Forensic Activities Research Articles

Family Communication Patterns and Competitor Satisfaction: A National Survey of Collegiate Forensics Participants

This study explores the relationships among collegiate forensic competitors' reported family communication patterns, parental knowledge of their forensic activities, and family communication satisfaction. Correlation (two-tailed) and multiple regression analyses suggest: (1) students tend to have more satisfying communication with their parents when students perceive that their parents know more about their participation in forensics; and (2) socio-oriented family communication patterns may better foster forensics competitors than do concept-oriented patterns. We discuss implications of these findings for family communication and forensics competitor satisfaction.

Forensic medicine in Tunisia

Tunisia is an Arab northern African country which counts 10 millions citizens. In Tunisia, there is a small number of forensic practitioners (20) distributed over four University and two regional Hospitals. Forensic activity is under the supervision of Tunisian Ministry of Public Health. The first forensic medicine department was set up in the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis (the capital) in the sixties, after which three other departments were founded in medical faculties and in their respective university hospitals (Sfax, Sousse and Monastir). These Departments provide forensic medical education and research beside their daily practice. Forensic medical practice is divided in forensic pathology and clinical forensic medicine. In forensic pathology, we have to deal with violent or suspected deaths beside natural deaths. The clinical forensic medicine activity covers mainly forensic traumatology. Other fields of forensic sciences are in progress and ought to be developed all over the country. A forensic medical curriculum is provided in the four Tunisian Faculties of Medicine and in their University Hospitals. Nevertheless, the number of trainees remains small and could not currently satisfy the country needs.

Do Children Have One Third Less Peripheral Vision Than Adults?

The following report is a case study example of how problematic information can invade and percolate through the literature on forensic human factors and ergonomics. Initially, a highly doubtful assertion was used to bolster an argument made in a legal case of wrongful death. The assertion was supported through reference to a number of cited works. When the trail of evidence was pursued, however, it became clear that diverse citations had all branched from one, single, original and doubtful source. The fundamental issue, whether children have one third less peripheral vision than adults turns out to be much more complex than the original, simplistic spatial conception suggested. The case study illustrates the importance of ascertaining original citations and is yet another example of the frustration that of ten accompanies forensic activity where financial and legal concerns frequently over-ride the fundamental search for knowledge.

Forensic medicine in Bordeaux in the 16th century.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Renaissance was accompanied by a real cultural revolution in Europe and France. Montaigne, the Bordeaux humanist and writer, was highly involved in this movement, particularly by his thinking on medicine, physicians, and illness. The 2 forensic reports presented are the oldest known testimonies of forensic medical activity in Bordeaux in the 16th century. They concern a visit to prison in 1556 and the solemn transfer of the body of a man hanged in 1579. The authors also describe how necropsies were performed before 1573 in Bordeaux, the year in which medical studies were reformed. However, the first official teaching of forensic medicine in Bordeaux (Ecole Royale de Médecine) began only in 1814.

Spectrophotometric and tristimulus analysis of the colors of subcutaneous bleeding in living persons

In forensic activities the estimation of the age of subcutaneous bleeding is very important. The evaluation of color, however, will vary according to differences of light-source, observer, size, background and so forth. The colorimetric methods using a spectrophotometer can effectively evaluate skin discoloration. In this study, the tristimulus and spectrophotometric patterns of color changes of skin bruises were examined among eight Japanese adult men volunteers wounded by a sharp pinch on the inside of the upper arm and forearm. From a series of color changes among the subjects, the tristimulus data and the spectral reflectance graphs showed variable patterns that made a comparison of absolute numerical values by a single measurement meaningless. Therefore, if we use colorimetric methods in a practical case, we should measure bruises in the same lesion twice or more at intervals of 1 or 2 days.

Documenting the Prominence of Forensic Neuropsychology at National Meetings and in Relevant Professional Journals from 1990 to 2000

Numerous authors have opined that forensic activities have become more prominent within clinical neuropsychology. To investigate the merits of these claims, the entire contents of Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology (ACN), Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology (JCEN), and The Clinical Neuropsychologist (TCN) from 1990 through 2000 were reviewed and cataloged. These three journals were selected because they are the highest-ranking clinical subscription journals according to surveys of neuropsychology practitioners. Prior to rating journal content, various categories of interest were delineated and practice ratings were obtained until the two raters reached 92% agreement. Each of the raters read the journal contents and recorded content ratings for half of the journal issues under review. Results of the 8323 ratings demonstrated increases across time in the absolute numbers of articles related to forensic neuropsychology, although variable and different for each journal. Published articles that were partially or substantially forensic in nature in the three journals combined increased from 4% in 1990 to 14% in 2000. An annual peak in absolute number (n =32;16%) of forensic journal articles occurred in 1997. The most common topic of 139 articles published in ACN, JCEN, and TCN from 1990 to 2000 was malingering, which appeared in 86% of the general forensic articles. Forensic presentations at annual NAN meetings ranged from 3.9 to 11.3% (M =8%) of the convention programs, whereas within Division 40's programs at the American Psychological Association meeting, the average percentage ranged from 2.3 to 11.7% (M =6%). Results pertaining to each journal and to specific forensic topics are presented and implications of these and other results are discussed.

Ethics issues in security hospitals.

The term 'security hospital' is used for a variety of facilities including forensic hospitals and prison hospitals, which, because of their mission, the nature of their work, and the populations they serve-or because of the authority under which they operate-place the staff at considerable risk of ethical violations related to either clinical care or to forensic activities. The problem of divided loyalties is of special concern in security hospitals. Ethics principles particularly at risk are confidentiality and informed consent. Where there are cultural disparities between the staff and the patients, differences in background, socioeconomic class, education, and other types of diversity, cultural awareness is required and must be reflected in appropriate treatment and evaluation. To counteract the risks of ethical violations, a security hospital should create an ethical climate and develop means to anticipate, prevent, and deal with ethical violations. These might include detailed and specific policies and procedures, programs of orientation, education, consultation, and liaison as well as its own ethics committee.

National Academy of Neuropsychology/Division 40 of the American Psychological Association Practice Survey of Clinical Neuropsychology in the United States, Part I: Practitioner and Practice Characteristics, Professional Activities, and Time Requirements

Leaders of the National Academy of Neuropsychology and Division 40 (Clinical Neuropsychology) of the American Psychological Association determined that current information on the professional practice of clinical neuropsychology within the United States (U.S.) was needed. These two organizations co-sponsored a national survey of U.S. clinical neuropsychologists that was conducted in September 2000. The primary goal of the survey was to gather information on such topics as: practitioner and practice characteristics, economic variables (e.g., experience with major third party payors, such as Medicare and managed care), practice expenses, billing methods, experiences with Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes, time spent on various clinical tasks, use of assistants, and income. The adjusted return rate of 33.5% (n = 1406) reflects the number of surveys returned with sufficient data by licensed doctoral level clinicians with membership in one or both sponsoring organizations. In this first of two articles describing the survey results, characteristics of practitioners and practices, various types of professional activities, and time requirements for clinical tasks are presented and discussed. It was noted that the proportion of women in the field is increasing rapidly. Private practice is the predominant employment setting. Findings also document that members of the two sponsoring organizations are very similar with regard to employment setting, professional characteristics, and weekly activities. That is, involvement in clinical practice and research, as well as private practice versus institutional employment, was very similar between organizations. However, across organizations, work setting (private practice vs. institution) was associated with significant and meaningful differences. Private practitioners have a more diverse set of weekly clinical activities, are less likely to use assistants, and engage in more forensic activities. Across work setting, with the exception of forensic evaluations, those using assistants invest a greater number of hours per evaluation, but bill approximately the same numbers of hours per evaluation.

ACCREDITATIION AT THE US EPA--NEIC

The US Environmental Protection Agency--National Enforcement Investigations Center (NEIC) of Denver, Colorado is the specialty technical arm of the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) within the US EPA. NEIC is a center for technical support nationwide to state, local, tribal, and federal environmental enforcement and compliance assurance programs. NEIC is a source of expertise for technical analysis, compliance monitoring, engineering evaluations, forensic laboratory activities, information management, computer forensics, and witness testimony. Effective 1 February 2001, NEIC was granted accreditation for overall environmental measurement activities that include field sampling, field measurements and monitoring, and laboratory measurements. NEIC became the first and only environmental forensic center in the United States to be granted this type of accreditation. The accreditation criteria incorporates nationally and internationally accepted forensic and quality management standards. Awa...

Accidental Shootings: Gun Design and Training Issues

Ergonomic issues related to gun design are described, with particular attention to trigger design and forces, safeties, and grip size. Problems with the current design of courses and instruction in handgun use are reviewed. Gun design and training issues are illustrated using three actual cases of accidental shootings. The need for human factors professionals to become involved in improving handgun design, handgun training, and in forensic activities related to shooting accidents, is emphasized.

Extending the Diversity Agenda in Forensics: Invisible Disabilities and Beyond

Michael W. Shelton and Cynthia K. Matthews (*) Diversity issues have become a cornerstone of higher education, and forensic activities are certainly no exception to that rule. Indeed, in many regards the forensic community has been on the leading edge of inclusiveness within higher education. The forensic community has made remarkable progress and it has vividly illuminated the need to share the unique benefits of forensic practice with often socially marginalized demographic groups, particularly women and minorities. Perhaps the next logical step would be to consider the evolving elements of that domain, and those with invisible disabilities offer an informative illustrative case. Disabled people make up one-fifth of the population in the United States (McNeil, 1993), and it has been predicted that at least 400% of these people have disabilities which cannot be seen, or are (Asch, 1984). Invisible disability has been defined as one that is hidden so as not to be immediately noticed by an observer except under unusual circumstances or by disclosure from the disabled person or other outside source (Matthews, 1994, p. 7) and encompasses both physical and mental conditions. Physical conditions include various chronic illnesses, such as heart disease and lung disease; mental conditions include learning disabilities and cognitive processing problems like dementia and mental retardation. There has been a significant increase in the number of people with invisible disabilities in the United States as indicated by several factors. For the last quarter century the number of people with chronic diseases and disabilities has been climbing (Hayden, 1993; Kaye, LaPlante, Carlson, & Wen ger, 1997). Activity limitations are most frequently caused by conditions that are chronic, including diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, mental and nervous disorders, and lung disease, all of which are, for the most part, invisible (LaPlante, 1991). 1991). These chronic conditions make up two-thirds of the disabling conditions reported in the United States (LaPlante, 1997). New treatments and therapeutic interventions have made it possible for people with chronic conditions and disabilities to survive in dramatically increasing numbers in the last twenty-five years. Examples of particularly remarkable changes in survival rates are: cystic fibrosis, up 700%, spina bifida, up 200%, and heart disease, up 300% (Blum, 1992). Additionally, a distinct increase in disability rates reported by The National Center for Health Statistics among people under 45 years of age are accounted for by a greater prevalence in the diagnosis of asthma, mental disorders (e.g., Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Attention Deficit Disorder), a nd orthopedic impairments (e.g., back and joint problems) (Kaye et al., 1997), conditions which again are invisible under most conditions. These increases in the numbers of persons with invisible disabilities make it important both to declare the reality of invisible disability and to understand the impact of the visibility factor on the attitudes and behaviors of those living with the condition, for others who interact with them, and the larger forensic community's drive to address diversity. Western societies value self-reliance, beauty, health and independence. This obsession with health is particularly prevalent in United States culture (Galanti, 1997). People tend to believe that healthy is normal and that illness is a deviance (Hayden, 1993). Therefore persons with invisible disabilities have great incentive to keep their conditions concealed. Unfortunately, concealing disabilities can carry serious negative ramifications in terms of relationships. Those negative ramifications can dramatically impact the individuals with invisible disabilities, the able-bodied others with whom they interact and ultimately the larger collective-including th e forensic community-to which they belong. The central theme of this work is to provide an explication of such potential negative ramifications as a vehicle to illustrate the need for extending the diversity agenda in the forensic community. …

Forensic Issues in Pain: Review of Current Practice

Forensic activity in pain practice is reviewed with reference to the differing roles of the pain clinician and the independent expert. Ethical guidelines and recommendations for assessment, documentation, record review, and court testimony are discussed. Specific issues include the assessment of disability and impairment, malingering, and application of the Daubert standard in forensic pain practice. Examples of case law are reviewed for civil liability and CRPS, malpractice with opioid prescribing, and practice issues in a correctional setting.

The Early Years: Recollections

PRESENT AT THE UREATION The first meeting of the organization that was to form the American Forensic was held by a group of forensic directors in attendance at a debate tournament, formally known as the Iowa Collegiate Conference on World Affairs, at the University of Iowa in the fall of 1948. This group, convened by Hugo Hellman of Marquette University, adopted a resolution calling for the establishment of a national organization to represent their professional interests. Once the need for a national organization was agreed upon, several questions arose regarding the nature and scope of the organization. First, should it be strictly for debate coaches or for all forensic activities? Hellman's initial view was that what was needed was an organization of debate coaches. He was soon persuaded that coaches of all forensic activities should be included. Discussion, oratory, extemporaneous speaking, and oral interpretation were popular forensic activities at the time, and the consensus favored the establishment of a national association of forensic directors. Another notion considered at the first meeting was that what was needed was a forensic association in which the members would be colleges with debating teams, not individual forensic directors. It would be similar to the NCAA, in which the members are athletically competing colleges. Still another view favored a classification of members on the basis of years of service in speech activities. This was seen as a way of encouraging good forensic directors to remain in the field. The call for a national association of forensic directors was circulated widely throughout the forensic community. Mimeographed copies of a draft of the proposed constitution were distributed, and people were asked to join what was tentatively called the Association of Directors of Speech Activities. The editor of Speech Activities (E. R. Nichols; Univ. of Redlands) gave the proposal extensive and favorable coverage. James H. McBurney (Northwestern Univ.), President of the Speech of America (SAA; now the NCA), supported the idea. He appointed Nichols, the Second Vice President of the SAA, to make arrangements for organizational meetings to be held during the 1949 SAA convention in Chicago. Hugo Hellman, who was the driving force of the nascent organization, considered those who joined by December 10, 1949, as the founders. Listed alphabetically, they are as follows: H. L. Ahrendts, Kearney State College; J. J. Auer, College of Oberlin; Charles T. Battin, College of Puget Sound; Paul F. Blackburn, Loyola Univ., Los Angeles; Richard C. Bland, Stetson Univ.; Gifford Blyton, Univ. of Kentucky; Robert S. Bradley, S. J., Gonzaga Univ.; Paul D. Brandes, Univ. of Mississippi; Winston L. Brembeck, Univ. of Wisconsin; Adeline Brookshire, Fairmount High School, Fairmount, Indiana; E. C. Buehler, Univ. of Kansas; Hulda Burdick, Muskegon High School, Muskegon, Wisconsin; W. Arthur Cable, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson; Hugo A. Carlson, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Paul Carmack, Ohio State Univ.; Eugene Chenoweth, Indiana Univ.; Brother C. Cornelius, FSC, Christian Brothers Academy, Syracuse; Lionel Crocker, Denison Univ.; H. Barrett Davis, Lehigh Univ.; Elnora Drafahl, New York State Teachers C ollege, Albany; Thorrel B. Fest, Univ. of Colorado; Austin J. Freeley, Boston Univ.; Hal W. Goetsch, Blair High School, Blair, Wisconsin; Ellen H. Gould, Alabama College for Women; Hugo Hellman, Marquette Univ.; George F. Henigan, George Washington Univ.; James N. Holm, Kent State College; James N. Irby, Jr., Spring Hill College; Bruno Jacob, Ripon College; Lt. Col. Chester L. Johnson, United States Military Academy; Carroll P. Lahman, Pasadena College; R. C. Martin, Lake Forest College; Charles Masten, Kansas State Teachers College, Emporia; Glen Mills, Northwestern Univ.; Eugene C. Moulton, Carroll College; William C. Nagel, Washington High School, Massilon, Ohio; Lloyd R. …

Foreword: A Long and Proud Tradition

This introduction to following collection of essays about AFA's fifty-year history is merely to remind us of a few points: Forensics has a long history which predates AFA; forensic activities and terminology have changed as cultures, philosophies, and educational practices have changed; future changes are inevitable; and despite changes, we have a proud tradition. These points are so obvious that they are easily overlooked, especially since studies in rhetorical history tend to focus on theory rather than on speaking exercises. In this sketch of our pre-AFA tradition, theory will receive only incidental mention and forensic activities will be emphasized. EARLY EUROPEAN TRADITIONS The precise origins of our forensic traditions are lost in mists of history, not only because historical data are in short supply, but also because of changing definitions. The word forensic originally had restricted meaning of legal oratory rather than broad range of speech exercises with which today's AFA members are familiar. However, we know that what we call forensic activities date back at least to fifth century BCE, when sophists (a word that originally meant but later was used pejoratively) devised speaking exercises for their students. One of earliest exercises was called dialegesthai. Although word was sometimes used to label informal speech (like our word conversation), it was also used to designate a definable, rule governed event in which participants (as in modern group discussion) would discuss aspects of a topic or issue for purpose of coming to a mutual agreement or (Timmerman, 1993, p. 120). The types of questions varied. Some were philosophically abstract while others were practical political issues. As time went by, teachers initiated various spin-offs of dialegesthai. Formats, educational goals, and theoretical underpinnings differed, but despite differences, these exercises were what today we call forensic activities. Protagoras (c. 485-4 15 BCE), often called the father of debate, believed that absolute truth is unknowable. He developed theoretical concept of dissoi logoi: two opposing views have equal validity, one being that which is most persuasive. In keeping with his skepticism, he invented some debate exercises, exact formats of which are unknown. However, we know that students argued a thesis pro and con. Some theses were abstract philosophical ones, but his primary educational goal was not to train philosophers. It was to train students to deliver argumentative speeches in law courts and political assemblies--a skill that would later be called rhetoric (for details on origin of word rhetoric, see Schiappa, 1990). Socrates (469?-399 BCE), who converted dialegesthai into dialectic, had a passion for argumentation, but he stood in marked contrast to both Protagoras and earlier practitioners of dialegesthai. He had little use for popular opinion, whether it was opinions of juries or group discussants or political assemblies. Although he left no writings, he apparently taught that truth was absolute and knowable and that a clear distinction should be made between dialectic, question and answer method of obtaining one correct answer, and rhetoric, which does not seem interested in universal validity of answer but only in persuasiveness for moment (Kennedy, 1963, p. 14). His student, Plato (428-348 BCE), also believed that Absolute Truth could be discovered via dialectic. He composed his Dialogues in a question-answer format and used dialectic as a method of instruction in his school (the Academy). Question-answer formats were set up, not only between teacher and student, but also between students. The purpose was to bring students around to understanding Truth about some philosophical question and to develop skills necessary to defend Truth. …

Afa Support for Research: Journals and Conferences

The American Forensic Association is both a professional and a scholarly organization. Its members' interests include both forensic activities (primarily coaching, judging, and directing competitive programs in debate and individual events) and the advancement of scholarship in argumentation through research and publication. Commitment of the AFA to forensic activities is evident, among other things, in its code of ethics, its production and sale of contest ballots, its annual tournament calendar, and its sponsorship since 1967 of the National Debate Tournament and more recently of the National Individual Events Tournament as well. The AFA Research Committee has worked to stimulate and recognize distinguished scholarship through means ranging from a competitive program of research grants to the presentation of research awards. The association's principal commitments to research, however, are its publications and conferences, and these will be the focus of this essay. PUBLICATIONS The Journal: Its Origins. During its first few years, AFA had no serial publication. In order to promote regular communication with its membership, the AFA Register was established in the fall of 1952, under the editorship of Austin J. Freeley, then AFA president. Subsequent presidents also filled this role until 1958, when John Rickey of Ohio State University was appointed editor (Freeley, 1999). The Register was produced by mimeograph and bound by staple. It was conceived as a house organ to report association business, but within a few years it began also to carry short articles about research projects and about such practical matters as judging debate. As this evolution occurred, the AFA felt the desire for a more substantial scholarly journal. The membership included a growing number of former debate coaches who retained an interest in argumentation scholarship. It was also felt that the AFA would take on a more academic character if it published a bona fide scholarly journal (Ziegelmueller, 1999). On the other hand, some were skeptical that editors could find enough articles to fill a journal's pages. And there was serious concern about whether AFA had the financial resources to support publication of a journal. Fortunately, in the early 1960s AFA received revenue from a successful series of televised debates. This money served as the venture capital for the organization to launch a new journal (Blyton, 1970, p. 15). The Register was discontinued in 1963, and in January, 1964, the Journal of the American Forensic Association (or, as it was widely known, JAFA) made its debut. Renamed Argumentation and Advocacy in 1988, it now is in its 36th year of continuous publication. The inaugural editor of JAFA was Thomas R. McManus of Kent State University, who shepherded the journal through volume I. Thereafter, editors were appointed for two-year terms. The editor was appointed by the National Council upon the recommendation of the Publications Committee. Most or all of the editor's expenses were borne by his or her home institution. A complete list of editors may be found in Table 1. As his two-year editorial term was nearing completion in 1975, George Ziegelmueller (volumes 10 and 11) was asked to remain for a second two-year term and agreed to do so. His successor, David Zarefsky, received a similar request. Zarefsky counterproposed that he serve one additional year and that the editorship thereafter be made a three-year term, as is common for most journals in the communication discipline. This plan was agreed to and has been followed since. The current journal editor, Edward Schiappa, will complete his term at the end of Volume 37, in the spring of 2001. Initially, JAFA was published three times per year and the volume year corresponded to the calendar year. With Volume 7, it was decided to match the volume year to the AFA's fiscal year (July 1 through June 30). To accomplish this change, Volume 7 included five issues rather than three. …

Afterword: In Retrospective Prospect

phrase, retrospective prospect, stolen from Kenneth Burke, describes one of the processes of Burke's book revisions. He would read what he had written, change very little, and then update with essay which both summarizes in new language what he had already written and projects its implications for the future. Thus he looked backwards to view things forwards. purpose of this essay is to summarize what has already been said in the preceding essays and speculate about their implications for our organization as we salute its Golden Anniversary. A REVIEW OF THE PAST It is customary to contextualize our organization, and Reid's opening essay reminds us of our deep roots. He explores the tradition of forensics, but especially debate, through a deal of western history. While our association has come to represent more than debate, the argumentative perspective is probably the motive for its existence. first national conference, held in 1974, emphasized this view by defining forensics as an educational activity primarily concerned with using argumentative perspective in examining problems and communicating with people (McBath, 1975, p. 11). second national conference defined the argumentative perspective by saying it views forensics as a form of rhetorical scholarship, which takes various forms, including debate, public address and the interpretation of literature (Parson, 1984, p. 9). In tracing forensics activities back 2400 years, Reid emphasizes how both the theory and practice was a major focus of schools, initially the sophists. While the goals of Protagoras's exercises were political and legal performances, the scene for his exercises was in the academy, even in its primitive form. When the Romans developed a more elaborate progymnasmata, including the simplest telling of the fable to the more advanced controversiae and suasoriae, these activities were also in the academy. Whether the activities translated to the larger social context depended upon the form of government, and under most of the emperors, the activities were excluded from public discussion. Stated differently, Reid reminds us that debate and other forensic activities are in the academy, and to a very large extent they have remained in the academy to this day, with the attendant benefits and disadvantages. That this assummption is largely taken for granted is evident from the 1974 National Conference description: Forensics serves as a curricular and co-curricular laboratory for improving students' abilities in research, analysis, and oral communication. This perspective organizes scholarship, stimulating research and creative activity to promote understanding of personal and public issues through (McBath, 1975, p. 9). In other words, personal and public issues were to be practiced in the academy, and their transfer to the real world was assumed. notion of a public sphere of argument, borrowed from Jurgen Habermas, outlines a place where personal and public issues were to be discussed. Phillips differentiates the public sphere from the private and technical ones: The private sphere contains the discourse of personal relations, the technical sphere contains the discourse of experts and specialists, and the public sphere is a transcendent one that facilitates discussions related to the public good (Phillips, 1996, p. 236). Goodnight echoes this distinction: Transcending the personal and technical is the public, a domain which, while not reducible to the argument practice of any one group of social customs or professional communities, nevertheless may be influenced by them. But the public realm is discrete insofar as it provides forums with customs, traditions, and requirements for arguers in the recognition that the consequences of dispute extend beyond the personal and technical spheres (Goodnight, 1982, p. 220). Many public figures discussed issues in the technical realm of the academy and later proposed or evaluated legislation on those issues in the public realm. …

The Council for the Registration of Forensic Practitioners

There has been a growing recognition in the world at large ed and its recommendations were endorsed by the Steering that public services and related activities need to perform to Committee in November 1997. defined and explicit standards. Some people call this the development of the quality industry and I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I think that without properly defined standards you don't know where you are, and it makes you wonder why so many things have worked so well in the past including, of course, almost all forensic activities. One thing that must be made absolutely clear is the excellent quality of the work that has been done over the years in the community of forensic scientists. But the climate of the time is very much focused on performing to defined standards and training through a working lifetime to defined standards. Universities have had to fit in with a scheme which I regard as extremely badly devised as far as quality assurance for teaching is concerned nonetheless they have had to accept it.

Gerald R. Miller: A personal remembrance

In the summer of 1956, I enrolled in my first graduate courses in the Speech Department of the University of Iowa. This department included rhetoric, public address, theatre, and broadcasting, and was under the direction of H. Clay Harshbarger, an impressive fellow who specialized in broadcasting. Dr. Harshbarger had recently succeeded the legendary E. C. Mabie, who had emphasized professional theatre to the perceived detriment of the other areas then called Speech, and who had a reputation as a real tyrant.(1) The broadcasters and the rhetoricians in the Speech department were full of optimism about the new Harshbarger regime and were hoping for equity at last. Even though I had been a drama major I felt a move to Speech was indicated for me, in that I had no future as a professional actor, and the night work in educational theatre was daunting. So I took a course in Directing the Forensics Program taught by Carl Dallinger, together with an introductory course in directing for television, taught by Harshbarger himself. Both courses were less than challenging, in that I had already a good deal of experience in high school forensics activities and had worked in television since the first stations opened in Sioux City. To put it mildly, I was bored. I could tell that my boredom was shared by only one fellow student, another iconoclast named Gerald Miller. Miller and I had similar backgrounds: we had both grown up in straitened circumstances in depressed river towns, we had both served in the army in Korea (he in a supply depot and me in a POW camp), and we both had families. What really set us apart in the directing forensics course was our shared attitudes about high school forensics. Gerald and I had both come to the conclusion that the system only rewarded winners, and our personal philosophy was that one should win at all costs, since the system gives you little support for developing character. We made the profound mistake of admitting this in class discussions, and together with our inbred skepticism for the student-centered pedagogy so popular at the time ensured that he and I soon became outlaws. We constantly disagreed with the instructor and just about everyone else, and class sessions often became acrimonious sessions in which Gerald and I took on the establishment. We took to hanging out between classes at the local pool hall and played the odd game of eight-ball or instead of discussing serious issues such as the relative contributions of original oratory or extemporaneous speaking. We discovered that we had both been forced to attend Iowa because of our low undergraduate grade point average (they had to take us since we were Iowa residents). We had both applied to Northwestern's prestigious School of Speech and had been unceremoniously rejected. One day we had started a game of rotation without regard for the time and discovered that we had only ten minutes to get to class. Miller calmly ran the table (for those of you not familiar with pool, this means making every ball in succession--fifteen straight perfect shots). I was amazed. He had never exhibited such skill in previous games between classes, and I discovered that he had been playing at my level so that we could enjoy ourselves. In actuality, he had been the Big Ten billiard champion the year before he was drafted. Pool was not the only place he excelled. He was an outstanding softball pitcher--next to impossible to catch, in that his fastball always rose and if you weren't careful, would hit you in the chest or other sensitive places. No one I knew could hit his pitching. His really impressive skill was with cards, specifically poker. He had brought home enough money from Korea to finance a year of school! The only thing I could beat him in was chess, and naturally we didn't play that very often! The summer ended and I got an A by some miracle, and Miller got a B. It was the only time I got a better grade than he did. …

A Profile of Forensic Psychologists in South Africa

Forensic psychology is more exposed to the scrutiny of other professionals and the media than most other fields in psychology. Unfortunately the discipline often falls short of the expectations in this regard. In order to compile a profile of forensic psychologists in South Africa 153 questionnaires were distributed to psychologists who render psycholegal services in court. Aspects covered in the questionnaire were experience and the work setting of the participants, number of reports submitted and appearance as witnesses, types of forensic activities, referral sources, qualifications, other fields of expertise, assessment techniques used by the participants, perception of the legal environment, and forensic training. The findings and implications for forensic psychology in South Africa are discussed.

The present situation of forensic sciences of police in Japan and the National Research Institute of Police Science

The present situation of the forensic science activities of the Japanese police organization and the National Research Institute of Police Science (NRIPS) is described, with a brief history of forensic science development in Japan. More than 90% of the case work in forensic science is practiced by the well-qualified scientists and technicians working for the forensic science laboratories and identification sections of the prefectural police headquarters. The NRIPS is concerned with research, case work, training and advising the forensic scientists in the forensic science laboratories, and international exchange in forensic science, acting as a central forensic science laboratory in Japan. A brief description of forensic science activities of every division of NRIPS is also given.