Enhancing Witness Memory with Focused Meditation and Eye-Closure: Assessing the Effects of Misinformation

Despite the decline in popularity of hypnosis as an investigative interviewing technique, this paper builds on previous research showing that some of the techniques employed in traditional hypnotic interviewing may still be useful in the development of simple, brief memory facilitation procedures for use by the police. Three experiments are described that investigate the effects of a short Focused Meditation with eye-closure technique in situations where participants are presented with misleading information. In the first study, which utilized a standard misinformation paradigm, a significant memory facilitation effect was shown with Focused Meditation, though the effect was not significant for eye-closure alone. There were no increases in errors when the Meditation and eye-closure procedures were used alone or in combination. The second experiment showed that a combined Focused Meditation with eye-closure technique reduced misinformation effects associated with fictitious events, and a third showed that the same technique reduced interrogative suggestibility effects as measured by the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale, whilst facilitating free recall memory. It is concluded that a Focused Meditation with eye-closure technique may potentially have applications in the field where brief alternatives to the Cognitive Interview are required.     

Collaborative Partnerships and Crime in Disorganized Communities

Collaborative partnerships can be an effective strategy for crime prevention, especially in disorganized communities. Using ordinary least squares regression with 414 American cities, this article finds that police departments with many collaborative partnerships are able to promote informal social control within their communities and capitalize on the resources available to them with the help of other groups. This contention is supported by the effects of collaborative partnerships on crime rates in disorganized communities in comparison to well‐organized communities. Thus, collaborative partnerships of public organizations with other groups may insulate disorganized communities from the effects of community disorganization on levels of crime.     

Appointee Confirmation and Tenure: The Succession of U.S. Federal Agency Appointees, 1989–2009

This article analyzes the confirmation and tenure of 2,300 Senate‐confirmed, presidential appointees to U.S. government agencies between 1989 and 2009, linking patterns of appointee confirmation and tenure to institutional politics, appointee independence, and agency context. Consistent with prior research, the authors find that nominees of new, powerful, and popular presidents enjoy expedited Senate confirmation. Contentious congressional committee oversight, by contrast, tends to delay confirmation and reduce tenure. Agency heads and positions insulated from removal, such as for fixed‐term positions and inspectors general, increase tenure. Extending empirical research, the analysis highlights program‐ and agency‐level variations that speak to the many contingencies shaping appointee politics. Appointee positions associated with national security and broad statutory discretion receive expedited confirmation. Agencies with more professionals are associated with increased tenure, whereas agencies with more appointees among managers see shorter tenures. The results speak to scholarship on appointee politics and to public knowledge about the role of appointments in American government.     

Identification of synthetic cannabinoids in herbal incense blends in the United States

Abstract: Synthetic cannabinoid agonists are chemically diverse with multiple analogs gaining popularity as drugs of abuse. We report on the use of thin layer chromatography, gas chromatography mass spectrometry, high‐performance liquid chromatography, and liquid chromatography time of flight mass spectrometry for the identification and quantitation of these pharmacologically active chemicals in street drug dosage forms. Using these approaches, we have identified the synthetic cannabinoids JWH‐018, JWH‐019, JWH‐073, JWH‐081, JWH‐200, JWH‐210, JWH‐250, CP47,497 (C=8) (cannabicyclohexanol), RCS‐4, RCS‐8, AM‐2201, and AM‐694 in various commercially available products. Other noncannabinoid drugs including mitragynine have also been detected. Typical concentrations of drug in the materials are in the range 5–20 mg/g, or 0.5–2% by weight for each compound, although many products contained more than one drug.     

The interface between exercise of state power and personal powerlessness: a study of police perceptions of factors impacting professional practices

Police legitimacy is crucial to the maintenance of law and order in any society. In communities marred by high instances of societal manifestations of dysfunction, tenuous legislative frameworks, poradic implementation, and dismantling of crime fighting strategies, there is greater emphasis placed on quick-fix crime fighting solutions and policing initiatives. The focus is placed primarily on what police officers are mandated to do as opposed to practical applications underscored by systematic hindrances to professional practice. Examining interview data from a pilot study on police fear of crime in Trinidad and Tobago, this study is intended to explore connections between police perceptions about personal powerlessness and the exercise of state power. Here we examine the discourses of N = 12 senior police officers with an average of 22.83 years of service to attain a preliminary understanding of instances presenting a conflict between professional practice and perceptions of self-preservation. The findings suggest a need for officers’ constant consideration of the repercussions of professional competence and the need for continued navigation of blurred constructions of police legitimacy and subjective determinants of criminality against a backdrop of acknowledged personal powerlessness.     

An Assessment of the Skeletal Fracture Patterns Resulting from Fatal High (˃3 m) Free Falls

The injury patterns resulting from fatal high (?3 m) free falls have previously been documented in clinical and medico‐legal contexts; however, details relating specifically to the skeletal blunt force trauma (BFT) have been limited. This study aimed to augment what is known of the skeletal fracture patterns resulting from fatal high free falls. Skeletal trauma was analyzed from full‐body postmortem computed tomography scans of 95 individuals who died following a high free fall. Fracture patterns were documented using the five general anatomical regions, axial and appendicular regions, and postcranial unilateral and bilateral regions. Patterns were analyzed in the context of the extrinsic and intrinsic variables that may influence fractures using multiple logistic regression. Fracture patterns involved all aspects of the skeleton, with 98.9% exhibiting polytrauma, and were influenced primarily by the height fallen, manner of death, and landing surface. This improved understanding of fracture patterns will augment anthropological interpretations of the mechanism of BFT in cases of suspected high falls.     

马克思《论犹太人问题》货币思想研究

《论犹太人问题》中包含着马克思早期货币思想的源起和逻辑起点。马克思以犹太人问题为切入点,揭示了现代资本主义社会的"犹太性"问题,即货币的权力和异化。马克思《论犹太人问题》中的货币思想内涵为:犹太精神与现代市民社会的本质具有内在一致性,本属于犹太人的内在规定性,成为市民社会中的人的普遍规定性;犹太人与货币的关系成为检验、总结和体现现代社会的性质、功能的重要问题域;犹太精神只有在市民社会中才能达到自己的顶点,而市民社会只有在基督教世界中才能完成;现代民主制国家是对基督教异化逻辑的重演,以货币的形式再次完成人的自我异化;货币为主要异化形式的形态使传统社会关系发生了根本性的改变,只有扬弃货币的权力和异化才能实现人类解放。     

Power and Cognitive Accuracy in Local Emergency Management Networks

Using network power bases and cognitive accuracy concepts, this study examines two local emergency management network changes. The authors review five power bases—structural-based, resource-based, actor-based, cognitive-based, and political-based power—to explore the perceived power of network actors. Three research propositions are proposed with respect to the relationship between the network power bases and the cognitive accuracy of network participants. The authors find that political-based power is strongly correlated with perceived power. The article concludes with future research questions and directions for advancing current scholarship on emergency management networks.     

The Hobbesian Case for Multilateralism

In this paper an analysis of Hobbes' argument in favor of the Leviathan is combined with a reassessment in a new security environment. The analysis shows that Hobbes' premises are complex and lead to conclusions that differ from the realist as well as from the world‐state position, both attributed to Hobbesian logic in IR theory. A strict application of the Hobbesian argument in today's security context leads to a rationale of multilateral institution‐building among states. In the first part of the paper the internationalist analogy in the concept of war of all against all is uncovered and analyzed in relation to the security dilemma, domestic analogy, and methodological individualism. The second part reassesses the Hobbesian security rationale in a security environment which is assumed to be shaped by transnational terrorism and nuclear WMD.