PARENT-CHILD OBSERVATIONS IN CUSTODY EVALUATIONS

Child custody evalutors need to increase the scientific foundations of their work, both for the benefit of clients and to address criticisms of the field. Observations of parents with children potentially yield huge amounts of data, and it is important for evaluators to consistently apply scientific and professional principles to make sense of all that information. Recommendations for observation sessions are made that integrate theory, research, and practice. These recommendations include the most important interactional dimensions to focus on, which family members to have present, the optimal level of stress, the number of sessions needed, and considerations about home visits.     

An experimental investigation of procedural issues in complex tort trials

An investigation of the impact of innovations in civil trial procedure manipulated trial structure (unitary vs. separated trial issues), order of decisions (liability or causation first), and number of decisions made (one to four) in a simulated toxic tort trial. Juries gave verdicts and damage awards. Recordings were made of the juries' deliberations. The results showed significantly more verdicts in favor of the plaintiffs in unitary trials (causation, liability, and damages heard together) as opposed to separated trials. However, average damage awards were higher in the separated than in the unitary trial conditions. Juries assigned more responsibility to the defendant in the unitary trial. Juries also used the totality of the evidence to decide all issues, especially general causation, which contained the most ambiguous testimony. The performance of these simulated juries in complex litigation was discussed in terms of group and individual cognitive factors.     

Federal laboratories & American industry: Fueling innovation

With a little-used gold mine of federal technical resources available to American industry, and adequate networking structure to expedite the transfer of valuable information is needed. The US government's laboratories have assisted some corporations, particularly those in defense-oriented industries, through collaborative research activities. To face the competition from abroad, a greater segment of American industry, of necessity, must tap the technical information and assistance available within the maze of federal laboratories to convert new and existing research into tangible, marketable products. NERAC has designed and tested an accessing model that matches the technological needs of American industry with federal experts through an existing network of federal-laboratory technology-transfer officers. The process is uncomplicated and direct. As a knowledgeable liaison, NERAC has developed a communication network to facilitate the transfer of often-unique material from the federal laboratories to American industry.     

Domestic violence: Victimization, police intervention, and disposition

The data presented here are consistent with prior research conclusions and indicate that wives have been victims in domestic dispute incidents in the United States more frequently than other family or household members. Further, in specific instances where criminal complaints were initiated, it is shown that in these instances, arrest under the Domestic Violence Program produced the strongest association when wives were the victims. The police were likely to arrest offenders (1) when criminal complaints were initiated and (2) when intimate family members, rather than strangers, were victims. The data indicate that victims who did not initiate criminal complaints did not receive adequate protection or services from the criminal justice system, and criminal complaints initiated by wives received significantly more arrest-and-referral activity than did complaints initiated by other family or household members.