Determinants of citizen support for community-oriented policing

The extent to which community members are willing to cooperate with the police and become involved with various community crime prevention programs depends on citizen perceptions of the police and of the community in which they reside. The purpose of the present study is to explore factors that affect support for community policing in a small rural city. Findings revealed that the majority of respondents supported community policing. Using community survey data collected from over 400 citizens in a small metropolitan area in the intermountain West, this study also explored the importance of demographic factors, community characteristics, and public perceptions and experiences with police in predicting citizens’ support for community policing. Citizen support for community-oriented policing varied somewhat by demographic factors (i.e., gender, education), and by community characteristics (i.e., disorder, social cohesion).     

The Generalizability of Police Legitimacy: Procedural Justice,Legitimacy, and Speeding Intention of South Korean Drivers

Asian Journal of Criminology - Empirical support for procedural justice theory in criminology is robust in the developed Western countries, whereas the results are mixed for non-Western or...     

A Computational Framework for Age‐at‐Death Estimation from the Skeleton: Surface and Outline Analysis of 3D Laser Scans of the Adult Pubic Symphysis

In forensic anthropology, age‐at‐death estimation typically requires the macroscopic assessment of the skeletal indicator and its association with a phase or score. High subjectivity and error are the recognized disadvantages of this approach, creating a need for alternative tools that enable the objective and mathematically robust assessment of true chronological age. We describe, here, three fully computational, quantitative shape analysis methods and a combinatory approach that make use of three‐dimensional laser scans of the pubic symphysis. We report a novel age‐related shape measure, focusing on the changes observed in the ventral margin curvature, and refine two former methods, whose measures capture the flatness of the symphyseal surface. We show how we can decrease age‐estimation error and improve prior results by combining these outline and surface measures in two multivariate regression models. The presented models produce objective age‐estimates that are comparable to current practices with root‐mean‐square‐errors between 13.7 and 16.5 years.     

Exploring the trend of violence against women in India

ABSTRACT

India is witnessing growing violence against women including horrific rapes even in major metropolitan areas that have attracted considerable media attention. Insecurity and physical threat to women is real and a major concern. Justice Verma Commission that examined the Delhi rape case has recommended several measures including changes in laws involving crimes against women, yet little has changed. In this paper we conduct a variety of qualitative and quantitative analyses using open source data to understand the nature and extent of crimes against women in India. Police records indeed suggest a growing escalation in serious crimes against women. The paper also critically examines the efforts of the police and others, particularly non-governmental groups to combat such crimes. A number of policy recommendations are made for prevention including comparative efforts in Korea where crimes against women are similarly serious.     

Research note: career stage and job satisfaction among southern correctional officers

The career stage theory postulates that employees go through different career stages, and each career stage has different effects on various outcomes, such as job satisfaction. There has been empirical support for the career stage theory from other disciplines, but there has been limited research relating to this theory to corrections. To expand the literature, the current study examined whether different career stages were significant predictors of job satisfactions, while including the personal characteristics and the workplace place variables among Texas correctional officers. The results supported the career state theory: job satisfaction was highest during the entry stage (0–2 years), but was lowest during the second career stage (2–5 years). In career stages three (5–15 years) and four (16+ years), job satisfaction rose. Possible interventions that correctional administrators can undertake to encourage job satisfaction from their staff during the second career stage are discussed.     

Species identification of Papaver by metabolite profiling

This paper analyses and discusses arguments that emerge from a recent discussion about the proper assessment of the evidential value of correspondences observed between the characteristics of a crime stain and those of a sample from a suspect when (i) this latter individual is found as a result of a database search and (ii) remaining database members are excluded as potential sources (because of different analytical characteristics). Using a graphical probability approach (i.e., Bayesian networks), the paper here intends to clarify that there is no need to (i) introduce a correction factor equal to the size of the searched database (i.e., to reduce a likelihood ratio), nor to (ii) adopt a propositional level not directly related to the suspect matching the crime stain (i.e., a proposition of the kind 'some person in (outside) the database is the source of the crime stain' rather than 'the suspect (some other person) is the source of the crime stain'). The present research thus confirms existing literature on the topic that has repeatedly demonstrated that the latter two requirements (i) and (ii) should not be a cause of concern.     

Effects of Experiencing the Eyewitness Identification Procedure on Juror Decisions

Mistaken eyewitness identifications are believed to contribute to a preponderance of wrongful convictions, underscoring the need to identify methods to help decrease the likelihood of false convictions based on eyewitness testimony. The present study tested the hypothesis that providing jurors with first-hand experience with eyewitness identification procedures could help further sensitize them to the limitations of eyewitness testimony. Eighty college students watched a videotaped mock trial in which the prosecution’s sole evidence was eyewitness testimony. In a 2 × 2 randomized factorial design, we manipulated whether participants heard expert psychological testimony (henceforth referred to as expert testimony) on the limitations of eyewitness identification and whether they experienced an eyewitness identification procedure. As predicted, experiencing the eyewitness identification procedure had a significant impact on juror decisions, suggesting that this procedure could further help reduce the likelihood of wrongful convictions.     

The growing role of carers in the administration of medications

The roles of registered nurses, enrolled nurses, nurse practitioners and midwives in the administration of medications are subject to the legislation and regulation in their respective States and Territories in Australia. Underpinning this regulatory framework is a presumption that health professionals who come under the relevant legislation and regulations have attained the levels of competency, skill and knowledge consistent with professional standards and the protection of the public. This column considers the provisions of the Health (Drugs and Poisons) Regulation 1996 (Qld) addressing the administration of controlled and restricted drugs in light of a recent Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal decision.     

Developing and Validating a New Classroom Climate Observation Assessment Tool

The climate of school classrooms, shaped by a combination of teacher practices and peer processes, is an important determinant for children's psychosocial functioning and is a primary factor affecting bullying and victimization. Given that there are relatively few theoretically-grounded and validated assessment tools designed to measure the social climate of classrooms, our research team developed an observation tool through participatory action research (PAR). This article details how the assessment tool was designed and preliminarily validated in 18 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade classrooms in a large urban public school district. The goals of this study are to illustrate the feasibility of a PAR paradigm in measurement development, ascertain the psychometric properties of the assessment tool, and determine associations with different indices of classroom levels of relational and physical aggression.     

Deliberative multiculturalism in New Labour's Britain

The aim of this paper is to examine the principles that New Labour has employed in its citizenship and multicultural policies in Britain, and to clarify theoretical locations as well as philosophical rationales of those principles. By deliberative multiculturalism, I mean a set of policies and discourses of New Labour about citizenship and multicultural issues, which emphasizes rational dialogue and mutual respect with firmly guaranteed political rights especially for minorities. New Labour tries to go beyond liberal and republican citizenship practice through enhancing deliberation, the origin of which goes back to the British tradition of parliamentary sovereignty. It also attempts to achieve a one-nation out of cultural cleavages, shifting its focus from redistribution with social rights to multicultural deliberation with political rights. I organize my discussion with a focus on the difference between two theoretical concepts: the relationship between cultural rights and individual equality, and the relationship between national boundaries and global belonging. In the concluding section, I explain three positive developments of New Labour's approach and also four limitations it has faced.