An Analysis of Miranda Warnings and Waivers: Comprehension and Coverage

Miranda warnings enshrine the constitutional rights of custodial suspects against self-incrimination. However, the wording and sentence complexity of Miranda warnings and waivers vary dramatically from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. This study is the first extensive investigation of Miranda warning variations examining 560 Miranda warnings from across the United States. With Flesch-Kincaid reading comprehension as a useful metric, Miranda warnings varied from very simple comprehension (i.e., grade 2.8) to requiring postgraduate education. Miranda warnings are composed of five components (e.g., silence and evidence against you); marked variations were also observed in the comprehensibility of individual components. On average, the Miranda warning component on "continuing rights" requires a reading comprehension level six grades higher than the comparatively simple expression of the right to silence. Similar analyses were conducted on Miranda waivers. The content of these warnings differed on such issues as communicating (a) when access to an attorney would be granted (e.g., 45.9% specified only "during questioning") and (b) explicitly that indigent legal services were free (e.g., 31.8% directly informed suspects). Finally, the study identified representative Miranda components at different levels of reading comprehension as a template for further research.     

Comparative Analysis of the Effects of Heat on the PCR‐Amplification of Various Sized DNA Fragments Extracted from Sus Scrofa Molars*

Abstract: This study examined the effects of heat on the amplification of DNA from the dental pulp of Sus scrofa molars and investigated the protection afforded to the pulp tissue by the dental enamel, alveolar process, and soft tissue of the head. Segments of defleshed maxilla and mandible encasing the first molar (n = 60) were subject to a range of temperatures for 15 min. Dental pulps were retrieved. Amplifications using three‐primer and four‐primer multiplexes showed no degradation of the largest fragment following exposure to 450°C. Amplifications in the three‐primer multiplex (283 bp) were successful following exposure to 525°C in maxillary samples only. This study revealed the enamel density of maxillary molars to be greater than mandibular molars in Sus scrofa. Following incineration of intact heads for 15 min (n = 10) and 1 h (n = 4) at an average temperature of 625°C, amplifications of the largest fragment (450 bp) were successful from both maxillary and mandibular teeth.     

Respiratory,Circulatory, and Neurological Responses to Hanging: A Review of Animal Models

Abstract: The pathophysiology of hanging is still poorly understood. This article presents a review of eight animal models: four models of isolated occlusion of the vessels of the neck (group 1), one model of combined tracheal and vessel occlusion (group 2), and three models of true animal hanging (group 3). Occlusion of the airway passages in group 2 did not accelerate respiratory arrest compared to group 1. Cessation of cerebral blood flow, rather than airway obstruction, seems to be the main cause of respiratory decline. In general, muscular movements ceased after 1–3.5 min and early generalized tonic‐clonic convulsions were described. Complete circulatory collapse seems to occur between 4 and 8.5 min. These observations from animal models of hanging are compared with the data collected from filmed human hangings. Avenues to improve animal models are discussed.     

A Soviet paradise à L'Américaine

An Examination of the Mystic Tendencies in Islam in the light of the Qur'an and Traditions. By M. M.Zuhúruddin Ahmad, M.A. LL.B., Professor of Logic and Philosophy at the Ismail College, Andheri (Bombay). 9” x 5½”. Pp. 248. Published by the author, Pali Road, Bandra (Bombay). 1932. Obtained in England for 10s. 6d.

The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. By Sir Muhammad Iqbal. 9” x 5½”. Pp. 192. Oxford University Press. London: Humphrey Milford. 1934. 7^s. 6d. net.

The Suez Canal: Its Past, Present and Future. By Lieut.‐Colonel Sir Arnold Wilson, K.C.I.E. 10” x 7". Pp. xv+224. Map. Oxford University Press. 1933. 15s.

The Capitulatory Regime of Turkey: Its History, Origin and Nature. By Nasim Sousa. 8½” x 5¾”. Pp. xxiii+378. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.

Catalogue of Wall‐Paintings from Ancient Shrines in Central Asia and Sistan. Recovered by Sir Aurel Stein, K.C.I.E., described by Fred H. Andrews, O.B.E., under the orders of the Government of India. Delhi: Manager of Publications.

The History of Buddhist Thought. By Edward J. Thomas, M.A., D.Litt. 9½” x 6½”. Pp. xvi+314. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co., Ltd. 1933. 15s.

The Eclipse of Christianity in Asia. From the time of Muhammad until the Fourteenth Century. By L. E. Browne. 9” x 6”. Pp. 198. Map. Cambridge University Press. 1933. 10s. 6d.

Oriental Studies. Edited by Jai Dastur Cursetji Pavry, with a Foreword by A. V.Williams, in honour of Cursetji Erachji Pavry. 9¾” x 6½”. Pp. xv+503. Frontispiece. Oxford University Press. 1934. 50s. net.

A History of Exploration. From the Earliest Times to the Present Day. By Brigadier‐General Sir Percy Sykes, K.C.I.E., C.B., C.M.G. 10” x 6”. Pp. xiv+374. Coloured frontispiece, plates, and maps. Routledge. 1934. 25s.

Peaks and Plains of Central Asia. By Colonel Reginald C. F. Schomberg. 8¾” x 5¾”. Pp. 288. Illustrations and three maps. London: Martin Hopkinson. 1933. 15s. net.

” La Croisière Jaune.” The Citroën‐Haardt Expedition through Central Asia. By Georges Le Fevre. Pp. xli + 342. 123 photographs. Plates. Maps. Paris. 1933. Edition de Luxe.

Le Pasteur de Tribus. Par Alexandre Syline. Paris: Librairie Gallimard. 1932.

First Russia, then Tibet. By Robert Byron. 9½” x 6¾”. Pp. xvi + 328. Illustrations. Macmillan. 15s.

The White Armies of Russia. The Chronicle of Counter‐Revolution and Allied Intervention. By George Stewart. 8” x 6”. Pp. xiii + 469. Maps and illustrations. New York: Macmillan Co. 21s.

Dans les Coulisses du Kremlin. By S. Dmitrievsky. Translated from the Russian into French by René le Grand. 7” x 4¾”. Pp. vii + 240. Paris: Lib Plon. 12 fr.

Foreign Investments in China. By C. F. Remer. 8¾” x 6”. Pp. xxi + 708. New York: The Macmillan Company. 1933. 25s.

Japan. By F. C. Jones, M.A. 7½” x 5”. Pp. viii+133. Maps. Modern State Series No. 1. General Editor, R. B. Mowat. Arrowsmith. 3s. 6d.

The Hundred Names. By Dr. Henry H. Hart. Published by the University of California Press and the Cambridge University Press. 1933. 11s. 6d. net.

Something Happened. By M. Cable and F. French. Pp. ii + 320. Illustrations. Map. Hodder and Stoughton. 5s.

The Jungle in Sunlight and Shadow. By F. W. Champion. 10” x 7¾”. Pp. xvi + 270. Illustrations. Chatto and Windus. 21s.

James Silk Buckingham, 1786–1855. A Social Biography. By Ralph E. Turner. 8½” x 5¾”. Pp. viii+463. Plates. Williams and Norgate. 21s.

On Hill and Plain. By Lord Hardinge of Penshurst, K.G. A Viceroy's Recollections of Delightful Days of Sport in India. 8” x 5¼”. Pp. xii + 110. Illustrations. John Murray. 1933. 7s. 6d.

Le Voyage d'Un Pelerin Chinois dans l'Inde des Bouddhas. Précédé d'un exposé des doctrines de l'Inde Antique sur La Vie et La Mort. By Henri Valentino. Paris. Editions G.P. Maisonneuve. 3 Rue de Sabot. 18 francs.

Indian India. By C. W. Waddington, C.I.E., M.V.O. London: Jarrolds. 1933.

Indo‐China: A Sportsman's Opportunity. By Archibald Harrison. 8½” x 5½”. Pp. 7+157. Plates and maps. Plymouth: Mayflower Press.

Secrets of the Red Sea. By Henry de Monfreid. Translated by Helen Buchanan Bell. 8½” x 5½”. Pp. vii + 317. Sixteen pages illustrated. Faber and Fabcr. 1933. 12s. 6d.

Into the Sun. By Frieda Das. 7½” x 5”. Pp. 312. Dent. 7s. 6d.

The Assyrian Tragedy. Annemasse, February, 1934.

The Naked Mountain. By E. Knowlton. Putnam.

First over Everest. By Air Commodore Fellowes, D.S.O., L. V. Stewart Blacker, Col. P. T. Etheton, Marquis of Clydesdale. Foreword by John Buchan, and account of the filming by G. Barkas. 9¾” x 6½”.Illustrations, maps, diagrams. Pp. xix + 279. Lane, Bodley Head. 12s. 6d.     

Reclaiming freedom of the press: A Hutchins Commission dream or nightmare?

This article explores how and why the Hutchins Commission's vision of a responsible press and an informed citizenry did not, and does not, realistically meet either the needs of the media industries or the public. Although it was the commission's goal to create a healthier society, the new technologies of communication present old and new problems—problems that cannot be negotiated by the commission's well‐meaning but idealistic notions of press responsibility. The Internet demonstrates the old dilemma of elite access and concentrated ownership and a new dilemma of utility characterized by isolated users whose communication can be argued only superficially as socially healthy. Perhaps a more innovative and structurally significant approach, beyond the rhetoric of “press‐responsibility,” is needed to create physical access to media that can achieve the kind of “publicness” the Hutchins Commission envisioned.     

A decade on the court: The First Amendment jurisprudence of Justice Antonin Scalia

After a decade on the United States Supreme Court the time is ripe to examine Associate Justice Antonin Scalia's First Amendment jurisprudence, especially as it relates to freedom of expression and freedom of the press. This article analyzes Justice Scalia's opinions as a judge and justice as well as his scholarly writings. Collectively they reveal a clear pattern of a justice who follows a judicial approach grounded in originalism, textualism, majoritarianism, deference to the legislative branch, and traditionalism. While this approach sometimes produces opinions Seemingly in conflict with Justice Scalia's “conservative” image, close analysis reveals the consistent and close application of a coherent judicial philosophy.     

The Spatial Distribution of Postblast RDX Residue: Forensic Implications

Locating exactly where trace explosive residue samples should be sought during sample collection at bomb scenes is not specified in the published literature or guidelines; in this area, it is generally acknowledged that forensic practices are based on tradition rather than evidence. This study investigated patterns in the spatial distribution of postblast 1,3,5‐trinitro‐1,3,5‐triazocyclohexane residue from a series of unconfined detonations, over a range of sampling sites, and at two different detonation heights. The amount of residue recovered from the sites decreased as a function of distance from the center of the explosion. [Correction added after online publication 27 December 2012: In the preceding sentence, “increased” was corrected to “decreased” to agree with the conclusion of the article.] As the height of the detonations increased, more residues were found from all sampling sites. The findings of this empirical study have a number of important practical implications including determining where residue samples are best sought at crime scenes.