Interviewing youthful suspects in alleged sex crimes: a descriptive analysis

OBJECTIVE: To introduce and evaluate a structured interview protocol designed for investigative interviews of youthful alleged perpetrators of child sexual abuse. METHOD: Seventy-two alleged perpetrators ranging from 9 to 14 years of age (M = 12 years) were interviewed by 1 of 13 experienced youth investigators, employed by the Israeli Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, about incidents that had been reported by alleged victims. All interviews were conducted as part of the investigators' regular work and followed the structured interview guide appended to this article. RESULTS: Interviewers questioned older and younger children similarly, but addressed fewer invitations, directive questions, and option-posing prompts to suspects who denied the allegations than to those who partially or fully admitted them. The total number of details provided by the suspects did not vary depending on their age or whether or not they fully or partially admitted the allegations. In both cases, more information was elicited using invitations rather than suggestive or option-posing prompts. CONCLUSION: Contrary to expectations, suspects who at least partially admitted their involvement provided considerable amounts of information and were very responsive to free recall prompts, although interviewers used more risky (potentially error-inducing) prompts when interviewing suspects rather than alleged victims.     

The development of communicative and narrative skills among preschoolers: lessons from forensic interviews about child abuse

This study examined age differences in 299 preschoolers' responses to investigative interviewers' questions exploring the suspected occurrence of child abuse. Analyses focused on the children's tendencies to respond (a) at all, (b) appropriately to the issue raised by the investigator, and (c) informatively, providing previously undisclosed information. Linear developmental trends characterized all types of responding. When the types of prompts were considered, 3- to 4-year-olds responded slightly more informatively to specific (directive) recall prompts than to open-ended prompts whereas children aged 5 and older were more responsive to open-ended recall prompts. The findings suggest that even 3-year-olds can provide information about experienced events when recall processes are activated, although the ability to provide narrative responses to open-ended recall prompts only becomes reliable later in development.     

Artifacts of the Encounter and the Digital Humanities

No abstract available for this article.     

Energy conversion in biological systems—part I. chemical reactions and ion transport

Constitutive equations for nonisothermal chemical reactions are derived with attention to temperature dependent parameters. Equations are also developed for the coupling of chemical reactions to ion transport. The equations are shown to be consistent with the laws of thermodynamics.     

A Technology-Based Peer Education Intervention: Results from a Sexual Health Textline Feasibility Study

Sexuality health education is moving beyond the classroom, with technology expanding youth access to sexual health information. While text message services are increasingly being used to provide information, a peer education approach has yet to be incorporated. Results from this feasibility study support a sexual health textline (IOTAS), incorporating teens asking and answering questions. Our findings suggest IOTAS fills a gap for sexual health information, and the technology-based approach offers peer educators an opportunity to expand their knowledge of healthy sexual behaviors and educate an extended peer network. Further work to refine IOTAS will enable dissemination of the intervention model.     

Fair use versus fair return: copyright legislation and its consequences.

The purpose of this article is to examine the ramifications of legislative recognition of the concept of fair use in the Copyright Act of 1976. The fair use concept, while of small consequence in its normative origins, has turned out to be the foundation of the most perplexing and divisive issues in the new legislative guidelines governing copyright. Legislative recognition of the concept of fair use, coupled with enormous growth of a new technology--extending from xerography to on-line database systems--creates de facto exemptions to both the intent and content of new copyright guidelines. The issue is not one of limiting use or suppressing information, but of mechanisms for safeguarding the rights of copyright holders, be they authors or publishers, and insuring the free flow of information by providing a proper return on both intellectual creativity and capital expenditures. The authors argue that the elimination, or at least curtailment of fair use doctrine, coupled with an increase in technological approaches to reporting of secondary use of copyrighted material, will benefit all sections of the knowledge industry. Authors will receive proper royalties on use; publishers will be able to sell more books and journals at lower prices; and librarians will be liberated from extensive chores such as monitoring usage or determining fee schedules and transferences. The issue is one of fair return--an issue obscured and ultimately subverted by fair use.     

Hands-On Learning in Special Collections: A Pilot Assessment Project

This study examined how hands-on work with original primary materials affects students' information literacy and critical thinking skills. The project team developed rubrics to evaluate document analyses from before and after student time in special collections. Most scores did not vary significantly between the pre- and posttests, although students' ability to analyze the materiality of documents did improve. They also examined papers from classes that had and had not used special collections against the Association of American Colleges and Universities' information literacy rubric and found no significant differences. The authors hope this project will serve as a pilot for future assessment of student learning in special collections.