The physician assistant as forensic investigator

Physician assistants are employed as forensic investigators at the Office of the Medical Examiner, Suffolk County, New York. We describe the educational qualifications of physician assistants and their valuable role in forensic medicine in Suffolk County.     

Scientific and legal standards of statistical evidence in toxic tort and discrimination suits

Many legal disputes turn on scientific, especially statistical, evidence. Traditionally scientists have accepted only that statistical evidence which satisfies a 95 percent (or 99 percent) rule — that is, only evidence which has less than five percent (or one percent) probability of resulting from chance.The rationale for this rule is the reluctance of scientists to accept anything less than the best-supported new knowledge. The rule reflects the internal needs of scientific practice. However, when uncritically adopted as a rule for admitting legal evidence, the seemingly innocuous 95 percent rule distorts the balance of interests historically protected by the legal system. In particular, plaintiffs in toxic tort and employment discrimination suits are effectively held to a heavier burden of proof in showing that their injuries were more probably than not caused by the defendant's actions. The result is that too many victims of toxic torts or employment discrimination cannot win legal redress for their injuries.Proposals to adopt stringent scientific rules of evidence thus implicate significant philosophical issues about the relation of evidence to belief and to practical action. The underlying objectives of the tort law system are not those of scientific practice, and each set of objectives has standards of evidence specific to it.Previous versions of this paper were read at the UCLA Law and Philosophy Discussion Group and at the Orange County Moral and Political Philosophy Discussion Group. We have benefitted from comments by Steve Munzer, Peter Aranella, Craig Ihara, Gary Watson, David Estlund, and Alex Rosenberg. A longer version of this paper is in preparation. In that paper we hope to develop some of the items merely sketched in this paper.     

In vivo measurements of facial tissue thicknesses in American caucasoid children

Ultrasonic determinations were made of facial tissue thicknesses in 50 healthy American caucasoid children, ranging in age from 4 to 15. Twenty measurements were taken at sites along the median, right sagittal, and right lateral planes. A static scanner was used in the B-mode. Three measurements significantly increased with age, the mid-philtrum (rs = 0.43, p less than 0.01) in females, the mental sulcus (rs = 0.30, p less than 0.05) in males, and the frontal eminence (rs = 0.32, p less than 0.05) in both sexes. Moreover, 25% of the measurements, while not statistically significant, decreased with increasing age. These data provide a basis for facial reproductions in caucasoid children.     

The determination of cocaine in hair: a review

The explosion of literature related to the analysis of hair for cocaine and its products is reviewed. In the commonly accepted applications of hair testing for cocaine, those related to criminal or civil investigations and pharmacotoxicologic studies occupy most of the relevant published work. This review uses detailed, ‘binary’ (yes/no) tables to demonstrate trends in the literature, and allows researchers and caseworkers quick access to the literature most important for answering a variety of questions.     

The “Middle Power” Concept in Australian Foreign Policy

During the early 1990s, the Hawke and Keating Labor governments promoted Australia's diplomatic credentials as an activist and independent middle power. Labor claimed that by acting as a middle power Australia was constructing a novel diplomatic response to the challenges of the post-Cold War world. But a closer reading of the official foreign policy record since 1945 reveals that previous conservative governments have also taken a similar view of Australia's place and position on the international stage. This essay traces the historical evolution of the middle power concept in Australian foreign policy and concludes with an assessment of the Howard government's more recent reluctance to use this label and its implications for Australia's future middle power credentials. Although its use has waxed and waned in official policy discourse and it is more commonly associated with Labor governments, the middle power concept itself and the general diplomatic style it conveys have been one of the most durable and consistent elements of Australia's diplomatic practice.