A Perspective on Errors,Bias, and Interpretation in the Forensic Sciences and Direction for Continuing Advancement*

Abstract: The forensic sciences are under review more so than ever before. Such review is necessary and healthy and should be a continuous process. It identifies areas for improvement in quality practices and services. The issues surrounding error, i.e., measurement error, human error, contextual bias, and confirmatory bias, and interpretation are discussed. Infrastructure is already in place to support reliability. However, more definition and clarity of terms and interpretation would facilitate communication and understanding. Material improvement across the disciplines should be sought through national programs in education and training, focused on science, the scientific method, statistics, and ethics. To provide direction for advancing the forensic sciences a list of recommendations ranging from further documentation to new research and validation to education and to accreditation is provided for consideration. The list is a starting point for discussion that could foster further thought and input in developing an overarching strategic plan for enhancing the forensic sciences.     

Examining the Incidence of and Time to Recidivism Within the Risk Contingency Framework: A 20-Year Follow up Study

This study examined the extent to which the contingencies risk framework (consisting of dispositional, historical, contextual, and clinical domains) predicted detected recidivism (i.e., arrest or conviction). Secondary data were extracted on 413 prisoners who underwent a psychiatric evaluation, were assessed on the risk domains, and followed up over 20 years. There were 273 (66.1%) cases of recidivism for serious offenses (e.g., assaults). Criminal career outcomes examined included: years to and the incidence of recidivism. Statistics showed that chance classification of the incidence of recidivism was 21% more accurate for the recursive partitioning than the bilinear model. These results are consistent with the contingencies risk framework, support its use over linear models, and highlight its predictive utility.     

Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence Amongst Women of Reproductive Age in Lagos,Nigeria: Prevalence and Predictors

Research on predictors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in Sub-Saharan Africa is contradictory, necessitating further investigation. This study sought the prevalence and predictors of IPV among women in Lagos, Nigeria. Questionnaire data from 934 women visiting an obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Lagos were analyzed using multivariable methods. The 1 year prevalence of IPV was 29%, with significant proportions reporting psychological (23%), physical (9%) and sexual (8%) abuse. In-access to information, women’s autonomy and contribution to household expenses independently predicted IPV. The findings provide new incites for IPV prevention in Lagos with implications for further research.     

Max Weber, Socialism, and the Space for Time

In Economy and Society Weber provides a detailed criticism of socialism emphasizing the dynamic nature of the formal rationality of economic action, thus indicating the limits of bureaucratic rationality. Unfortunately, Weber's critique has received scant attention, commentators concentrating instead on remarks in his political essays. Weber's main argument against socialism is that it would lead to a decrease in formal rationality. Drawing upon Austrian political economy, Weber attempts to secure a 'realm of freedom' within anarchical capitalist production through emphasizing the dynamic nature of economic decision making which necessarily precludes the possibility of a rational socialist planned economy.     

Britain, the United States and the Syrian crisis, 1957

This paper seeks to analyze the Syrian Crisis in 1957 and its impact on the Anglo-American reconciliation after the dispute over Suez in the previous year. The Middle East remained at the forefront of British and American continued regional instability and led to close allied cooperation over the perceived Soviet threat in Syria. This ensured that by the time of the Washington Conference in October 1957 both Macmillan and Eisenhower agreed that the Middle East required a joint Anglo-American policy to safeguard vital regional interests.     

Conceptualizing Neoliberalism: Foundations for an Institutional Marxist Theory of Capitalism

This article argues that the common understanding of neoliberalism as a set of state policies emerges out of the problematic characterization of power within dominant mainstream and critical paradigms. Working from critical realist social theory and Marxian state theory, it presents an alternative theoretical framework to properly account for the complex unfolding of objective history. From this Institutional Marxist perspective, neoliberalism is theorized as a trend in the institutional organization of interlocking state and corporate power.