Reducing Variability in Civil Jury Awards

The purpose of the present study was to test several procedures that could be adopted for reducing unwanted variability in civil damage awards. Four methods for providing guidance to jurors (and judges) about the distribution of awards in comparable cases were compared to each other, to a no-guidance control, and to the capping of awards at a specified maximum, which has been the most commonly legislated solution. The findings of this study suggest several alternative solutions that are better able than caps to solve the problem of unwanted variability in awards.     

Incomplete vertical integration in the health care industry: pseudomarkets and pseudopolicies

Most economic relationships are either arm's-length exchange transactions, each party seeking his or her own interest, or command structures, such as a firm or public agency, integrating joint efforts toward a common goal. The health care industry, however, displays a pattern of incomplete vertical integration--relationships which are neither truly arm's-length nor completely hierarchical. The doctor-patient relationship is archetypical. Physicians appear to sell services in private markets; yet they reach through the exchange process to direct the consumer-patient's utilization decisions, implicity undertaking to act in the patient's interest, and thus integrate forward. But they also integrate backward to control the public regulatory process--self-government--and some forms of insurance. The health care systems of different countries--Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States--can be interpreted as different patterns of incomplete integration among five basic classes of transactors: consumer-patients, first-line providers, second-line providers, insurers, and governments. Each system of linkage has characteristic strengths and weaknesses. Nowhere, however, do we find a predominance of arm's-length market relationships. Where they exist, markets in health care are usually pseudomarkets dominated by one side of the transaction. The rhetoric of market relationships serves principally to obscure political struggles over shifting patterns of integration.     

On The Nature Of Audit Judgements: The Case Of Value For Money Studies

The National Audit Office (NAO) undertakes Value For Money (VFM) studies, which are used as the basis of evidence in hearings of the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts. VFM studies are therefore integral to the process of accountability of public bodies to Parliament for their use of resources. This paper examines the production of VFM studies by the NAO, and in particular the ways in which audit teams arrive at their judgements. It introduces a theoretical frame-work which highlights: (i) the interplay of intuitive and analytical thinking as VFM teams assemble and interpret data and, (ii) the ways in which teams use three distinct types of judgement criterion in studies, based on the use of multiple empirical indicators about some event, the logical coherence of the auditee's behaviour, and consensus about 'what actually happened'.     

Microchemical identification of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB)

A new microcrystal test for the detection of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) is described. The silver/copper reagent consists of an aqueous solution of 0.1 g of cupric nitrate and 0.1 g of silver nitrate in 10.0 mL water. While some crystals form upon evaporation of the reagent, the test forms distinctive crystals for GHB and does not form crystals with some commonly encountered controlled substances. The reagent was also tested against some controlled substances that have similar biological activity to GHB, including flunitrazepam, and some barbiturates. No crystals were observed with these compounds. A blind test was performed to determine if GHB could be discriminated from the other compounds. Two of ten unknowns were correctly identified as GHB--one solid, one liquid. One GHB sample was not identified as GHB and the remaining seven non-GHB samples were not identified as GHB. The reagent is therefore selective for GHB, but not extremely sensitive.     

Development of a methodology for the standardisation and improvement of ‘Smartphone’ photography of patterned bruises and other cutaneous injuries

Human bite-mark analyses can play a prominent role in forensic case investigations, including those involving sexual assault. High-quality photographs routinely secure a link between a bite-mark and an individual's dentition. Access to around the clock forensic photography, however, is often limited, resulting in delay and/or missed opportunities to record valuable evidence. The emergence of Smartphone high-quality photographic technology now provides a previously unimagined opportunity to gather timely forensic photographic evidence. Problems can arise, however, due to the relatively poor quality of the photographs, as a result of many of those taking photographs having received little or no forensic photography training. This study compares unassisted photography with assisted photography, by a specifically developed camera application (App), to provide a standardised method for taking forensic photographs. An App, written in Java, was hosted on the Google Android Operating System, on a Samsung Galaxy SII Smartphone. Twenty-four volunteers participated in a study to photograph a pseudo bite-mark using three methods, (1) unassisted (as a control), (2) assisted by an ABFO No.2 right-angled photographic reference scale and (3) assisted by the App. The App, method (3), was shown to consistently outperform methods (1) and (2), demonstrating greater standardisation and precision (p < 0.001). Analysis of the data showed the extent to which acquiring an accurate photograph depends on the image being orthogonal to the camera. It appears likely that the relatively inaccurate photographs acquired by methods (1) and (2), were as a result of deviation from the plane, orthogonal to the bite-mark. Therefore, the App was successful in ensuring that the camera was both orthogonal and at an appropriate distance, relative to the bite-mark. Thus, the App enhanced the abilities of non-experts to acquire more accurate photographs and created the potential to significantly improve the quality of forensic photographs.