Two heads are better than one? How to effectively use two interviewers to elicit cues to deception

Background. We examined the effect of a second interviewer's demeanour on cues to deception. We predicted that a supportive demeanour would be the most beneficial for eliciting verbal cues to deceit, as it would encourage truth tellers, but not liars, to say more. In addition, we examined the extent to which interviewees deliberately made eye contact with the interviewers. Liars take their credibility less for granted than truth tellers, and therefore have a greater drive to be convincing. Liars are thus more likely to monitor the interviewer to determine if the interviewer appears to believe them. Method. Participants appeared before two interviewers: the first asked all the questions and the second remained silent. The second interviewer exhibited either a supportive, neutral, or a suspicious demeanour. Results. Truth tellers provided significantly more detail than liars, but only in the supportive second interviewer condition. The effect of a second interviewer's demeanour on detail was perhaps remarkable given that the interviewees hardly looked at the second interviewer (less than 10% of the time). Liars displayed more deliberate eye contact (with the first interviewer) than truth tellers did. Conclusions. A supportive second interviewer has a positive effect on interviewing. We discuss this finding in the wider contexts of investigative interviewing and interviewing to detect deception.     

Does the Gown Help the Town? Examining Town–Gown Relationship Influence on Local Environmental Sustainability in the United States

A US municipality environmental sustainability index, the OSSPI (Opp-Saunders Sustainability Practices Index), found an overwhelming percentage of top-ranked sustainable cities were home to higher education institutions. While this may be a coincidence, this research seeks to determine if and how local communities partner or collaborate with higher education institutions for environmental sustainability purposes. The results of two case studies, San Antonio, Texas and Dubuque, Iowa, suggest there is considerable variability in the town-gown relationships. However, it is found that larger, public universities are more likely to have stronger relationships and effects on local sustainability efforts.     

Sexual offenders’ treatment experience: a qualitative and quantitative investigation

Abstract

This research investigates the where and when of sexual assaults to determine what types of sexual crimes are committed at different time and place classifications. Exhaustive CHAID (chi-squared automatic interaction detection) analyses are conducted, examining factors associated with crimes that were committed indoors or outdoors, in private or public places, during the day or at night, and during the week or on the weekend. These methods are applied to a sample of 361 sexual crime events committed by 72 serial sex offenders. The results are strikingly different dependent on which spatial or temporal aspect of the crime is examined, which implies the complexity of sexual crime events and their situational components. This research brings to light possible policy implications with respect to situational crime prevention.     

Sleep and Delinquency: Does the Amount of Sleep Matter?

Sleep, a key indicator of health, has been linked to a variety of indicators of well-being such that people who get an adequate amount generally experience greater well-being. Further, a lack of sleep has been linked to a wide range of negative developmental outcomes, yet sleep has been largely overlooked among researchers interested in adolescent delinquency. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between hours of sleep and delinquent behavior among adolescents by using data from Wave 1 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 14,382; 50.2% female, 63.5% white). A series of negative binomial regressions showed that youth who typically sleep seven or fewer hours per night reported significantly more property delinquency than youth who sleep the recommended 8–10 h. Further, youth who reported sleeping 5 or fewer hours per night reported significantly more violent delinquency than youth who reported sleeping the recommended number of hours per night. The findings suggest that sleep is an important, and overlooked, dimension of delinquent behavior and studies that focus on adolescent health should further investigate the effects of insufficient sleep. Finally, the authors recommend that sleep and other relevant health behaviors be considered in the context of more comprehensive approaches to delinquency prevention and intervention.     

Romantic guilt and identity

Abstract

There is a kind of guilt that looks archaic, but which arises at the moment of Romanticism. One way of understanding it is as a response to a plight bequeathed by Kant. Kant's account of the subject secures the subject as such, but not the particular individual. The particular individual for Kant presents a risk, the risk of turning away from the good will defined by the categorical imperative to embrace one's own, particular good. Ultimately for Kant this entails the risk of radical evil. The peculiarity of Romantic guilt is that it seems to grant one ontological assurance for one's particular individuality. This paper explores and seeks to define the phenomenon of Romantic guilt as a possible aspect of tensions in lived experience, in particular between the universalism and moral autonomy associated with the rationalist, Enlightenment strain in liberalism, and the particularism and rootedness of cultural belonging associated with Romanticism. Romantic guilt emerges as having a constitutive function in relation to the self. The paper concludes with suggestions about ways in which further research might trace Romantic guilt in a collective form in nationalism and modernity.     

Telling more than they can know? Does the most important issue really reveal what is most important to voters?

Recent British Election Studies have asked respondents to nominate ‘the most important issue’. Responses to this question have been used to explain individual vote decisions and characterise the issue-component of those elections. This paper, however, finds limited evidence that individuals place more weight on those issues that they report as ‘most important’ when they vote. It also finds that aggregate responses to the MII question broadly match the estimated ‘average’ impact of those issues on voters. This suggests that even if voters have a limited understanding of what issues matter to themselves they have some understanding of what makes their fellow voters tick.     

Patterns of breaks in umbilical cords by different mechanisms*

Investigations of perinatal deaths often result in discrepancies between autopsy findings and witness accounts. The mechanism by which the umbilical cord is severed after delivery is a common quandary. Confirming or refuting the mother's stated method frequently has significant investigative importance; however, a surprising paucity of data currently exists to allow an objective opinion about the likely mechanism. Ninety-nine placentas with umbilical cords were examined. By random selection, each cord was severed by one of the following tools or mechanisms: knives, scissors, traction, or crush. Each break was examined and photographed, and a tissue section from the broken end examined microscopically. Differentiation of mechanism was best done grossly based on specific pattern recognition. Umbilical cords severed by blunt force have distinctly different morphology from those severed by sharp force. Even similar-appearing sharp force transections frequently have mechanism-specific distinctive patterns of injury.