Moore’s Truths About Causation and Responsibility: A Reply to Alexander and Ferzan

In this response to the review of Moore, Causation and Responsibility, by Larry Alexander and Kimberly Ferzan, previously published in this journal, two issues are discussed. The first is whether causation, counterfactual dependence, moral blame, and culpability, are all scalar properties or relations, that is, matters of more-or-less rather than either-or. The second issue discussed is whether deontological moral obligation is best described as a prohibition against using another as a means, or rather, as a prohibition on an agent strongly causing a prohibited result that was not about to happen anyway while intending to do so.     

Accuracy of Dental Age in Nonadults: A Comparison of Two Methods for Age Estimation Using Radiographs of Developing Teeth

This research tests the accuracy of two methods for age estimation, Cameriere's European formula and AlQahtani's London Atlas, on a multi‐population American sample. Digitized radiographs of 360 European American, Hispanic, and American Indian children aged 6–17 years were analyzed. The accuracy of these methods was assessed using the mean and absolute mean difference of the residuals. Results indicate that Cameriere's European formula underestimated age for both sexes, with a mean difference of ?1.19 years for girls and ?1.32 years for boys, prompting the first author to create an American‐specific formula. The London Atlas underestimated age with a mean difference of ?0.18 years for girls and ?0.16 years for boys. Sex and ancestry had no significant affect on accuracy. The results indicate that both methods can be used for age estimation in an American population.     

Taphonomic Analysis of Rodentia and Lagomorpha Bone Gnawing Based Upon Incisor Size

Rodent and lagomorph species have a worldwide distribution and have the potential to alter remains from forensic cases by gnawing soft tissue and bones and through dispersal. The present research compiled metric data on the incisors widths of all rodent and lagomorph species whose ranges include Massachusetts, U.S.A., to compare their sizes to gnawing damage found on 17 cases of human remains from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Boston, MA. Data on gnawing maximum striation widths also were collected from live laboratory, zoo, and wild specimens. Gnawing damage on the forensic cases could be attributed only to a particular size class of rodent or lagomorph, and identification to a particular species based on gnawing damage alone may be possible only in relatively rare cases. Multiple species examined here have broad distribution ranges, so their taphonomic alterations may impact bones from forensic cases throughout large portions of North America.     

Use of prostate specific antigen in the identification of semen in postmortem cases

Over the past 20 years, the use of prostate specific antigen (PSA) as evidence of the presence of semen in forensic cases has been well established. In this study, we compared a commercially available immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) for the identification of PSA with the identification of spermatozoa in swabs obtained from the vagina of deceased females. There was agreement between the 2 methods in 67 of the 80 cases (84%), including 18 cases where both the PSA was positive and sperm were observed microscopically. The remaining cases had 1 positive result and 1 negative result. We concluded that although there was substantial agreement between the presence of sperm and a positive PSA, there were enough discrepancies between the 2 methods (16%) to justify the use of both methodologies, if possible, to make the determination of sexual activity prior to death.     

Psychological assessment of forensic psychiatric outpatients

The 1960s decrease in long-term residential mental health care resulted in former psychiatric patients being admitted to correctional and forensic psychiatric facilities. Although psychologists face challenges in managing and treating this displaced population, assessment data plays a pivotal role in the determination of appropriate aftercare for the mentally ill parolee. This article discusses the assessment protocol utilized by the Forensic Conditional Release Program (CONREP) in California, summarizes data from these patients, and uses case excerpts to illustrate the potential value of assessment with a forensic psychiatric (outpatient) population. Special emphasis is given to the use of the MMPI-2 and Rorschach.     

‘I was completely oblivious to gender’: an exploration of how women in STEMM navigate leadership in a neoliberal,post-feminist context

Women are under-represented in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) fields worldwide, particularly in leadership positions. We explore this phenomenon by examining the leadership experiences of 25 women who were actively seeking to enhance their leadership capacities in STEMM fields from five countries in the Global North. We argue that women in this study seemed to be caught in an ‘ideological dilemma’ between recognizing sexism and gender bias in their organizational contexts and seeing their organizations as gender neutral. We argue that a post-feminist climate and a neoliberal ethic of meritocracy in science render inequality difficult to articulate and address. Considering this dilemma through the lens of ‘cruel optimism’, we suggest that women are problematically bound to a fantasy of success in STEMM in which leadership is attainable through arduous effort.

Abbreviation: STEMM; Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine     

Who should America welcome?

He also serves as a fellow with the Hudson Institute and the California-based Alexis de Tocqueville Institution.