Own-age bias in video lineups: a comparison between children and adults

Abstract

The present study investigated whether child (six–eight years of age) and adult witnesses (18–29 years of age) would exhibit an own-age bias when trying to identify targets from video lineups. One hundred and eighty-six participants viewed two filmed events that were identical, except one starred a child target and one a young adult. After a delay of two–three days each witness saw a lineup for the child and adult target. Children exhibited an own-age bias and were better at correctly identifying the own-age target from a target-present (TP) lineup and made more correct rejections for the own-age target-absent (TA) lineup. Adults however, showed a reversed own-age bias for the TP lineups as they made more correct identifications for the child target, but exhibited no bias for the TA lineups. The results suggest that differences in identification accuracy may be due to whether witness age and suspect age overlap.     

Capital Offenders in Texas Prisons: Rates, Correlates, and an Actuarial Analysis of Violent Misconduct

This study analyzed the records of 136 recently incarcerated capital murder offenders in the initial phase (M = 2.37 years, range = 6-40 months) of their life sentences in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Prevalence rates of institutional violence were inversely related to severity: potentially violent misconduct (36.8%), assaultive violations (14%), serious assaults (5.1%), and homicides (0%). Consistent with prior studies, factors correlated with assaultive misconduct included age (inversely), prior prison confinement, and concurrent robbery or burglary in the capital offense. A simplified Burgess scale entitled the Risk Assessment Scale for Prison-Capital (RASP-Cap) was moderately successful in identifying varying levels of improbability of committing violence-related misconduct however defined (AUC = .715-.766).     

Public funds for private enterprise: The international finance corporation 1

In a recent article Helleiner [1974: 351] argues that the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) scheme has operated in such a way as to transfer real resources from developed countries (DCs) to less developed countries (LDCs). Helleiner attempts to substantiate this claim empirically by examining the net acquisition of SDRs which has been made by DCs, and the net use of SDRs which has been made by LDCs since the SDR facility was established. In this article it is suggested that, although the SDR agreement has, indeed, served to create an ‘informal’ SDR/aid link, net use data taken at face value do not necessarily reflect the extent or nature of this informal link.     

Commentaries on the issue

Lynne Rudder Baker, Saving Belief: A Critique of Physicalism Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987, xii + 177 pp.

Daniel C. Dennett, The Intentional Stance Cambridge: MIT Press, 1987, xi + 388 pp.

Paul M. Churchland, Matter and Consciousness Cambridge: MIT Press, revised edition, 1988, xii + 184 pp.     

Educational Leadership＂ What Can China Teach the West About Inclusive Decision-Making Practices

This paper focuses on educational decision-making in a Chinese context, but starts from a critique of distributed leadership educational theory as an instrumentalist and Western device of analysis. It is based upon a 2012 research project which reports on the academic insights of 51 Chinese school leaders who were also students studying ＂Masters of Educational Leadership＂ at an Australian university. The project explored these Chinese school leaders＇ perceptions of decision-making in education settings. It considered who would make decisions and how those decisions would be made in various hypothetical education scenarios. A unique feature of this research is the significant number of female school leaders from China who were in the participant cohort, so this study offers a rare insight into their thinking. Overall, this research offers an important first step in broadening out the theoretical discussions on leadership decision-making into a non-Western education environment. It also shows how educational research in the 21 st century is shifting away from Western---only analysis and instead broadening out to explore what the unique and important trends are in an Asian nation that is a global powerhouse.     

Serious assaults on prison staff: A descriptive analysis

Objective

The current study sought to illuminate the patterns associated with serious inmate-on-staff assaults, as well as the characteristics of perpetrators and victims.

Material and methods

This study examined 79 assaults on prison staff requiring more than first aid treatment, perpetrated by 96 inmates, in a large state correctional department during a 14-month period (September 1, 2007 through October 31, 2008).

Results

These assaults were both infrequent (53 per 100,000 inmates annually) and progressively more infrequent as the severity increased (hospitalization for non-life threatening injury or required reconstructive surgery = 2.2 per 100,000 inmates annually; hospitalization for life-threatening injury = 0.5 per 100,000 inmates annually). Among staff victims, Black and female correctional officers were underrepresented. Inmate perpetrators who were younger, Black, prison gang members, and/or serving sentences for violent offenses were disproportionately represented among assailants.

Conclusions

The low overall rate of serious staff assaults attests to the level of professionalism and training in modern corrections departments. Nonetheless, situational factors uncovered in the current analysis suggest that particular circumstances increase the likelihood of staff assaults, hence the need for continued training and vigilance on the part of correctional staff that come in direct contact with inmates.     

Fatal Intoxication with Acetyl Fentanyl

Among the new psychoactive substances encountered in forensic investigations is the opioid, acetyl fentanyl. The death of a 28‐year‐old man from recreational use of this compound is reported. The decedent was found in the bathroom of his residence with a tourniquet secured around his arm and a syringe nearby. Postmortem examination findings included marked pulmonary and cerebral edema and needle track marks. Toxicological analysis revealed acetyl fentanyl in subclavian blood, liver, vitreous fluid, and urine at concentrations of 235 ng/mL, 2400 ng/g, 131 ng/mL, and 234 ng/mL, respectively. Acetyl fentanyl was also detected in the accompanying syringe. Death was attributed to recreational acetyl fentanyl abuse, likely through intravenous administration. The blood acetyl fentanyl concentration is considerably higher than typically found in fatal fentanyl intoxications. Analysis of this case underscores the need for consideration of a wide range of compounds with potential opioid‐agonist activity when investigating apparent recreational drug‐related deaths.     

Quantification of Osteon Morphology Using Geometric Histomorphometrics

Many histological methods in forensic anthropology utilize combinations of traditional histomorphometric parameters which may not accurately describe the morphology of microstructural features. Here, we report the novel application of a geometric morphometric method suitable when considering structures without anatomically homologous landmarks for the quantification of complete secondary osteon size and morphology. The method is tested for its suitability in the measurement of intact secondary osteons using osteons digitized from transverse femoral diaphyseal sections prepared from two human individuals. The results of methodological testing demonstrate the efficacy of the technique when applied to intact secondary osteons. In providing accurate characterization of micromorphology within the robust mathematical framework of geometric morphometrics, this method may surpass traditional histomorphometric variables currently employed in forensic research and practice. A preliminary study of the intersectional histomorphometric variation within the femoral diaphysis is made using this geometric histomorphometric method to demonstrate its potential.