The prison letters of Alice Ker and Mary Ellen Taylor: suffragettes and mothers

ABSTRACT

This article considers the prison letters of Dr Alice Ker and the relatively unknown Mary Ellen Taylor which are held in the Women’s Library at LSE Library. These women were suffragettes and mothers who were both arrested on 4 March 1912, in separate incidents, but as part of the Women’s Social and Political Union’s window-smashing campaign. The letters allow us to consider what these women must have been feeling and reveal what factors they felt were important to write about at that time. Of even more significance is that they provide an insight into these women as people. The article also considers the effect that suffrage campaigning had on family life and family relationships and whether the letters convey any sense that campaigning caused tensions or concerns within families.     

Regulating Australia's lobbyists: coming full circle to promote democracy?

• This paper initially examines the history and evolution of lobbying regulations in Australia at both the federal and state levels. This examination is conducted in a comparative context, setting the codes of conduct in place in various Australian jurisdictions against each other, as well as against the lobbying regulations in place in other countries around the world. Based upon this approach, the regulations in each Australian jurisdiction are classified according to their characteristics, providing insights into their commonalities and differences. Thereafter, we examine the attitudes of Australian politicians, administrators and lobbyists, at both the federal and state levels, towards the regulations they have to abide by.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Moderators of Response to Motivational Interviewing for Partner-violent Men

Careful attention to motivation for change may enhance the effects of interventions for partner-violent men. The present study tested predictions about differential response to a two-session motivational intake (MI) for partner-violent men, which was compared to a structured intake (SI) control. For those who were initially reluctant to change, MI produced greater forward movement in stage of change. For those who claimed to have already solved their problems with partner abuse, MI produced greater backward movement in stage of change and greater homework compliance in subsequent group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). MI led to a stronger collaborative working alliance for those high in contemplation of change, and greater group session attendance for those with high trait anger. Contrary to hypotheses, analyses of post-CBT partner assault revealed a differentially greater benefit of MI for participants with lower levels of pretreatment contemplation and trait anger. The findings provide qualified support for the expectation that MI has the greatest beneficial effects on those who appear initially reluctant to change.     

Accuracy and reliability of cone beam computed tomography of the jaws for comparative forensic identification: a preliminary study

Conventional computed tomography is an emerging modality in forensic identification but is not sufficiently accurate for use in dental identification primarily because of problems with metallic dental restoration-induced streak artifact. In this study, the accuracy and reliability of recording forensic information from cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans of the jaws when compared to conventional panoramic radiographs has been analyzed under experimental conditions. Information could be recorded with near-perfect repeatability and reproducibility. Information could also be recorded accurately, the sensitivity being 96.6% (95% CI, 95.1-98.1) and specificity being 98.4% (95% CI, 96.2-100). The metal dental restoration-induced streak artifact was at a level that permitted, in most cases, accurate observations. This is considered an important step in validating CBCT as a tool in comparative dental identification of bodies. It may have a role in mass fatalities and in chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents, but further studies are required to assess the feasibility of this.     

Police Bias,Social Identity,and Minority Groups: A Social Psychological Understanding of Cooperation with Police

The present study uses Social Identity Theory as a framework to investigate the collective effects of perceived police bias, ethnicity and self-identification with different groups on respondents’ intentions to cooperate with police in general crime control efforts and in counter-terrorism policing. Drawing on survey data collected from 1,272 individuals from three ethnic minority backgrounds in Australia, the present study reports findings including: (1) significant and large direct positive associations between superordinate identity and willingness to cooperate with police, (2) small-to-moderate significant associations between perceived police bias and cooperation with police (positive for Vietnamese subsample; negative for Indian and Arab subsamples), and (3) significant interaction patterns between subordinate identity, perceived police bias, and ethnicity. Findings are discussed with respect to community-engaged prevention and prejudice reduction.     

The trials of Steven Truscott.

Determination of time of death (postmortem interval) is one of the most difficult problems confronting forensic pathologists. One noteworthy such case is that of Steven Truscott, a 14-year-old Canadian youth who was convicted of the June 1959 rape-murder of 12-year-old Lynne Harper in rural southwestern Ontario. The two had been seen together on the evening when Lynne was last seen alive. At her autopsy approximately 48 h later, the prosecutor, relying almost entirely on examination of the gastric contents, placed the time of death during the period in which the two were apparently in each other's company. Truscott's defense was unable to refute this opinion, and Truscott was sentenced first to death, then to life imprisonment. Isabel LeBourdais, a Canadian journalist, published a book defending Truscott that eventually led to a judicial rehearing, but his conviction was upheld. The examination of gastric contents is only one measure employed in the often difficult determination of time of death. It has not been made inherently more reliable in this regard since 1959. It is crucial, therefore, to use all available evidence in determining time of death.     

Abandonments of unfinished nuclear power plants: A study of the causes of technology rejection after adoption

A major feature of the last decade has been the systematic and continuous abandonments of large investments in nuclear power plants by electric utilities. This paper investigates the mix of financial, regulatory, and other causes associated with these abandonments by investor owned electric utilities. Construction cost escalation, the major force in Nuclear plant abandonments, appears to result from multiple joint causes whose individual effects are difficult to isolate. Discussion of construction cost escalation focuses on the causes of inaccurate projections, the timeliness of management's reaction in making abandonment decisions, and the impact of unforeseen external events. Failure to recognize and control construction cost escalation has resulted in a consensus that additional Nuclear plants are unlikely to be built in the near future.