Urgent issues and prospects at the intersection of culture,memory, and witness interviews: Exploring the challenges for research and practice

The pursuit of justice increasingly relies on productive interactions between witnesses and investigators from diverse cultural backgrounds during investigative interviews. To date, the role of cultural context has largely been ignored by researchers in the field of investigative interviewing, despite repeated requests from practitioners and policymakers for evidence-based guidance for the conduct of interviews with people from different cultures. Through examining cultural differences in human memory and communication and considering specific contextual challenges for investigative interviewing through the lens of culture, this review and associated commentaries highlight the scope for considering culture and human diversity in research on, and the practice of, investigative interviewing with victims, witnesses, and other sources. Across 11 commentaries, contributors highlight the importance of considering the role of culture in different investigative interviewing practices (e.g., rapport building, questioning techniques) and contexts (e.g., gender-based violence, asylum seeking, child abuse), address common areas of cultural mismatch between interviewer–interviewee expectations, and identify critical future routes for research. We call for an increased focus in the investigative interviewing literature on the nature and needs of our global community and encourage constructive and collaborative discussion between researchers and practitioners from around the world to better identify specific challenges and work together towards evidence-based solutions.     

Commodity price shocks and the balance sheet effect in emerging economies

Economic Change and Restructuring - We study the role of commodity price shocks in explaining business cycles in emerging economies, but including a financial transmission mechanism that has been...     

Envisioning Public Child Welfare Agencies as Learning Organizations: Applying Beer's Viable System Model to Title IV-E Program Evaluation

The idea of a learning organization emerges from organizational cybernetics and results in agency staff having the means to use their skills and expertise to meet the needs of the organization's clients. Relevant to Title IV-E training programs, such organizational processes would maximize the use of knowledge and skills the graduates bring back to the agency. This article uses focus group data to explore how Title IV-E graduates perceive the potentialities of their agency as a learning organization. This analysis results in recommendations to improve organizational performance without impinging on existing agency resource constraints.     

Creating Public Value with Tax and Spending Policies: The View from Public Economics

According to the framework rooted in public economics, governments can create public value by focusing tax and spending policies on remedying market failures and addressing concerns about fairness embodied in a social welfare function. By pursuing optimal tax and spending policies, governments navigate the omnipresent trade‐offs between equity and efficiency. Of course, in practice, the process by which policies are adopted does not resemble the planner's problem in social choice theory. In addition, real fiscal policies do not look much like the recommendations that arise from the optimal tax literature. Governments operate in public choice environments that are not conducive to focused remedying of market failure, and they suffer from their own tendencies to fail to achieve their objectives. Nevertheless, many of the tools are in place to help the federal and state governments focus tax and spending in ways that can maximize public value.     

Examining the Relationship Between Parenting,Risk-Taking,and Delinquency in Japan: Context and Empirical Applicability

In criminology, the relationship between risk-taking and delinquency is well established. Although research on the relationship between risk-taking and delinquency is extensive, it is primarily limited to Western contexts. Particularly for Japan, little is known about the relationship between risk-taking and delinquency, as existing empirical studies in English are scarce. The present study examines the relationship between risk-taking and delinquency in the Japanese context. In briefly reviewing the literature on risk-taking in Japan, parenting was an important influence on levels of youths' risk-taking and delinquency. The findings primarily support the mediating role of high risk-taking between parenting and delinquency. Although high risk-taking explained why low maternal attachment and monitoring was related to delinquency, it was unable to explain the relationship completely.     

‘Me and My Drank:’ Exploring the Relationship Between Musical Preferences and Purple Drank Experimentation

“Purple drank” is a label typically applied to mixtures of codeine cough syrup with soda, although it has also been applied to mixtures of over-the-counter cough syrups and alcohol. This novel drug formulation was first popularized in the Houston, Texas rap music scene in the 1990’s, and since then references to purple drank have become common in rap and hip-hop songs, but remained virtually absent in other musical genres. Prior research has found that musical preferences can have an influence on choice and frequency of drug use. The goal of the present study is to examine the relationship between musical preferences and experimentation with purple drank. Self-reported information about musical preferences, substance use, and demographic characteristics were collected from 2,349 students at a large university in the southeastern United States. An analysis of lifetime purple drank and other drug use by musical preferences reveals that those who prefer rap/hip-hop music and rock/alternative have the highest risk for reporting purple drank use. Further, this relationship far exceeds the associations between musical preferences and other drugs. Results from logistic regression analyses indicate males, other drug users, and those that prefer rap/hip-hop music have a significantly higher likelihood of using purple drank.     

Bill Passage Speed in the US House: A Test of a Vote Buying Model of the Legislative Process

This article constitutes a test of central tenets of vote buying theories using data on the number of days it takes to pass important bills in the US House. Survival analyses of a model of bill passage length provide confirmatory evidence of vote buying by presidents and the congressional leadership. Bills that attract buyers of votes to maintain the status quo are shown to pass more quickly than those that do not. Bills on the president's agenda and those that are relatively close to members' ideal points also pass quickly. The analyses furnish some interesting insights into possible efforts to make the legislative process quicker.     

Designer Psychostimulants in Urine by Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry,

Designer psychostimulants are known by recreational drug users to produce a complex array of adrenergic and hallucinogenic effects. Many of these drugs are not targeted during routine toxicology testing and as a consequence, they are rarely reported. The purpose of this study was to develop a procedure for the detection of 15 psychostimulants in urine using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS), specifically 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐bromophenethylamine (2C‐B), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐chlorophenethylamine (2C‐C), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐methylphenethylamine (2C‐D), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐ethylphenethylamine (2C‐E), 2,5‐dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C‐H), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐iodophenethylamine (2C‐I), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐ethylthiophenethylamine (2C‐T‐2), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐isopropylthiophenethylamine (2C‐T‐4), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐propylthiophenethylamine (2C‐T‐7), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐bromoamphetamine (DOB), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐chloroamphetamine (DOC), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐ethylamphetamine (DOET), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐iodoamphetamine (DOI), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐methylamphetamine (DOM), and 4‐methylthioamphetamine (4‐MTA). Analytical recoveries using solid‐phase extraction were 64–92% and the limit of detection was 0.5 ng/mL for all drugs except 2C‐B (1 ng/mL). The assay was evaluated in terms of analytical recovery, precision, accuracy, linearity, matrix effect, and interferences. The technique allows for the simultaneous detection of 15 psychostimulants at sub‐ng/mL concentrations.     

Personality Profiles of Women in Multiple Abusive Relationships

Personality profiles of women with multiple abusive relationship histories (N = 42) were compared to either abused women with 1 abusive relationship (N = 33) or a control group (N = 52) on the Coolidge Axis II Inventory (Coolidge & Merwin, 1992, J. Pers. Assess. 59: 223–238), a self-report measure based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Women with multiple abusive relationships had higher rates and greater levels of dependent, paranoid, and self-defeating personality disorders than women in the other 2 groups. Women in multiple abusive relationships had significantly more depression, and women in this group with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had significantly more personality disorders than women with single abusive relationships with PTSD. Women in single abusive relationships did not exhibit more psychopathology than women in the control group with matched marital status. Theoretical and methodological issues, and treatment recommendations are discussed.