Just punishments: Guideline sentences and normative consensus

The federal sentencing guidelines prescribe ranges of sentences to be given to persons convicted of felonies in the federal criminal courts. The U.S. Sentencing Commission wrote the guidelines attempting to make sentences conform to community views of appropriate punishments, along with several other criteria. Employing data from a 1994 national sample of adult Americans, designed as a factorial survey, the degree of correspondence is shown between guidelines sentences and those desired by the American public. Although at the individual level only a modest degree of concordance was found, the central tendencies of public opinion (median sentences) were found to correspond quite closely to the guidelines sentences. The major points of disagreement centered around drug trafficking crimes: the guidelines prescribed very long sentences for those crimes and distinguished sharply among trafficking in heroin, powder cocaine, and crack, whereas median sentences desired by the public were much lower and did not distinguish sharply among trafficking in those drugs. We interpret the findings as indicating that the guidelines sentences conform reasonably closely to American normative consensus concerning the sentencing of federal felons.The research reported in this article was commissioned by the U.S. Sentencing Commission. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily endorsed by the Commission. Full expositions of the findings from the national survey used are given by Rossi and Berk (1995, 1997).     

Constraint in European party activists' sympathy scores for interest groups

Abstract. This paper presents an analysis, country by country, of sympathy scores given by European party activists from 58 political parties in 11 countries of the European Community to more than 100 different national interest groups. In all countries but one, the left-right dimension is the predominant criterion for interpreting the sympathy scores given. In Belgium, the exception, a regional (Flemish-Walloon) cleavage line is most important. The analyses were performed with a new adapted version of the unidimensional Coombsian unfolding model. Bad fit to the unidimensional model is not remedied by postulating additional common dimensions, but by identifying and removing stimuli (interest groups) that do not conform to the unidimensional unfolding model. The nonrepresentability of these stimuli can be attributed to lack of agreement among activists about the location of these stimuli on the left-right dimension. More specifically, certain relatively popular stimuli are perceived by most respondents as close to their own location on the left-right scale, and, conversely, certain relatively unpopular stimuli are perceived by most respondents as distant from their own location.     

USING A JURY SIMULATION AS A CLASSROOM EXERCISE

The authors' empirical research project considers the effects of differences in actual legal rules on jury decisions and, concurrently, gives business students the opportunity to participate in a realistic jury experience. The project uses actual trial evidence to produce a videotaped simulated trial presentation thereby insuring that the testimony, legal arguments, jury instructions and facts are realistic. To date, approximately 2,000 business students have participated in the simulation, under the supervision of 13 different Academy members at 11 different universities. This article describes the project and its curricular benefits within the context of an introductory course in law.     

The Elderly Victim at Risk: Explaining the Fear- Victimization Paradox

Current research argues that criminal victimization of the elderly is less of a problem than advocates for the elderly have argued it was in the past. The rate of victimization has been empirically demonstrated to be lower than for most other age groups. At the same time, the elderly express high levels of fear regarding criminal victimization. This article seeks to explain this apparent paradox through an “at risk” hypothesis that accounts for both low rates and high fear.     

Unusual suicides with chain saws

Two cases of suicide with bandsaws, undertaken by workers in carpenters' workshops are reported and discussed. Their choice of this method was based on the fact that they knew how dangerous such machines were. Both cases were watched by witnesses, who could not intervene due to the speed of the events. It was possible to exclude accident or homicide.     

The use of videotape to demonstrate the dynamics of bite marks

Traditionally, bite mark photographs have been used to study statically a dynamic event. With the advent of the compact video camcorder, odontologists can now document bite marks on video tape and, in some instances, with the model of the suspect's dentition, may be able to record the dynamics of a bite on human flesh. A review of two cases and equipment used is discussed.     

A transition zone phenomenon of the skin in cadavers lying in bath water

In three cases a phenomenon is reported, seen on the skin of bodies found dead after a longer time of lying in bathtubs filled with water. The sign was parallel to the surface of the water and showed a breadth up to about 1 cm. Contrary to the surrounding skin, the mark was characterized by paleness and clearly les distinct formation of postmortem alterations as put-refaction. Searching for an explanation, temperature measurements were performed in model. The results showed the marginal paleness of the skin to be a thermal phase transition phenomenon. This mark has a forensic message too: it demonstrates a longer remaining of the corpse in the corresponding position, is a statement concerning the high of the water level, and allows a reconstruction of the original situation after manipulation, but is no sign of vital reaction.