Impact of stress and mitigating information on evaluations, attributions, affect, disciplinary choices, and expectations of compliance in mothers at high and low risk for child physical abuse

The objective is to know if high-risk mothers for child physical abuse differ in their evaluations, attributions, negative affect, disciplinary choices for children's behavior, and expectations of compliance. The effect of a stressor and the introduction of mitigating information are analyzed. Forty-seven high-risk and 48 matched low-risk mothers participated in the study. Mothers' information processing and disciplinary choices were examined using six vignettes depicting a child engaging in different transgressions. A four-factor design with repeated measures on the last two factors was used. High-risk mothers reported more hostile intent, global and internal attributions, more use of power assertion discipline, and less induction. A risk group by child transgression interaction and a risk group by mitigating information interaction were found. Results support the social information-processing model of child physical abuse, which suggests that high-risk mothers process child-related information differently and use more power assertive and less inductive disciplinary techniques.     

Gunshot location through recorded sound: a preliminary report

Using a video tape and three still photographs, we analyze recorded sound to attribute authorship in a fatal shooting incident. We measure the acoustic signature of the scene with four test detonations, and we discuss two methods of processing putative echoes in the audio band of the video. They allow us to locate 11 out of 17 shots, with a precision of 0.4 x 1.0 m2. Combining the location of the shots with the known positions of the participants, we arrive at the clear attribution of eight shots; three other shots (among which is the fatal one) probably issue from the same shooter, who remains unidentified within a small group of men. Our results lead to the exculpation of the main suspect. We analyze the statistical significance of the results, use Monte Carlo simulations to set an upper bound to the probability of false positives, and discuss areas of improvement of the method.     

Genetic profile of the Madeira Archipelago population using the new PowerPlex16 System kit

Allele and haplotype frequencies of 17 chromosome STR loci, 15 of them included in the kit PowerPlex 16 System from Promega, were determined in a sample of unrelated males from Madeira and Porto Santo Islands. PowerPlex 16 includes STRs not studied before in the Madeira population. The-kit includes two new allele markers (Penta D and Penta E), which proved to be extremely useful for paternity testing (PD = 0.952 and 0.977, respectively). The study revealed that the Madeira population does not differ from that of the north Portugal. Nevertheless, some loci presented alleles found in sub-Saharan and North European populations which were not reported so far in Portugal.     

STR data for nine Y-chromosomal loci in Guinea Equatorial (central Africa)

Allele and haplotype frequencies for nine Y-specific STR loci (DYS19, DYS389-I, DYS389-II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS393, DYS434, DYS437, and DYS439) were obtained from a sample of 57 males from Guinea Equatorial.     

Eastern European youth culture: The Westernization of a social movement

The Author thanks Michael Hughey for editorial suggestions, comments, and revisions.     

Detecting Deception Via Strategic Disclosure of Evidence

Deception detection research has largely neglected an important aspect of many investigations, namely that there often exists evidence against a suspect. This study examined the potentials of timing of evidence disclosure as a deception detection tool. The main prediction was that observers (N = 116) would obtain higher accuracy rates if the evidence against the suspects (N = 58) was presented in a late rather than early stage of the interrogation. This prediction was based on the idea that late evidence disclosure would trigger lack of consistencies between the liars’ stories and the evidence; this could be used as a cue to deception. The main prediction received support. Late disclosure observers obtained an overall accuracy of 61.7%, compared to 42.9% of Early disclosure observers. Deceptive statements were identified with high accuracy (67.6%) in Late disclosure, indicating that the technique in this form is beneficial mainly for pinpointing lies.