Eyewitness Accuracy Rates in Police Showup and Lineup Presentations: A Meta-Analytic Comparison

Meta-analysis is used to compare identification accuracy rates in showups and lineups. Eight papers were located, providing 12 tests of the hypothesis and including 3013 participants. Results indicate that showups generate lower choosing rates than lineups. In target present conditions, showups and lineups yield approximately equal hit rates, and in target absent conditions, showups produce a significantly higher level of correct rejections. False identification rates are approximately equal in showups and lineups when lineup foil choices are excluded from analysis. Dangerous false identifications are more numerous for showups when an innocent suspect resembles the perpetrator. Function of lineup foils, assessment strategies for false identifications, and the potential impact of biases in lineup practice are suggested as additional considerations in evaluation of showup versus lineup efficacy.     

Crime control in the 2000 presidential election: A symbolic issue

Presidential candidates regularly use crime issues to help win electoral support. Contrary to conventional wisdom, crime control also became an issue in the 2000 presidential campaign. Despite decreasing crime rates, the debate was driven by public opinion. Because the crime debate was fueled by perception rather than reality, it is argued that the symbolic nature of the debate became important in providing reassurance to the American public. This finding points to the importance of symbolic rhetoric by presidential candidates in appealing to voters and increasing public support.     

SUPERVISED VISITATION A Profile of Providers

Surveys with 94 administrators of supervised visitation programs, 51 family court judges, and 40 administrators of child protective services agencies provide a national picture of supervised visitation services, their utility, and areas of unmet need. Although the programs are perceived to fill an important need, they struggle to survive financially, particularly those that handle family court cases. In addition, because many programs operate without adequate access to the assessment and treatment services that some families need, judges frequently want visitation supervisors to assist them in determining suitable custody and visitation arrangements, a role that supervised visitation programs do not feel is appropriate. Many different types of entities provide effective supervised visitation services; many different service formats work. Architects of new programs should fashion services that use local resources to maximum advantage.     

Bureaucratic tenure and economic performance in centrally planned economies

Murrell and Olson (1991) set forth the hypothesis that in centrally planned economies economic interests over time become fragmented as bureaus become more autonomous and form into narrowly-based distributional coalitions. As a consequence, the national leader's encompassing interest in economic growth becomes compromised and growth begins to slow. This paper provides the first direct test of the hypothesis that growing bureaucratic autonomy results in declining economic growth in centrally planned economies.     

Availability ray

As Director of the Office of Population in the U.S. State Department, Dr. Ray Ravenholt is a controversial figure. In an interview with New Internationalist Dr. Ravenholt agrees that economic development will reduce family size in developing areas as it has in industrialized countries but the availability of contraception is of primary importance. He believes the U.S. should be training gynecologists from developing countries in modern methods of contraception, including sterilization operations, but he does not believe in involuntary sterilization or coercion. In Greenland, for example, the birth-rate fell from 48/1000 in 1964 to 19/1000 in 1977 because the Danish Health Minister introduced family planning. No coercion was used. Contraceptives were made available. Although he sees value in redistribution and equal distribution of resources, Dr. Ravenholt claims that if you make information and family planning services available you control population growth in advance of solving the resource distribution problem. In China, where a strong attempt has been made to distribute resources equally, a very powerful planned birth control program was found necessary. Politicians may argue that the U.S. should limit its consumption of resources but they are the same people who are working to emulate the same amount of consumption.     

Can an employer-based health insurance system be just?

It is America's distinctive practice to tie private health insurance to employment, and recent proposals have tried to retain this link through mandating that all employers provide health insurance to their employees. My primary approach to these issues is neither economic, nor historical, nor political but ethical. After a brief historical overview, I outline a general approach to evaluating the ethical significance of linking the distributions of distinct goods. I examine whether an unjust distribution of jobs spoils justice in the distribution of health insurance, taking as a central example gender inequities in employment and exploring their impact on job-based health insurance. Second, I explore the possibility that justly awarding jobs guarantees justice in employment-sponsored insurance. However, linking the distributions of different goods remains problematic, because such links inevitably undermine equality by enabling the same individuals to enjoy advantages in many different distributive areas. Finally, I examine recent proposals to reform America's health care system by requiring all employers to provide health insurance to their employees. I argue that such proposals lend themselves to the same ethical problems that the current system does and urge greater attention to alternative reform options.