Communication networks of German legislators: The case of Bavaria

This article analyses the communication network of German legislators with society. Using the ‘linkage approach’ to the study of political representation, and based on interviews and postal questionnaires administered to parliamentarians of the German state of Bavaria, the article discusses the personal linkages of legislators, their most important partners, their sources of information and political impulses, and their time budget devoted to ‘linkage activities’.     

Are Just-World Beliefs Compatible with Justifying Inequality? Collective Political Efficacy as a Moderator

Previous research demonstrates that the belief in a just world is often accompanied by the justification of social inequality and by low socio-political participation (e.g., Jost and Hunyady, Curr Direct Psychol Sci 14:260–265, 2005). However, studies provide evidence that the relations may be moderated by individual differences such as a person’s self-efficacy expectations to promote justice and equality (Mohiyeddini and Montada, Responses to victimization and belief in a just world, 1998). At the societal level, collective political efficacy has consistently been found to foster political participation (cf. Lee, Int J Public Opin Res 22:392–411, 2010). In our study, we tested whether collective political efficacy may attenuate the negative social impact of the belief in a just world: It is predicted that when collective political efficacy is low, a strong belief in a just world would increase the motivation to justify inequality. By contrast, when collective political efficacy is high, the belief in a just world would not increase, but potentially decrease the motivation to justify inequality. In turn, justification of inequality is expected to negatively affect socio-political participation. Data from 150 university students were analyzed using moderated structural equation modeling. In our study, the expected moderating effect of collective political efficacy on the relation between belief in a just world and justification of inequality was established empirically. When collective political efficacy was high, justification of inequality did not inevitably increase with the belief in a just world. In addition, the impact of belief in a just world on justice-promoting behavior was mediated by justification of inequality. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.     

Examination of live victims of violent crimes at the Institutes of Legal Medicine of Hanover, Cologne and Leipzig

During the last few years the importance of clinical forensic medicine has increased within the field itself, but also in interdisciplinary cooperation. Although examinations of live victims play a substantial role in the every-day work of most German forensic scientists, the number of data published on their frequency and the type of offence for which they were performed is small. For this reason a comparison of the data from the Institutes of Legal Medicine in Hanover, Cologne and Leipzig was carried out. Most of the examinations performed by all the three institutes were ordered by courts, the prosecution or the police. Only in a few cases did private persons or hospitals ask for a forensic expert opinion on injuries. During the study period the total number of examined violence victims per annum increased noticeably from 252 in 1999 to 507 in 2003. The total number of examinations during the five-year study period amounted to 1181 in Hanover, 393 in Leipzig and 198 in Cologne, which all have a similar number of inhabitants in the respective catchment area of the institutes. Most of the examinations were carried out in victims of bodily harm, sexual assault and child abuse, but also in traffic offences, for age determination, in self-inflicted injuries and in suspects of homicide. On the one hand the remarkable rise of the number of physical examinations shows that the importance of forensic expert opinions is increasingly recognized. On the other hand the considerable regional differences demonstrate that the competence offered by the Institutes of Legal Medicine in the documentation and interpretation of violence is by far not yet sufficiently used.     

Fatalities due to intoxicated arrestees jumping out of moving police vehicles

Fatalities resulting from emergency vehicle crashes are relatively rare. Mortality, particularly in the case of unbelted occupants, is relatively high. Data on drunken (handcuffed) arrestees jumping out of a moving police vehicle or the circumstances of such events have not been published. Two cases of such fatalities are described in this paper. Since these cases should be considered as "death in custody," may give rise to significant covering and speculation in the media, and may raise liability questions, they require an in-depth medicolegal investigation, including investigation of the crime scene, complete medicolegal autopsy/toxicology, and reconstruction of the event in the presence of an experienced forensic pathologist. From the 2 cases described in this paper, it appears that mechanical malfunctioning of the locking device of the door of the police vehicle and lack of controlling the actual lock-tied closing of the vehicle door (instead just assuming that it happened) may precipitate such cases. Auditory control by the police officers of the arrestee tampering with or manipulating the car door may be hampered by the background noise of the police vehicle, the on-board radio, and the use of a siren. Regular visual control and adequate control of the actual locking of the vehicle door are of paramount importance to prevent such mishaps. Reconstruction of the event in the presence of the forensic experts is mandatory to test the different hypotheses of the fatal event.     

Recidivism among spousal abusers: predictions and program evaluation

The relative effectiveness of two interventions for dealing with 200 court-referred spousal abusers is examined. The overall failure rate is 17.5%, with most recidivism occurring during the first 6 months after treatment. Offenders who completed a 14-week group treatment program called SAFE manifest significantly lower rates of recidivism (10.6%) than do offenders who did not complete the mandated treatment (38.8%). Some high-risk clients are referred to a cognitive restructuring treatment program called R&R, and those completing both programs (despite their high-risk status) have a recidivism rate of only 23.5%. Prediction of recidivism is difficult, with the LSI-R scores correctly predicting only 66% of the outcomes, using a cut score of 11.5. The exploration of other predictors is encouraged.     

Drug testing by urine and hair analysis: complementary features and scientific issues

Hair analysis and urinalysis are complementary tests for establishing drug use. Hair analysis provides long-term information, from months to years, concerning both the severity and pattern of drug use. In contrast to this, urinalysis can indicate only drug use, and then generally only that which has occurred within the last 2–3 days. Field studies have demonstrated that hair analysis is considerably more effective than urinalysis at identifying drug users. This difference is due to the wider surveillance window of hair analysis and to the susceptibility of urinalysis to evasive maneuvers. The main concerns with urinalysis are endogenous evidentiary false positives caused by passive drug exposure, e.g., ingestion of poppy seed. This problem arises from the hypersensitivity of the urine test, i.e. the need to use low cut-off levels in order to compensate for the temporary recording of drug use. This problem does not occur with hair analysis since its wide window of detection and permanent record of drug use ensure that the detection efficiency of the test is not compromised by the use of more effective cut-off levels guarding against passive endogenous drug exposure. On the other hand, exogenous evidentiary false positives due to external contamination of hair by drugs present in the environment (e.g., smoke) are the main concern of hair analysis. This problem, however, can be effectively avoided by washing the hair specimen, by kinetic analyses of the wash data, and by measurement of metabolites. The possibility of bias due to race and/or hair color is avoided by the exclusion of melanin from the analysis of hair. The safety and effectiveness of hair testing has been established by extensive field studies with over 400 000 specimens.