The importance of scientific evaluation of biological evidence — Data from eight years of case review

In 2009, the National Research Council published a report stating that the addition of more science and technology into the field of forensic science in the United States would be of great benefit to the judicial system. As a starting point to address this NRC report, one needs to make an assessment of the system. One factor that is continuously requested is an estimate of an error rate. In any given scientific area of forensics that is difficult to quantitate except by external review and audits. After eight years of requested defense review of cases with biological and DNA evidence, most cases appear to be scientifically sound in test methods and procedures. However, there were some cases where errors in the forensic science process did occur. This article takes information compiled from those eight years of defense review and summarizes the cases where errors have been discovered and discusses the scientific implications of these errors. The scope of this article is limited to crime scene collection and forensic science laboratory testing of biological materials for body fluid identification and DNA individualization to a source. The greatest value of defense review comes from (a) providing effective balance and independent oversight to the judicial process and (b) collecting data into a format that can be useful as a guide in training programs.     

Acculturation,Social Context,and Drug Use: Findings from a Sample of Hispanic Adolescents

Criminologists have largely neglected the influence of acculturation in the etiology of Hispanic drug use and delinquency. This is somewhat surprising since a long line of research from several disciplines has consistently linked higher levels of acculturation to greater incidence of negative social, health, and behavioral outcomes. A major shortcoming of this extant literature, however, is its failure to consider the acculturation-drug use link within a particular explanatory framework. This study attempts to address this oversight by examining the acculturation-drug use relationship within the context of gang membership, drug availability, and susceptibility to peer influence. Using data from a sample of Mexican–American adolescents residing in the American Southwest, a series of regression equations were estimated exploring the relative effects of acculturation, gang membership, drug availability, and susceptibility to peer influence on drug use. Separate analyses were conducted on minor (e.g., alcohol, marijuana) and major (e.g., cocaine, heroin) drug use. Findings indicated that all study variables, except acculturation, were significantly related to drug use.     

Experts Judging Experts: The Role of Expertise in Reviewing Agency Decision Making

What role does judicial subject matter expertise play in the review of agency decisions? Using a data set of decisions in which the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) is reviewed by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, we investigate this question and find that greater subject matter expertise does make it more likely that a judge will vote to reverse an agency decision.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Turner's turn with the CIA

Stansfield Turner: Secrecy and Democracy: The CIA in Transition Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1985,304 p., $16.95.

007s Analysis of KAL's Flight 007

Alexander Dallin: Black Box: KAL 00 7 and the Superpowers University of California Press, Berkeley, 1985, 130 p., $14.95

Oliver Clubb: KAL Flight 007: The Hidden Story The Permanent Press, Sag Harbor, N.Y., 1985, 132 p., $14.95

Knowing who's who

Ernest May: Knowing One's Enemies Princeton University Press, 1985, 561 p., $29.50

British intelligence from A To Z

Anthony Read and David Fisher: Colonel Z: The Secret Life of a Master of Spies Viking, New York, 1985, 264 p., $17.95

Setting the record straight

Nigel West: A Thread of Deceit: Espionage Myths of World War II Random House, New York, 1985, 285 p., $16.95

Unreliable Witness: Espionage Myths of the Second World War In England: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1984, 275 p., £8.95.

The catcher in the lie

Paul Ekman: Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage W. W. Norton &; Company, N.Y., 1985, 320 p., $17.95

The cat's meow

William M. Leary: Perilous Missions: Civil Air Transport and CIA Covert Operations in Asia. The University of Alabama Press, Birmingham, Ala., 1984, 281 p., $22.50

Proceed with caution

Ernest Volkman: Warriors of the Night William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, 1985, 434 p., $17.95

Beyond what the facts will bear

Walter Laqueur: A World of Secrets: Uses and Limits of Intelligence New York: Basic Books, 1985, 404 p., $21.95     

Insurgency theory and the conflict in Algeria: A theoretical analysis

In the early nineties it was widely feared that Algeria was on the verge of an Islamic revolution. These fears proved to be unfounded. This article seeks to explain the failure of the insurgency to topple the current government through the use of three models of successful insurgency movements: urban insurrection, peasant‐based guerrilla warfare and focoism. Analysis shows that the first two of these models cannot be applied to the situation in Algeria because of the nature of the Algerian topography, the lack of foreign sanctuaries for the insurgents and the authoritarian nature of the Algerian regime. The single success of the third model is a historical anomaly, unlikely to lead to the overthrow of the current Algerian government, but leading to a fourth and final model; urban terror. It is the clandestine nature of this fourth model which provides for the longevity of the current insurgency, yet because of its inability to meaningfully challenge the state, gain recruits, and maintain centralized control over the movement, the insurgency degenerates, perpetrating the seemingly senseless acts of violence currently occurring in Algeria today, the natural aftermath of a failed insurgency.     

Confronting Terrorisms: Group Motivation and Successful State Policies

Much of the recent debate among policymakers and in recent scholarship focuses on how states should respond to terrorism: whether they should use harsh policies to punish terrorists and thus deter future acts, or concentrate on root causes and reduce incentives to use terrorism. Often ignored in this discussion are the characteristics that distinguish terrorist groups from one another, and that influence the effectiveness of a state's actions. This article examines group motivation—national-separatism, revolution, reaction, or religion—as one key trait, and finds that these different “terrorisms” do affect the relative success of various counterterrorist policies.     

Bringing the Leader Back In: Internal Threats and Alignment Theory in the Commonwealth of Independent States

Traditional alignment theories, such as balance-of-power and balance-of-threat theories, suggest that states confronted by more powerful or threatening states are more likely to balance against those states than to bandwagon with them. Yet in the context of the newly independent states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (cis), this proposition has not held true. A refinement of Steven David's theory of omnibalancing sheds light on this empirical puzzle. Using in-depth case studies of Ukraine and Uzbekistan, the authors argue that the alignment calculations of cis leaders have been driven more by internal threats to those leaders' political survival than by external threats to the state. These internal threats include the more traditional variants, such as assassination attempts, coups, and civil war, but also include opposition leaders and parties that may be perceived as challenging a leader's political survival. The post–September 11 security environment and the u.s.-led war on terrorism has also fundamentally changed the strategic calculations of cis leaders, as the United States is now willing to assist leaders against Islamist extremism and terrorism, taking over a role formerly played by Russia. The theoretical nuances offered here provide a more robust and accurate understanding of alignment motivations in the cis, especially in light of recent revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan.