Measurement of arch widths in a human population: relation of anticipated bite marks

The authors compared arch width measurements of diagnostic dental models obtained from dental school patients. Arch width measurements were taken in the canine area on each dental cast in an effort to assist forensic dental investigators in matching certain classes of subjects to the bites they might possibly inflict. If any canine teeth were absent, the measurements were taken using other specified adjacent teeth which the investigators felt would be interpreted as the arch width determiners in a bite mark injury. The ages of the subjects varied from 14 to 87 years. Statistical comparison of the maxillary arch width, mandibular arch width, and the mean difference between maxillary and mandibular arch width were performed. Significant differences between the arch width measurements were found to exist between several classes of subjects based on race and sex.     

A simple logical approach to questioned envelopes examination.

This case report outlines research undertaken as the result of a document examination case in which two envelopes were involved. The combination of the circumstances of the case and the results of the examination allows a simple application of a logical approach to pre-assess the probability that an envelope (or a package) potentially recovered at a suspect's home comes from the same batch (same source) as questioned envelopes. This highlights that it is useful to examine envelopes.     

Survival analysis: A survey

This paper is a survey of statistical methods used to analyze the length of time until a specified event occurs. These models have often been used to analyze the survival times (i.e., time until death) of medical patients, and so the term survival analysis is natural. In criminology, the main application of these models has been to analyze the time until recidivism, but many other applications are possible. The paper summarizes the statistical literature on survival analysis, and describes its applications in criminology. The methods are illustrated by an application to the prediction of time until recidivism for a sample of North Carolina prison releasees.     

Legal protection of biotechnological inventions. The European Parliament's perspective]

In 1996, the European Commission put forward a proposal for a Parliament and Concil Directive on the legal protection of biotechnology inventions. The article looks at vicissitudes which characterised the progress of the proposal in the Council and the European Parliament. The future directive will regulate the patentability of biological material, which is a particularly sensitive issue when the material is of human origin. The article also seeks to set the proposed directive in a wider context by referring to forthcoming international Convention Law on biotechnology and to the legal situation in Spain at present.     

Legal principles governing expert testimony by experimental psychologists

With increasing frequency, experimental psychologists are called upon to present their research findings and theories in a courtroom. This article reviews the general evidentiary standards regarding such expert testimony, with a specific emphasis on how those principles have been applied in the context of expert psychological testimony on the unreliability of eyewitness identifications. A comprehensive review of the judicial decisions in this area reveals that there has recently been a significant shift in the courts' receptivity toward such testimony. Many courts now believe that psychological research on human perception and memory has progressed to the point that the expert's testimony may be considered both reliable enough and helpful enough to the jury to justify its adminssion in the appropriate case. The author concludes with a discussion of several developments that would help to allay the judicial system's historical concerns over the admission of such expert psychological testimony.