Examining the empirical relationship between prison crowding and inmate misconduct: A meta-analysis of conflicting research results

Incarceration rates in the United States dramatically increased over the past several decades. This trend has drawn significant academic attention to prison overcrowding and its potential effect on inmate misconduct. The empirical relationship between inmate misconduct and overcrowding, however, is less than clear. To be sure, studies indicating positive, negative, and null relationships can all be found in the literature. The current research subjects this body of literature to a meta-analysis in an effort to: (1) clarify the direction and strength of the relationship between overcrowding and rates of prison misconduct across all studies, and (2) to uncover the degree to which variation in research outcomes can be attributed to methodological differences across studies. Results indicate that prison crowding has little substantive impact on inmate misconduct. Implications of the findings are discussed in detail.     

Observations of high velocity bloodspatter on adjacent objects

In a recent homicide investigation, high velocity backspatter was observed on the sleeve cuff of the accused. These minute droplets were discovered only after microscopic examination and were limited in number. A study was initiated to determine if these were truly backspatter droplets or transferred blood produced from light contact with a bloody item. It was observed that the backspattered blood was primarily limited to contact or near contact shots. An exception was a shot into an already bloody surface. It was found that backspattered blood would deposit on the shooter's shirt sleeve irrespective of the weave pattern. Transferred blood was observed only on the fiber tops. This information was found to be useful in reconstruction of events in suicides as well as possible homicides.     

Corporate Governance in Spain (with an Application of the Power Indices Approach)

This paper describes the governance system of Spanish listed firms in the early 1990's. Although the institutional setting of the Spanish Stock Exchanges differs little from other European national markets, we found important differences in several aspects of corporate governance. In particular, some of the standard mechanisms of control (e.g. boards and institutional shareholders) do not play an active role, whereas ownership is relatively concentrated. Moreover, power indices suggest that controlling blocs of large shareholders are very likely to form. We thus conclude that the ownership of shares is a pivotal mechanism in the governance of Spanish corporations.     

Learning from the Danish case: A comment on Palle Svensson's critique of the Franklin thesis

Abstract. Palle Svensson in this issue of EJPR has objected to the characterisation of Danish voters made by Franklin and others who, in various publications, expounded the thesis that on issues of low salience, referendum votes tend to follow party lines. Svensson finds evidence that the Maastricht Treaty was not an issue of low salience to Danish voters in the ratification referendums conducted there, and gives other details of the evolution of public opinion regarding Europe that clarify the circumstances in which our thesis should apply. In the light of his arguments, this Comment presents a more nuanced version of the thesis that learns from the Danish case, and should be of greater utility than our earlier version in helping to interpret the role of government standing in referendum outcomes.     

The ADA on the Road: Disability Rights in Germany

This paper examines the impact of a "disability rights model" on the emerging disability rights movement in Germany. Traditional German disability politics and activism are based on the expansion of welfare and special needs provisions rather than on equal rights and integration. Inspired by the 1990 Americans with Disability Act, German activists adopted a disability rights model and successfully worked toward the passage of a constitutional equality amendment in 1994 and ant-discrimination legislation in 2002. Using the literature on rights mobilization, this paper argues that German disability activists use rights talk to both support and contest culturally specific approaches to disability rights, equal treatment, and the role of the state in guaranteeing welfare rights. The globalization of disability rights should not be viewed as an imposition of American norms but as a more complex process of adaptation and cultural transformation that involves constructing locally legitimate approaches to disability rights with an American import.     

Should Abused Women's Reports of Partner Substance Abuse Be Accepted as Valid?

Current research suggests that a husband's substance abuse is correlated with severity of physical abuse and the woman's decision to leave a violent situation. Often, only the battered woman's report of abuse is available. This study compares women's reports of their partners' substance use/abuse with their partners' report using a brief measure of polydrug and alcohol abuse, the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI) and the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS). Data were analyzed for 25 recovery couples and 25 nonrecovery couples. The correlations for all 50 couples between the male's reported use and the female's report of her partner's use on the SASSI and the CTS were significant on all but one of the CTS scales. They ranged on SASSI from .73 to .33 and from .31 to .06 on the CTS. This suggests that the SASSI and possibly the CTS could be used as valuable tools for assessing women's reports of their partner's substance use/abuse.     

Identification based on medical findings

1. The indications such as the place of finding, the identification of clothes or other personal items, represent only the first step towards the identification of a corpse. 2. An identification based on medical data, other than dental, is often possible, more often than it is believed. 3. The forensic pathologist plays a double role in the case of such an identification: a) in the phase of the inquiry, he must contact the investigators and the families to explain his wishes and the different possibilities of identification. b) he must use the gathered information in the appropriate way. 4. It would be desirable to compose some statistical tables of the various medical elements useful for the identification (mutilations, surgical operations, etc...). We present six cases of identification in our practice.     

Predicting patrol officer performance from a psychological assessment battery: A predictive validity study

The psychological assessment battery is an integral part of the selection process used to select patrol officer applicants. Unlike all other procedures used in the selection process, the psychological assessment has not been adequately validated. The purpose of this study was an attempt to provide validation data for a psychological assessment battery. The battery consisted of the Nelson-Denny, Shipley-Hartford, MMPI, and the Motivational Analysis Test (MAT). Performance measures included various measures of training academy performance and field training performance. A stepwise regression and MANOVA/Discriminant Analysis indicated that the psychological tests did predict performance, although an exact predictive equation could not be developed due to the high intercorrelations between predictor variables. This research was sponsored in part by a grant from the School of Applied Arts and Technology, Southwest Texas State University.