine blood stains deposited on a glazed white tile were recorded between 1 and 37 days, using an MSP at wavelengths between 442 nm and 585 nm, under controlled conditions. The determination of age was based on the progressive change of the spectra with the aging of the blood stain. These spectra were pre-processed to reduce the effects of baseline variations and sample scattering. Two feature selection methods based on calculation of Fisher's weights and Fourier transform (FT) of spectra were used to create inputs into a statistical model based on linear discriminant analysis (LDA). This was used to predict the age of the blood stain and tested by using the leave-one-out cross validation method. When the same blood stain was used to create the training and test datasets an excellent correct classification rate (CCR) of 91.5% was obtained for 20 input frequencies, improving to 99.2% for 66 input frequencies. A more realistic scenario where separate blood stains were used for the training and test datasets led to poorer successful classification due to problems with the choice of substrate but nevertheless up to 19 days a CCR of 54.7% with an average error of 0.71 days was obtained.     

Hybrid Texts and Uniform Law? The Multilingual Case Law of the Court of Justice of the European Union

The case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) is shaped by the language in which it is drafted—i.e. French. However, because French is rarely the mother tongue of those drafting that case law, the texts produced are often stilted and awkward. In addition, those drafting such case law are constrained in their use of language and style of writing (owing to pressures of technology and in order to reinforce the rule of law). These factors have led to the development of a ‘Court French’ which necessarily shapes the case law produced and has implications for its development, particularly insofar as it inevitably leads to a type of precedent in that case law. That case law also undergoes many permutations of translation into and out of up to 23 different languages. The resultant texts that make up the case law are hybrid in nature—consisting of a blend of cultural and linguistic patterns, constrained by a rigid formulistic drafting style and put through many permutations of translation. The present paper investigates the production of the Court’s multilingual case law and considers whether the hybrid nature of that case law can actually aid the presentation (and thus the development) of a ‘uniform’ EU case law.     

The Enemy Within: The Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Moral Panic

When there is a period devoid of sensationalistic biker news, the public’s concern about outlaw bikers can be quite low. All it takes is one overt act of violence to heighten the public’s fear of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs are the most current “dangerous class” which have been the subject of a moral panic in Canada. Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs as organized crime bodies are deemed to be the single most serious threat to the country—the enemy within. The gang war in British Columbia is fuelled by drugs supplied by the Hells Angels and there is a wide spread fear that these evildoers are trying to harm and tear apart the fabric of our society. This article provides a critical in-depth analysis of the construction of an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang moral panic with the focus on Canada. The roles played by the media, politicians, and the public in using isolated, violent incidents to support their interests will be examined along with the interactions between these groups and the resultant punitive actions directed toward members of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.     

PROTECTING LIVES,CAREERS, AND PUBLIC CONFIDENCE: FLORIDA'S EFFORTS TO PREVENT OFFICER‐INVOLVED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Florida's innovative Law Enforcement Families Partnership (LEFP) was created to reduce and prevent officer‐involved domestic violence in the state. Administered by the Institute for Family Violence Studies at Florida State University and supported by the criminal justice and victim's advocacy communities, the LEFP is the first statewide project of its kind. It includes several components, the cornerstone of which is an online curriculum that teaches officers about the dynamics and consequences of domestic violence perpetrated by officers. This article describes the project and early data from the surveys attached to the curriculum.     

An experimental study of compressed work schedules in policing: advantages and disadvantages of various shift lengths

Objectives  

The objectives of this research were to test the impacts of three shift lengths (8-, 10-, and 12-hour) on performance, health, safety, quality of life, sleep, fatigue, alertness, off-duty employment, and overtime among police.