Showing papers in "Law and Human Behavior in 2000"

Improving risk assessments for sex offenders: a comparison of three actuarial scales.

Abstract: The study compared the predictive accuracy of three sex offender risk-assessment measures: the RRASOR (Hanson, 1997), Thornton's SACJ-Min (Grubin, 1998), and a new scale, Static-99, created by combining the items from the RRASOR and SACJ-Min. Predictive accuracy was tested using four diverse datasets drawn from Canada and the United Kingdom (total n = 1301). The RRASOR and the SACJ-Min showed roughly equivalent predictive accuracy, and the combination of the two scales was more accurate than either original scale. Static-99 showed moderate predictive accuracy for both sexual recidivism (r = 0.33, ROC area = 0.71) and violent (including sexual) recidivism (r = 0.32, ROC area = 0.69). The variation in the predictive accuracy of Static-99 across the four samples was no more than would be expected by chance.

Violence risk assessment and risk communication: the effects of using actual cases, providing instruction, and employing probability versus frequency formats.

Abstract: This article describes studies designed to inform policy makers and practitioners about factors influencing the validity of violence risk assessment and risk communication. Forensic psychologists and psychiatrists were shown case summaries of patients hospitalized with mental disorder and were asked to judge the likelihood that the patient would harm someone within six months after discharge from the hospital. They also judged whether the patient posed a high risk, medium risk, or low risk of harming someone after discharge. Studies 1 and 2 replicated, with real case summaries as stimuli, the response-scale effects found by Slovic and Monahan (1995). Providing clinicians with response scales allowing more discriminability among smaller probabilities led patients to be judged as posing lower probabilities of committing harmful acts. This format effect was not eliminated by having clinicians judge relative frequencies rather than probabilities or by providing them with instruction in how to make these types of judgments. In addition, frequency scales led to lower mean likelihood judgments than did probability scales, but, at any given level of likelihood, a patient was judged as posing higher risk if that likelihood was derived from a frequency scale (e.g., 10 out of 100) than if it was derived from a probability scale (e.g., 10%). Similarly, communicating a patient's dangerousness as a relative frequency (e.g., 2 out of 10) led to much higher perceived risk than did communicating a comparable probability (e.g., 20%). The different reactions to probability and frequency formats appear to be attributable to the more frightening images evoked by frequencies. Implications for risk assessment and risk communication are discussed.

A Classification Tree Approach to the Development of Actuarial Violence Risk Assessment Tools

Abstract: Since the 1970s, a wide body of research has suggested that the accuracy of clinical risk assessments of violence might be increased if clinicians used actuarial tools. Despite considerable progress in recent years in the development of such tools for violence risk assessment, they remain primarily research instruments, largely ignored in daily clinical practice. We argue that because most existing actuarial tools are based on a main effects regression approach, they do not adequately reflect the contingent nature of the clinical assessment processes. To enhance the use of actuarial violence risk assessment tools, we propose a classification tree rather than a main effects regression approach. In addition, we suggest that by employing two decision thresholds for identifying high- and low-risk cases--instead of the standard single threshold--the use of actuarial tools to make dichotomous risk classification decisions may be further enhanced. These claims are supported with empirical data from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study.

The Spousal Assault Risk Assessment (SARA) Guide: reliability and validity in adult male offenders

Abstract: We evaluated the reliability and validity of judgments concerning risk for violence made using the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide (SARA; Kropp, Hart, Webster, & Eaves, 1994, 1995, 1998). We analyzed SARA ratings in six samples of adult male offenders (total N = 2681). The distribution of ratings indicated that offenders were quite heterogeneous with respect to the presence of individual risk factors and to overall perceived risk. Structural analyses of the risk factors indicated moderate levels of internal consistency and item homogeneity. Interrater reliability was high for judgments concerning the presence of individual risk factors and for overall perceived risk. SARA ratings significantly discriminated between offenders with and without a history of spousal violence in one sample, and between recidivistic and nonrecidivistic spousal assaulters in another. Finally, SARA ratings showed good convergent and discriminant validity with respect to other measures related to risk for general and violent criminality.

The Uncritical Acceptance of Risk Assessment in Forensic Practice

Abstract: Forensic psychologists are frequently asked to conduction evaluations of risk assessment. While risk assessment has considerable merit, recent applications to forensic psychology raise concerns about whether these evaluations are thorough and balanced. Forensic adult risk-assessment models stress risk factors, and deemphasize or disregard entirely the other side of the equation: protective factors. Mediating and moderating effects must also be considered. Moreover, base-rate estimates may produce erroneous results if applied imprudently to forensic samples without regard to their unstable prevalence rates or the far-reaching effects of settings, referral questions, and evaluation procedures. Psychologists are offered a preliminary list of relevant issues for evaluating the merits of risk assessment in their forensic practices.

Incapacitation and just deserts as motives for punishment.

Abstract: What motivates a person's desire to punish actors who commit intentional, counternormative harms? Two possible answers are a just deserts motive or a desire to incarcerate the actor so that he cannot be a further danger to society. Research participants in two experiments assigned punishments to actors whose offenses were varied with respect to the moral seriousness of the offense and the likelihood that the perpetrator would commit similar future offenses. Respondents increased the punishment as the seriousness of the offense increased, but their sentences were not affected by variations in the likelihood of committing future offenses, suggesting that just deserts was the primary sentencing motive. Only in a case in which a brain tumor was identified as the cause of an actor's violent action, a case that does not fit the standard prototype of a crime intentionally committed, did respondents show a desire to incarcerate the actor in order to prevent future harms rather than assigning a just deserts based punishment.

Police responses to sexual assault complaints: the role of perpetrator/complainant intoxication.

Abstract: This study explored the impact of victim and perpetrator alcohol consumption on police officers' evaluations of an alleged sexual assault and their reported likelihood of charging the perpetrator. Two hundred and twelve police officers were presented with a vignette depicting an acquaintance rape in which the beverage consumption (beer, cola) of both the victim and perpetrator was systematically varied. Results indicated that the officers' perceptions of the complainant's intoxication level, as well as the gender of the officer, influenced officers' evaluations of the alleged sexual assault. The more intoxicated the complainant was perceived to be, the more negatively she was viewed. Female police officers evaluated the victim more favorably than male officers. The only factors related to the officers' likelihood of charging the perpetrator, however, involved their assessment of the complainant's credibility and their perception of the likelihood that the perpetrator would be found guilty in a court of law.

Truth, Lies, and Videotape: An investigation of the ability of federal parole officers to detect deception.

Abstract: The ability of a group of Canadian federal parole officers to detect deception was investigated over the course of 2 days of lie detection training. On the first day of training, 32 officers judged the honesty of 12 (6 true, 6 fabricated) videotaped speakers describing personal experiences, half of which were judged before and half judged after training. On the second day, 5 weeks later, 20 of the original participants judged the honesty of another 12 videotapes (again, 6 pre- and 6 posttraining). To isolate factors relating to detection accuracy, three groups of undergraduate participants made judgments on the same 24 videotapes: (1) a feedback group, which received feedback on accuracy following each judgment, (2) a feedback + cue information group, which was given feedback and information on empirically based cues to deception, and (3) a control group, which did not receive feedback or cue information. Results indicated that at baseline all groups performed at or below chance levels. However, overall, all experimental groups (including the parole officers) became significantly better at detecting deception than the control group. By the final set of judgments, the parole officers were significantly more accurate (M = 76.7%) than their baseline performance (M = 40.4%) as well as significantly more accurate than the control group (M = 62.5%). The results indicate that detecting deceit is difficult, but training and feedback can enhance detection skills.

Psychopathy (PCL-R) as a predictor of violent recidivism among criminal offenders with schizophrenia.

Abstract: Hare's Psychopathy Checklist--Revised (PCL-R) was used to test the hypothesis that psychopathy predicts violent recidivism in a cohort subjected to forensic psychiatric investigation and consisting of male violent offenders with schizophrenia (N = 202). Psychopathy was assessed with retrospective file-based ratings. Mean follow-up time after detainment was 51 months. Twenty-two percent of the offenders had a PCL-R score > or = 26 (cutoff), and the base rate for violent recidivism (reconvictions) during follow-up was 21%. Survival analysis revealed that psychopathy was strongly associated to violent recidivism (log-rank = 17.71, df = 1, p < 0.0001). The area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) of PCL-R total score to predict violent recidivism varied between different time frames from .64 to .75. Cox regression analyses revealed that other potential risk factors could not equally well or better explain violent recidivism in the cohort than psychopathy as measured by PCL-R.

Race, neighborhood disadvantage, and violence among persons with mental disorders: the importance of contextual measurement.

Abstract: The individualistic fallacy (i.e., the fallacy of assuming that individual-level outcomes can be explained exclusively in terms of individual-level characteristics) is a problem with most research on violence, and is particularly problematic in research on mental disorder and violence. This article illustrates the importance of measuring community context by showing that race is not an important predictor of violence among persons with mental disorders when neighborhood disadvantage is controlled statistically. More generally, these results suggest that researchers run the risk of perpetuating the individualistic fallacy in studies of violence by persons with mental disorders when they use individual-level risk factors as predictors, but do not control for community context.

Discrimination and instructional comprehension: guided discretion, racial bias, and the death penalty.

Abstract: This study links two previously unrelated lines of research: the lack of comprehension of capital penalty-phase jury instructions and discriminatory death sentencing. Jury-eligible subjects were randomly assigned to view one of four versions of a simulated capital penalty trial in which the race of defendant (Black or White) and the race of victim (Black or White) were varied orthogonally. Dependent measures included a sentencing verdict (life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty), ratings of penalty phase evidence, and a test of instructional comprehension. Results indicated that instructional comprehension was poor overall and that, although Black defendants were treated only slightly more punitively than White defendants in general, discriminatory effects were concentrated among participants whose comprehension was poorest. In addition, the use of penalty phase evidence differed as a function of race of defendant and whether the participant sentenced the defendant to life or death. The study suggest that racially biased and capricious death sentencing may be in part caused or exacerbated by the inability to comprehend penalty phase instructions.

The quality of forensic psychological assessments, reports, and testimony: acknowledging the gap between promise and practice.

Abstract: During the past decade, the field of forensic psychological assessment entered a period of standard setting, reflected in the publication of specialty guidelines for practice and in the proliferation of educational opportunities, training programs, and credentialing and certification procedures for forensic examiners. Representing significant efforts to advance the quality of psychological assessments in legal contexts, these developments foreshadow the promise of forensic assessment. During this same time period, new evidence emerged regarding the quality of forensic practice. This article reviews this evidence and evaluates current practice against the promise of forensic assessment. Forensic reports appear to be of higher quality than those described by commentators in the 1970s and early 1980s; nevertheless, the level of practice falls far short of professional aspirations for the field. The review identifies significant areas of weakness that demand the attention of professional organizations, accrediting agencies, educators, lawmakers, practitioners, and consumers.

Empathy and jurors' decisions in patricide trials involving child sexual assault allegations.

Abstract: In a mock-trial paradigm, 205 participants considered a patricide trial in which a child defendant claimed the patricide was done in self-defense after years of sexual abuse. Participants in an empathy-induction condition were asked to take the perspective of the defendant and to detail how they would be thinking and feeling if they were the defendant. Control condition participants received no such instructions. Results indicated that, compared to jurors in the control condition, jurors who were asked to take the defendant's perspective had more empathy for the defendant (without feeling more similar to or more sympathy for the defendant), found the defendant less guilty and less responsible for the murder, and were more likely to consider abuse to be a mitigating factor in the killing. Overall, compared to men, women were more likely to believe the defendant's abuse allegations, find the defendant credible, and consider the defendant to be less responsible for the murder. Women in the empathy condition found the defendant less guilty than did all other jurors. Finally, child defendant gender was also varied, but this had few effects on case judgments overall. Jurors, however, were more likely to believe that the girl defendant was sexually abused than the boy defendant. We discuss theoretical implications for understanding the social psychological construct of empathy as well as implications for understanding jurors' decisions in cases involving child sexual assault allegations.

Accuracy of investigators' verbatim notes of their forensic interviews with alleged child abuse victims.

Abstract: Verbatim contemporaneous accounts of 20 investigative interviews were compared with audiotaped recordings thereof. More than half (57%) of the interviewers' utterances along with 25% of the incident-relevant details provided by the children were not reported in the "verbatim" notes. The structure of the interviews was also represented inaccurately in these accounts. Fewer than half (44%) of the details provided by the children were attributed to the correct eliciting utterance type. Investigators systematically misattributed details to more open rather than more focused prompts. These results underscore the superiority of electronic recording when the content and structure of investigative interviews must be preserved.

The "hired gun" effect: assessing the effect of pay, frequency of testifying, and credentials on the perception of expert testimony.

Abstract: Three experiments addressed the proposition that jurors use short cuts in processing information when confronted with expert scientific testimony. The results of the first two studies demonstrated that experts who are highly paid for their testimony and who testify frequently are perceived as "hired guns." They are neither liked nor believed. The results of the third experiment replicated the hired gun effect and showed that it is most likely to occur when the testimony is complex and cannot be easily processed. The results were discussed in terms of the theoretical differences between central and peripheral processing of persuasive messages in a legal context.

The perceived validity of eyewitness identification testimony: a test of the five Biggers criteria.

Abstract: The U.S. Supreme Court has outlined five criteria on which evaluations of eyewitness identifications should be based (certainty, view, attention, description, and time; Neil v. Biggers 1972). We postulated that certainty plays a qualitatively different role from the four other Biggers criteria in evaluations of eyewitness identification testimony. Specifically, we hypothesized that participants would ignore reports on other criteria when certainty was high (the certainty-trumps hypothesis), but not when certainty was low. Participants (N = 386) read a fictitious trial transcript in which three of the five Biggers criteria were manipulated (certainty, view, and attention, or certainty, description, and time) and completed a questionnaire. The certainty-trumps hypothesis was not supported. Instead, the Biggers criteria combined only as main effects, not interactions, supporting a summative hypothesis. Surprisingly, collateral effects indicated that manipulations of one criterion (e.g., certainty) affected perceptions of other criteria (e.g., attention and view) and vice versa. Implications of the results are discussed.

Expert approaches to communicating violence risk.

Abstract: There has been virtually no empirical study of the way in which evaluating clinicians communicate their conclusions about the risk of violence toward others Risk communication has become particularly important in recent years, serving as the link between empirical data from recent studies and the understanding and use of such data by evaluators and decision makers The present study considered how psychologists and psychiatrists, identified as experts in violence risk assessment, responded to eight vignettes that systematically measured preferences for risk communication The vignettes involved the presentation of the following factors in a 2 × 2 × 2 within-subjects design, counterbalanced for order: (1) risk model (prediction vs management), (2) risk level (high vs low risk of the individual being assessed), and (3) risk factors (the predominance of static vs dynamic risk factors) A total of 71 individuals (41 psychologists, 2 sociologists, and 28 psychiatrists) responded to a survey mailed to 100 individuals, for a response rate of 71% Participants were asked to rate the value of six forms of risk communication for each of the eight vignettes There were few significant differences between the ratings assigned by psychologists and those assigned by psychiatrists The most highly valued form of risk communication involved identifying risk factors applicable to the individual and specifying interventions to reduce risk A repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance yielded a main effect for risk level and an interaction between risk level and risk factors The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed

Distributive and procedural justice in seven nations.

Abstract: The paper examines the impact of distributive justice and procedural justice variables on judgments in seven countries (Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Spain, and the United States). Subjects were presented with each of two experimental vignettes: one in which the actor unsuccessfully appeals being fired from his job and one in which the actor unsuccessfully goes to an employment agency to seek a job; they were asked to rate the justness of the outcome and how fairly the actor had been treated. The vignettes manipulated deservingness and need of the actor (distributive justice factors) and impartiality and voice in the hearing (procedural justice factors). Four hypotheses were tested: first, a distributive justice hypothesis that deservingness would be more important than need in these settings; second, a procedural justice hypothesis that the importance of voice and impartiality vary depending on the nature of the encounter and the forum in which it is resolved; third, because of their recent socialist experience, Central and Eastern European respondents make greater use of need information and less use of deservingness information than Western respondents; and fourth, that distributive justice and procedural justice factors interact. The distributive justice hypothesis is supported in both vignettes. The procedural justice hypothesis receives some support. Impartiality is more important in the first vignette and voice is more important in the second vignette. The interaction hypothesis was not supported in the first vignette, but does receive some support in the second vignette. The cultural hypothesis is not supported in either vignette. The implications for distributive and procedural justice research are discussed.

Witnessing-condition heterogeneity and witnesses' versus investigators' confidence in the accuracy of witnesses' identification decisions.

Abstract: Undergraduate participants were tested in 144 pairs, with one member of each pair randomly assigned to a “witness” role and the other to an “:investigator” role. Each witness viewed a target person on video under good or poor witnessing conditions and was then interviewed by an investigator, who administered a photo lineup and rated his or her confidence in the witness. Witnesses also (separately) rated their own confidence. Investigators discriminated between accurate and inaccurate witnesses, but did so less well than witnesses' own confidence ratings and were biased toward accepting witnesses' decisions. Moreover, investigators' confidence made no unique contribution to the prediction of witnesses' accuracy. Witnesses' confidence and accuracy were affected in the same direction by witnessing conditions, and there was a substantial confidence–accuracy correlation when data were collapsed across witnessing conditions. Confidence can be strongly indicative of accuracy when witnessing conditions vary widely, and witnesses' confidence may be a better indicator than investigators'

Selecting foils for identification lineups: matching suspects or descriptions?

Abstract: Two experiments directly compare two methods of selecting foils for identification lineups. The suspect-matched method selects foils based on their match to the suspect, whereas the description-matched method selects foils based on their match to the witness's description of the perpetrator. Theoretical analyses and previous results predict an advantage for description-matched lineups both in terms of correctly identifying the perpetrator and minimizing false identification of innocent suspects. The advantage for description-matched lineups should be particularly pronounced if the foils selected in suspect-matched lineups are too similar to the suspect. In Experiment 1, the lineups were created by trained police officers, and in Experiment 2, the lineups were constructed by undergraduate college students. The results of both experiments showed higher suspect-to-foil similarity for suspect-matched lineups than for description-matched lineups. However, neither experiment showed a difference in correct or false identification rates. Both experiments did, however, show that there may be an advantage for suspect-matched lineups in terms of no-pick and rejection responses. From these results, the endorsement of one method over the other seems premature.

Lawyers' questioning: the effect of confusing questions on witness confidence and accuracy.

Abstract: The present study investigated the effect on witness confidence and accuracy of confusing questions often used by attorneys in court. Participants viewed a videotaped film and were individually questioned about the incident 1 week later. Half the participants were asked questions using six categories of confusing questions (negatives, double negatives, leading, multiple questions, complex syntax, and complex vocabulary); the remaining half were asked for the same information using simply phrased equivalents. Confusing questions reduced participant-witnesses' accuracy and suppressed confidence–accuracy relationships compared with the condition where simplified alternatives were asked. Witness performance was impaired by the fact that mock-witnesses rarely asked for a confusing question to be explained or qualified their answers. This experiment demonstrates the importance of ensuring that lawyers ask witnesses simple, clear, questions.

Two steps forward and one step backward: The law and psychology movement(s) in the 20th century.

Abstract: The field of law and psychology has existed, in some form or another, for almost 100 years. The article presents a brief overview of law and psychology in the last century and shows that there actually have been two movements--one in the first third, and the other in the latter third, of the century. Given these movements, why has the law and psychology movement had so little impact on the law (and, for that matter, on psychology)? Failure to ponder--and answer--this question, may result in the demise of the movement. Given the power of law over individuals and societies, though, the application of psychology to the law is an important and useful way to assess the validity of laws and to ensure that psychological research can influence the law. This paper discusses 12 reasons that may have contributed to the relative failure of the law and psychology movement thus far. In presenting each of the reasons, and considering factors that have led to some successes in the field, the paper discusses methods and strategies that may help ensure the continued vitality and strength of the field of legal psychology.

Building mental health professionals' decisional models into tests of predictive validity: the accuracy of contextualized predictions of violence.

Abstract: To safely manage potentially violent patients in the community, mental health professionals (MHPs) must assess when and under what conditions a patient may be involved in a violent act. This study applies a more ecologically sensitive approach than past research by building the conditions that MHPs believe make patient violence more likely into tests of their predictive validity. In specific, the accuracy of MHPs' predictions that patients were more likely to become violent when they consumed alcohol was assessed based on a sample of 714 patients. The results indicate that MHPs do not discriminate well between patients who are likely to become violent during periods in which they drink from those who are not. MHPs' predictions appear more descriptive of the drinking behavior of a high-risk group than predictive of alcohol-related violent incidents. Thus, even when their apparent decisional processes are considered in tests of accuracy, MHPs' predictions of violence are only moderately more accurate than chance. This paper analyzes the implications of these findings for risk assessment practice and for conducting further clinically relevant research.

Development and validation of the Validity Indicator Profile.

Abstract: The Validity Indicator Profile (VIP; Frederick, 1997) is a two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) procedure intended to identify when the results of cognitive and neuropsychological testing may be invalid because of malingering or other problematic response styles. The test consists of 100 problems that assess nonverbal abstraction capacity and 78 word-definition problems. The VIP attempts to establish whether an individual's performance in an assessment battery should be considered representative of his or her true overall capacities (valid or invalid). Performances classified as valid are classified as “compliant” and reflect a high effort to respond correctly. Performances classified as invalid are subclassified as “careless” (low effort to respond correctly), “irrelevant” (low effort to respond incorrectly), or “malingering” (high effort to respond incorrectly). The VIP development sample included 944 nonclinical participants and 104 adults undergoing neuropsychological evaluation. The cross-validation sample consisted of 152 nonclinical participants, 61 brain-injured adults, 49 individuals considered to be at risk for malingering, and 100 randomly generated VIP protocols. The nonverbal subtest of the VIP demonstrated an overall classification rate of 79.8%, with 73.5% sensitivity and 85.7% specificity. The verbal subtest of the VIP demonstrated an overall classification rate of 75.5%, with 67.3% sensitivity and 83.1% specificity.

The Millon clinical inventories, research critical of their forensic application, and Daubert criteria.

Abstract: Pharmaceuticals (1993), Rogers, Salekin, & Sewell (1999) assert that the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II (MCMI-II) is fit only for circumscribed use and that the MCMI-III should not be used at all in such settings because of poor convergent and discriminant validity. Rogers et al. list a number of additional complaints, including the fact that neither the MCMI-II nor MCMI-III has been validated against specific legal criteria such as legal insanity or competence to proceed to trial, that the MCMI-II was validated against DSM-III-R criteria rather than DSM-IV criteria for personality disorders, and that the MCMI-III test manual did not sufficiently describe procedures used in determining content validity against DSM-IV. In this paper we respond to the issues raised by Rogers et al. (1999) in their analysis of forensic applications and admissibility of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory under Daubert criteria. More specifically, we detail several methodological shortcomings in their study and detail misleading conclusions that they render. Additionally, we address criticisms related to the MCMI-III as a measure of DSM-IV disorders, including concerns raised about the content validity of the MCMI-III, as well as the contention that the MCMI "cannot be employed to address elements of legal standards" (Rogers et al., 1999, p. 439). Finally, we point out that the research compiled by Rogers et al. (1999) on the MCMI-III is incomplete, as they failed to cite the most recent edition of the MCMI-III manual (Millon, Davis, & Millon, 1997), which includes an expanded validation study by Davis, Wenger, and Guzman (1997) that was published and available 2 years prior to the publication of the Rogers et al. (1999) paper.

The MCMI-III and the Daubert standard: separating rhetoric from reality.

Abstract: We appreciate the Editor's invitation to comment on Dyer and McCann's (2000) impassioned defense of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III; Millon, 1994, Millon, Davis, & Millon, 1997). Because of imposed page constraints, this commentary is very brief. Following a succinct overview, we address major points regarding (a) the overall validation of the MCMI, MCMI-II, and MCMIIII, and (b) the diagnostic validity of the MCMI-III.

Assessing pretrial publicity effects: integrating content analytic results.

Abstract: When a case has received pretrial publicity which has the capacity to bias potential jurors in the trial venue, a change of venue is one means of attempting to ensure that the defendant receives a fair trial. Content analysis of the pretrial publicity surrounding a case can provide the court with important information to consider when determining whether prejudice in the relevant community is too great for the defendant to receive a fair trial. This paper presents an approach to content analysis of pretrial publicity that draws upon both legal commentary and past empirical social science research. It is a systematic approach that could be employed by both the prosecution and defense when presenting arguments to the court about whether a change of venue should be granted. Information gleaned from content analysis of the publicity surrounding a specific case fills the gap between information provided by experimental research which has examined pretrial publicity effects and public opinion polls concerning the public's perception of the defendant in a particular case. Results from a content analysis can serve to validate public opinion survey data gathered from the same locales. To exemplify this content analytic approach, a content analysis conducted by the authors in preparation for the change of venue hearing in the case of Timothy McVeigh is presented.

Perceived Conditions of Confinement: A National Evaluation of Juvenile Boot Camps and Traditional Facilities

Abstract: In a national study of juvenile correctional facilities, the perceived environment of 22 juvenile boot camps was compared to the perceived environment of 22 traditional facilities. Self-report surveys completed by 4,121 juveniles recorded information on demographics, risk factors, and perceptions of the facility's environment. Compared to juveniles in traditional correctional facilities, boot camp residents consistently perceived the environment as significantly more controlled, active, and structured, and as having less danger from other residents. Boot camp juveniles also perceived the environment as providing more therapeutic and transitional programming. Overall, from the perspective of the juveniles, boot camps appear to provide a more positive environment conducive to effective rehabilitation considering almost all of the conditions measured. A major concern is that in both types of facilities, juveniles perceived themselves to occasionally be in danger from staff (rated as rarely to sometimes).

Permitting jury discussions during trial: impact of the Arizona reform.

Abstract: A field experiment tested the effect of an Arizona civil jury reform that allows jurors to discuss evidence among themselves during the trial. Judges, jurors, attorneys, and litigants completed questionnaires in trials randomly assigned to either a Trial Discussions condition, in which jurors were permitted to discuss the evidence during trial, or a No Discussions condition, in which jurors were prohibited from discussing the evidence during trial according to traditional admonitions. Judicial agreement with jury verdicts did not differ between conditions. Permitting jurors to discuss the evidence did affect the degree of certainty that jurors reported about their preferences at the start of jury deliberations, the level of conflict on the jury, and the likelihood of reaching unanimity.

Compensating Plaintiffs and Punishing Defendants: Is Bifurcation Necessary?

Abstract: Critics of the civil jury have proposed several procedural reforms to address the concern that damage awards are capricious and unpredictable. One such reform is the bifurcation or separation of various phases of a trial that involves multiple claims for damages. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of bifurcating the compensatory and punitive damages phases of a civil tort trial. We manipulated the wealth of the defendant and the reprehensibility of the defendant's conduct (both sets of evidence theoretically related to punitive but not to compensatory damages) across three cases in a jury analog study. We wondered whether jurors would misuse the punitive damages evidence in fixing compensatory damages and whether bifurcation would effectively undo this practice. Our findings indicated that mock jurors did not improperly consider punitive damages evidence in their decisions about compensation. Moreover, bifurcation had the unexpected effect of augmenting punitive damage awards. These findings raise questions about the merits of bifurcation in cases that involve multiple claims for damages.