Evaluating the Reliability of Expert Evidence in Compensation Procedures: Are Diagnosticians Influenced by the Narrative Fallacy when Assessing the Psychological Injuries of Trauma Victims?

The current study investigated whether mental health practitioners are influenced by the narrative fallacy when assessing the psychological injuries of trauma victims. The narrative fallacy is associated with our tendency to establish logical links between different facts. In psychodiagnostic assessments, this tendency may result in overdiagnosis of mental disorders when psychological symptoms can be attributed to a traumatic event. Consequently, legal decision makers may be at risk of awarding compensation for psychological injuries which are not severe enough to justify financial reimbursement. To explore this topic, we asked Dutch mental health practitioners whether they would assign a diagnosis of mental disorder to fictitious symptoms of psychological injury. Each participant was presented with two vignettes. The first vignette described symptoms in terms of a generalized anxiety disorder; the second in terms of a major depressive episode. The vignettes varied in the cause (trauma versus cause not specified) and severity (near threshold of DSM diagnosis versus below threshold of DSM diagnosis) of the symptoms. Results indicated that participants more often assigned a diagnosis of mental disorder if the psychological symptoms had been caused by a traumatic event than if that had not been the case. Further analysis of the data suggested that this difference was due to the high numbers of assigned diagnoses of posttraumatic stress and acute stress disorder in the trauma conditions. It was speculated that participants filled in missing information to justify the assignment of such diagnoses, for example by imagining symptoms of intrusion and avoidance.     

‘Activating’ those that ‘lag behind’: space-time politics in Dutch parenting training for migrants

Space and time (or rather space-time) are crucial concepts in the legitimation of policy interventions into citizens' private lives. Across Europe, social policy measures to promote ‘activation’ among migrant communities—employment guidance, parenting training, youth work and so on—have proliferated, aiming to ‘move’ the Other into the here-and-now of European modernity. Van den Berg brings together theories of space-time, alterity and ‘cultural lag logics’ in an analysis of a contemporary case of such a policy: parenting training in the Netherlands. Based on ethnographic research, her study shows how certain societal problems are translated into problems of difference, and how that difference is in turn conceptualized as distance in space and time to be overcome through professional intervention.     

Equity or Efficiency? Explaining Public Officials' Values

This article analyzes the positions of top public officials on an equity‐efficiency trade‐off and the determinants of those positions. It uses data from a survey across 14 European countries. The results show that differences in public officials' positions on equity‐efficiency are related to the context in which they work and to their personal background. Officials at the top of the hierarchy and those with a business or economics education are more oriented toward efficiency. Additionally, results show important differences associated with country administrative culture, including a stronger equity orientation in Scandinavian countries, and a stronger efficiency orientation in Southern European countries. The positions of public officials reflect those held by citizens in their country, confirming the contextualized nature of administrative values. This article contributes to understanding the determinants of public officials' dominant values.     

Correctional officers' perceptions of the competency-based counseling training program in taiwan: a preliminary qualitative research

The purposes of this exploratory study are to present a model of the competency-based counseling training program with correctional officers in Taiwan and highlight findings from a qualitative exploration. Grounded theory procedures are used to explore 23 correctional officers' perceptions of the training program. This training program results in positive feelings about the significant learning experience, greater theoretical knowledge, and a greater understanding of the counseling work. In addition, eight themes emerging from the data pertain to the significant experiences of the training process. These themes are outlined and discussed. Implications for correctional officers' counseling training program and research questions for future study are also suggested.     

Bullet Trajectory after Impact on Laminated Particle Board

When reconstructing a bullet's trajectory prior to impact using the spatial orientation between two consecutive bullet defects (e.g., by probing), it is important to take the bullet's deflection into account. The (critical) ricochet angles as well as the vertical and horizontal deflection angles of eight cartridge types on laminated particle board have been studied. For all eight of the cartridge types combined, the critical ricochet angles lie between approximately 14° and 26°, while for the subgroup of the jacketed bullets, this range lies lower, between approximately 14° and 18°. The data from this study can be used to assess the accuracy and precision of the applied method. The results show that the highest deflection angles are seen near the critical ricochet angle. Generally speaking, vertical and horizontal deflection angles can almost be neglected above angles of incidence of 30° or 40° for handgun ammunition when shooting at laminated particle board.     

Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: an Assessment of Offender Characteristics

The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), specifically child trafficking, producers or consumers of child sex trafficking (i.e., prostitution), sexual abuse images, and enticement, has become a growing area of concern. The increasing profitability of CSEC, combined with the clandestine nature of the offenses, calls for immediate attention from international law enforcement and the mental health community. Paramount to the resolution of this global crisis is the identification of the perpetrators of various CSEC crimes. The research pertaining to these offenders is most frequently aggregated and limited to basic demographic data, providing a larger, more generalized picture of CSEC. The purpose of this study is to determine characteristics, within a sample of known CSEC offenders, that differentiate among offenders who engage in sex trafficking as trafficker; engage in sex trafficking as a producer or consumer; produce, distribute, or possess child sexual abuse images; and travel or use enticements to engage in illicit sexual contact with a minor. This observational, survey design includes a record review of 98 offenders who were processed through the FBI Miami Field Office. Results showed that males are more likely to engage in CSEC offenses compared to females. Offenders who collect child sexual abuse images tended to be employed, had no history of prior arrests, and were older than other CSEC offenders. Additionally, engaging in befriending strategies in order to gain access to a victim was also predictive of involvement in child sexual abuse images. Unemployment was the only statistically significant predictor of engaging in child sex trafficking as either a sex buyer or a producer. Finally, perpetrators who engaged in the traveling/enticement of victims were found to be younger, unemployed, single, and without a known history of contact offending. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Gangs in the DRC and El Salvador: towards a third generation of gang violence interventions?

The phenomenon of gangs in El Salvador and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has already been researched, but a comparative study of gangs and gang policies is lacking. In this paper we discuss several gang violence prevention initiatives regarding the Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 in El Salvador, and the kuluna and bashege in Kinshasa, DRC. In order to analyze the different gang interventions, we implement the typology of first and second gang violence prevention initiatives (Rodgers et al. 2009), and propose the evolution towards a third generation of gang violence prevention interventions. While first generation initiatives are security and law-enforcement driven, and second generation initiatives socio-preventive driven, third generation initiatives are more politically driven. The latter indicates a shift towards a vision of dialogue and negotiations to deal with gang violence. However, the different generations are not predefined within time and third generation initiatives can also be followed up by first generation initiatives, which was for example the case in the gang truce in El Salvador. Also, comparative gang research includes challenges, especially when the gang phenomenon in one country is better researched and documented than in other countries. As such, we were unable to identify politically-driven initiatives in the DRC to compare with the ones in El Salvador. Further research is thus required. With this paper we not only aim to contribute to the literature on gang violence prevention and reduction initiatives, we also want to push researchers, practitioners and policymakers to look beyond the borders when setting up gang (violence) prevention and rehabilitation projects, and to learn from other regions where similar initiatives have been implemented to deal with comparable issues of gang violence.     

How policies become contested: a spiral of imagination and evidence in a large infrastructure project

This article investigates how framing processes lead to polarization in the public debate on a large infrastructure project. Drawing on an analysis of newspaper articles about the “Oosterweel connection” in Antwerp (Belgium), it concludes that imaginative framing (appeals to emotions via symbolic language) and framing through evidence (appeals to rationality via factual language) mutually reinforce each other. Because of the mutual reinforcement, we talk of a spiralling motion. When evidence backs up appeals to the imagination, such as when facts back up metaphors, these appeals are endowed with authority and hence legitimacy. While this strengthens appeals that have been “proven” to be true, it also makes actors backing these appeals increasingly frustrated with other parties that still refuse to accept them. Because of their frustration, the former are spurred to launch new imaginative appeals conveying their anger and to seek new evidence to substantiate these new appeals. Going back and forth between imaginative appeals and appeals to evidence, all parties in a conflict develop their own vision of the contested issue and their own evidence base for the policy position. Over time, their tolerance for ambiguity decreases and the debate polarizes.