The effects of stealing thunder in criminal and civil trials

The effectiveness of a persuasion technique referred to asstealing thunder was assessed in two simulated jury trials. Stealing thunder is defined as revealing negative information about oneself (or, in a legal setting, one's client) before it is revealed or elicited by another person. In Study 1, 257 college students read or heard one of three versions of a criminal assault trial in which a damaging piece of evidence about the defendant was absent (no thunder), brought up by the prosecutor (thunder), or brought up by the defense attorney and repeated by the prosecutor (stolen thunder). In Study 2, 148 college students heard a civil negligence trial in which damaging evidence about the key plaintiff's witness was absent (no thunder), brought up by the defendant's attorney (thunder), or brought up by the witness himself (stolen thunder). In both studies, stealing thunder significantly reduced the impact of the negative information. A path analysis of the processes underlying the effect suggested that verdicts were affected because of enhanced credibility.Often a difficult decision in opening statements is whether, and if so how, to volunteer weaknesses. This involves determining your weaknesses and predicting whether your opponent intends to use them at trial. There is obviously no point in volunteering a weakness that would never be raised at trial. Where, however, that weakness is apparent and known to the opponent, you should volunteer it. If you don't, your opponent will, with twice the impact. (Mauet, 1992, pp. 47–48)We would like to thank Michelle Cox, Gim Koay, Dana Koay, and Ralph Mueller for their helpful input. Thanks also to Irv Horowitz and Steve Karau for their comments on earlier drafts.     

Global rights and regional jurisprudence

This article asks whether a “law-as-integrity” approach to human rights adjudication provides a theoretical framework within which to make sense of authoritative regional interpretations of basic human rights for the global community. To focus analysis, I consider U.S. court interpretations of international human rights as an interpretive context. I argue that, with appropriate modification so as to include the world community as a “community of principle” for purposes of human rights adjudication, the law-as-integrity perspective permits disputes surrounding the legality of human rights to revolve around competing interpretive claims backed up by justifying legal theories, rather than as ideological battles external to a juridical philosophy of rights.     

RELIGION AND CRIME REEXAMINED: THE IMPACT OF RELIGION,SECULAR CONTROLS,AND SOCIAL ECOLOGY ON ADULT CRIMINALITY*

Since Hirschi and Stark's (1969) surprising failure to find religious (“hellfire”) effects on delinquency, subsequent research has generally revealed an inverse relationship between religiosity and various forms of deviance, delinquency, and crime. The complexity of the relationship and conditions under which it holds, however, continue to be debated. Although a few researchers have found that religion's influence is noncontingent, most have found support—especially among youths—for effects that vary by denomination, type of offense, and social and/or religious context. More recently the relationship has been reported as spurious when relevant secular controls are included. Our research attempts to resolve these issues by testing the religion-crime relationship in models with a comprehensive crime measure and three separate dimensions of religiosity. We also control for secular constraints, religious networks, and social ecology. We found that, among our religiosity measures, participation in religious activities was a persistent and noncontingent inhibiter of adult crime.     

Legal and ethical issues in the use of antiandrogens in treating sex offenders

Antiandrogen treatment of sexual offenders raises serious legal and ethical considerations in both the medical profession and in the courts. Discussion is offered on the use of antiandrogens in both an involuntary and voluntary context. The potential negative impact of this treatment modality on such constitutional issues as privacy interests, right to procreative freedom, freedom of speech and communication, and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment is explored and notable, germane court cases are presented. The need for clear ethical guidelines for the administration of this treatment is stressed.     

Malpractice issues in heart transplantation

As organ transplantation procedures become accepted as standard medical practice, it is anticipated that the frequency of liability claims against transplant care providers will increase. This article examines current statutory and common law analyses of malpractice issues in transplantation, with particular attention given to issues of informed consent as they arise both for the organ donor and donee.     

The Emergence of Environmental Concerns: Hydroelectric Schemes in Scotland

Regulating the environmental impacts of hydroelectric schemesis of increasing importance in the light of the strong policydrive towards expanding the proportion of energy gained fromrenewable sources. Yet hydroelectric schemes are significantin another way. They provide an unusual example of a technologythat has changed little over the last 100 years and thus offersa real opportunity to judge the impact of a changing regulatoryclimate. In Scotland, three distinct phases can be detected.Earlier controls focussed on the protection of private interests,especially fishing rights, with authorisations secured throughPrivate Acts of Parliament. This was followed by a period wherepromotion of such schemes lay with public bodies; though undergeneral statutory duties, ultimately the balancing of environmentaland other interests lay with such bodies who acted with fewexternal controls. Privatisation of electricity generation in1989, coupled with the growing development of relevant EuropeanCommunity legislation, dramatically shifted the regulatory balances.Environmental Assessment requirements and now the obligationsof the Water Framework Directive have substantially alteredthe concept and scope of environmental concerns in this field.