The CSI Effect and the impact of DNA evidence on mock jurors and jury deliberations

ABSTRACT

The present research examined the CSI Effect and the impact of DNA evidence on mock jurors and jury deliberations using a 3 (Crime Drama Viewing: low, moderate, high)?×?3 (Evidence: DNA innocent, DNA guilty, no DNA control) design. A sample of 178 jury-eligible college students read a case of breaking and entering. Pre-deliberation, some support for a CSI Effect was found with high viewers’ extent of guilt ratings significantly lower than moderate and low viewers’ in the no DNA control and the DNA innocent conditions. This effect was not present for verdicts. Contrary to a CSI Effect, crime drama viewing was not related to guilt judgments with incriminating DNA evidence. A content analysis of comments made during deliberations found little support for the CSI Effect entering the jury room. Specifically, CSI Effect predictions were not supported when examining the discussion of DNA evidence, expressing DNA opinions, or mentioning missing evidence. Overall, the limited CSI Effect found for individuals was attenuated during deliberation. The alarm raised over a possible CSI Effect influencing jury decision making may be unwarranted.     

Childhood and Adolescent Predictors of Late Onset Criminal Careers

This study explores the emergence of a criminal career in adulthood. The main hypothesis tested is that late criminal onset (at age 21 or later) is influenced by early factors that delay antisocial manifestations. The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) was used to examine early determinants of criminal behavior. 400 Inner London males were followed from ages 8–10 to 48–50, and were classified as follows: 35 late onsetters who were first convicted at age 21 or later, and did not have high self-reported delinquency at ages 10–14 and 15–18; 129 early onsetters first convicted between ages 10 and 20; and 236 unconvicted males. Odds ratios and logistic regression analyses revealed that the best predictors of late onset offenders compared with early onset offenders included nervousness, having few friends at ages 8–10, and not having sexual intercourse by age 18. The best predictors of late onset offenders compared with nonoffenders included teacher-rated anxiousness at ages 12–14 and high neuroticism at age 16. It is concluded that being nervous and withdrawn protected boys against offending in adolescence but that these protective effects tended to wear off after age 21. These findings show that adult offending can be predicted from childhood, and suggest that early intervention might prevent a variety of maladjustment problems and difficulties in adult life.

Is racial separation inevitable and legal?

Her major publications include Dilemmas of Black Politics: Issues of Leadership and Strategy(1993) and The Making of Energy and Telecommunications Policy(1995).     

Segregation,regulation, and the gendering of space at the University of Wales,Bangor, 1884–1907

ABSTRACT

In 1892, the Senate of the University College of North Wales in Bangor conducted an enquiry into the behaviour of Frances Hughes, Lady Principal of the women’s hall of residence, for defamatory remarks she had made about one of her students. Her accusations instigated a scandal that rocked the provincial college to its core, led to two separate libel lawsuits, and was even mentioned in the House of Lords. Using the ‘Bangor College Scandal’ as a case study, this article explores how student life in the new civic universities of the late-nineteenth century was shaped by regulation and supervision, as university authorities sought to avoid controversy through limiting mixed-gender interaction. It will argue that this control was often manifested in spatial terms, enabled by the deliberate design and arrangement of university spaces.     

What is grievance thinking and how can we measure this in sexual offenders?

Purpose. This study proposes and examines a three‐stage model of the grievance process, one of the dynamic risk factors related to risk of sexual recidivism, and aims to evaluate some of the existing measures of this construct. Methods. The research used a sample of 322 male sexual offenders who had completed a cognitive–behavioural programme that aims to reduce recidivism in higher‐risk sexual offenders (as measured using a static actuarial tool). Participants completed two questionnaires measuring aspects of grievance thinking pre‐ and post‐treatment. Results. The results indicated some support for stages 1 and 2 of the proposed model. Contrary to the study hypotheses, results indicated that both measures used have similar psychometric properties. Pre‐ to post‐change analyses suggest that the custodial treatment programme may be having some effect on grievance thinking. However, generally offenders' scores on both measures were low pre‐ and post‐treatment and as a result, according to individual change analyses, the majority did not demonstrate reliable or clinically significant change. Those who were classed as high scorers on either measure did, however, demonstrate such change. Conclusions. Further exploration of a three‐stage model of grievance is warranted. It appears that current measures of grievance in sexual offenders are not adequate to capture this concept fully.     

Personality typologies of male juvenile offenders using a cluster analysis of the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory introduction

The Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI) is a unique adolescent instrument that attempts to delineate between personality and acute symptoms. This study sought to explore typologies based on the Personality Pattern scales of the MACI in a sample of detained male juvenile offenders (N = 103). A Ward's method cluster analysis yielded a four-cluster solution, and each cluster was provided a clinically relevant label: (a) disruptive, antisocials; (b) agreeable, antisocials; (c) anxious, prosocials; and (d) reactive, depressives. The largest group consisted of the reactive depressives (n = 41). This suggests the importance of considering the role of internalizing problems as a conduit to delinquency in addition to antisocial personality. No interaction between cluster membership and offense history or race was found.     

Market Demand for Civic Affairs News

This paper uses time series methods to test the relationship between civic affairs content and audience share for the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news in the mid-1990s. Because these programs competed in the same market, but varied the amount of their civic affairs coverage, they present an excellent opportunity to analyze this relationship. The study uses hand-coded news abstracts and O.J. Simpson murder trial coverage as separate measures of news content. The study finds that lower levels of civic affairs content and higher levels of O.J. news are associated with greater audience share.