A method for calculating the strength of evidence associated with an earwitness's claimed recognition of a familiar speaker

The present paper proposes and demonstrates a method for assessing strength of evidence when an earwitness claims to recognize the voice of a speaker who is familiar to them. The method calculates a Bayes factor that answers the question: What is the probability that the earwitness would claim to recognize the offender as the suspect if the offender was the suspect versus what is the probability that the earwitness would claim to recognize the offender as the suspect if the offender was not the suspect but some other speaker from the relevant population? By “claim” we mean a claim made by a cooperative earwitness not a claim made by an earwitness who is intentionally deceptive. Relevant data are derived from naïve listeners' responses to recordings of familiar speakers presented in a speaker lineup. The method is demonstrated under recording conditions that broadly reflect those of a real case.     

Application of Enhanced Point Estimators to a Sample of In Vivo CT‐derived Facial Soft Tissue Thicknesses

Facial approximations based on facial soft tissue depth measurement tables often utilize the arithmetic mean as a central tendency estimator. Stephan et al. (J Forensic Sci 2013;58:1439) suggest that the shorth and 75‐shormax statistics are better suited to describe the central tendency of non‐normal soft tissue depth data, while also accommodating normal distributions. The shorth, 75‐shormax, arithmetic mean, and other central tendency estimators were evaluated using a CT ‐derived facial soft tissue depth dataset. Differences between arithmetic mean and shorth mean for the tissue depths examined ranged from 0 mm to +2.3 mm (average 0.6 mm). Differences between the arithmetic mean plus one standard deviation (to approximate the same data points covered by the 75‐shormax) and 75‐shormax values ranged from ?0.8 mm to +0.7 mm (average 0.2 mm). The results of this research suggest that few practical differences exist across the central tendency point estimators for the evaluated soft tissue depth dataset.     

Influence of acculturation strategies on the judgement and punishment of an offender of North African descent

Very few studies have examined the influence of the acculturation strategies of an offender of foreign descent on the way a third party judges the personality and action of that offender. The aim of our study was thus to measure the effect of three variables (Seriousness of the harm suffered by the victim; Type of acculturation strategy of the offender; Level of Social Dominance Orientation [SDO]) of the person making the judgement) on the judgements and decisions made by a sample of students faced with a situation of physical aggression committed by a man of North African descent living in France. After reading a scenario describing a criminal act committed by a man of North African descent, who had or had not adopted French culture, 168 French students completed a judgement scale concerning the criminal act and the offender and an SDO scale. The results show that the crime was perceived as less serious when the perpetrator had adopted French culture than when he had not. The perpetrator was also judged less severely. Participants with higher levels of SDO advocated harsher punishment and attributed the crime to the offender’s personality. We discuss these results and identify new avenues for research.     

The Sexual Violence Risk-20: factor structure and psychometric properties

Although the Sexual Violence Risk-20 (SVR-20) is widely used, its psychometric properties have only been investigated in a limited number of studies. This study explored the factor structure of the SVR-20 and examined its psychometric properties. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the fit of the original three-domain model of the SVR-20. The CFA showed that the original structure was not satisfactory. Exploratory principal components analysis (PCA) was conducted in search of a more optimal factor structure. Psychometric properties (i.e., internal consistency, predictive value, and convergent validity) of both the original domains and alternative factors were investigated. The PCA and subsequent CFAs pointed in the direction of an alternative, more optimal three-factor solution. The three alternative factors were labeled as Antisociality, Sexual deviance, and Problematic thinking and produced better internal consistency coefficients than the original domains. However, the validity of the SVR-20 was modest and no evidence was found indicating that the alternative factors were better in this regard as compared to the original domains. Despite the overall superiority of actuarial measures in predicting recidivism, the structured professional judgment of the SVR-20 proved to be more predictive of sexual, violent, and general recidivism than its actuarial scoring method.     

法治视野下的警察执法违法行为规制

近年来,新闻媒体不断披露的有关公安机关或人民警察违法犯罪案件,引起人们对公安机关及人民警察的极大关注。不仅对警民关系的健康发展造成影响,而且带来“法律信仰”危机。“执法者违法”现象的形成固然有执法者自身素质不高等原因,但其根源在于我国现有警察制度自身的缺陷。通过分析我国警察制度的现状,从制度层面上分析“执法者违法”现象的产生原因,探析现有警察制度存在的不足,进而提出制度改革的若干意见。     

编造并传播证券交易虚假信息罪争议研究

我国学界目前对编造并传播证券交易虚假信息罪的客观要件、主观要件、罪数界限在认识上存在较大的分歧,经逐一比较分析,方可得出合理结论。     

少数民族自治区人力资源对经济增长和产业结构变动的影响分析

文章利用第五次人口普查的资料,分析了我国五个少数民族自治区人力资源增长的状况,及其对经济增长的促进作用,揭示了人力资本存量增长质量低,第二、第三产业人力资本积累速度落后于劳动力转移速度,以及人力资源开发和利用与产业结构变动不同步的问题,并提出少数民族地区加快人力资源开发的措施。     

浅谈图书馆如何适应学院的发展

本文就图书馆如何适应学院的发展,顺应新的形势,为高职教学和科研服务,以及图书馆面临着的困难和“藏”与“用”的矛盾,从提高文献采购质量、强化图书馆内阅功能、调整和延长开放服务时间、改进读者服务工作、认真做好新生教育工作等几个方面联系实际,阐述了图书馆如何适应学院教学工作和科研的发展,紧紧地围绕学院的中心工作,更好地发挥图书馆功能的方法和措施。     

新生代农民工培训供给需求与培训意愿综合关系实证研究——对深圳新生代农民工教育培训的调查

新生代农民工已经成为中国农民工的主体,他们的劳动素质不仅关系到其自身的就业机会和收入水平,也会影响到中国的整体素质和国家竞争力.因此,如何通过教育培训提高新生代农民工的素质和融入城市的能力是现实必须解决的问题.