Ambiguous Measures of Unknown Constructs: The MMPI-2 Fake Bad Scale (aka Symptom Validity Scale, FBS, FBS-r)

The Fake Bad Scale (FBS; Symptom Validity Scale) has fundamental psychometric flaws, interpretive problems, and potentially adverse societal consequences that are not appreciated by Ben-Porath et al. (Psychological Injury and Law 2(1), 62–85, 2009a, b). The FBS was constructed without due consideration to scientifically based guidelines for scale development (Clark and Watson, Psychological Assessment 7, 309–319, 1995; Jackson, Psychological Review 78, 229–248, 1971; Nunnally 1978; Holden and Troister, Canadian Psychology 50, 120–130, 2009). After almost two decades in existence, its face, content, and construct validity have not been established in the empirical literature. Oft-cited discriminant studies that appear to support the FBS are premature because of the scale’s unestablished psychometric foundation. In addition, these studies have significant methodological weaknesses that preclude definitive conclusions about what the scale actually measures. We review these weaknesses and recent legal cases that challenge the scale. We recommend that the FBS’s validity and fairness be addressed in an independent scientific review by the Buros Mental Measurement Test Evaluation System, a non-profit center specializing in the evaluation of commercially available tests.     

Illicit markets,weak states and violence: Iraq and Mexico

This article focuses on drug trafficking violence in Mexico and on those elements of the violence in Iraq which are related to competition for the control over smuggling of oil and other largely licit commodities. It suggests that the broader context is critical, while the nature of the commodity—and in particular whether it is prohibited or simply a legal commodity that is stolen and diverted to both domestic and international black markets—is not the major determinant of the level of violence. Both Mexico and Iraq suffer from transitional violence (arrangements for criminal activity which were dominated by the state have broken down), are characterized by anomie and a culture of lawlessness, have a surfeit of specialists in violence along with the ready availability of weapons, and are afflicted by high levels of corruption. In Mexico the violence has centered around the control of drug routes and strategic warehouses on the Mexico–United States border as well as control of local retail markets; in the southern province of Basra in Iraq the violence has centered on control of oil smuggling. While some of the violence has targeted state authorities it also reflects the fragmentation of criminal organizations. The author would like to thank Peter Andreas and Joel Wallman for their excellent substantive and editorial comments and suggestions. Phil Williams is Professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh, and author of a forthcoming monograph on Organized Crime in Iraq to be published by the Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College.

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Reform of Licensing for Marine Works: Improvement and Clarification Under the Marine and Coastal Access Bill 2008

Important legislative change is underway in the marine environment. In relation to the licensing of activities which are carried out in this zone the need for change is significant for many interested sectors such as: energy generation; the extractive industries; port and harbour developments; fisheries; and bodies involved with the conservation of both natural and archaeological/cultural resources. This article considers the main aspects of the existing legislative situation in relation to marine licensing and then goes on to describe and evaluate the proposed new system to be substituted through the Marine and Coastal Access Bill (the Bill). In order to provide some basis for evaluation, the protection of underwater cultural heritage (UCH) provides a backdrop against which to assess the developments. The means by which interventions in the marine environment are currently regulated are complex, in some situations overlapping, and in others questionable as to the overall coherence of their regulatory effects. Parties which might be considered to be ‘interested’ are often excluded from formal deliberations, guidance is patchy, although proliferating, and voluntary agreements (BMAPA 2003; COWRIE 2007) on best practice within sectors have been developed in the absence of official provision—while these are undoubtedly useful, they lack the rigour of systematic legislative underpinning, which it is hoped that the Bill will address.     

Human Rights in the Council of Europe and the EU: Towards ‘Individual’, ‘Constitutional’ or ‘Institutional’ Justice?

Abstract: The European Convention on Human Rights, promulgated by the Council of Europe in 1950, is widely regarded as the world's most successful experiment in the trans‐national judicial protection of human rights. The EU's much more recent judicial and political interest in human rights has also been widely welcomed. Yet, while the crisis currently afflicting the Convention system has not gone unnoticed, the same cannot equally be said of the difficulties presented by the increasing interpenetration of the two systems. Amongst the few who have shown some interest in these problems, the dominant view is that good will and common sense will provide adequate solutions. We disagree. Instead, we detect a gathering crisis which, unless properly analysed and effectively tackled, will only deepen as the EU's interest in human rights develops further. In our view, the problem is essentially conceptual and that, ultimately, it boils down to a much‐neglected question, simple to state but not so easy to answer: is the trans‐national protection of human rights in Europe a matter of ‘individual’, ‘constitutional’ or ‘institutional’ justice?     

“I Had a Confidence Epiphany!”: Obstacles to Combating Post-Identification Confidence Inflation

Research shows that eyewitnesses often become more confident with their selections from a lineup over time, a problem labeled "confidence inflation." Wells et al. (1998) Law and Human Behavior, 22, 603-647 suggested that eyewitnesses provide a confidence statement immediately following their selection to capture an unadulterated measure of confidence. Three experiments tested the effectiveness of introducing such a statement to combat the effects of confidence inflation on mock-juror judgments. All experiments provided evidence that the attributions participants formed about the eyewitness' confidence inflation differentially impacted their judgments. Although mock-jurors generally discredited eyewitnesses who showed confidence inflation and sometimes lowered probability of guilt ratings for the defendant, a clear exception occurred when mock-jurors attributed the inflation to an epiphany. Use of post-identification confidence statements to decrease the impact of confidence inflation in the courtroom may be insufficient.     

An ethics ensemble: abortion, Thomson, Finnis and the case of the violin-player

Abstract.  This paper considers approaches to the ethics of abortion and putative links to "rights" debates. In particular, it revisits two papers on the topic from the early 1970's, written by Judith Jarvis Thomson and John Finnis respectively. Consideration of the discourse produced by these papers to some extent reveals the strategic importance of linguistic and conceptual organisation—the rhetorical forces underlying claims to disinterested, analytical standing. In particular, the paper reviews the practical ethics analogy proposed by Thomson; the deployment of "Hohfeldian" rights analysis by John Finnis, the link to the abortion debate and the broader implications of such deployment in its relation to current "rights" discourse.     

Assessing the Risk of Domestic Violence Reoffending: A Validation Study

Little research has been conducted to validate available instruments for assessing the risk of domestic violence reoffending, especially research using some form of prospective design. This study uses a prospective design to determine the reliability and validity of the Domestic Violence Screening Instrument (DVSI). The analysis is based on a sample of 1,465 male domestic violence offenders selected consecutively over a 9-month period. Data on reoffending were collected in a 6-month follow-up period from a subsample of the victims (N = 125) of these perpetrators and from official records for all perpetrators during an 18-month follow-up period. The empirical results suggest that the DVSI was administered reliably, and they provide significant evidence of the concurrent, discriminant, and predictive validity of this instrument. Implications for further research and utilization of the DVSI are discussed.     

Motives for suicide--a study of Australian suicide notes

Analysis of a large sample of suicide notes from 262 suicides in Australia found that men less often had escape from pain as a motive for their suicides and more often had love/romantic problems. The suicides of older persons were more often motivated by escape from pain and less often had love/romantic problems.