The cognitive interview and its effect on misleading postevent information

Abstract

The present study investigated the effectiveness of the cognitive interview on reducing the impact of the misinformation effect. A 2×2 between-groups design was used, with interview type (cognitive or structured) and narrative type (misleading or neutral) as the independent variables. Adults (n=40) viewed video footage depicting a bank robbery and then received either a misleading or neutral postevent narrative. Participants were interviewed with either a cognitive or a structured interview regarding their memory for the original footage. The cognitive interview produced significantly more correct pieces of information than the structured interview, without an increase in errors or confabulations. An anomalous significant interaction was found regarding the number of incorrect pieces of information, where recipients of the structured interview made more recall errors when receiving neutral postevent information compared to neutral postevent information. A misinformation effect was successfully achieved but the enhancing effects of the cognitive interview were unable to reduce it. Results are discussed within the misinformation effect theoretical framework. The limitations of the present study are also discussed.     

Ambivalent sexism,empathy and law enforcement attitudes towards partner violence against women among male police officers

Police attitudes towards partner violence against women (PVAW) can play an important role in their evaluation and responses to this type of violence. The present study aims to examine ambivalent sexism and empathy as determinants of male police officers' law enforcement attitudes towards PVAW. The study sample was composed by 404 male police officers. Results suggested that male police officers scoring low in benevolent sexism expressed a general preference for unconditional law enforcement (i.e. regardless of the victim's willingness to press charges against the offender), whereas those scoring high in benevolent sexism expressed a preference for conditional law enforcement (i.e. depending on the willingness of the victim to press charges against the offender). Results also showed that police officers scoring high in empathy and low in hostile sexism were those who expressed a general preference for unconditional law enforcement. The presence of sexist attitudes and low levels of empathy among some police officers, and their influence on law enforcement attitudes, highlights not only the importance of specific training, but also the need to pay attention to the selection process of police officers dealing with PVAW.     

‘Done to death by father or relatives’: Irish families and infanticide cases, 1922–1950

In February 1929 the Bishop of Ossory commented on the fact that in Ireland illegitimate infants were often ‘done to death by father or relatives’ (Irish Catholic, 16 February 1929). There were many instances where family members of unmarried women who gave birth were the sole defendants or co-defendants in infanticide cases in post-independent Ireland. Although illegitimate infants were ‘done to death’ by their fathers in a number of cases that were tried at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin between 1922 and 1950, this article will focus on cases where infants were murdered or suspected of having been murdered by relatives of the birth mother both in the Twenty-Six Counties and in Northern Ireland (Irish Catholic, 16 February 1929). For the purposes of this article I have referred to the murder of illegitimate infants as ‘infanticide’ even though there was no separate charge of infanticide in the Irish Free State until 1949. The English infanticide acts of 1922 and 1938 also applied to Northern Ireland. This article discusses the motives of the relatives of single mothers who played a part in the deaths of illegitimate infants. Unmarried motherhood was severely frowned upon in Ireland and the relatives of single pregnant women assisted their female kin in destroying the evidence of extra-marital conception in order to protect the family's honour and moral reputation in the wider community. The records of infanticide trials provide a great deal of insight into the ways in which mainly working-class families dealt with the strain of pregnancy outside wedlock in Ireland between 1922 and 1950.     

Rethinking UK Parliamentary Adaptation in EU Affairs: Devolution and Europeanisation

How national parliaments adapt to the European Union is an important debate. However, scholars often overlook the regional aspect. This is particularly so for the UK where, despite devolution since 1999, scholarship remains largely devolution-blind. It is assumed that evaluating UK parliamentary adaptation only requires assessing the work of Westminster committees. This article takes a first step towards rectifying this oversight through reconceptualising UK–EU parliamentary engagement as multi-territory, not state-centric. This is demonstrated by comparing the social construction of practices in Scotland, Wales and at Westminster since 1999. Acknowledging devolution, however, does not just require comparing practices. Additionally, the paper asks how the ideas of devolution have been taken up by actors, potentially transforming the meaning of UK engagement for them. This necessitates new approaches drawn from interpretivist and constructivist institutionalist theories. Ultimately, therefore, the paper goes further than arguing for devolution-aware research to promoting change more generally in how parliamentary adaptation is theorised.     

Costa Rica's biodiversity law: Sharing the process 1

Abstract

This article assesses the prospects for Costa Rica's new Biodiversity Law. We believe that this analysis could also provide a valuable case study of national implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The article is not intended to be a primer on the CBD, nor will it defend its precepts. The authors believe that each nation must formulate a legal framework to regulate biodiversity that reflects their unique national circumstances.     

An Empirical Assessment of the Municipal Financial Situation in Spain

ABSTRACT

Public finance theories state that both political and socioeconomic factors must be considered in order to explain governments' finances. On the one hand, “partisan politics matters” thesis argues that progressive parties contribute to increase public deficit. On the other hand, Roubini and Sachs' weak government hypothesis (1989a Roubini , N. and J. D. Sachs . 1989a . “Political and Economic Determinants of Budget Deficits in the Industrial Democracies.” European Economic Review 33 : 903 – 938 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], 1989b Roubini , N. and J. D. Sachs . 1989b . “Government Spending and Budget Deficits in the Industrial Countries.” Economic Policy: A European Forum 8 : 99 – 132 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) states that the higher the government fragmentation, the higher spending, deficit and debt. Accordingly, our work evaluates whether municipal ideology and political strength have an impact on public expenditures and taxes. With this aim, we analyze a representative sample of Spanish municipalities (2,729) for the year 2005. We find an influence of the size of the political majority on the municipal financial situation. However, we do not find evidence of the impact of the government's political ideology. Economic and population variables are found highly significant. Our data also show a “flypaper” effect in the Spanish municipal sector.     

Consensus Among Public Managers as Strategy for Standardization of Performance Indicators

ABSTRACT

The usefulness of performance indicators increases when organizations compare their data. However, most discussions have failed to emphasize two lines of action that could improve the relevance of such comparisons: a) agreement among service managers on the indicators to be used in the evaluation; b) homogenization of the indicators to be used by organizations, and of the process used to calculate them. In this context, this paper proposes a methodology based on the participation of and consensus among managers, which helps to standardize the construction and presentation of performance indicators. The aim of this proposal is to improve the comparative evaluation of organizations. Finally, in order to test the proposal, a practical application is carried out on the local culture departments of nine large municipalities in southern Spain.     

Determinants of Financial Transparency in Government

ABSTRACT

The search for enhanced transparency and accountability in government organizations has inspired studies to identify the key factors that facilitate greater disclosure of public financial information. With the advantages provided by the meta-analysis technique, applied to a sample of studies, we identify the most significant factors and incentives underlying the decisions adopted by public managers on policy strategies regarding information transparency and public responsibility. Our study shows the variables analyzed to be positively associated with the disclosure of public financial information, but also that this depends on the context in which the research is carried out. The most influential variables were the moderator variables of the administrative culture and of the measurement unit for the variables.     

Determining Factors of E-government Development: A Worldwide National Approach

ABSTRACT

The implementation of e-government aims at simplifying and improving the relationships and transactions between public administrations and their users or customers. In this vein, the objective of this work is to analyze the factors that promote the development of e-government in the national governments of 192 countries worldwide, differentiating between developed and developing countries. Our findings emphasize that the development of e-government requires that countries have a degree of economic development that enables their citizens to have a certain standard of living, both economic and cultural, as well as important internal government reforms which promote administrative effectiveness. Once these essential factors are fulfilled, the national government's online presence is favored by governments that rule with a majority in their parliaments and with an important fiscal capacity.     

DISCUSSION - Agricultural Policy Reform and Rural Livelihoods in Central Mexico

This contribution examines the impact of profound changes to agricultural policy implemented since 1988 on the livelihoods of Mexico's rural population. Detailed studies in four villages show that rural incomes are very unevenly distributed within communities leaving half of households in poverty. During the last decade key factors affecting village economies have been international and national, rather than specific changes to farm policy. Most changes have been to the detriment of the communities studied, but peasant households have adapted and survived, at a price. If the worst fears about the consequences of economic liberalisation have not been realised, neither have the hopes. Depressed markets for basic goods and services have limited the growth of the rural economy. Private investment and provision of services have not been stimulated.