Public perceptions of white-collar crime and punishment

Although financial losses from white-collar crime continue to exceed those of street crime, the criminal justice system has traditionally focused on the latter. Past research suggested that citizens are more likely to support punitive sanctions for street offenders than white-collar offenders. Recent corporate scandals have increased public awareness of white-collar crime, but whether public attitudes have been altered remains to be determined. Using a 2005 national sample of 402 telephone survey participants, the current study examined citizen perceptions of white-collar and street crime, as well as attitudes regarding apprehension and punishment. This research extended prior studies by also considering the influence of sociodemographic characteristics as well as perceptions of white-collar crime and punishment on the public's support for increasing resource allocation. Implications for future research and development of more effective white-collar crime control policy are discussed.     

Mexican Intellectuals and Policy Alternation (2000–2004)

The political and intellectual landscape of Mexico has been changed by two dramatic events: a new democratic experience, with the triumph of Vicente Fox in the presidential elections of the year 2000; and the relevant role that intellectuals are playing in public opinion. Soon, the democratic experience turned from illusion to deception, basically because Mexican political culture still is authoritarian, and this is something Mexican intellectuals could not accept. Their critics point out that democracy in Mexico is as new as it is weak, and Fox's government has been attacked in the media as no other president in recent history.     

Spherical Photography and Virtual Tours for Presenting Crime Scenes and Forensic Evidence in New Zealand Courtrooms

The delivery of forensic science evidence in a clear and understandable manner is an important aspect of a forensic scientist's role during expert witness delivery in a courtroom trial. This article describes an Integrated Evidence Platform (IEP) system based on spherical photography which allows the audience to view the crime scene via a virtual tour and view the forensic scientist's evidence and results in context. Equipment and software programmes used in the creation of the IEP include a Nikon DSLR camera, a Seitz Roundshot VR Drive, PTGui Pro, and Tourweaver Professional Edition. The IEP enables a clear visualization of the crime scene, with embedded information such as photographs of items of interest, complex forensic evidence, the results of laboratory analyses, and scientific opinion evidence presented in context. The IEP has resulted in significant improvements to the pretrial disclosure of forensic results, enhanced the delivery of evidence in court, and improved the jury's understanding of the spatial relationship between results.     

Fatty Acid Profiles for Differentiating Growth Medium Formulations Used to Culture Bacillus cereus T‐strain Spores

Microbial biomarkers that indicate aspects of an organism's growth conditions are important targets of forensic research. In this study, we examined fatty acid composition as a signature for the types of complex nutrients in the culturing medium. Bacillus cereus T‐strain spores were grown in medium formulations supplemented with one of the following: peptone (meat protein), tryptone (casein protein), soy protein, and brain–heart infusion. Cellular biomass was profiled with fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis. Results showed peptone cultures produced spores enriched in straight‐chained lipids. Tryptone cultures produced spores enriched in branched‐odd lipids when compared with peptone, soy, and brain–heart formulations. The observed FAME variation was used to construct a set of discriminant functions that could help identify the nutrients in a culturing recipe for an unknown spore sample. Blinded classification tests were most successful for spores grown on media containing peptone and tryptone, showing 88% and 100% correct identification, respectively.     

Involving the Public: When Are Surveys and Stakeholder Interviews Effective?1

Scholars and practitioners alike advocate involving stakeholders in environmental decision making, although there is uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of public involvement tools and the degree of public involvement in the decision making process. Some researchers have gone a step further to promote the use of public surveys and stakeholder interviews as preferred means to include public concerns in environmental decision making. However, there is little evidence as to whether public involvement tools are effective at representing public preferences, especially when there is a shortage of technical information to inform public opinion. This study examines the effectiveness of surveys and stakeholder interviews for assessing the District of Columbia's environmental problems in a comparative risk assessment. The findings suggest that these public involvement tools are less effective when there is a shortage of technical data. Instead, more deliberative forms of public involvement may generate greater convergence of opinion regarding environmental problems.     

DART‐MS as a Preliminary Screening Method for “Herbal Incense”: Chemical Analysis of Synthetic Cannabinoids

Direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry (DART‐MS) served as a method for rapid high‐throughput screening of six commercially available “Spice” products, detecting various combinations of five synthetic cannabinoids. Direct analysis in real time is an ambient ionization process that, along with high mass accuracy time‐of‐flight (TOF)‐MS to 0.0001 Da, was employed to establish the presence of cannabinoids. Mass spectra were acquired by simply suspending a small portion of sample between the ion source and the mass spectrometer inlet. The ability to test minute amounts of sample is a major advantage when very limited amounts of evidentiary material are available. In addition, reports are widespread regarding the testing backlogs that now exist because of the large influx of designer drugs. This method circumvents time‐consuming sample extraction, derivatization, chromatographic, and other sample preparative steps required for analysis by more conventional mass spectrometric methods. Accordingly, the synthetic cannabinoids AM‐2201, JWH‐122, JWH‐203, JWH‐210, and RCS‐4 were identified in commercially available herbal Spice products, singly and in tandem, at concentrations within the range of 4–141 mg/g of material. Direct analysis in real time mass spectrometry decreases the time necessary to triage analytical evidence, and therefore, it has the potential to contribute to backlog reduction and more timely criminal prosecution.