Crime scene investigations using portable,non-destructive space exploration technology

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASAs) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) have teamed up to explore the use of NASA developed technologies to help criminal justice agencies and professionals solve crimes. The objective of the program is to produce instruments and communication networks that have application within both NASA's space program and NIJ programs with state and local forensic laboratories. A working group of NASA scientists and law enforcement professionals has been established to develop and implement a feasibility demonstration program. Specifically, the group has focused its efforts on identifying gunpowder and primer residue, blood, and semen at crime scenes. Non-destructive elemental composition identification methods are carried out using portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) systems. These systems are similar to those being developed for planetary exploration programs. A breadboard model of a portable XRF system has been constructed for these tests using room temperature silicon and cadmium-zinc telluride (CZT) detectors. Preliminary tests have been completed with gunshot residue (GSR), blood-spatter and semen samples. Many of the element composition lines have been identified. Studies to determine the minimum detectable limits needed for the analyses of GSR, blood and semen in the crime scene environment have been initiated and preliminary results obtained. Furthermore, a database made up of the inorganic composition of GSR is being developed. Using data obtained from the open literature of the elemental composition of barium (Ba) and antimony (Sb) in handswipes of GSR, we believe that there may be a unique GSR signature based on the Sb to Ba ratio.     

Brain amino acid abnormalities in liver disease--a postmortem study

In a postmortem exploratory study, we examined whether specific amino acid abnormalities associated with liver diseases in vivo may also be detected in human brain samples obtained at clinical autopsies. The branched-chain amino acids (BCAA: valine, leucine, isoleucine) were decreased in the group of patients with liver diseases compared with the control group, whereas the aromatic amino acids (AAA: phenylalanine, tyrosine) were increased. However, the ranges overlapped significantly and were not statistically different. The molar ratio BCAA/AAA was determined to be 1.92 in the collection of patients with liver diseases compared with 2.27 in the control group. In patients with liver disease, ornithine concentrations in the brain appeared significantly decreased whereas glutamine was significantly increased. No significant difference was found in the brain concentrations of proline. Amino acid analysis may contribute to the understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms of liver disease, which are discussed, and may supplement the postmortem diagnosis.     

Aggressive reactions to social injustice by individuals and groups as a function of social norms,gender, and anonymity

Two conflicting approaches to the study of group aggression are compared: the deindividuation theory of Zimbardo (1970) and the emergent norm theory of Turner and Killian (1972). To test these two conflicting hypotheses, the frustration-aggression theory of Brown (1986) is used which assumes that individuals and groups, male or female, will react with angry aggression when important social justice norms are violated. It was hypothesized (i) that groups will be more aggressive than single individuals; (ii) males will be more aggressive than females; and (iii) that more aggression will occur when people can be easily identified than when they remain anonymous to each other. These hypotheses received some support. Unexpected interactions between these variables are discussed in some detail. Generally, more support is found for the emergent norm theory than for deindividuation theory.     

Social skills training with young adolescents

It is hypothesized that young adolescents with social skills difficulties can be helped by group social skills training if a school setting is used and school staff are involved in selection and treatment. An intervention using group social skills training was run in a secondary school as part of the curriculum. The results of 9 treated subjects on three measures were compared with those of an equal number of subjects who had no treatment. Scores were computed before treatment, after treatment, and at follow- up. On two of the measures significant improvement was found in the case of the treated subjects, while there was no improvement in the case of the untreated subjects.Received B.A. from Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1966 and M.A. in 1983. Completed postgraduate professional training as a psychologist at the Tavistock Centre in 1971. He has previously worked as an educational psychologist and currently works as principal clinical psychologist at Peterborough District Hospital, Peterborough, PE3 6DA, United Kingdom. He has published papers in a number of clinical areas. Currently his main research interest is in social skills.He was previously associated with the Institute of Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital in London. His research interest is in person-centered therapy and in testing assumptions derived from the theories of Carl Rogers. He has published extensively in this area and is currently developing research into the process of psychotherapy.     

Reviews

Gert Leptin and Manfred Melzer, Economic Reforms in East German Industry, London, OUP, 1978, xxv + 200 pp. £12.00.

Jiri Kosta, Abriss der sozialökonomischen Entwicklung der Tschechoslowakei 1945–1977 (An Outline of the Socio‐Economic Development of Czechoslovakia 1945–1977), Edition Suhrkamp No. 974, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1978, 217 pp.

Vladimir V. Kusin, From Dub?ek to Charter 77: A study of ‘normalisation’ in Czechoslovakia 1968–1978. Edinburgh: Q Press, 1978. x + 353 pp. £8.50.

Leon Boim and Glenn G. Morgan (ed. & trans.), The Soviet Procuracy Protests: 1937–1973; A Collection of Translations. Alphen aan den Rijn: Sijthoff & Noordhoff, 1978. xvi + 603 pp. Dfl. 190.00/$88.50.

Gordon B. Smith, The Soviet Procuracy and the Supervision of Administration. Alphen aan den Rijn: Sijthoff and Noordhoff, 1978. xii + 154 pp. Dfl. 55.00/$25.50.

Peter Kenez, Civil War in South Russia, 1919–1920: The Defeat of the Whites. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977. $17.50; £12.25.

Kendall E. Bailes, Technology and Society under Lenin and Stalin: Origins of the Soviet Technical Intelligentsia, 1917–1941. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton U.P., 1978. xiii + 472 pp. £20.10.

Delia W. Sheldon (ed.), Dimensions of Détente, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1978, 221 pp.

George Ginsburgs and Alvin Z. Rubinstein (eds.), Soviet Foreign Policy Toward Western Europe, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1978, 295 pp.

Malcolm Lader, Psychiatry on Trial, Penguin Books Ltd., 1977. 201 pp. 80p.

George F. Putnam, Russian Alternatives to Marxism: Christian Socialism and Idealistic Liberalism in Twentieth‐Century Russia. Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1977. xii + 233 pp. $13.50.

A. Nekrich, Otreshis’ ot strakha. Overseas Publication Interchange Ltd., London, 1979. 414 pp.

Aron Katsenelinboigen, Studies in Soviet Economic Planning. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1978. xiii + 229 pp. $22.50.

Walter D. Connor & Zvi Y. Gitelman (eds.), Public Opinion in European Socialist Systems. New York & London: Praeger Special Studies, 1977. ix + 196 pp.

Mervyn Matthews, Privilege in the Soviet Union: A Study of Elite Life‐Styles under Communism. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1978. 193 pp. £6.95.

Barbara Evans Clements, Bolshevik Feminist. The Life of Aleksandra Kollontai. Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1979. 352 pp. $15.00.     

In the eye of the beholder: Meaning and structure of informal status in women's and men's prisons*

Applying an abductive mixed‐methods approach, we investigate the informal status systems in three women's prison units (across two prisons) and one men's prison unit. Qualitative analyses suggest “old head” narratives—where age, time in prison, sociability, and prison wisdom confer unit status—are prevalent across all four contexts. Perceptions of maternal “caregivers” and manipulative “bullies,” however, are found only in the three women's units. The qualitative findings inform formal network analyses by differentiating “positive,” “neutral,” and “negative” status nominations, with “negative” ties primarily absent from the men's unit. Within the women's units, network analyses find that high‐status women are likely to receive both positive and negative peer nominations, such that evaluations depend on who is doing the evaluating. Comparing the women's and men's networks, the correlates of positive and neutral ties are generally the same and center on covariates of age, getting along with others, race, and religion. Overall, the study points to important similarities and differences in status across the gendered prison contexts, while demonstrating how a sequential mixed‐methods design can illuminate both the meaning and the structure of prison informal organization.     

The importance of forensic evidence for decisions on criminal guilt

Recent studies have found that the general public perceives forensic evidence to be relatively inaccurate and to involve high levels of human judgement. This study examines how important the general public finds forensic evidence by comparing decisions on guilt and punishment in criminal cases that involve forensic versus eyewitness testimony evidence and examining whether a CSI effect exists. Specifically, this experimental survey study utilized a 2 (crime type: murder or rape) × 4 (evidence type: DNA, fingerprint, victim eyewitness testimony, or bystander eyewitness testimony) ? 1 (no victim testimony for murder scenario) design, yielding seven vignettes scenarios to which participants were randomly assigned. Results indicate that forensic evidence was associated with more guilty verdicts and higher confidence in a guilty verdict. Forensic evidence did not change the expected sentence length and did not generally affect the ideal sentence length. However, for rape, respondents believed that the defendant should receive a longer sentence when forensic evidence was presented but forensic evidence did not alter likely sentence that respondents expected the defendant to receive. The results of this study did not support a CSI effect. Overall, this study suggests that forensic evidence – particularly DNA – has a stronger influence during the verdict stage than the sentencing stage.