Consensus on validation of forensic voice comparison

Since the 1960s, there have been calls for forensic voice comparison to be empirically validated under casework conditions. Since around 2000, there have been an increasing number of researchers and practitioners who conduct forensic-voice-comparison research and casework within the likelihood-ratio framework. In recent years, this community of researchers and practitioners has made substantial progress toward validation under casework conditions becoming a standard part of practice: Procedures for conducting validation have been developed, along with graphics and metrics for representing the results, and an increasing number of papers are being published that include empirical validation of forensic-voice-comparison systems under conditions reflecting casework conditions. An outstanding question, however, is: In the context of a case, given the results of an empirical validation of a forensic-voice-comparison system, how can one decide whether the system is good enough for its output to be used in court? This paper provides a statement of consensus developed in response to this question. Contributors included individuals who had knowledge and experience of validating forensic-voice-comparison systems in research and/or casework contexts, and individuals who had actually presented validation results to courts. They also included individuals who could bring a legal perspective on these matters, and individuals with knowledge and experience of validation in forensic science more broadly. We provide recommendations on what practitioners should do when conducting evaluations and validations, and what they should present to the court. Although our focus is explicitly on forensic voice comparison, we hope that this contribution will be of interest to an audience concerned with validation in forensic science more broadly. Although not written specifically for a legal audience, we hope that this contribution will still be of interest to lawyers.     

Public charge,legal estrangement,and renegotiating situational trust in the US healthcare safety net

US immigration law increasingly excludes many immigrants materially and symbolically from vital safety-net resources. Existing scholarship has emphasized the public charge rule as a key mechanism for enacting these exclusionary trends, but less is known about how recent public charge uncertainty has shaped how noncitizens and healthcare workers negotiate safety-net resources. Drawing on ethnographic observations and interviews with 80 safety-net workers and patients in three US states from 2015 to 2020, I argue that intensifying anti-immigrant rhetoric surrounding public charge has extended a sense of surveillance into clinical spaces in previously unexamined ways. Drawing on theories of medical legal violence, system avoidance, and legal estrangement, I demonstrate how these dynamics undermined immigrants' health chances and compromised clinic workers' efforts to facilitate care. I also reveal how participants responded to this insinuation of legal violence in healthcare spaces by promoting situational trust in specific procedures and institutions.     

The present and future of public sector extension in Africa: contracting out or contracting in?

Public sector extension has come under increasing pressure to downsize and reform. Contracting out—the use of public sector funds to contract non‐governmental and private service providers—is often held up as a potential tool in reform efforts. Much has been written about the possible advantages of contracting out of agricultural extension and it is being encouraged and promoted by numerous international organizations. However, a look at field experience in Africa shows that contracting out is relatively infrequent, especially compared with the reverse—contracting in—where private sector and non‐governmental organizations finance public sector extension delivery. Case studies from Uganda and Mozambique indicate that on the ground attempts to come up with solutions to providing services to farmers are resulting in innovative contracting approaches and combined public and private institutional arrangements. Contracting in and public–private coalition approaches, in contrast to purely public sector extension (characterized by ineffectiveness and inefficiencies) and purely private for profit extension (which may ignore public goods and concerns), may help achieve extension services which are both demand led and which internalize public concerns such as environmental protection, food security and socio‐economic equity. These coalition approaches can be improved and facilitated. They deserve greater analysis and may contribute to a better understanding of extension contracting and the roles of private and public organizations. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Post-mortem changes of the middle ear: multislice computed tomography study

Six dry skulls were studied by multislice computed tomography (MSCT). They had not previously been prepared, and were natural skeletonized remains. All had been found in the soil. Examination focused on the temporal bones and the ear structures. In all cases, either disruption of the ossicular chain or absence of some ossicular bones were noted. The authors concluded that the fragile ossicles were disrupted in the post-mortem state, and were not indicative of ante-mortem pathology. These observations illustrate the ability of MSCT to visualize taphonomic changes. To further illustrate these findings, we present the results of MSCT performed on an exhumed body. The left ossicular bones were missing and the right ossicular chain was disrupted. With the development of forensic radiology, structures as tiny as the ossicles can be examined. However, the radiologist who performs post-mortem imaging must be familiar with taphonomic changes to avoid interpretation as ante-mortem or peri-mortem traumatic injuries. This could potentially have considerable judicial impact, especially in the study of exhumed bodies.     

A preliminary investigation of the effects of giving testimony and learning yogic breathing techniques on battered women's feelings of depression

Researchers have shown that mood and sense of control over one's life are significantly affected by testimony and other forms of disclosure and that learning to control breathing has positive effects on mood and anxiety. This preliminary experiment tests whether African American and European American abused women who give testimony about their experiences of intimate partner violence and learn how to use yogic breathing techniques have reduced feelings of depression. Results indicate that learning yogic breathing techniques alone and combined with giving testimony significantly reduces feelings of depression. Recasting women as authorities on domestic violence and teaching them how to calm their minds by focusing on yogic breathing may be simple and effective ways to help women take control over their bodies and lives.     

The Influence of Clothing and Wrapping on Carcass Decomposition and Arthropod Succession During the Warmer Seasons in Central South Africa*

Abstract: The influence of clothing and wrapping on carcass decomposition and arthropod succession was investigated to provide data to enable estimated postmortem interval in homicide investigations. Six pig carcasses, Sus scrofa, were divided into three sample groups, each with a clothed carcass wrapped and a carcass wrapped with no clothes. Two more carcasses, one with no clothes or wrapping, the other with clothes and no wrapping were used as controls. The clothed or wrapped carcasses had larger visible maggot masses, which moved more freely and these carcasses took longer to dry out. The blow fly maggot masses were dominated by Chrysomya marginalis and Chrysomya albiceps. Oviposition occurred simultaneously on all carcasses. High temperatures in one case caused significant maggot mortality. The Coleoptera community was dominated by Silphidae, Thanathopilus micans larvae, Dermestidae, Dermestes maculatus adults and larvae, and Cleridae, Necrobia rufipes.     

Police cooperation in the Southern African region: politics and practicalities

This paper describes some of the issues around which cooperation among police agencies in the South African region have been coalescing. Cooperative engagements have resulted in a degree of harmonisation of policy and standardisation of police training. Within the region too a rhetorical commitment to common values and standards associated with democratic policing is forthcoming. Overall the processes underway are shaped by regional dynamics of a broader socio-political and specific police organisational nature. Structural underdevelopment, the weakness of institutions such as the police and contrarian politics more widely provide the context within which cooperation has evolved. By drawing on documentary analysis and interviews with practitioners in the field, the substantive areas around which cooperation is taking place are outlined. In this account particular reference is made to the role of a regional structure (the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Coordination Committee) and the national police agency (the South African Police Service) of South Africa, in the evolving business of cooperation in the Southern African region. Research for this paper was made possible through funding received from the Open Society Foundation (SA).

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Challenges in technology transfer: an actor perspective in a quadruple helix environment

This article presents and tests a knowledge and technology transfer framework in a quadruple helix environment, from an actor perspective. The Canadian forest products industry provides a unique opportunity for data collection through case studies as it is an industry built on a triple bottom line, which is managed for sustainable progress. By confronting the new framework to 31 professionals, we highlight the role and challenges faced by each helix. Several factors such as culture, time horizon management and the adaption of theory to practice appear to be determinant to improve technology transfer. We see in our work an important contribution to the generalization of knowledge and technology transfer processes in a quadruple helix environment.     

An Examination of the Influence of Veteran Status on Offense Type Among an Inmate Sample

The current study examines the relationship between military service and criminal behavior of veterans, both combat and non-combat, compared to non-veterans using a nationally representative sample of inmates. Specifically, this study examines the relationship between veteran status and crime type among inmates in state and federal institutions. While the relationship between military service and criminal behavior of veterans has received considerable attention, many have failed to differentiate between veterans who have seen combat versus those who have not. Therefore, a subsample of veterans who experienced combat during their military service is examined to better inform our understanding how combat experience might influence this relationship. Multiple counterfactual methods, including propensity score matching, were used on data from the Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2004. Some significant differences exist in the types of offenses committed based on veteran status and combat experience, but in some cases contrary to expectations. Veterans were more likely to have committed a violent offense, but less likely to have committed drug offenses; whereas, combat veterans were more likely to commit a drug offense and less likely to commit a violent offense than non-combat veterans. Policy implications and recommendations for future research are explored.     

Standard Symptom Inventories for Asylum Seekers in a Psychiatric Hospital: Limited Utility Due to Poor Symptom Validity

We examined symptom validity in two samples (Ns = 27 and 35) of asylum seekers who had been admitted to a psychiatric facility. Considerable proportions over-endorsed atypical symptoms (63 and 83%, respectively) and underperformed on a simple forced-choice task requiring the identification of basic emotions (41 and 71%, respectively). Over-endorsement and underperformance were unrelated to Dutch language proficiency but were related to raised scores on standard symptom inventories commonly used to assess psychiatric symptoms of asylum seekers. This pattern of findings casts doubts on attempts to monitor symptom severity and treatment progress in psychiatric asylum seekers without taking symptom validity into account.