The Role of Peer Stress and Pubertal Timing on Symptoms of Psychopathology During Early Adolescence

Stress is known to amplify the link between pubertal timing and psychopathology. However, few studies have examined the role of peer stress as a context for this link. The present study examined the interaction between perceived pubertal timing and peer stress on symptoms of psychopathology in early adolescence. The sample consisted of 264 students (63% female; M _age = 12.40, SD = 1.00; 55% Caucasian, 23% African American, 7% Latino, 11% biracial and 4% other). Higher peer stress was associated with symptoms of anxiety/depression; this effect did not vary by timing or gender. However, early-maturing girls with high peer stress demonstrated higher rates of relational and overt aggression compared to other girls. Findings also suggested that late-maturing boys with high stress are at risk for aggression problems; however, due to the small number of boys, analyses were exploratory. Overall, results suggest that developmentally salient contexts as indicated by stressful peer experiences may pose unique threats to early maturing girls and possibly late-maturing boys.     

Traditional and Cyber Aggressors and Victims: A Comparison of Psychosocial Characteristics

To date, relatively little is known about differences between perpetrators and victims of cyber and traditional forms of aggression. Hence, this study investigated differences among traditional and cyber aggressors and victims on psychosocial characteristics typically examined in research on traditional aggression and victimization, specifically effortful control, manipulativeness, remorselessness, proactive and reactive aggression, and anxious/depressive symptoms. Participants (N = 300; 63.2% female; M age = 12.89, SD = .95; 52% Caucasian, 27% African American, 11% Latino, and 10% other) were categorized based on aggressor type (non/low aggressor, traditional-only, cyber-only, and combined traditional and cyber) and victim type (non-victim, traditional-only, cyber-only, and combined traditional and cyber). Cyber aggressors reported lower levels of reactive aggression compared to traditional-only and combined aggressors. Combined aggressors demonstrated the poorest psychosocial profile compared to all other aggressor groups. For victimization, cyber-only and combined victims reported higher levels of reactive aggression and were more likely to be cyber aggressors themselves compared to traditional-only victims and non-victims. Findings suggest that there may be unique aspects about cyber aggression and victimization that warrant further investigation.     

Overhearing the Planning of A Crime: Do Adults Outperform Children As Earwitnesses?

This study examined the reliability of earwitnesses using an ecologically realistic experimental set-up. A total of 282 participants, distributed over three age-groups (7–9 vs. 11–13 year olds vs. adults), were exposed to an unfamiliar voice for 40 seconds. After a two week delay, they were presented with a 7-voice lineup. Half of the participants were exposed to a target-present lineup (TP), and the other half to a target-absent lineup (TA). For both types of lineups the participants performed poorly. In the TP-condition only the 11–13-year olds (with 27% correct identifications) performed above chance level. Furthermore, in the TA-condition all age-groups showed a high willingness to make an identification (overall mean = 53%). For both groups of children, voice identification co-varied significantly with speaking rate and pitch level, as did pitch variation for the youngest children. Neither factor correlated significantly with the adults’ identifications.     

Enduring Love? Attitudes to Family and Inheritance Law in England and Wales

This paper reports on the findings from a large-scale study of public attitudes to inheritance law, particularly the rules on intestacy. It argues that far from the assumption that the family' is in terminal decline, people in England and Wales still view their most important relationships, at least for the purposes of inheritance law, as centred on a narrow, nuclear family model. However, there is also widespread acceptance of re-partnering and cohabitation, producing generally high levels of support for including cohabitants in the intestacy rules and for ensuring that children from former relationships are protected. We argue that these views are underpinned by a continuing sense of responsibility to the members of one's nuclear family, arising from notions of sharing and commitment, dependency and support, and a sense of lineage.     

Knowing and Intelligent: A Study of Miranda Warnings in Mentally Disordered Defendants

A conservative estimate is that 695,000 mentally disordered offenders are arrested and Mirandized annually in the United States. Past research has focused almost exclusively on cognitive factors affecting the comprehension of Miranda rights. The current study broadens the scope by including diagnostic variables and by extending the investigation to basic elements of Miranda reasoning. A sample of 107 mentally disordered defendants was administered two research measures, the Miranda Statements Scale (MSS) and Miranda Rights Scale (MRS), in addition to standardized tests. Most defendants lacked good comprehension of all but the simplest (Flesch-Kincaid<6th grade) Miranda warnings. Defendants with the poorest understanding (i.e., comprehending about 25% of the warnings) had marked deficits in multiple domains including cognitive abilities (intelligence and comprehension) and general adjustment. Different background and clinical variables predicted defendants' abilities to generate reasons either to exercise or waive their Miranda rights.     

The Dynamics of Staying and Leaving: Implications for Battered Women’s Emotional Well-Being and Experiences of Violence at the End of a Year

Much of the discourse on intimate partner violence assumes that women must end their relationship with their abusive partner to increase their safety and emotional well-being. Few studies, however, exist to support this assumption. Equally problematic, those studies that do exist have failed to distinguish women who leave and stay out from those who leave only to later return. Comparing emotional well-being and experiences of violence for 206 low-income, primarily Black battered women following different relationship trajectories, this longitudinal study found that women both separated from and together with their partner for the entire year of the study fared best at the end of that year compared to women “in” and “out” of the relationship over time. Beyond challenging common assumptions, these findings highlight the importance of considering the larger context within which an individual instance of leaving occurs.

Towards the End and Beyond: The "Almost" Referral of Bagaragaza in Light of the Completion Strategy of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

The Bagaragaza case was the first at the International CriminalTribunal for Rwanda in which the referral of an accused to anational jurisdiction was discussed. Such a referral may bemade at the discretion of a Trial Chamber designated by thePresident, if the Chamber satisfied itself that the Accusedwill have a fair trial and that the death penalty will not beimposed or carried out. The referral can be made to three differentStates: the one where the accused was arrested, the one werethe crimes were committed and the one which has jurisdictionand is willing and adequately prepared to hear the case. Inthe Bagaragaza case, the request for referral was dismissed,because the Referral State in question, the Kingdom of Norway,has no provision for genocide in its penal law. This paper discussesthe referral mechanism and the role it plays in the Tribunal'sambitious completion strategy. An analysis of the Bagaragazacase will show how this mechanism has actually been applied,concluding that the Tribunal rightly resisted the pressure toabide by the completion strategy and chose substance over form.After the Tribunal's closure, two important questions will facethe international community: (a) Where will convicted and acquittedpersons be relocated? (b) Has international criminal justicebeen promoted at the expense of long-term peace and stability?     

Are there lessons to be learned from a more scientific approach to mental condition defences?

The timing of the English Law Commission's consideration of reform to the law of insanity coincides with increasing scientific and in particular neuroscientific understanding of the brain. The work of researchers is leading to a greater comprehension of what had been termed irresistible impulses to commit crime and of the impact of brain damage, particularly evidence of brain lesions and frontal lobe damage on behaviour. There remain problems in establishing causal relationships which might diminish or eliminate criminal responsibility for crimes committed by those suffering from pre existing mental conditions at the time they commit a criminal offence. This is especially the case where those mental conditions are of short duration. However, the law should not ignore the best available scientific knowledge. Neuroscientific advances are already informing court deliberations in England and Wales: assisting in considerations of guilt, fitness to plead and in sentencing. In terms of the insanity defence the questions that the law seeks to address are not necessarily the most medically or scientifically pertinent questions. They remain grounded in 19th century scientific understanding. It is argued that the more nuanced Dutch approach to mental condition defences warrants very serious consideration by those charged with making proposals to reform the English law.     

Observed Characteristics of Suicidal Hangings: An 11-year Retrospective Review

Many studies have been published regarding suicidal hanging deaths, and most forensic pathologists and coroners are very familiar with such causes of death. Forensic pathologists are challenged over their rulings regarding manner of death in part because the general public has a limited scope of knowledge. One such challenge centers on the question of whether a hanging can be a suicide if the individual is not fully suspended. The authors designed a retrospective study to review suspension in hangings and to analyze other criteria used to help in deciding manner of death. We examined 229 suicidal hanging deaths over an 11-year period (1997 through early 2009) using the data from two separate jurisdictions in Ohio. In conclusion, we found that the vast majority (83.4%) of people who hanged themselves were found partially suspended. Among other criteria analyzed, only the presence of petechial hemorrhages and acute neck injury was statistically significant.