The status of the extracorporeal embryo in German law (Part I).

The legislator, in the German Federal Republic, has opted for a specific legal solution in relation to the protection of the embryo. Carola Müller, in this article, describes this regulation as well as the reasons that have led to its adoption. The article finishes with an exposition of the existing social discussion in German society and the effect that the law has had.     

Beliefs About Wife Beating Among Arab Men from Israel: The Influence of Their Patriarchal Ideology

Despite the recent increase in public and professional interest in the problem of wife beating in Arab society, in Israel, and in the rest of the Arab world, there is a serious lack of empirical research on different dimensions of the problem in those societies. This paper presents the results of a survey conducted among a systematic random sample of 362 Arab husbands from Israel, in an attempt to examine the contribution of patriarchal ideology toward explaining their beliefs about wife beating. Although about 58% of the participants indicated that there is no excuse for a man to beat his wife, 15–62% still justified wife beating on certain occasions (e.g., adultery, failure to obey husbands, disrespect for parents and relatives). In addition, although the participants tended to perceive abusive and violent husbands as responsible for their behavior, 52% still expressed understanding of that behavior and, on some occasions, 23–43% even blamed the wife for violence against her. Regression and multiple regression analyses revealed that over and above the participants' age and level of education, their masculine sex-role stereotypes, negative and traditional attitudes toward women, nonegalitarian marital role expectations, and familial patriarchal beliefs were the most significant predictors of beliefs about wife beating. Implications of the results and limitations of the study are also discussed.     

Dirty tricks of cross-examination

A mock jury study was conducted to test the hypothesis that perceptions of a witness can be biased by presumptuous cross-examination questions. A total of 105 subjects read a rape trial in which the cross-examiner asked a question that implied something negative about the reputation of either the victim or an expert. Within each condition, the question was met with either a denial, an admission, or an objection from the witness's attorney. Results indicated that although ratings of the victim's credibility were not affected by the presumptuous question, the expert's credibility was significantly diminished—even when the question had elicited a denial or a sustained objection. Conceptual and practical implications of these findings are discussed.This research was supported by funds provided to the first author by the Bronfman Science Center.     

The relationship between education, experience, and police performance

This study used data from 299 police officers from 12 municipal police departments across the state of Virginia to determine the relationship between education and police performance. Performance was measured by supervisor evaluations of each officer's overall performance, communication skills, public relations skills, report writing skills, response to new training, decision making ability, and commitment to the police department. Significant correlations were found between education and most measures of performance. Most importantly, the results show a significant correlation between overall performance and education (r=24, p.<001). The only variables not proving to be significantly related to education were objective measures of the volume of arrests, number of times the officer required discipline, and number of accidents. Interestingly, the benefits of a college education do not become apparent until police officers gain experience. In addition, police, officers with only a high school diploma decreased in overall performance after five years of experience.     

Traffic accidents and drivers suspected for drug influence

All records from the Danish Medicolegal Council concerning drivers suspected for drug influences were examined for the 5 year period 1981-1985. 461 records were included, 62 women and 399 men. In 250 cases drugs from more than one of ten groups had been taken thus making 786 combinations of drug/driving. The major drug group was benzodiazepines, accounting for 65% of all drug intake. Opioids also contributed substantially, found in 38% of the cases. A traffic accident had occurred in 180 (39%) of the records. Drivers who had been taking antidepressives were involved in an accident in 67%, significantly above the mean. For benzodiazepines, the corresponding percentage was 43%, while for opioids it was only 23%, significantly below the mean. This striking difference has been demonstrated in most of the studies concerning drugs in traffic. It may support the hypothesis that opioids do not necessarily make driving dangerous, as do antidepressives, barbiturates and especially benzodiazepines.