The formation of party preferences: Testing the proximity and directional models

Abstract. We review the methodological debate between defenders of the proximity and directional models. We propose what we believe to be a rigorous and fair test of the two models, using the 1997 Canadian Election Study. The analysis is based on responses to questions in which the various issue positions are explicitly spelled out. We rely on individual perceptions of party positions because it is individual perceptions that matter in the formation of party preferences but we control for projection effects through a multivariate model that incorporates, in addition to indicators of distance and direction, socio–demographic characteristics, party identification, and leader ratings. We also take into account whether a party is perceived to be extreme. The empirical evidence vindicates the proximity model.     

Tussle for space: The politics of mock-compliance with global financial standards in developing countries

As efforts to harmonize policies globally intensify, developing countries increasingly face pressures to adopt international standards. Yet, we know little about the circumstances under which developing countries manage to circumvent such pressures, or about their strategies to maintain policy space. We explore under which conditions developing countries are willing and able to sustain mock-compliance, a situation where countries comply on paper but not in practice. Using country comparisons of Angola's, Nigeria's, Tanzania's, and Vietnam's engagement with the Basel banking standards, we show how three factors combine to produce sustained mock-compliance: high costs of outright non-compliance due to outward-orientated banking sectors; high political costs of substantive compliance; and state control over profitable markets. Our article contributes to theory-building in the literature on compliance and structural power as well as to broader debates about developing countries' policy autonomy in their engagement with global financial norms.     

The effect of the presence and seating position of an interpreter on eliciting information and cues to deceit

The present experiment examined how the seating position of an interpreter during investigative interviews affects information elicitation and cues to deceit. A total of 60 native English speakers were interviewed in English and 200 non-native English speakers were interviewed in English (a non-native language) or through an interpreter who either sat next to the interviewer, behind the interviewee or interpreted via the telephone. Interviewees either lied or told the truth about a mock security meeting they watched. Interviewees who spoke in their native language provided more detail than interviewees who spoke in their native language through an interpreter or in a non-native language (English) without an interpreter. The latter groups did not differ. Additionally, the amount of detail differentiated truth tellers from liars in all conditions and interviewees found the presence of an interpreter to be a largely positive experience. The interpreter’s seating position had no effect on the findings.     

Interrater reliability of Risk Matrix 2000/s

Actuarial risk assessment instruments for sexual offenders are often used in high-stakes decision making and therefore should be subject to stringent reliability and validity testing. Furthermore, those involved in the risk assessment of sexual offenders should be aware of the factors that may affect the reliability of these instruments. The present study examined the interrater reliability of the Risk Matrix 2000/s between one field rater and one independent rater with a sample of more than 100 sexual offenders. The results indicated good interrater reliability of the tool, although reliability varies from item to item. A number of factors were identified that seem to reduce the reliability of scoring. The present findings are strengthened by examining interrater reliability of the tool in the usual practitioner context and by calculating a range of reliability statistics. Strategies are suggested to increase reliability in the use of actuarial tools in routine practice.     

The legal geographies of transnational cyber-prosecutions: extradition,human rights and forum shifting

This article describes legal and human rights issues in three cases of transnational online offending involving extradition requests by the United States (US). These cases were selected as all suspects claimed the negative impacts of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) were sufficient to deny extradition on human rights grounds. We demonstrate how recent developments in UK and Irish extradition law raise human rights and prosecutorial challenges specific to online offending that are not met by established protections under domestic and internationally sanctioned approaches to extradition or human rights law. In these cases, although the allegedly unlawful conduct occurred exclusively online and concurrent jurisdiction enables prosecution at both the source and location of harm, we demonstrate why national courts hearing extradition challenges are extremely reluctant to shift the trial forum. We conclude by discussing the implications of the new geographies of online offending for future criminological research and transnational criminal justice.     

Recall of unpleasant emotion using memory-enhancing principles

Abstract

Two experiments are presented to examine the issue of memory for past emotions. Participants rated their emotional reactions on the occasion of watching a film, and in a subsequent session, they were asked to recall and rate the emotion as experienced when viewing it. In the first experiment, participants underestimated unpleasant emotion at recall, but their recall was improved with the presentation of a visual cue pertaining to the emotion-inducing film event. In the second experiment, participants were assisted in probing perceptual aspects of the event by means of memory-enhancing instructions underlying the Cognitive Interview. These participants consistently recalled emotional intensity, as compared to participants in the unassisted recall condition who underestimated prior emotion. This research suggests that ratings of prior emotion are easily influenced by features of the retrieval context, and that consistent recall may be achieved by memory-enhancing principles of the Cognitive Interview.     

Aggressive and Non-Aggressive schizophrenics: Symptom profile and neuropsychological differences

Abstract

The present experiment examined the ability of fifty-two uniformed police officers to detect deception. The experiment differed from previous experiments into detecting deceit because of its high stake lies scenario. The judges were exposed to videotaped press conferences of people who were asking the general public for help in finding their relatives or the murderers of their relatives. They all lied during these press conferences and they all have been found guilty of killing their own relatives. The judges did not perform better than could be expected by chance. Additional analyses showed that accuracy was unrelated to confidence, age, years of job experience in the police force, or level of experience in interviewing suspects. There was, however, a significant positive correlation between having experience in interviewing suspects and being confident in detecting deception. Finally, men were better at detecting deception than women.