Presidential Approval and Public Security in Mexico's War on Crime

To fight criminal organizations effectively, governments require support from significant segments of society. Citizen support provides important leverage for executives, allowing them to continue their policies. Yet winning citizens' hearts and minds is not easy. Public security is a deeply complex issue. Responsibility is shared among different levels of government; information is highly mediated by mass media and individual acquaintances; and security has a strong effect on peoples' emotions, since it threatens to affect their most valuable assets—life and property. How do citizens translate their assessments of public security into presidential approval? To answer this question, this study develops explicit theoretical insights into the conditions under which different dimensions of public security affect presidential approval. The arguments are tested using Mexico as a case study.     

Utility of the Inventory of Legal Knowledge in detecting feigning

The Inventory of Legal Knowledge (ILK) is an instrument designed to detect feigning of competency-specific knowledge deficits. Available studies have suggested the ILK may require modification of its cut score to more accurately classify those who are feigning. In this study, the ILK’s concurrent validity and cut scores were tested using 100 college students in a simulation design. Students were randomly assigned to fake (n = 50) or honest (n = 50) groups. Those assigned to the faking group had significantly lower ILK scores than individuals responding honestly with a large effect size between the groups. Despite some promising results, utility estimates indicated an unacceptable level of false positives using the recommended cut score. Tentative recommendations are made in order to improve the efficacy of the ILK in detecting feigning legal knowledge.