Accidental Trauma Mimicking Homicidal Violence

Homicide investigations represent an important function of death investigators. Although recognizing nonobvious homicides is crucial, an equally important role involves the identification of cases that initially present as possible homicides, but are ultimately discovered to not represent homicides. Failure to recognize such cases results in wasted time, squandered resources, false allegations, and potential life‐altering consequences. The authors review a series of cases wherein initial investigation suggested a possibility that the deaths represented homicides. By carefully considering additional information, including scene findings, history, and postmortem examination, each was determined to represent an accidental traumatic death. In addition to highlighting the importance of recognizing accidental traumatic deaths that initially present as homicides, the cases serve to highlight the fact that forensic pathology cannot be practiced without knowledge of appropriate ancillary information. Although guarding against cognitive bias is important in all forensic disciplines, including forensic pathology, access to vital case‐related ancillary information is an essential component of practicing medicine as a forensic pathologist.     

Staff Quality and Treatment Effectiveness: An Examination of the Relationship between Staff Factors and the Effectiveness of Correctional Programs

Although a growing body of research has focused on identifying the characteristics of effective interventions, relatively little research has looked at the impact that staff factors have on treatment effectiveness. The current research conceptualizes staff quality via three domains: staff characteristics, staff training, and staff supervision. Process and outcome evaluations of 54 community correctional facilities are used to examine the relationship between staff quality and reduced recidivism of program participants. The results suggest that measures of all three domains maintain substantively meaningful relationships with program effectiveness.     

The training of New Jersey emergency service first responders in autism awareness

This study investigated the extent and adequacy of training among New Jersey first responders (e.g. police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians) specifically as relates to a 2008 state law mandating that autism and hidden disability recognition and response training be conducted. The results show that a significant percentage of emergency service personnel have not completed the state mandated training. Recommendations for improving the training, such as by involving parents, advocates, and field and training personnel as a part of the training process, are discussed.     

Appropriately Using People Merely as a Means

There has been a great deal of philosophical discussion about using people, using people intentionally, using people as a means to some end, and using people merely (or just, or only) as a means to some end. In this paper, I defend the following claim about using people: NOT ALWAYS WRONG: using people—even merely as a means—is not always (prima facie or pro tanto or all-things-considered) morally objectionable. Having defended that claim, I suggest that the following claim is also correct: NO ONE FEATURE: when it is morally objectionable to use people (either as a means or merely as a means), this is for many different kinds of reasons—there is no one wrong-making feature that every morally objectionable using has in common. After discussing these claims, I use them to present and motivate what I call the “precaution” theory of norms against using people. I conclude by considering a few cases from the criminal law context—cases that are naturally described as using people—to assess the moral appropriateness of this kind of use in these cases, and to demonstrate how the theory applies to the real world.     

President Perot or Fundamentals of Voting Theory Illustrated with the 1992 Election

Different voting systems can lead to different election outcomeseven when voter preferences are held constant. Using the 1992 election as anexample, it is shown how the outcome of every positional votesystem can be found. Similarly, every possible cumulative andapproval vote outcome is shown. Multiple vote systems, likeapproval and cumulative voting, have disturbing properties. Usingthe 1992 election as illustration, it is shown how a candidate whowins under every positional vote system, who wins every pairwisevote (i.e. is the Condorcet winner), and who has the most firstplace and least last place votes may nevertheless lose underapproval or cumulative voting. Similarly, it is shown how acandidate who loses under every positional system, who loses everypairwise vote (i.e. is the Condorcet loser), and who has the leastfirst place and most last place votes may nevertheless win underapproval or cumulative voting.     

The uneven playing field of school choice: Evidence from new zealand

New Zealand's 10‐year experience with self‐governing schools operating in a competitive environment provides new insights into school choice initiatives now being hotly debated in the United States with limited evidence. This article examines how New Zealand's system of parental choice of schools played out in that country's three major urban areas with particular emphasis on the sorting of students by ethnic and socioeconomic status. The analysis documents that schools with large initial proportions of minorities (Maori and Pacific Island students in the New Zealand context) were at a clear disadvantage in the educational market place relative to other schools and that the effect was to generate a system in which gaps between the “successful” and the “unsuccessful” schools became wider. © 2001 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.