Urgent issues and prospects in reforming interrogation practices in the United States and Canada

The current article presents a series of commentaries on urgent issues and prospects in reforming interrogation practices in Canada and the United States. Researchers and practitioners, who have devoted much of their careers to the field of police and intelligence interrogations, were asked to provide their insights on an area of interrogation research that they believe requires immediate attention. The submitted independent commentaries covered a variety of topics – from police recruitment, interrogation training, use of proper interrogation practices, and the treatment of confession evidence in court. Common concerns from the contributions pertained to the lag between scientific knowledge on interrogations and the application of such knowledge in the justice system, and the glaring disparity between the treatment of similar issues in the interrogation context versus other criminal justice contexts. A primary intent of this collection of commentaries is to serve as a resource pointing researchers in the direction of the fundamental areas that require immediate consideration and encouraging them to simultaneously pursue solutions to the overarching concerns that emerged from this project.     

Pragmatic implication in the interrogation room: a comparison of juveniles and adults

Journal of Experimental Criminology - Pragmatic implication is the phenomenon that individuals process information “between the lines” and hear things that are implied but not asserted....     

Insomnia, nightmare frequency, and nightmare distress in victims of sexual abuse: the role of perceived social support and abuse characteristics

In this study of victims of sexual abuse, the aim was to investigate the role of perceived social support and abuse characteristics in self-reported insomnia, nightmare frequency, and nightmare distress. Four hundred sixty Norwegian victims of sexual abuse completed a questionnaire assessing perceived social support, abuse characteristics, insomnia, nightmare frequency, and nightmare distress. Results show that higher levels of perceived social support were related to lower scores on all symptom outcome measures. Abuse involving oral, genital, or anal penetration was related to more insomnia symptoms. Longer duration of abuse and threatening conducted by the perpetrator were related to higher nightmare frequency, while threats and abuse involving penetration were related to higher degrees of distress associated with nightmares. In conclusion, the present study provides preliminary data indicating that perceived social support may affect the nature of sleep difficulties in sexual abuse victims. Also, more severe forms of sexual abuse are related to higher levels of sleep difficulties.     

Identification of organic pigments in automotive coatings using laser desorption mass spectrometry

When one looks at an automotive coating, one sees color due to pigments. Modern organic pigments, with high molar absorptivities, may be only minor components of the mixture. Laser desorption mass spectrometry (LDMS) has been shown to be a useful tool for the analysis of colorants such as pen ink dyes. Here, LDMS is used to determine its utility for the identification of pigments, in simple media and in more complex paints. Small paint chips can be introduced into the LDMS instrument, and when an ultraviolet laser is focused on a portion of a chip, ions representative of the pigment(s) are selectively formed. Some pigments such as quinacridones and copper phthalocyanine are very stable and are desorbed and ionized intact. In contrast, benzimidazolones, which contain some single-skeletal bonds, form fragment ions. This method proves to be sensitive and convenient, as no sample preparation is required. The presence of inorganic pigments in addition to modern organic pigments can be determined, and pigments can be directly identified in actual automotive paint chip samples.     

PROTECTING YOUTH PLACED IN UNLICENSED,UNREGULATED RESIDENTIAL “TREATMENT” FACILITIES

Throughout the country, there is considerable inconsistency in how states regulate residential treatment programs for youth. In states with little oversight, the health and safety of youth are unprotected and they may be subject to substandard treatment, rights violations, and/or abuse. Three initiatives to address this issue are reported: (1) an Internet survey of youth who are former residents, (2) a four‐state pilot study of how states regulate and monitor residential programs, and (3) a bridge‐building conference between residential treatment providers and mental health leaders. Recommendations address the next steps for lawmakers, lawyers, judges, mental health and education professionals, and parents.     

Plea decision-making by attorneys and judges

Objectives

Approximately 95 % of convictions in the United States are the result of guilty pleas. Surprisingly little is known about the factors which judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys consider in these decisions. To examine the legal and extralegal factors that legal actors consider in plea decision-making, we replicated and improved upon a 40-year-old study by asking legal actor participants to review a variety of case factors, and then make plea decisions and estimate sentences for pleas and trials (upon conviction).

Methods

Over 1,500 defense attorneys, prosecutors, and judges completed an online survey involving a hypothetical legal case in which the presence of three types of evidence and length of defendant criminal history were experimentally manipulated.

Results

The manipulated evidence impacted plea decisions and discounts, whereas criminal history only affected plea discounts (i.e., the difference between plea and trial sentences). Defense attorneys considered the largest number of factors (evidentiary and non-evidentiary), and although legal actor role influenced the decision to plead, it did not affect the discount.

Conclusions

In replicating a landmark study, via technological advances not available in the 1970s, we were able to increase our sample size nearly six-fold, obtain a sample representing all 50 states, and include judges. However, our sample was nonrepresentative and the hypothetical scenario may or may not generalize to actual situations. Nonetheless, valuable information was gained about the factors considered and weighed by legal actors.

     

Framing the Oxymoron: A New Paradigm for Intelligence Ethics

Despite some arguments to the contrary, I argue that because ethics benefit, rather than harm, the intelligence profession they should be considered an inherent part of intelligence studies. The literature largely presents intelligence ethics as a two-sided debate between teleologists and deontologists. I propose that ethical justifications should instead be considered along a progressive spectrum drawn from the work of moral psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg. Such a spectrum has numerous applications for gauging the moral arguments of individual practitioners of intelligence. I illustrate this using the dilemma of targeted political assassination – first in a hypothetical context, and finally using examples from the investigations of the 1975 Church Committee.