Published findings from the spouse assault replication program: A critical review

Published reports from seven jointly developed experiments have addressed whether or not arrest is an effective deterrent to misdemeanor spouse assault. Findings supporting a deterrent effect, no effect, and an escalation effect have been reported by the original authors and in interpretations of the published findings by other authors. This review found many methodologically defensible approaches used in these reports but not one of these approaches was used consistently in all published reports. Tables reporting the raw data on the prevalence and incidence of repeat incidents are presented to provide a more consistent comparison across all seven experiments. This review concludes that the available information is incomplete and inadequate for a definitive statement about the results of these experiments. Researchers and policy makers are urged to use caution in interpreting the findings available to date.     

New Public Management and ‘Photocopy’ Bargaining in the Australian Public Service

The industrial relations policy of the Federal Coalition Government is to encourage industrial bargaining to occur at the enterprise or individual level, free from ‘outside’ influences. While it encourages devolved bargaining at the agency and individual level within the Public Service (Australian Public Service) this policy creates tensions with its role as a centralized policy maker, economic manager and employer of the APS workforce. It also conflicts with the APS' adoption of New Public Management. In practice, the government retains considerable centralised control over agency bargaining outcomes, which is a de facto method of pattern bargaining. By analysing the substantive outcomes from nine APS agency level certified agreements (hours of work, pay and leave entitlements), the article discusses whether this one size fits all' model is evidence of an appreciation that public sector industrial relations is separate and distinct from private sector industrial relations, or another example of duplicity in the federal coalition government's ideology driven approach to industrial relations.     

Hidden transcripts: The micropolitics of gender in Commonwealth universities

The knowledge economy is a globalised policy discourse which relates particularly to higher education. The findings from the empirical data in the five countries, backed up by international literature, suggest that for many women, entry into higher education can be a means of mitigating gender oppression e.g. via social mobility, financial independence, professional identity and academic authority. However, this is accompanied by contradictions and tensions as women experience a range of discriminatory practices, gendered processes and exclusions within higher education itself. Women report male privilege in pedagogical processes, assessment, promotion and research opportunities and management. A repeated theme is how women perceive fewer opportunities to develop academic capital and how women's professional and intellectual capital are devalued and misrecognised in the knowledge economy.All five countries reported that gender has a significant impact on academic and professional identity formation. Gendered power relations symbolically and materially construct and regulate women's everyday experiences of higher education. Similar concerns about women's unequal status are articulated in spite of different socio-economic and national policy contexts. The gendered environment impedes women's progress as staff and has a detrimental effect on the learning environment for students. Gendered differences are relayed and reinforced in classrooms, boardrooms, and via everyday social practices. These practices need to be exposed and challenged in order for the wider aspirations of gender equity policy initiatives to be achieved.

Endnote

¹ This means something below standard, of poor quality.     

The saliency of gestural misinformation in the perception of a violent crime

Recent research has revealed that misinformation from gestures can influence eyewitness memory. However, it is still unclear whether gestural misinformation can emulate the effects of verbal misinformation on the reporting of major details in serious crimes. To investigate the salience of suggestions provided nonverbally, and how these compare to those made verbally, two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, participants watched footage of a crime scene and were presented with one of two types of gestures during questioning that suggested different interpretations of the crime. The results confirmed that the gestures influenced responses, with participants altering their interpretation of the crime according to the information gestured to them. Experiment 2 built on this to investigate how comparable gestural influence was to verbal influence. The results revealed that gestural misinformation caused participants to alter their interpretation of the crime and elicited the same effects as verbal misinformation. Across the two experiments, participants were unlikely to identify the misleading gestures or report feeling misled by them. These results reveal new insights into the strength of gestural misinformation and show that, despite their subtle nature in communication, gestures can exert a powerful influence in eyewitness interviews.     

The Psychological Impact of Previous Victimization: Examining the “Abuse Defense” in a Sample of Harassment Litigants

The present study examines the impact of previous sexual victimization on emotional distress in a sample of women (n?=?492) involved in a sexual harassment class action lawsuit. Sexual harassment was found to predict symptoms of PTSD and general symptoms of anxiety, over and above the effects of previous victimization and other relevant personal variables; it also predicted depression and self-esteem, although previous victimization had a stronger impact on these variables than did sexual harassment. The effects of previous victimization and sexual harassment on emotional distress appeared to be independent and cumulative. The legal and clinical relevance of these findings are discussed.     

The Victim as Policy Agent? Exploring a Single Case from Denmark

European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research - Criminal policy processes often appear abstract and illusive, but sometimes a single criminal incident causes traceable policy impact. This...     

Developmental Relations Between Bullying Victimization and Suicidal Ideation in Middle Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: Do Internalizing Problems and Substance Use Mediate Their Links?

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Previous research has suggested that bullying victimization is associated with higher suicidal risk among young people; however, the mechanisms underlying this...     

'Unlawful Enemy Combatant': Status, Theory of Culpability, or Neither?

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 represents the United States’most recent effort to establish a forum to try detainees capturedin its ‘Global War on Terrorism’. This article brieflyexplores the Act's use of the term ‘unlawful enemy combatant’to define both subject matter jurisdiction as well as the potentialsource of criminal liability. The article highlights the term'sabsence from the positive law of war as well as confusion overits legal significance in United States domestic law. Examiningthe relationship between status and protections under the lawof war, the authors conclude the Act's use of the term ‘unlawfulenemy combatant’ reflects legal convenience more thanan objective assessment of the existing laws and customs ofwar.     

The Evidentiary Significance of Automotive Paint from the Northeast: A Study of Red Paint

This population study was conducted to assess the frequency of physical, microscopical, and chemical properties of automotive paint chips. Population studies of trace evidence provide valuable analytical data for criminalists to assess evidentiary significance. Two‐hundred automotive paint chips were collected from auto body shops from the Northeastern United States. All samples were analyzed using stereomicroscopy, brightfield, and polarized light microscopy. Red paints were targeted for further analysis using a sequence of modern instrumental techniques commonly used by forensic paint examiners: Fourier‐transform infrared (FT‐IR), Raman, and ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) microspectroscopy. The discrimination potential of each analytical method was evaluated by inter‐comparing the paint samples. Results demonstrated that macroscopic and microscopic properties were able to differentiate 99.995% of the population (one undifferentiated pair out of 19,900). When combined with either FT‐IR or UV–Vis microspectroscopy, all paints were differentiated. The results of this research lead to the conclusion that one would not expect to encounter two indistinguishable paint chips originating from different sources during the investigation of a single event.