Are individuals' familiarity judgments diagnostic of prior contact?

The extensive eyewitness memory research literature has been restricted to memory for strangers. Although it is often assumed that eyewitnesses are more accurate identifying familiar than unfamiliar individuals, little is known about whether individuals' familiarity judgments are diagnostic of prior contact. Caucasian and Asian sophomores (N=139) in two small private high schools viewed yearbook pictures of (a) graduated students from their school who were seniors (fourth year) when participants were freshmen (first year) (familiar) and (b) unfamiliar individuals, and responded whether each was ‘familiar’. The design was completely crossed; familiar faces at each school served as unfamiliar faces at the other school. Based on d′ data, the cross-race effect resulted for familiarity judgments. Also, although individuals' familiarity judgments were diagnostic of prior contact, accuracy was low (mean hit rate=0.42; mean false alarm rate=0.23), rendering an eyewitness's report of having seen a perpetrator casually in the past of limited forensic value.     

Plea bargaining and appraisals of eyewitness evidence by prosecutors and defense attorneys

A sample of defense attorneys and prosecutors from matched California counties participated in a two-part study. Study 1A reports the results of a survey regarding how influential each of the 17 eyewitness factors is in affecting the accuracy of real eyewitness identifications. Generally, both attorney groups considered all eyewitness factors to be influential; on only 6 of the 17 factors were defense attorneys more likely than prosecutors to provide higher importance ratings. In Study 1B, the attorneys answered questions regarding their willingness to plea bargain after reading each of four scenarios in which (1) same- versus cross-race identification and (2) whether the perpetrator was familiar were experimentally manipulated. Both eyewitness factors influenced plea bargaining decisions, and effects were generally consistent for both attorney groups. Results confirm that plea bargaining decisions at least by defense attorneys are made ‘in the shadow of the trial,’ and that appraisals of the strength of eyewitness evidence play a significant role in these decisions.     

Feminism and bureaucratic discourse∗

Abstract

The globalization of markets is calling national employment and social legislation increasingly into question, so that not only the international trade union organizations but also the Clinton Administration are calling for workers’ rights to be embodied in trade agreements. This paper deals with both the fundamental question of whether international labor standards serve a useful purpose and the more specific question of whether trade agreements are a suitable way of enforcing minimum standards. It will argue that international standards can plausibly be justified in terms of development theory. Core labor rights, furthermore, enjoy universal acceptance. A social clause can help in enforcing these rights. The procedures for negotiating social clauses and for implementing them as proposed by the international trade union movement do not lend themselves to protectionism.     

DBT in an outpatient forensic setting

Literature shows that effective treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD) has become possible. However, borderline patients in forensic psychiatry do not seem to benefit from this development. In forensic psychiatry, prevention of criminal recidivism is the main focus of treatment, not core borderline problems like parasuicidal and self-destructive behavior. A dialectical behavioral treatment program for BPD was implemented in an outpatient forensic clinic in The Netherlands. Sociodemographic, clinical, and treatment data were collected from ten male, and nineteen female forensic BPD patients, and compared with corresponding data from fifty-eight non-forensic BPD patients. The results show that it is possible to implement dialectical behavior therapy in an outpatient forensic clinic. The data indicate that the exclusion of forensic patients, and especially female forensic patients, from evidence-based treatment is unjustified given the highly comparable clinical and etiological characteristics they share with female BPD patients from general mental health settings.     

‘Making it your own world’: Women's studies and freire

This paper presents an analysis of ten interviews with teachers of women's studies in some institutions of adult education. Most of the interviews took place in Scotland because the paper is taken from a wider investigation into the provision of women's studies in the sphere of adult education generally, and submitted in part requirement for the Diploma in Adult Education to Glasgow University. The paper concludes by focusing specifically on some of the remarks and recommendations made in The Alexander Report—Adult Education: The Challenge of Change, HMSO 1975, interweaving these into a Feminist and Freirian perspective.     

Constructions of sexuality

Dorchen Leidholdt and Janice Raymond (eds) The Sexual Liberals And The Attack On Feminism (Pergamon) New York, 1990; Lynda Nead Myths Of Sexuality: Representations Of Women In Victorian Britain (Blackwell) Oxford, 1990; Lesley Holly (ed.) Girls And Sexuality: Teaching And Learning (O.U.P.) Milton Keynes, 1989.     

The Process of Leaving an Abusive Relationship: The Role of Risk Assessments and Decision-Certainty

Seventy female residents of an urban domestic violence shelter were interviewed to examine a series of hypotheses concerning two factors relevant to the process of leaving an abusive relationship: risk assessments and decision-certainty. Participants' subjective estimates of their own risk of returning to the batterer were examined relative to their perceptions of the likelihood that most battered women will return to the batterer, their certainty regarding the decision to leave the batterer, and their status on known risk factors for returning to an abusive relationship. As hypothesized, battered women's perceptions of personal risk for returning to the batterer were biased by unrealistic optimism; specifically, personal risk was estimated as significantly lower than the risk of most battered women and was not correlated with actual risk factors. Further, the magnitude of the optimistic bias was significantly greater among women expressing high certainty about their decision to leave than among women who expressed less certainty. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.