Arresting Statistics: The Drift to Informal Justice in England and Wales

This paper re-examines some of the current theoretical models and paradigms of criminal justice in England and Wales based on an analysis of national arrest statistics between 1981 and 1997. The data show that there has been a large increase in the number of arrests in the period but the number of people prosecuted has declined. An increasing number of people are being arrested and released without any further action. The principal argument is that there has been a radical shift in power away from the formal open and public system of justice towards a more informal closed system. The paper concludes that while these trends lend support to a number of theoretical perspectives on the criminal justice process, particularly Choongh's social disciplinary model, the radical transformation which has taken place in the form of criminal justice can only be understood within the broader politics and economic structures of modern Britain.     

A novel histological technique for distinguishing between epithelial cells in forensic casework

There are a number of forensic cases in which the identification of the epithelial cell type from which DNA originated would provide important probative evidence. This study aimed to develop a technique using histological staining of fixed cells to distinguish between skin, buccal and vaginal epithelium. First, 11 different stains were screened on formalin-fixed, wax-embedded cells from five women. Samples were analysed qualitatively by examining staining patterns (colour) and morphology (absence or presence of nuclei). Three of the staining methods – Dane's, Csaba's and Ayoub-Shklar – were successful in distinguishing skin epithelial cells from buccal and vaginal. Second, cells were smeared directly onto slides, fixed with one of five fixatives and stained with one of the three stains mentioned above. Methanol fixation, coupled with the Dane's staining method, specific to keratin, was the only technique that distinguished between all three cell types. Skin cells stained magenta, red and orange and lacked nuclei; buccal cells stained predominantly orange–pink with red nuclei; while vaginal cells stained bright orange with orange nuclei and a blue extracellular hue. This staining pattern in vaginal cells was consistent in samples collected from 50 women aged between 18 and 67. Identification of cell type from unlabelled micrographs by 10 trained observers showed a mean success rate of 95%. The results of this study demonstrate that histological staining may provide forensic scientists with a technique for distinguishing between skin, buccal and vaginal epithelial cells and thus would enable more conclusive analyses when investigating sexual assault cases.     

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Current Concepts and Controversies

The diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) sometimes is raised in compensation claims, in tort settings, and in other medical–legal settings. Accordingly, health-care and legal professionals working in these areas need to be familiar with the current findings and controversies concerning the disorder. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, we review the most important findings concerning the clinical features, etiology, and treatment of PTSD. Second, we examine six major controversies concerning the disorder that are relevant to psychologists and other medical–legal practitioners: (a) the issue of what qualifies as a traumatic stressor, (b) the question of whether traumatic stress causes brain damage, (c) the validity of the concept of delayed-onset PTSD, (d) the recovered memory controversy, (e) the question of whether PTSD can arise when the person has no memory of the trauma (e.g., due to concussion), and (f) issues concerning PTSD malingering. Throughout this article we offer recommendations for psychological and other medical–legal practice in relation to the evaluation of PTSD claims.     

The legacy of Bismarck

Many mechanisms (such as auctions) efficiently allocate an asset to the firm which values it most highly. But sometimes the asset’s owner may benefit from the transfer only if the asset is not too valuable to potential buyers. In this setting, we examine the efficiency of mechanisms when the potential buyers have private information about the asset’s value. We show that rent seeking, and lobbying, rather than merely wasting resources, can lead to allocations which are close to efficient.