Two-Year Reliability of the Propensity for Abusiveness Scale

The Propensity for Abusiveness Scale (PAS; Dutton [1995a] J. Fam. Violence 10[2]: 203–221) has been shown to correlate with both physical and psychological abuse in a variety of samples including gay men, assaultive males, and male and female college students (Clift, 2001; Dutton et al., 2001). For the current study, 27 male and 37 female university students completed the PAS during the 1998–1999 and the 2000–2001 school years. A 2-year test–retest reliability coefficient of r = .851 was found for women and a reliability coefficient of r = .629 was found for men. The combined sample had a reliability coefficient of r = .774. Moderate test–retest reliability coefficients were also found for each of the subscales.     

Testing the Trauma Model of Violence

The present study sought to explore the relationship between trauma and violence, as measured by the Traumatic Events Questionnaire and the Conflict Tactics Scale. Using Multiple Regression Analysis, several types of traumatic experiences were studied as predictors to violent behavior in 55 graduate students. Results suggest that trauma as a set, as well as being the victim of a violent crime, are significantly related to future violent behavior. However, no other individual predictor variable, including being the victim of childhood physical abuse, significantly predicted future violence. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Comparing Wife Abuse Perceptions Between Chinese Police Officers and Social Workers

Seventy-one Chinese social workers and 74 Chinese police officers residing in Hong Kong were surveyed on their gender-role attitudes, endorsement of wife abuse myths, and definitions of wife abuse. Results showed that compared to social workers, police officers held more conservative gender-role attitudes, endorsed more myths about wife abuse, and adopted more restrictive definitions of physical and psychological wife abuse. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that definitions of wife abuse were related to different predictors for these two groups of professionals. Among social workers, egalitarian gender-role attitudes were a significant predictor of broad definitions of physical wife abuse, but no significant predictor was found for psychological wife abuse. Among police officers, significant predictors of definitions of physical wife abuse included marital status, educational attainment, and endorsement of wife abuse myths; gender-role attitudes were the only significant predictor of definitions of psychological wife abuse.     

Mothers on Trial: Discourses of Cot Death and Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy

This article explores some of the issues raised by Munchausens Syndrome by Proxy (MSbP) and the relationship between medicine and law, specifically the discourses which feature in the courtroom portraying motherhood and expectations of parenting. These discourses are often hidden yet play a determining role in prosecutions for alleged maltreatment of children involving medically unexplained infant death syndrome. We offer a critique of MSbP and seek to unveil the assumptions about mothers, the parent predominantly affected by the diagnosis, and mothering that underlie the association of women accused of deliberating harming their children. We suggest such insights are valuable because although the syndrome has never acquired a clear medical or legal definition, it has had repeated appearances in the literature and courtroom over the last 25 years and has more recently attracted attention from government, health care practitioners, academics and the media. We explore these issues through an examination of two recent Court of Appeal decisions in England: those of Sally Clark and Angela Cannings.     

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。