Suspicion formation among police officers: an international literature review

Recent research on racial profiling has renewed attention on how police officers develop suspicions about citizens, and how these suspicions influence the official behavior of police. In order to guide the current research, a review of the wealth of existing qualitative and quantitative research on this topic is necessary. This literature review examines the existing international research in psychology, sociology, and criminology on police officer development of suspicion. It also lays out a framework for organizing the findings with four broad methods of suspicion development: stereotypical perceptions about typical criminal offenders, prior knowledge about specific citizens; incongruent circumstances, and suspicious nonverbal cues. It concludes with the few studies linking officer suspicions to official police behavior.     

Post-development,Foucault and the colonisation metaphor

Post-development, the most recent radical reaction to the problems of postwar development efforts, has been the focus of both strident criticism and restrained defence in Third World Quarterly . This article shows that addressing post-development's shortcomings is more useful than dismissing or limiting its potential. By using the work of Foucault, one of post-development's theoretical departure points, a clear distinction is drawn between the operation of power in colonial and development eras. This requires a shift away from repressive views of power, ideas that a singular force directs development, and the colonisation metaphor used by some post-development writers. This article then shows that combining Foucault's notion of dispositif with his concept of normalisation is useful for understanding the operation of power in the postwar development project, and for comprehending how power operates through the World Bank. In this way a critical engagement with post-development can improve our understanding and analysis of development.     

The Developer's Self: a non-deterministic Foucauldian frame

Recent development studies literature has begun to consider the developer's self. This welcome enlargement of the field deserves to be deepened and extended by moving beyond opposition to post-development critics, and by articulating an explicit theoretical frame for examining developers' selves. By exploring Foucault's suggestion that modern approaches to knowledge and selfhood may be entwined through developmentalism, this paper proposes a flexible and non-deterministic cultural–historical framework for considering developers' selves. Foucault's analyses of relations of power and subjectivity provide strategies for examining developers' selves, but this does not suggest that such selves can be read off the proposed framework. Examining developers' selves is necessarily a reflective ethical task, and one which requires engaging the external relations that constitute the self. Foucault provides valuable resources for this task, but there is also a need to extend upon and complement a Foucauldian approach. Pursuing our new-found interest in developers' selves by working through and beyond Foucault promises to open new professional futures and possibilities for development practice.     

The Lateral Angle Revisited: A Validation Study of the Reliability of the Lateral Angle Method for Sex Determination Using Computed Tomography (CT),

This article presents the results of a validation study of a previously published method of sex determination from the temporal bone. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the lateral angle method for the internal acoustic canal for accurately determining the sex of human skeletal remains using measurements taken from computed tomography (CT) scans. Previous reports have observed that the lateral angle size in females is significantly larger than in males. The method was applied to an independent series of 77 postmortem CT scans (42 males, 35 females) to validate its accuracy and reliability. The mean lateral angle of the internal acoustic canal was found to be larger in females (46.5°) than in males (43.4°). However, the difference was not statistically significant and the sex differences reported in previous studies were not substantiated. In light of the observed results, the lateral angle method appears to be of minimal practical use in forensic anthropology and archeology.     

Evaluating liaison and diversion schemes: an analysis of health,criminal and economic data

Introduction: Liaison and Diversion (L&D) currently serves 50% of the population of England. L&D relies on modified working practices with key delivery partners, especially the police. Service evaluation data is thus presented from both police and health services. Method: A before and after intervention review of 3 months of operational data of L&D in Cornwall focusing on health, criminal and economic outcomes. Results: After L&D intervention individuals’ contact with the police as either victim or perpetrator reduced significantly. Implications: Preliminary findings suggest that L&D enabled reduced use of police and criminal justice resources. National reporting procedures may be unable to demonstrate the multi-agency impact if criminal justice data are not considered within the outcome data-set. Recommendations echo international observations that specifying outcome measures and the consistent definition of L&D services would enable generalisation of findings.     

The relevance of the evolution of experimental studies for the interpretation and evaluation of some trace physical evidence

In order for trace evidence to have a high evidential value, experimental studies which mimic the forensic reality are of fundamental importance. Such primary level experimentation is crucial to establish a coherent body of theory concerning the generation, transfer and persistence of different forms of trace physical evidence. We contend that the forensic context, at whatever scale, will be specific to each individual forensic case and this context in which a crime takes place will influence the properties of trace evidence. It will, therefore, be necessary in many forensic cases to undertake secondary level experimental studies that incorporate specific variables pertinent to a particular case and supplement the established theory presented in the published literature. Such studies enable a better understanding of the specific forensic context and thus allow more accurate collection, analysis and interpretation of the trace physical evidence to be achieved.This paper presents two cases where the findings of secondary level experimental studies undertaken to address specific issues particular to two forensic investigations proved to be important. Specific pre-, syn- and post-forensic event factors were incorporated into the experimental design and proved to be invaluable in the recovery, analysis and in achieving accurate interpretations of both soil evidence from footwear and glass trace evidence from a broken window.These studies demonstrate that a fuller understanding of the specific context within which trace physical evidence is generated and subsequently collected, as well as an understanding of the behaviour of certain forms of trace physical evidence under specific conditions, can add evidentiary weight to the analysis and interpretation of that evidence and thus help a court with greater certainty where resources (time and cost) permit.     

Coping with Imprisonment: Testing the Special Sensitivity Hypothesis for White-Collar Offenders

This study uses nationally representative prison data to test two competing theories of how white-collar offenders experience prison. The first perspective, referred to as the special sensitivity hypothesis, assumes that because of their social and demographic background characteristics white-collar offenders are more susceptible to the pains of imprisonment than other inmates. The second perspective, referred to as the special resiliency hypothesis, is based on the idea that these same background characteristics may reduce the pains of imprisonment for white-collar offenders. Ordinal and binary logistic regression models are used to estimate the effect of white-collar inmate status on several indicators of psychological adjustment. The current study finds partial support for the special resiliency hypothesis, but not the special sensitivity hypothesis. The results for each outcome are discussed regarding both theoretical and practical applications. The study’s limitations are also addressed and suggestions for future research on incarcerated white-collar offenders are given.