When Does Quality Count?: Perceptions of Hearsay Testimony About Child Sexual Abuse Interviews

This study assessed how the quality of a sexual abuse investigative interview with a child and the age of the child influence jurors reactions to either the original interview with the child or to testimony by an adult hearsay witness (the interviewer). Participants (N = 360) were randomly assigned to 1 of 12 conditions in a 2 (type of testimony:hearsay testimony vs. child interview) × (interview quality: poor, typical, or good) × (age of the child: 4 years old vs. 10 years old) factorial design. Participants reached individual verdicts, answered a series of questions, and then deliberated in a group with five other participants. As predicted, jurors in the child interview conditions were more likely to find the defendant guilty if they read the good interview than if they read either the poor or the typical interview, but in the hearsay conditions verdicts did not significantly differ by interview quality. These findings suggest that there is a significant loss of information when the testimony of a hearsay witness is used in place of the actual interview with the child, and call into question the appropriateness of admitting hearsay testimony by interviewers.     

论国际反腐公约中滥用职权罪的特点——兼与我国刑法滥用职权罪比较

《联合国反腐败公约》是第一项全球性反腐败法律文书,对形成国际反腐败斗争的总体格局和健全完善我国的反腐败法律制度及对外开展反腐败国际合作具有重要和深远影响。《公约》第19条规定的滥用职权罪与我国刑法第397条滥用职权罪比较,两者既有联系又有区别,各有利弊。公约的这一规定对完善我国相关立法具有一定的借鉴作用。     

对“控权”与“扩权”的一点不同认识

为了解决滥用侦查权问题 ,学界提出了以对警察权力进行严格控制和立即赋予犯罪嫌疑人沉默权为代表的“控权”主张 ,而且似乎已渐渐成为共识。然而事实上 ,在当今中国 ,滥用侦查权力仅是局部的、技术层面的问题 ,可以通过内部不引起司法体制剧烈震动的措施逐步加以解决。在中国目前的政治、经济、文化等条件下 ,实现侦查目的的核心问题应是解决侦查主体战斗力弱的问题。如果不从国情出发 ,过快过激地对侦查主体“控权” ,对犯罪嫌疑人“扩权” ,那么 ,一方面可能使侦查主体的战斗力进一步弱化 ,从而影响侦查目的的实现 ,另一方面 ,可能使激进的主张因人、事、物等社会资源的严重不足而陷入虚置化     

Prevalence and Processing of Child Sexual Abuse: A Multi-Data-Set Analysis of Urban and Rural Counties

This study investigated how contextual factors affect the processing of child sexual abuse cases, from reporting to sentencing. We analyzed three types of data: (a) data compiled by the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape from monthly reports by all rape crisis centers in the state; (b) data from the Pennsylvania Office of Children, Youth, and Families; and (c) sentencing data from the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing. Results indicated that aggregate rates of reporting, substantiation, and sentencing were affected by county levels of expenditure. In addition, reporting and substantiation were affected by county-level factors, such that rural counties, counties with a higher percentage of individuals living below the poverty level, counties with higher expenditures, and counties with a higher percentage of stranger assaults had higher rates of child sexual abuse reporting.     

度冷丁滥用者毛发分段分析及其结果评价

以度冷丁滥用者为研究对象,在度冷丁滥用者毛发中检出度冷丁及代谢物去甲度冷丁、N一羟甲基度冷丁和N-乙酰度冷丁。60例度冷丁滥用者头发中度冷丁和去甲度冷丁的含量分别为103±130ng／mg和117±143ng／mg。度冷丁稳定地存在于头发中,检出时限至少为药后20个月,而去甲度冷丁则随着离头发根距离的增加而降低。头发分段分析揭示度冷丁在毛干中的分布和滥用史、剂量和含量存在相关性。     

Long-Term Effects of Witnessing Marital Violence for Women: The Contribution of Childhood Physical and Sexual Abuse

A sample of 313 college women completed a questionnaire about experiences with violence in childhood and adulthood and adult adjustment and relationship functioning. Nine percent of the women reported having witnessed some type of physical conflict between their parents. Witnessing marital violence was associated with other family mental health risks, childhood physical and sexual abuse, and adult physical assaults by strangers. Women who witnessed marital violence reported more symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder than other women, after family background and abuse variables were accounted for. Significant interactions between witnessing marital violence and childhood physical abuse were observed for measures of social avoidance and predictability in partner relationships, indicating that the effects of witnessing marital violence depended on the presence of childhood abuse. Implications of these results for research and interventions are discussed.     

Injuries and Health Care Use in Women with Partners in Batterer Intervention Programs

Objective:To characterize injury frequency, injury patterns, and health care seeking behavior in women with intimate partners enrolled in batterer intervention programs. Methods: A standardized telephone interview was conducted on a sample of women with male partners enrolled in batterer intervention programs in four U.S. cities. Information on prior injuries and the utilization of health care services was sought. Results: Four hundred and eighty eight of the 648 women (75.3%) reported a history of prior injury as a result of abuse. Contusions were the most common injury. Of the women reporting contusions, 233 (51.4%) reported contusions as their only injuries. Another 220 women (48.6%) reported other injuries in addition to contusions. In the majority of cases (63.2%) the contusions were to multiple body parts. When the contusion involved only one anatomical region, it was mostly to the face. A total of 192 of the 488 injured women (39.3%) reported ever seeking medical care for injuries caused by their intimate partner. Twenty-three women (4.7% of the injured cohort or 3.5% of the total cohort) reported having ever been hospitalized for injuries sustained from abuse.     

Parental Sociopathy as a Predictor of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Research on childhood sexual abuse has often examined, in isolation of one another, such highly correlated risk factors as parental substance abuse, domestic violence, and pathological family functioning. Investigating comorbid antecedents separately does not allow accurate specification of the predictors of abuse. Moreover, sexual trauma research has tended to neglect parental sociopathy as a risk factor. Given the limitations of past research, the present study examined the relationships among parental sociopathy, parental substance use, marital violence, poor family functioning, and childhood sexual abuse. We administered a battery of questionnaires to a nonclinical sample of 130 college women and replicated previous findings by showing that parental substance use predicted sexual abuse when examined in isolation. However, when parental sociopathy and the other risk factors were included in a regression model, parental sociopathy was the only significant predictor. Mother's and father's sociopathy predicted sexual abuse independently and when combined.     

Co-occurrence and Correlates of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depression in Physically Abused Women

Ninety two women presenting for treatment for marital problems and who were physically victimized by their spouses (e.g., pushing, shoving, punching) within the past year participated in this study. There were three study objectives: (1) document rates and co-occurrence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), (2) identify predictors of PTSD and depression symptom frequency/severity, and (3) systematically evaluate disorder-specific group differences in marital- and marital violence-related factors. Within the month prior to assessment, 29.8% of the sample met diagnostic criteria for PTSD and 32% for MDD. MDD and PTSD were significantly, but moderately, correlated at both the symptom and diagnosis levels. However, PTSD symptom frequency and depression symptom severity were predicted by different marital- and marital violence-related factors. PTSD symptoms were predicted by spouse's dominance/isolation tactics and intensity of husband-to-wife physical aggression while depressive symptoms were predicted by marital discord and intensity of husband-to-wife physical aggression. Comorbid women and those with PTSD only reported significantly more spousal fear and husband-to-wife physical aggression than those with MDD only or neither disorder. No group differences were found on rate of marital discord or spouse's controlling/isolating tactics. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical and treatment implications for abused women seeking treatment for marital conflict.