A journey into the unknown: Pretrial publicity and capital cases

This article examines issues related to pretrial publicity's role in the free press‐fair trial debate. First, the article provides a comprehensive review of existing research examining the effects of pretrial publicity on case outcomes. Second, it examines the presentation of prejudicial publicity items in a sample of newspaper stories on capital cases, identifying the types of factual and emotional publicity presented and suggesting areas that need to be more closely scrutinized in future research. The article concludes that cases that ultimately result in sentences of death receive both more and different types of pretrial publicity than cases that result in lesser sentences. The current state of empirical pretrial publicity knowledge, and the presentation of death cases, are discussed as they relate to the balancing of First and Sixth amendment rights.     

Hearing all sides of the story: The challenge of integrating teaching on sexual aggression into social work qualifying training

Abstract

In the present study we analysed to what extent the categories used in empirical child molester research were sociolegal (based on offence types) or psychopathological (based on nomological systems of psychological types or mental disorders). Based on a systematic Medline and PsycInfo search, 714 empirical studies on child molesters from 1972 to 2004 were analysed with regard to the categories and diagnostic procedures used. The majority of studies used a grouping procedure based on an offence-orientated criterion (child molesters versus others), whereas only a few referred to diagnoses and, hence, to nomological systems utilized in clinical psychology and psychiatry. The results also indicated the presence of extensive classification pluralism and a dominance of publication in specialized forensic journals. Critical consequences of this research practice are discussed with regard to comparability of studies, heterogeneity of study groups, theory development and, particularly, the generalizability of child molester research. Finally, we propose a research strategy that is grounded more profoundly in methodological considerations and a more interdisciplinary orientation in sexual offender research.     

A Semiotics of the Proxy

This paper approaches the stand-for relationship that is fundamental to semiotics from the point of view of a specific semiotic situation: that of relationships of proxy whereby a person is authorised to act for an absent party. I hope to open up the question of what a semiotics of the proxy might look like, but also make some observations about semiotics-in-general as a discipline reliant on proxy relationships. The paper makes special use of Derrida's writings on communication and Peirce's theory of signs. My reading of Derrida and Peirce is not exhaustive, but rather seeks to highlight the way that both thinkers provide useful frameworks for discussing the example of the proxy, and the challenges it represents.     

Mapping fears: the use of commercial high-resolution satellite imagery in international affairs

In October and November 2001, the Pentagon purchased the rights to all images of Afghanistan taken by the Ikonos remote sensing satellite, a high-resolution satellite owned and operated by Space Imaging, Inc. Ikonos is one of a growing number of privately owned and operated remote sensing satellites. It is suggested that Ikonos and other high-resolution satellites carry at least two challenges to national security policy makers. The first is a challenge to operational security – the ability to plan, prepare and carry out military operations in a controlled information environment. Second, commercial remote sensing presents a political challenge to policy makers. Policy makers today face a greater challenge in their efforts to maintain control over the content of debate concerning national and international security priorities and objectives. It is argued here that the nature of the security policy debate itself is in the midst of a fundamental shift in tone and quality as a result of remote sensing satellite technology. It was principally this latter challenge – and not a concern over operational security – that led to the Pentagon's purchase of all Ikonos images during the opening phases of the war in Afganistan.     

Does Child Undernutrition Persist Despite Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries? Quantile Regression Results

The eradication of child undernutrition and extreme poverty are important objectives for most societies. Countries with higher national incomes usually improve in both dimensions, but not always at the same rate. Using quantile regression, we show that poverty rates tend to decline with increased income at a roughly constant elasticity. In contrast, while the prevalence of child wasting declines at that same elasticity where it is most widespread, the elasticity becomes smaller as wasting becomes less prevalent. This finding suggests a greater need for increasingly targeted interventions to achieve a given reduction in undernutrition as its prevalence declines.     

Attention to Counter-Attitudinal Messages in a State Election Campaign

Research following the "selective exposure" model has focused on avoidance of political messages with which a person might disagree. But positive attention to such "counter-attitudinal" messages is worthy of study, in part because normative theories of democracy value exposure to information that might disturb citizens' political predispositions. Surveys of youth (N = 417) and parents (N = 430) examine attention to newspaper, television, and Web messages about candidates. While there is somewhat more attention to messages about and for a person's favored political candidate or party, forms of political involvement (knowledge, curiosity, and discussion) that predict this "attitude-consistent" attention also predict counter-attitudinal attention at least as strongly. Parents' education and students' exposure to civics lessons also predict both kinds of attention. These results suggest that attention to counterattitudinal political messages is worthy of further study as an important goal of political socialization and a criterion of citizen performance in democracy.