Measuring criminal thinking styles: The construct validity and utility of the PICTS in a Dutch prison sample

Purpose. Criminal thinking and thinking styles are important areas in the assessment and treatment of offenders. The Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS: Walters, 2005) is designed to assess such criminal thinking styles. In the current study, the associations between criminal thinking styles on the one hand, and criminal histories, personality traits, and mental disorders of Dutch prisoners on the other, were explored. The aim is to test the reliability and construct validity of the PICTS in a population of male Dutch detainees. Methods. A sample of 191 randomly selected male prisoners of a large Dutch correctional institution were assessed by means of the PICTS, NEO‐PI‐R, and the MINI psychiatric interview. Prison inmates with very severe psychiatric symptoms and severe disruptive behaviours were excluded. Results. The psychometric qualities of the PICTS were found to be fair‐to‐good. The construct validity of the PICTS was supported by various convergent results with the criminal antecedents of the offenders, as well as with the scores on the scales measuring personality traits and psychiatric disorders. Conclusions. The associations between criminal thinking styles on the one hand and personality traits, antisocial personality disorder, and mental disorders on the other were rather strong. The current results suggest that the PICTS may be a valid and useful tool for assessing criminal thinking styles.     

Gait analysis in forensic medicine*

Recordings from video surveillance systems are used as evidence from crime scenes. It would be useful to perform comparisons between disguised perpetrators and suspects based on their gait. We applied functional anatomical and biomechanical knowledge to analyze the gait of perpetrators, as recorded on surveillance video. Using a structured checklist, which addresses the single body segments during gait, we were able to give a statement concerning the gait patterns. Characteristic parameters were, e.g., varus instability in the knee at heel strike, and larger lateral flexion of the spinal column to one side than the other. Based on these characteristic features, we are able to state with reasonable certainty whether the suspect could be the perpetrator, but it is not possible to identify the perpetrator positively. Nevertheless, we have been involved in several cases where the court has found that this type of gait analysis was a valuable tool.     

Preferences and the Democratic Peace

A debate exists over whether (and to what degree) the democratic peace is explained by joint democracy or by a lack of motives for conflict between states that happen to be democratic. Gartzke (1998) applies expected utility theory to the democratic peace and shows that an index of states' preference similarity based on United Nations General Assembly roll-call votes ( affinity ) accounts for much of the lack of militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) between democracies. Oneal and Russett (1997b, 1998, 1999) respond by arguing that UN voting is itself a function of regime type—that democracy 'causes' affinity . Oneal and Russett seek to demonstrate their thesis by regressing affinity on democracy and other variables from a standard model of the democratic peace. I replicate results reported by Oneal and Russett and then extend the analysis in several ways. I find that the residuals from Oneal and Russett's regression of affinity remain highly significant as a predictor of the absence of MIDs. Further, significance for democracy is shown to be fragile and subject to variable construction, model specification, and the choice of estimation procedure.     

Productive forces,the passions and natural philosophy: Karl Marx, 1841–1846

ABSTRACT

This article explores the emergence of Karl Marx’s concept of history over the period 1841 to 1846. Whereas in Marx’s view the productive forces shaped human history, it is argued in this article that Marx believed the productive forces in their turn were fuelled by psychological drives; in effect, Marx made the passions the deepest motive force of history. ‘Historical materialism’ as it crystallized in those early years was a theory of materialized subjectivity. Marx’s comments on various Antique and Modern philosophies of nature evince that he discerned important parallels between the developmental processes of human history and of nature. If Marx traced the dynamism of the productive forces to the human passions, he was adhering to an essentially Romanticist ontology of self-creative, impassioned nature.     

Industrial and economic democracy in Sweden: from consensus to confrontation

Abstract. At the beginning of the 1970s, there was a wide-spread political consensus in Sweden that something had to be done in order to increase employee influence in companies and counteract the concentration of private capital. A series of laws on industrial democracy were passed by Parliament, virtually without opposition. The reforms were followed in 1975–1976 by a push towards economic democracy in the form of so-called wage earners' funds. The trade union movement was the leading actor behind these proposals. This broader issue was much more controversial and soon became the focus of sharp disagreement between the parties and the dominant interest organizations. The article analyses the development from consensus to confrontation in industrial and economic democracy in Sweden. Special attention is given to the Public Commission on Wage Earners' Funds, which sat between 1975–1981 without being able to produce any constructive or concrete results.     

Brain injury in boxing

This lecture on activism via forensic medicine for the public good was given in honor of Milton Helpern. Boxing dates from antiquity but is now being re-evaluated as a viable part of civilized society. Chronic brain damage caused by repetitive subconcussive blows to the head has been shown to be present in 70-87% of boxers who had had many fights. A broad international medical consensus supports the view that boxing is medically and morally wrong and should be banned in civilized countries.     

Expanding Media Law and Policy Education: Confronting Power,Defining Freedom,Awakening Participation

The changes brought about by the Digital Age have not triggered significant increases in political participation or meaningful reductions in longstanding social power asymmetries, which are now increasingly negotiated in policy contexts that involve mass media (surveillance, big data, net neutrality). At the same time, new technology and communication patterns have opened fissures in public opinion about the limits of free expression while also creating new legal risks for citizen-communicators. This article suggests that universities need to recalibrate their curricula to meet the exigencies of this moment, which should include an increased emphasis on media law and policy courses and initiatives. The article outlines a rationale for action, and some strategies, based on the need to: (1) expand citizens’ expressive agency by equipping them with the knowledge to shield themselves from overt restraints and subtle forms of coercion; (2) deepen citizens’ civics knowledge, enhance their political efficacy and enable their political participation; (3) facilitate citizens’ engagement in reemerging debates about the meaning and scope of the First Amendment; and (4) spur citizen involvement in confronting pressing constitutional and media policy issues whose resolution will ultimately shape the broader balance of social power.