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Social scientific research is having a substantial impact on eyewitness identification procedural reforms. Police agencies in the USA have changed their eyewitness practices based on the results of social scientific research. The purpose of this paper is to contribute new knowledge by using a unique set of data to describe detailed aspects of eyewitness identification procedures conducted as part of robbery investigations in Houston, TX.

Robbery investigators completed surveys following identification procedures conducted during a six-month period of time. The sample includes 975 identification procedures. The analysis describes important features of identification procedures and places results in the context of existing research.

Results show that photo spreads were the most frequently used lineup procedure and selection outcomes were similar to recent field studies conducted in the USA. Results also show that the type of procedure, presence of a weapon, cross-race identifications, and viewing opportunity were significantly correlated with selection outcomes.

Police are reforming their eyewitness identification procedures based on findings from social science research. The study measures and describe the characteristics of a large sample eyewitness procedures conducted by investigators in the field.

Forensic crime labs play an important role in the criminal justice system’s response to violent gun crimes in the USA. The purpose of this paper is to describe the methods of firearms analysis including ballistics imaging and proposed best practices for investigating gun crimes. A separate line of research has begun to explore the structure of forensic labs and how structure impacts lab performance.

To date, however, proposed best practices in firearms investigation have not been empirically tested within crime labs. The authors address this gap in the literature by using a mediation model examining organizational correlates of a limited number of tasks (identified by Peter Gagliardi’s 13 Critical Tasks) believed to enhance our final dependent measures, forensic crime lab outcomes (NIBIN acquisitions and hits). The authors examine, therefore, the relationship between organizational correlates, collected from a sample of publicly funded labs in the USA, on several of Gagliardi’s tasks and then explore the relationship of those tasks on our outcome variables: NIBIN acquisitions and hits.

Results indicate agency size and number of agencies serviced by a lab are significant factors associated with our mediating variables (Gagliardi’s tasks). Communication was identified as a significant task associated with achieving NIBIN acquisitions and hits. In general, this study underscores the importance of communication between labs and other institutional constituents for increasing ballistics imaging outputs. Furthermore, findings provide partial support for Gagliard’s tasks, by highlighting the role of enhanced communication on organization-based performance outcomes.

This study is the first to examine the mediating effect of Gagliardi’s tasks on the organizational performance of ballistics imaging systems within crime labs. In addition, this study examines the influence of organizational correlates on these mediating tasks.

Since 1987, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has periodically collected data from police agencies in the USA and disseminated these data as the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) series. The purpose of this paper is to outline LEMAS's impact on criminal justice scholarship by describing the nexus between policing scholarship and LEMAS, and by analyzing the LEMAS constructs and variables used by researchers in refereed journal articles.

A systematic review of the literature is undertaken to better comprehend how scholars use LEMAS variables and constructs. In total, 114 peer-reviewed journal articles were analyzed to parcel out variables and constructs derived from LEMAS data.

The paper's analysis reveals that LEMAS is the second-most used BJS data series and the majority of authors use LEMAS to measure elements of organizational structure but not organizational behaviors, outcomes, or outputs.

The study is the first to systematically identify all peer-reviewed journal articles that utilize LEMAS data. Police organizational research is unique in the fact that most authors agree on the operationalization of variables and constructs.

Demographic data indicate that the Millennial generation (those born between 1982 and the early 2000s) are entering the workforce and will become an increasingly significant component of the workforce in the near future. The Millennial generation appears to have significant differences in values, attitudes and expectations regarding work than prior generations.

The authors reviewed the literature on the “Millennial” generation (those born between 1982 and the early 2000s) and the research on giving negative feedback to identify issues that are significant with respect to the manner in which managers give negative information to this new generation of workers.

To be effective, negative feedback to Millennials needs to be consistent and ongoing. The feedback must be perceived by Millennials as benefitting them now or in the future. Managers must be assertive enough to make sure the employee understands the concerns, but sensitive to the fact that many Millennials have difficulty accepting such feedback.

These findings offer suggestions for future research that needs to explicitly examine the differences in the new generation of workers and how these persons respond to current managerial practices.

Millennials are now entering the workforce in significant numbers. Managers will find increasing opportunities to address the organizational and individual needs of these workers. Managers must learn how to effectively direct and motivate this generation of workers, including how to provide constructive negative feedback.

Demographic data indicate that the so-called “Baby Boom” generation will be leaving the workforce in large numbers over the next few years, and will be replaced by the Millennial generation.

To date, there has been little attempt by management researchers to address the organizational implications of the generational shift that is occurring. We seek to draw attention to one specific area of management practice – delivering negative feedback – and explore how the knowledge may be changing as a new generation of workers enter the workplace.

Terrorism has much in common with genocide and sometimes may even be a form of genocide. In this chapter I systematically compare these two phenomena.

Drawing mainly from Donald Black’s work on terrorism and my own work on genocide, I examine the conceptual and theoretical overlap between terrorism and genocide.

Terrorism and genocide are similar and sometimes overlapping, and they occur under similar social conditions – in response to conflicts between socially distant and unequal groups. Conceptually they differ mainly in that terrorism is covert and carried out by civilians, and genocide may not be. The main theoretical difference is that terrorism tends to be upward – against more powerful targets – while genocide tends to be downward – against less powerful targets. Terrorism tends to be less effective than extreme genocide, then, and the most extreme cases have death tolls much lower than the most extreme cases of genocide.

This analysis draws from previous theories of terrorism, genocide, and social control to better place terrorism in a broader sociological context. In doing so it highlights and explains key features of terrorism, and it even helps us to speculate about the future of terrorism. That is, technological advances might in the long run destroy the social conditions conducive to terrorism, thus leading to terrorism’s ultimate demise, but in the short run they might allow terrorists to more effectively kill, leading terrorism to resemble extreme genocide in its deadliness.

Children experience toxic stress if there is pronounced activation of their stress-response systems, in situations in which they do not have stable caregiving. Due to their exposure to multiple poverty-related risks, African American children may be more susceptible to exposure to toxic stress. Toxic stress affects young children’s brain and neurophysiologic functioning, which leads to a wide range of deleterious health, developmental, and mental health outcomes. Given the benefits of early care and education (ECE) for African American young children, ECE may represent a compensating experience for this group of children, and promote their positive development.

Because consumers nowadays face a wide diversity of wine labels – from very traditional to a range of modern styles that include color and various images – the purpose of this paper is to better understand the effects of the presence of fun elements on wine labels. Specifically, it aims to identify the underlying mechanisms that explain why fun elements on labels can lead to a decrease in consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) and purchase intentions. The authors also test whether consumers’ risk propensity acts as a boundary condition for this effect.

This research uses an online experiment conducted among a sample of 271 US residents. Multivariate analyses – including analyses of mediation, moderation and moderated mediation – are performed to test the theoretical model of the effects of fun elements on WTP and purchase intentions through reassurance impressions and quality perceptions, and the moderating role of risk propensity.

This research demonstrates that when consumers face a wine label that incorporates a high degree of fun elements, they perceive the label as less reassuring, leading to a decrease in perceived quality, and ultimately exhibit lower WTP and purchase intentions. Importantly, this research also shows that the effects of such wine labels are moderated by the individual variable of risk propensity; consumers react more positively to funny wine labels when they have a higher level of risk propensity.

A limitation of this research lies in that it has been conducted online, while an experiment in a real purchase setting may have yielded results that are more likely to mimic response in the marketplace.

By showing that fun elements in a wine label can negatively affect consumers’ WTP and purchase intentions, this research suggests that wine marketers should be cautious when designing labels. Nevertheless, because consumers who are risk-loving exhibit less negative responses to funny wine labels, wine producers should consider segmenting their consumers on the basis of risk propensity and design front labels with fun elements only for customers who can be classified as risk-loving (vs risk averse).

While prior research recognizes the wide diversity of wine labels and the increasing use of fun elements in labels, no research to date has proposed and validated a model of their effects. This research fills this gap by empirically demonstrating that fun elements in labels have an overall effect of making consumers feel less reassured, leading to a decrease in perceived quality, and ultimately lower WTP and purchase intentions.