admin, Author at searchfortruth.info - Page 34 of 109

Essay: Storytelling Without Fear? Confession in Law & Literature

November 27, 2018October 4, 2017 by admin

Mea culpa belongs to a man and his God. It is a plea that cannot be exacted from free men by human authority.

Abe Fortas 1

I have only one thing to fear in this enterprise; that isn't to say too much or to say untruths; it's rather not to say everything, and to silence truths.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau 2 I want to talk about a certain kind of narrative that has long held a particularly problematic status in the law. As a kind of prologue to my remarks, let me mention the record of a criminal case that I stumbled upon in the Yale Law Library. It is from 1819 in Manchester, Vermont, where the disappearance of the cantankerous Russell Colvin led to an accusation that his feuding neighbors, Stephen and Jesse Boorn, had murdered him - to which, after their conviction, they eventually confessed, only to have it discovered that

Fired Cartridge Case Ejection Patterns From Semi-Automatic Firearms

February 21, 2019October 4, 2017 by admin

Abstract

During testimony, “experts” often cite that spent cartridge case ejection locations from a semi-automatic firearm indicate the location of the shooter based on the assumption that most spent cartridge cases land to the right and rear of the shooter. The authors of this study investigated whether spent cartridge case ejection locations are an accurate indicator of a shooter’s location. Eight different semi-automatic weapons most frequently used by police officers were used to collect data from eleven different shooting positions. The results highlighted the significant inconsistency of the spent cartridge case ejection locations that occurred across test positions even when several factors including firearm type, firearm position, and ammunition were accounted for. Of 7,670 bullets fired, over 25 percent of the spent cartridge casings landed somewhere other than to the right and rear of the shooter where it is commonly accepted they should land. That pattern inconsistency is significant...

Findings Are Now Firm: Ejected Shell Casings Can’t Reliably Tell Much About A Shooter’s Location

November 27, 2018October 4, 2017 by admin

Nearly 8,000 rounds fired by Los Angeles County (CA) sheriff’s deputies have now conclusively proved what the Force Science Research Center first asserted more than 2 years ago: The single greatest influence on where spent shell casings land when ejected from a semiautomatic handgun is how the pistol is physically manipulated by the shooter, not any rigid, intrinsic mechanical factor.

Indeed, the FSRC’s benchmark findings show that the ejection spread can vary up to 24 feet with the same gun, fired by the same shooter, depending on how the weapon is gripped and moved, according to the Center’s executive director, Dr. Bill Lewinski of Minnesota State University-Mankato.

FSRC’s scientific testing can have a significant impact in officer-involved shootings where LEOs are accused of lying about where they were positioned during a confrontation, based on where their ejected shell casings were found.

Just last week, for example, Lewinski testified on behalf of a...

A Comparative Study of the Effect of Subliminal Messages on Public Speaking Ability.

November 27, 2018October 4, 2017 by admin

A study investigated the effectiveness of subliminal techniques (such as tape recorded programs) for improving public speaking ability. It was hypothesized that students who used subliminal tapes to improve public speaking ability would perform no differently from classmates who listened to identical-sounding placebo tape programs containing no subliminal messages. Subjects, 26 students at a midwestern university, were divided into subliminal tape and placebo tape groups. Comparison of pretest and posttest surveys did not support the hypothesis. Although placebo group members evaluated their own confidence, improvement, and enjoyment higher than the subliminal group, the average final course grade of the experimental (subliminal) group was higher than that of the control (placebo) group. (Tables of data are included, notes and sample pretests and posttests are appended.) (NKA)...

7.3 Accessory

September 14, 2018October 4, 2017 by admin

As stated in Section 7.1.1 “Accomplice Liability”, at early common law, a defendant who helped plan the offense but was not present at the scene when the principal committed the crime was an accessory before the fact. A defendant who helped the principal avoid detection after the principal committed the crime was an accessory after the fact. In modern times, an accessory before the fact is an accomplice, and an accessory after the fact is an accessory, which is a separate and distinct offense. Some states still call the crime of accessory “accessory after the fact” (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 274, 2011) or “hindering prosecution” (Haw. Rev. Stat., 2011).

Sadism and Masochism: The Psychology of Hatred and Cruelty

November 27, 2018October 4, 2017 by admin

Abstract

These are among the most recent volumes in a series now being issued in English by Horace Liveright. Stekel is generally recognized as a disciple of Freud who has gone far beyond Freud himself, as well as other followers of the great psychologist, in his methods and in the extent of his practice. He is recognized as perhaps more romantic than scientific. In these two volumes he is largely concerned with the relationships of hatred and cruelty to psychologic reactions. It has been known since these subjects were popularized by Havelock Ellis that there is a clear relationship between the sex element and both the infliction and the enjoyment of cruelty. Dr. Stekel makes this clear by the recital of numerous cases from his practice and from psychosexual literature. His manner of presentation is such as to make almost anything he writes most interesting....

The Seven-Stage Hate Model: The Psychopathology of Hate

November 27, 2018October 4, 2017 by admin

Hate masks personal insecurities. Not all insecure people are haters, but all haters are insecure people. Hate elevates the hater above the hated. Haters cannot stop hating without exposing their personal insecurities. Haters can only stop hating when they face their insecurities.

Stage 1: The Haters Gather

Haters rarely hate alone. They feel compelled, almost driven, to entreat others to hate as they do. Peer validation bolsters a sense of self-worth and, at the same time, prevents introspection, which reveals personal insecurities. Individuals who are otherwise ineffective become empowered when they join groups, which also provide anonymity and diminished accountability.

Stage 2: The Hate Group Defines Itself

Hate groups form identities through symbols, rituals, and mythologies, which enhance the members' status and, at the same time, degrade the object of their hate. For example, skinhead groups may adopt the swastika, the iron cross, the Confederate flag, and other supremacist symbols...

Effects of Defense Counsel on Homicide Case Outcomes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1995-2004 [United States] (ICPSR 32541)

November 27, 2018October 4, 2017 by admin

Summary:

This study measured the difference that defense counsel made to the outcome of homicide and death penalty cases. One in five indigent murder defendants in Philadelphia were randomly assigned representation by the Defender Association of Philadelphia while the remainder received court-appointed private attorneys. This study's research design utilized this random assignment to measure how defense counsel affected murder case outcomes. The research team collected data on 3,157 defendants charged with murder in Philadelphia Municipal Court between 1995-2004, using records provided by the Philadelphia Courts (First Judicial District of Pennsylvania). Data were also obtained from the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System web portal, the National Corrections Reporting Program, and the 2000 Census. This study contains a total of 47 variables including public defender representation, defendant demographics, ZIP code characteristics, prior criminal history, case characteristics, case outcomes, and case handling procedures...

Motive and Criminal Liability

January 22, 2019October 4, 2017 by admin

According to Jerome Hall, “Hardly any part of penal law is more definitely settled than that motive is irrelevant." This thesis is endorsed, sometimes with minor qualifications, by almost all leading criminal theorists. Hall and these commentators must be understood to mean that motive is and ought to be immaterial to liability. Roughly, criminal justice is dispensed in two stages: first it is decided whether the defendant is liable; if so, it is next determined to what extent he is to be punished. it is beyond dispute that motive is relevant to the latter inquiry. Thus a bad motive might aggravate,or a good motive might mitigate, the severity of the defendant’s punishment but the goodness or badness of his motive does not bear on the prior issue of his liability.

Commentators should have been more critical of the thesis that motives are and ought to be material to sentencing, but not to liability. A defense of this thesis requires a theory about why a...

Extreme Hatred: Revisiting the Hate Crime and Terrorism Relationship to Determine Whether They Are “Close Cousins” or “Distant Relatives”

November 11, 2018October 3, 2017 by admin

Abstract

Existing literature demonstrates disagreement over the relationship between hate crime and terrorism with some calling them “close cousins,” whereas others declare them “distant relatives.” We extend previous research by capturing a middle ground between hate crime and terrorism: extremist hate crime. We conduct negative binomial regressions to examine hate crime by non-extremists, fatal hate crime by far-rightists, and terrorism in U.S. counties (1992-2012). Results show that counties experiencing increases in general hate crime, far-right hate crime, and non-right-wing terrorism see associated increases in far-right hate crime, far-right terrorism, and far-right hate crime, . We conclude that hate crime and terrorism may be more akin to close cousins than distant relatives.

Crime Scene Behaviors Of Crime Scene Stagers

February 21, 2019October 3, 2017 by admin

Abstract

In an article entitled, "Crime Scene Staging and its Detection," Hazelwood and Napier (2004) defined crime scene staging as “the purposeful alteration of a crime or crime scene in an attempt to mislead investigators and frustrate the criminal justice process” (p. 745). While it is true that crime scene staging can frustrate the criminal justice process specifically, generally speaking, crime scene staging is quite a complex societal problem. Staged crime scenes can potentially threaten public safety, the effective use of public resources, and the adjudication of homicide cases on the very broadest level. Unfortunately, there is very little published empirical research on crime scene behaviors in staged homicide cases that can be applied by scholar-practitioners and law enforcement professionals in the field. Therefore, the identification and analysis of crime scene behaviors of crime scene stagers is necessary in order to build an...

Murder as a Sociological Phenomenon

January 22, 2019October 3, 2017 by admin

Historically among most peoples the murderer has been looked upon as perhaps the most dangerous member of society, certainly not rivaled by any other offender unless it be the traitor. As discussed by most criminologists, the murderer is one who kills a fellow member of his society not by accident or negligence but with purpose or to defend himself in connection with an attempt to commit another. crime, such as robbery, or to shield himself from accusation by a person whom he has offended or abused. Therefore the term “murder” is more restricted than the term “homicide.” That is the sense in which the term is used in this paper. Did the limits of this paper permit, it would be worth while to trace in some detail the attempts of the various schools of criminology to explain the murderer. That survey, however, will have to be forgone.’

My own study of murderers was part of a larger project—a study of a sample of 486 ?

Stalking and Serious Violence

February 20, 2019October 3, 2017 by admin

Stalking, sometimes known as “obsessional following,” describes behavior characterized by the repeated unwanted intrusion of one person into the life of another, by either direct contact or communication. A characteristic of the behavior is that it occasions fear or apprehension in the victim. Dramatic incidents of stalker violence brought stalking to public prominence and were the impetus to the introduction of antistalking legislation that, in most jurisdictions, is framed in terms of a behavior that places a person in fear of physical harm., However, most stalkers are not violent; rates for violent behavior range between 30 and 40 percent in most reported series.2 Violence infrequently results in serious physical injury, with most victims being grabbed, punched, slapped, or fondled by the stalker. Serious violence is rare. It has been suggested that the homicide rate in stalking is probably less than two percent,4–6 but an analysis of prevalence rates of...

A Brief History Of Restorative Arts

November 27, 2018October 3, 2017 by admin

As early as 1200 BCE, the ancient Egyptians were practicing a range of restorative techniques on the emaciated features of the dead from filling the inside of the mouths with sawdust to improve hollowed cheeks to stuffing linen under the eyelids or replacing eyes with stones. They would continue this procedure, tending to any disability, injury or disfigurement until the face and the body were contoured to approximate the original features and shape of the person they were preparing for their death ceremony.

Since then, modern restorative techniques, renamed restorative arts in 1930, became an important sub-discipline of the aftercare services; mending the body when it exhibited obvious signs of trauma, disease or wounds from war to provide comfort to the bereaved by presenting a loved one who appears familiar in death as they did in life.

It was in 1912, when well-known embalmer, Joel E. Crandall introduced demisurgery, a practice he described as...

Why And How Normal People Go Mad

November 27, 2018October 3, 2017 by admin

Just about any ordinary person can slip into madness, believes APA President Philip G. Zimbardo, PhD. In fact, all it may take to trigger the process is a special kind of blow to one's self-image to push someone over the edge of sanity.

"My colleagues and I have demonstrated that situational forces...can generate surprisingly powerful contributions to make good people behave in bad ways," he said to a standing-room-only crowd in his presentation, "Why and how normal people go mad," at APA's 2002 Annual Convention in Chicago.

The basis for his ideas is his discontinuity theory, which posits that when people perceive a violation in some domain of functioning vital to their sense of self-esteem, they will search for ways to explain or rationalize the experience. An A-student who suddenly gets poor grades, for example, may develop sexual or eating problems, or exhibit violent fantasies--symptoms that could...

Effective Responses: High Crime and Disorder Areas

February 21, 2019October 3, 2017 by admin

Overview

There are a variety of ways to define high crime and disorder areas. For the purposes of this paper (as in the previous IACA Identifying High Crime Areas [2013] white paper), we will rely on three primary characteristics to define high crime and disorder areas. These include:

1. a relatively high volume of crime and disorder, 2. evidence of spatial clustering, and 3. an observable pattern of time occurrence and/or duration.

We recognize that this characterization of high crime and disorder areas shares many similarities with the definition of hot spots. Due to the large number of similarities between the two, in this paper high crime and disorder areas and hot spot areas will be treated as the same concept. Our goal is to help the reader identify these areas, understand contributing factors, develop interventions, and then evaluate their effectiveness in reducing crime and disorder. Police agencies and their communities...