A field study of adult witness interviewing practices in a Canadian police organization

Purpose. The current study examined witness interviewing practices in a Canadian police organization. The effect of interviewer, interviewee, and interview characteristics on those practices was also examined. Method. Ninety witness interviews from a Canadian police organization were coded for the following interviewing practices: types of questions asked (i.e. open‐ended, probing, closed‐ended, clarification, multiple, leading, opinion/statement, and re‐asked), the number of interruptions, percentage of words spoken by interviewer, type of pre‐interview instructions (consequential vs. generic), and whether or not a free narrative was requested (and when requested during the interview). Characteristics pertaining to the interviewer (e.g. primary interviewer's age), interviewee (e.g. witness gender), and interview (e.g. crime type) were also coded. Results. Results showed that closed‐ended and probing questions were the most widely asked questions, and that open‐ended questions were asked relatively infrequently. It was also found that the 80–20 talking rule was violated in 89% of the interviews, interviewers rarely interrupted the witnesses, and free narratives were requested often. Overall, the effect of interviewer, interview, or interviewee characteristics on interviewing practices was minimal. Conclusions. The finding that scientifically prescribed interviewing practices are employed rarely by Canadian police officers highlights a need for increased professional interviewing training. The finding that practices are largely unaffected by personal and situational factors suggests that such training would be equally beneficial for all types of interviewers, interviewees, and contexts.     

Interviewing Witnesses: The Effect of Forced Confabulation on Event Memory

After viewing a crime video, participants answered 16 answerable and 6 unanswerable questions. Those in the "voluntary guess" condition had a "don't know" response option; those in the "forced guess" condition did not. One week later the same questions were answered with a "don't know" option. In both experiments, information generated from forced confabulation was less likely remembered than information voluntarily self-generated. Further, when the same answer was given to an unanswerable question both times, the confidence expressed in the answer increased over time in both the forced and the voluntary guess conditions. Pressing eyewitnesses to answer questions, especially questions repeated thrice (Experiment 2), may not be an effective practice because it reliably increases intrusion errors but not correct recall.     

Cautioning jurors regarding co-witness discussion: the impact of judicial warnings

Abstract

The research seeks to identify the most common problem areas and associated treatment needs of incarcerated and recently released offenders, to determine the importance of prison-based treatment and to assess the motivation of offenders towards treatment. Interviews were scheduled with representatives of three participant categories: drug-involved incarcerated offenders (n=18), recently released prisoners (n=15) and treatment staff members (n=18), resulting in 1971 statements. Using the qualitative software package WinMAX98, these expressions were categorized in a tree structure, after a codification process of the raw material. The results suggest that there is a difference in opinion between offenders and service providers with regard to the most important problems related to incarceration and re-entry. The findings further indicate that released offenders struggle more often than incarcerated offenders with problems concerning their psychological status. Therefore, the need for continuous through-care and aftercare is apparent, as is the necessity to assess the participants’ support expectancies and their individual needs. Motivating offenders to take part in (prison-based) treatment initiatives and aftercare is a major challenge, which can be accomplished by cooperation and partnerships between the criminal justice system and community-based treatment providers.     

Investigating the relationship between justice‐vengeance motivations and punitive sentencing recommendations

Purpose. The present research investigated the relationship between underlying justice and vengeance motivations and sentencing recommendations made by expert clinicians, semi‐experts, and lay‐people. It was hypothesized that the semi‐experts would recommend significantly different sentence lengths from those recommended by the expert and lay‐person groups, in line with previous research findings. It was also hypothesized that justice and vengeance motivations would be related to punitive sentencing recommendations, and that these would not be the same across the three levels of expertise. Method. An independent groups design was utilized in the main analysis, with participants belonging to three distinct levels of clinical experience (experts, semi‐experts, and lay‐people). A questionnaire was administered, with participants being measured on levels of justice and vengeance motivations, and asked to recommend appropriate sentence lengths based on nine separate crime‐scenarios. These covariables were correlated and the correlation coefficients were compared across the three levels of expertise. Results. The former hypothesis was not upheld. Findings do, however, support the latter hypothesis, with the key finding indicating that for both justice and vengeance motivations in punitive judgement, it is the lay‐participants who appear distinct from the experts and semi‐experts. Conclusions. The current findings emphasize that while expert and lay‐person judgements may often appear to be the same, different processes and motivations underlying clinical judgements are occurring at the different stages of expertise. With the differences in the relationships between justice and vengeance motivations and judgements found in the current research, it is argued that expert and lay judgements that appear to be the same are, in fact, distinguishable and are related to quite different underlying motivations and decision‐making processes.     

Medical professionals convicted of accessing child pornography--presumptive lifetime prohibition on paediatric practice? Health Care Complaints Commission v Wingate

Health Care Complaints Commission v Wingate [2007] NSWCA 326 concerns an appeal from the New South Wales Medical Tribunal regarding its findings on professional misconduct outside the practice of medicine in relation to a doctor convicted of possessing child pornography. The latest in a number of cases on this issue in Australia, it highlights the complexity of such decisions before medical tribunals and boards, as well as the diversity of approaches taken. Considering both this case and the recent Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria case of Re Stephanopoulos [2006] MPBV 12, this column argues that Australian tribunals and medical boards may not yet have achieved the right balance here in terms of protecting public safety and the reputation of the profession as a whole. It makes the case for a position statement from Australian professional bodies to create a presumption of a lifetime prohibition on paediatric practice after a medical professional has been convicted of accessing child pornography.     

Book Reviews

Russia in Asia

Russian Embassies to the Georgian Kings: 1589–1605. 2 vols. Edited by W. E. D. Allen. Cambridge, published for the Hakluyt Society, 1972. Pp. xxxii+640. Bibliog. Illus. Maps. Index. £7.60.

Turkestan Zwischen Russland und China. By Baymirza Hayit. Amsterdam, Philo Press, 1971. Pp. 414. Bibliog. Index.

The Rise of Russia in Asia. By David J. Dallin. Hamden, Conn., Archon Books, 1971 (Yale UP 1949). Pp. 293. Map. Bibliog. Index. $9.50.

Soviet Russia and the Far East. By David J. Dallin. Hamden, Conn., Archon Books, 1971 (Yale UP 1948). Pp. 398. Map. Bibliog. Index. $12.25.

Middle East

Sayyid Jamal ad‐Din “al‐Afghani”. A Political Biography. By Nikki R. Keddie. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, University of California Press, 1972. Pp. xvii+479. Portrait. Bibliog. Index. $20.

In Search of Omar Khayyam. By Ali Dashti. Translated by L. P. Elwell‐Sutton. London, Allen &; Unwin, 1971. Pp. 276. Bibliog. Index. £3.50.

Al‐Manar English‐Arabic Dictionary: By Hasan S. Karmi. Longman, Librairie du Liban. £3.00.

The Oxford English‐Arabic Dictionary of Current Usage. Ed. N. S. Doniach. OUP, 1972. £12.00.

The Role of Government in the Industrialisation of Iraq 1950–65. By Ferhang Jalal. London, Frank Cass and Co., 1972. Pp. 12+142. Bibliog. Index. £3.50.

Egypt: Imperialism and Revolution. By Jacques Berque. London, Faber, 1972. Pp. 736. Maps. Illus. Glossary. Index. £15.00.

The British in Egypt. By Peter Mansfield. London, Weidenfeld. £3.50.

Shah Diz of Isma'ili Fame: Its Siege and Destruction. By Caro Owen Minasian. London, Luzac, 1971. Pp. 74+52 plates. Maps. Index £4.50.

The Sub Continent

The Terrorist. Translated from the Sindhi by H. T. Lambrick. London, Ernest Benn, 1972. Pp. 246. Sketch‐maps. £2.50.

The India We Left. By Humphrey Trevelyan. London, Macmillan, 1972. Pp. 255. Illus. Map. Index. £3.95.

Socialism in India (1919–1939). Edited by B. R. Nanda. Delhi, Vikas Publications, 1972. Pp. 299. Bibliog. Index. Rs.35.

The Transfer of Power, 1942–7. Volume 3: Reassertion of Authority, Gandhi's Fast, and the Succession to the Viceroyalty. Edited by Nicholas Mansergh and E. W. R. Lumby. London, HMSO, 1971. Pp. 1182. Illus. Map. Index. £10.

The East Pakistan Tragedy. By Prof. L. F. Rushbrook Williams. London, Tom Stacey, 1972. Pp. 140. £2.80.

From Crisis to Crisis: Pakistan 1962–1969. By Herbert Feldman. Oxford University Press, 1972. Pp. 340. Index. £5.50.

Company Drawings in the India Office Library. By Mildred Archer. London, HMSO, 1972. Pp. 298. Illus. Index. £4.50.

Southeast Asia

An Introduction to Southeast Asian Politics. By J. R. E. Waddell. Sydney, John Wiley &; Sons, 1972. Pp. 305. Maps. Bibliog. Index.

Singapore in Southeast Asia: an Economic and Political Appraisal. By Iain Buchanan. London, Bell, 1972. Pp. 336. Maps. Illus. Index. £3.65.

Singapore's People's Action Party: its History, Organization and Leadership. By Pang Cheng Lian. Oxford University Press. 1971. Pp. 87. Bibliog. Index. £2.10.

Politics in a Plural Society. By R. K. Vasil. Kuala Lumpur, Oxford University Press, 1971. Pp. ix+338. Tables. Bibliog. Index. £3.20.

The Malaysian General Election of 1969. By R. K. Vasil. Singapore, Kuala Lumpur. Oxford University Press, 1972. Pp. ix+114. Tables. Bibliog. Index.

The Ship of Sulaiman. Translated from the Persian by John O'Kane. London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972. Pp. x+250. £3.75.

The Straits Settlements 1826–67. By C. M. Turnbull. London, Athlone Press, 1972. Pp. 10+428. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £5.50.

China

The Southern Expansion of the Chinese People: Southern fields and southern ocean. By C.P. FitzGerald. Barrie and Jenkins, London, 1972. Pp. xxi+220. £4.

China and the Overseas Chinese: a study of Peking's changing policy, 1949–1970. By Stephen FitzGerald. Cambridge University Press, 1972. Pp. xii+268. £5.90.

Military and Political Power in China in the 70s. Edited by William W. Whitson. New York, Praeger; London, Pall Mall Press, 1972. Pp. 390. $20.

Geography

The Changing Map of Asia. Edited by W. G. East, O. H. K. Spate and Charles A. Fisher. London, Methuen, 1971. Fifth edition. Pp. xvi+678. Maps. Tables. Index. £5.75.

Asia, East by South: A Cultural Geography. By J. E. Spencer and William L. Thomas. New York, London, Sydney and Toronto, John Wiley &; Sons, 1971. Second edition. Pp. xv+669. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £7.25.

East Asia. China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam. Geography of a Cultural Region. By Albert Kolb. Transl. C. A. M. Sym. London, Methuen, 1971. Pp. xvi+591. Maps. Tables. Bibliog. Index. £8.50.

China's Changing Map. National and Regional Development, 1949–71. By Theodore Shabad. London, Methuen, 1972. Revised edition. Pp. xiii+370. Maps. Tables. Bibliog. Index. £5.00.

India &; Pakistan. Land, People and Economy. By O. H. K. Spate and A. T. A. Learmouth. London, Methuen (University Paperbacks), 1972. Third edition. Pp. xxxiii+439. Maps. Tables. Index. £2.50.

India, Pakistan &; Ceylon. The Regions. By O. H. K. Spate, A. T. A. Learmonth and B. H. Farmer. London, Methuen (University Paperbacks), 1972. Third edition. Pp. xxvii+455. Maps. Tables. Index. £2.50.     

Working the Spaces in between: A Case Study of a Boundary‐Spanning Model to Help Facilitate Cross‐Sectoral Policy Work

Since the 1990s, ‘joined‐up government,’ ‘whole‐of‐government,’ and ‘horizontal governance’ approaches have emerged in many industrialized countries, resulting in the devolution of government functions to diverse policy networks. From these shifts, complex systems of networked actors have emerged, involved in designing, implementation, and influencing policy. Arguably, networked approaches to policy may solve some problems. However, as with all paradigm shifts, new problems have emerged. Specifically, skill and knowledge gaps have opened up, reflecting the need for new collaborative and networked relationships that can increase the capabilities and agility to work in these ways. In response to these gaps, we developed the Power to Persuade initiative. Power to Persuade is an annual symposium and online forum, aimed at deepening knowledge and awareness of current problems faced by policy networks, and providing the skills and knowledge to overcome them. In this paper, we discuss how Power to Persuade works within the spaces in between as a vehicle for relationship building and better policy.