Forensic identification science evidence since Daubert: Part I--A quantitative analysis of the exclusion of forensic identification science evidence

The U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Kumho Tire Co. Ltd. v. Carmichael transformed the way scientific expert evidence was reviewed in courts across the United States. To gauge the impact of these rulings on the admission of forensic identification evidence, the authors analyzed 548 judicial opinions from cases where admission of such evidence was challenged. Eighty-one cases (15%) involved exclusion or limitation of identification evidence, with 50 (65.7%) of these failing to meet the "reliability" threshold. This was largely because of a failure to demonstrate a sufficient scientific foundation for either the technique (27 cases) or the expert's conclusions (17 cases). The incidence of exclusion/limitation because of a lack of demonstrable reliability suggests that there is a continuing need for the forensic sciences to pursue research validating their underlying theories and techniques of identification to ensure their continued acceptance by the courts.     

The Importance of Coping,Threat Appraisal,and Beliefs in Understanding and Responding to Fear of Victimization: Applications to a Male Prisoner Sample

The current study explores conceptualizations of victimization by men, focusing on threat appraisal, coping appraisal, and beliefs, and seeking to apply protection motivation theory, the applied fear response model, and social cognition. Five hundred and sixty-six male prisoners, comprising adults and adolescents, completed a measure of victimization and perpetration (DIPC-SCALED) and of fear, appraisal, and beliefs (TAB). It was predicted that increased threat appraisal and ineffective coping appraisal would predict increased fear of victimization, particularly among the mutual perpetrator/victim group. This group was expected to select strategies for managing the threat of victimization, which carried more risk to them (e.g., such as an aggressive reaction) and to present with beliefs supporting the use of aggression as a response to victimization. Fear of victimization was predicted by threat and coping appraisal although the deficit for victims appeared in coping appraisal only. Mutual perpetrator/victims presented with a specific difficulty in appraising their ability to cope with threat. Differences in beliefs supporting an aggressive response to threat were also noted across perpetrator and/or victimization groups. The article concludes by outlining the implications for theory and clinical practice.     

El Título en la Mano: The Impact of Titling Programs on Low‐Income Housing in Texas Colonias

This article analyzes the impact of The Community Resources Group Receivership Program undertaken from 1998 to 2002 that provided clean property titles to residents in several informal housing colonias (subdivisions) in South Texas. Survey data were gathered from 260 low‐income households comprising two populations: those who had secure title from the outset, and those who were beneficiaries of the land titling program. Focus group interviews were conducted to explore how the beneficiaries construct the meaning of ownership before and after title “regularization.” Formal titling consolidates understandings of absolute property relations in comparison with de facto rights born of use (legal or not), which strengthens people's sense of self‐esteem and potential for political involvement. We found that, contrary to conventional wisdom, title provision per se appears to have little direct impact either upon home improvement or upon residents' receiving enhanced access to credit and financial services. We also found evidence that informality and illegality is likely to reemerge as owners die intestate, and as they revert to informal land market property transfers.     

Colonial Traditions,Co‐optations,and Mi'kmaq Legal Consciousness

In 1996 a provincial court was established at Eskasoni Mi'kmaq Community in Nova Scotia, Canada, in response to overwhelming evidence confirming the failures of the Canadian legal system to provide justice for Indigenous peoples, and as a specific recommendation of the Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall, Jr., Prosecution. Marshall, a Mi'kmaq wrongfully convicted of murder, served eleven years of a life sentence before proving his innocence. The importation of provincial legal culture into an Indigenous community creates tensions and contradictions surrounding the legitimacy, authenticity, and efficacy of Indigenous laws. The ontological conflicts that arise from the imposition of a justice system integrally linked with colonization, criminalization, and assimilation cannot be resolved through indigenization of court staff and administrative conveniences. The Mi'kmaq continue to assert their laws and articulate their legal consciousness against the co‐optation of dominant system, with mixed results.     

"Mummy beerest": a study of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, a mother's duty of care and strategies for intervention

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder can occur in children when a mother consumes alcohol while pregnant. It can manifest in a range of both physical and mental impairments and in varying degrees of seriousness. The act of consuming alcohol while pregnant arguably constitutes a breach of the duty of care that a mother owes to her unborn child and may lead to an award of damages for children with the disorder. However, to conclude that a duty is owed to an unborn child may be legally problematic. Further, an award of compensation may be of little utility to the child. It is therefore suggested that intervention strategies should instead be implemented which target relevant population groups and which prevent and assist in the management of the disorder.     

Competing Ontologies: A Primer for Public Administration

A growing number of public administration theorists are taking up the question of ontology—the nature of existence. This primer on the topic provides a basic explanation of ontology, describes the fundamental debates in the competing ontologies of Western philosophy, and discusses why ontology is important to social and political theory, as well as to public administration theory and practice. Using an ideal‐type approach, the author analyzes how different ontologies imply particular political forms that undergird public administration theories and practices. This ideal‐type model can be used to identify the ontological assumptions in these theories and practices. The article concludes with an invitation for personal reflection on the part of scholars and practitioners in regard to which ontology best fits their experience and beliefs and the alternatives that we might pursue for a better future.     

Detecting Spillover Effects: Design and Analysis of Multilevel Experiments

Interpersonal communication presents a methodological challenge and a research opportunity for researchers involved in field experiments. The challenge is that communication among subjects blurs the line between treatment and control conditions. When treatment effects are transmitted from subject to subject, the stable unit treatment value assumption (SUTVA) is violated, and comparison of treatment and control outcomes may provide a biased assessment of the treatment’s causal influence. Social scientists are increasingly interested in the substantive phenomena that lead to SUTVA violations, such as communication in advance of an election. Experimental designs that gauge SUTVA violations provide useful insights into the extent and influence of interpersonal communication. This article illustrates the value of one such design, a multilevel experiment in which treatments are randomly assigned to individuals and varying proportions of their neighbors. After describing the theoretical and statistical underpinnings of this design, we apply it to a large‐scale voter‐mobilization experiment conducted in Chicago during a special election in 2009 using social‐pressure mailings that highlight individual electoral participation. We find some evidence of within‐household spillovers but no evidence of spillovers across households. We conclude by discussing how multilevel designs might be employed in other substantive domains, such as the study of deterrence and policy diffusion.     

Age estimation charts for a modern Australian population

The ivory industry is the single most serious threat to global elephant populations. A highly sensitive, species-specific real-time PCR assay has been developed to detect and quantify African elephant (Loxodonta africana), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) mitochondrial DNA from highly processed samples involved in the international ivory trade. This assay is especially useful for highly processed samples where there are no distinguishing morphological features to identify the species of origin. Using species-specific Taqman(?) probes targeting a region of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, we developed an assay that can be used to positively identify samples containing elephant or Woolly mammoth DNA faster and more cost-effectively than traditional sequencing methods. Furthermore, this assay provides a diagnostic result based on probe hybridization that eliminates ambiguities associated with traditional DNA sequence protocols involving low template DNA. The real-time method is highly sensitive, producing accurate and reproducible results in samples with as few as 100 copies of template DNA. This protocol can be applied to the enforcement of the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), when positive identification of species from illegally traded products is required by conservation officers in wildlife forensic cases.