Expert Testimony on Psychological Injury: Procedural and Evidentiary Issues

This article introduces psychologists to aspects of the legal process most pertinent to their role as expert witnesses in civil litigation. It summarizes the role of psychological evidence in the adjudication of common law tort claims, the structure of the court system, and the stages of the litigation process. It also explains the various roles a psychological expert may play during litigation and the implications of those roles for expert confidentiality and disclosure. The article then provides an overview of legal policy governing the admissibility of psychological expertise, especially as admissibility is affected by the “Daubert” standard applied in most North American courts.     

Assessing law enforcement preparedness to address Internet fraud

Recent societal concern regarding computer crime was well documented in the research literature. To date, however, modest research addressed how large, local police and sheriff's departments confront Internet fraud. Using data collected from surveys distributed to the seven hundred largest police- and sheriff's departments, the present article addresses law enforcement: (1) preparedness to enforce Internet fraud crimes; (2) perceptions of Internet fraud; (3) cooperative policing efforts; and (4) Internet fraud information dissemination practices. Among other things, results suggested that individuals within these departments believed Internet fraud was problematic, although they lacked the resources to properly address the problem. These results are discussed as they relate to the organizational design of law enforcement agencies and their potential to adapt to innovative crimes. Suggestions are offered for a more effective approach to confronting Internet fraud.     

Women's work,artisanal discourse,and community: a response to Sheila Blackburn

This article is a comment on Sheila Blackburn's response to the author's original essay, ‘Gender Constructions and Gender Relations in Cotton and Chain-making in England: a contested and varied terrain’, which appeared in Women's History Review (6[3], 1997). As the author repeats in this response, the apparently dominant artisanal discourse of the male chainmakers of nineteenth-century Walsall, supporting the exclusion of female labor from the trade, was undermined by conditions existing in Cradley Heath, where the community depended on that labor. Foregrounding this division regarding gender understandings, it is argued, provides a vantage point from which to gain a fuller and more accurate picture of the ways in which those understandings, as well as gender and community relations, were negotiated in one industry towards the end of the nineteenth century     

Forum: Women in Sport

This short introduction reflects upon the relatively improved representation of women in sports history and its historiography. It highlights the similar challenges faced by those researching women in sport and those researching women's history more generally. In addition to identifying the need for more empirical research around female participation in ‘sport’, it notes the importance of moving beyond this conceptual territory to physical culture. Only then can an adequate understanding of the kinesthetic experiences of girls and women in particular times, places and spaces be achieved.