Talk to Me: An Analysis of Statutes Regulating Police Interviews of Child Victims

Children can be unreliable witnesses, and they are especially vulnerable to questionable interview practices. However, in some crimes like child sexual abuse, children may be the only person capable of providing testimonial evidence. States must balance the needs of bringing criminals who target children to justice and ensuring that due process is upheld to reduce the chances of false convictions. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has published a set best-practices for the interviewing of children to achieve this balance. This article conducts a statutory analysis to determine if states are currently following the recommendations of the OJJDP.     

Liberal Versus Conservative Stinks

In a recent Public Opinion Quarterly article “Is the Academy a Liberal Hegemony?,” John Zipp and Rudy Fenwick pit themselves against “right-wing activists and scholars,” citing our scholarship (Klein and Stern in Academic Questions 18(1): 40–52, 2005a; Klein and Western in Academic Questions 18(1): 53–65, 2005). Here, we analyze Zipp and Fenwick’s characterization of our research and find it faulty. We, then, turn to their self-identification “liberal vs. conservative” findings and show they concord with our analysis. If one feels that it is a problem that humanities and social science faculty at 4-year colleges and universities are vastly predominantly democratic voters, mostly with views that may called establishment-left, progressive, or status-quo oriented, then such concerns should not be allayed by Zipp and Fenwick’s article. We commence the article with a criticism of the “liberal versus conservative” framework because it is the source of much of the confusion surrounding controversies such as the one over the ideological profile of faculty.     

Geico and Google settle trade mark/keyword advertising lawsuit

Google's sale of GEICO's trade marks for use in keyword-triggered‘sponsored link’ advertising did not create a likelihoodof confusion where the keyword-triggered advertisements didnot include GEICO's marks in the headings or text, but a settlementbetween the parties prevented the court from deciding Google'sliability for trade mark infringement for keyword-triggeredadvertisements that use GEICO's marks.     

Unusual contact marks: connecting the hubcap to the wheel of the car

A case of homicide and attempted homicide is described. The comparison of tire-marks linked the suspect's vehicle to the scene of crime only with low certainty. However, the comparison of the pressure mark on the hubcap found at the scene, with the balance weight on one of the wheels of the suspect's car, connected the suspect to the scene of crime with high certainty.     

Finding and using technology-specific expertise

Successful technology transfer depends on the skills and knowledge of those who must implement new or rapidly advancing technologies. Often, new systems and technologies are delivered without proper preparation of the intended users. Thorough documentation is only part of the solution-during development, many important and technology-specific lessons are learned. These include problem diagnosis, troubleshooting techniques, and strategies for optimum utilization. Many such skills develop in response to incidents that occur during testing and evaluation and are rarely incorporated into formal documentation or instructional materials. Yet they can make the difference between skilled satisfied users and frustrated non-users. Gary A. Klein, who received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology at the University of Pittsburgh in 1969, is chairman and chief scientist of Klein Associates Inc. (Fairborn, OH) an R&D company he founded in 1978 to do work in applied cognitive psychology. His principal research area is methods of knowledge elicitation that reflect the perceptual-cognitive aspects of expertise. He previously worked at the US Air Force Human Resources Laboratory. Beth Crandall holds a dual appointment as research associate and director of operations at Klein Associates Inc., which she joined in 1986. Her research interests include expert knowledge and decisionmaking skills, and methods for eliciting this information. She received her BS in psychology from Wright State University in 1978.