Innocent of the crime under investigation: suspects’ counter-interrogation strategies and statement-evidence inconsistency in strategic vs. non-strategic interviews

ABSTRACT

The study examines the counter-interrogation strategies applied by mock suspects (N?=?94), who are innocent of a mock crime under investigation but who were present at the scene, for different reasons, at around the time the crime occurred. Half were present at the crime scene to carry out a lawful act, the other half to carry out an unlawful act. Furthermore, this study examines the effect of the Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE) technique as a strategic interviewing technique (vs. a non-strategic technique), on suspects’ statement-evidence inconsistencies. Participants were randomly assigned to the two interview conditions (strategic vs. non-strategic) and were interviewed as suspects of a crime, which none of them had committed. The results show that the most commonly used counter-interrogation strategy in both groups was to be honest. However, 26.1% of the innocent suspects, performing an unlawful act, reported the strategy to be deceptive. In addition, the statements of suspects executing an unlawful act were significantly more inconsistent with the evidence in the strategic than the non-strategic interview condition. The increased statement-evidence inconsistency rates potentially put these suspects at risk of being assessed as guilty of a crime they did not commit.     

Soft power,ideology and symbolic manipulation in Summer Olympic Games opening ceremonies: a semiotic analysis

This paper is a semiotic analysis of Summer Olympic Games Opening ceremonies as performative texts. Owing to massive media attention, these events have become eagerly awaited global spectacles. However, with such a wide audience, the challenge is to convey both an Olympic welcome and something truly unique about the host city and nation. This creates a communication challenge and some interesting questions in terms of symbolism. Research into the content of Olympic Games ceremonies reveals an exercise both in forging internal cohesion and in projecting soft power. Soft power is an increasingly valuable currency in a multipolar world and opening ceremonies are a prime soft power opportunity. The paper seeks to uncover the ways successive Olympics Games organising committees have sought to balance the competing communicational objectives of opening ceremonies through double coding. The author considers every ceremony from Moscow 1980 to London 2012 in this comparative semiotic analysis.     

International labour standards: Challenging globalization ideology?

The article centres on the role of differential labour standards in the restructuring of the global economy. The denial of labour rights in Asia is a significant factor in the Asian investment boom and in the employment crises in the OECD countries. The first section outlines the Clinton administration's intervention on labour standards in Asia, the strident reaction from Asian governments and from US business interests, and the administration's rapid retreat into ‘constructive engagement’. The second section considers neo‐liberal arguments advanced in favour of nonintervention in the labour sphere since the freeing up of trade and market forces generates economic growth, which in itself improves labour standards. The assumptions underlying this model are critiqued. Finally, alternatives that recognize the significant influence of labour standards on global investment flows are identified. Here it is argued that the emergence of independent unionism in Asia could have a significant effect on the structure of the the global economy in the longer term.     

Sensibility in the era of global communication: a semioethic perspective1

This article proposes a phenomenological and semiotic analysis of sensibility in the era of globalization, which is the era of global communication. How are time, space, self, others, life, death, health, illness, work, employment, unemployment, free-time, development, underdevelopment, and so forth, perceived in today's world? As vast as this excursion may seem, these different issues concerning sensibility all bear on the problem of the relation between identity and alterity. The hypothesis guiding my analysis is that the common denominator in science and sensibility today is the ideology, or ideo-logic, of identity. However, taking Europe as our societal paradigm the ideo-logic of identity reveals itself as a menace to the difficult process of forming the European Union. In Europe – indeed, in world history at large – the logic of identity and of alterity can be traced in all the important phases that have determined peoples’ historical destiny. In the current phase of development in the social reproduction system of advanced capitalism, the contrast between identity and alterity is at an extreme, at the point of exasperation. In this article I intend to explore the possibility of opening sensibility to alterity not only in Europe, but in the anthroposociosemiosic sphere at large.     

Administrative Capacity Building of Public Administrations Under the European Financial Assistance

From a European perspective as referring to EU member states, which are receiving European financial assistance, the idea of assessment of the countries＇ administrative capacity represents a priority and an issue of concern not only for the new member countries but also for the all the member countries. Based on its functions, public institutions should perform an evaluation or measure their administrative and organizational capacity performance when significant changes occur, in order to facilitate the necessary improvements for their organizational and administrative capacity. Following these considerations, after studying the literature concepts about the administrative capacity and based upon an empirical research, this article aims： （1） to classify the European countries （EU27） according to their administrative capacity, based on some relevant identified indicators as following the European Commissions＇ reports from the official websites; and （2） to identify and analyze the influence and effects that strategic management and project management have on the administrative capacity of Romanian public administration using a survey which analyses the performance of the Romanian public administration.     

Superficial,not Substantial: The Ambiguity of Public Support for Europe's Security and Defence Policy

Abstract

Surveys such as the European Commission's Eurobarometer regularly reveal high levels of public support for European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). This paper argues, however, that public support for ESDP is only superficial, not substantial. First, there is no homogeneous ‘European’ public support for ESDP. Second, security and defence, as covered by ESDP with its focus on global crisis-management, rank very low among Europeans’ priorities. Third, Europeans are very sceptical about the appropriateness of military means, and hence a core element of ESDP, as a legitimate instrument in international affairs. These reservations are likely to have constraining effects on ESDP's future development. At the same time, there are compelling reasons for the further development of ESDP. Therefore, Europe's political elites should initiate a public diplomacy campaign inside the EU in which the case for Europe's further evolution as a strategic security and defence actor is made. ESDP operations are the most promising starting points as they illustrate both the normative and the ‘realist’ necessities of European engagement in global security affairs.     

广西特色农业经济下的乡村旅游发展战略思考

发展乡村旅游是当今旅游大发展的趋势,在特色农业经济下的广西乡村旅游发展,既有丰富的自然资源、独特的人文资源和政策制度支持等优势,又存在财政投入少、专业人才缺乏和资源整合不力等劣势,在外部环境中也面临有利机遇与挑战;目前广西乡村旅游的发展正处于快速发展的阶段,应采取旅游产业推动型为主导的发展战略,并在旅游需求推动、产业集群、因素辐射等层面采取相应的措施。     

关于资源型城市转型的几点思考

该文从中国资源型城市面临的新形势出发,就中国资源型城市的优势与发展道路的选择进行了探讨,并从主导产业的选择和产业结构重构的角度提出了资源型城市转型必须大力实施开放先导、科技创新和可持续发展等三大战略,形成以可持续发展战略为基础、开放战略为主导、科技创新战略为支撑的战略体系。     

书法教育与社会主义文化强国建设的战略思考

中华民族优秀传统文化、爱国主义与民族精神是文化强国建设的着力点和内生动力.书法教育具有育人育德、文化认同价值、文化传承价值、文化创造价值的社会功能,开展书法教育,将大大增强国民对中国文化的认同和提高中国文化的传承力、传播力与影响力.加强书法教育,将有利于推进社会主义文化强国建设.该文认为,书法教育必须坚持四个“结合”,即与培育和弘扬民族精神相结合,增强文化自觉与文化自信;与教育体制改革相结合,增强书法教育制度保障;与资源整合相结合,在创新活动载体中提升书法教育成效;与中国文化传播相结合,促进世界对中国先进文化的认同进而提升国际影响力.     

International bounty hunting: From problem to opportunity

Scholars have traditionally argued that Islamist terrorist groups tend to commit higher casualty attacks. Noting that casualty rates of attacks vary widely across Islamist terrorist groups, this study advances an alternative hypothesis that group organizational features and goal structures better explain differing casualty rates than does the overarching ideological type. Using both cross-national analysis and a case study of post-invasion Iraq, I demonstrate that there are two basic types of Islamist terrorist groups whose organizational and goal-structure features explain divergent casualty rates: “strategic groups” that function similarly to secular national-liberation and regime-change movements and “abstract/universal groups” that are affiliated with the global al-Qaeda network.