Some factors in police discretion and decision making

This is a study of the exercise of police discretion as indicated by the responses of police recruits to a series of ambiguous, but common incidents. The situations are ambiguous in that they do not call for a clear course of action. The study measures the influence on the use of discretion of certain factors characterizing the police officers and the incidents themselves. The key finding is that the recruits most often seem to impose their own brand of justice based upon their judgement of what the community's expectations of the appropriate police response are. This judgement is most influenced by the accumulation of experience or “street wisdom”.     

Private Representation in Washington: Surveying the Structure of Influence

Despite the significance of interest representation to theories of law and politics, the social organization of interest representation has not received systematic empirical analysis. Based on interviews with 776 individuals engaged in the representation of private interests concerning national policies on agriculture, energy, health, and labor, this article reports some findings concerning the social and political characteristics of representatives, the nature of their work and their relationships with client organizations. Three models of the social organization of interest representation are developed and examined: a model based on substantive expertise, an institutional targets model, and a client-based model. The findings indicate that representation is predominately organized around client interests Although lawyers constitute a significant and distinctive group among representatives, they are neither as numerous nor as active in policy making as is commonly assumed. The analysis suggests that representatives are not likely to exercise influence in the policy-making process that is autonomous from client organizations.     

The present direction of research in forensic odontology

Forensic odontology is receiving increased attention in the literature and has become a widely recognized field of expertise with broad ramifications. With this growth, research is needed to solve the most pressing problems of the discipline. The purpose of this paper is to identify current trends in research in forensic odontology. The review consisted of studies using the scientific method and reports of new techniques being tested. Also, abstracts from the annual meeting of the Odontology Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences from 1980 to 1987 have been reviewed to determine the current areas of emphasis in forensic dentistry.     

The use of monoclonal antibodies in analyzing blood and saliva stains by the mixed agglutination reaction

Possible use of monoclonal antibodies anti-A, anti-B, anti-M and anti-N in mixed agglutination reaction during the analysis of blood and secretion traces of different age is demonstrated. Dependence of antigen A and B detection in salivary traces on secretory type was determined.