Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper analyzes the use of dangerousness as a criterion for detention under the national security model (as distinct from domestic detention). It follows upon and analyzes two empirical reports I authored, entitled "The Empty Battlefield and the 13th Criterion" and "The Meaning of Battlefield,” studying what the Department of Defense and West Point consider to be dangerousness. The second report was presented as part of my testimony before a sub-committee of the Senate Judiciary Committee on December 12, 2007. This piece includes empirical work and also considers the problems caused by lack of definition of battle and battlefields on one hand, and the use of dangerousness when applied to those not on any battlefield or in any battle.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Research indicates that college and university students do not write well, (Pfeifer and Ferree, 2006; Boice, 1990). Therefore, many colleges and universities are adopting new teaching technologies to address this concern. Criterion Writing Evaluation is one of these, and provides educators and students with reliable evaluations of students’ writing abilities. Students submit writing assignments to the web based service, and receive immediate feedback that allows them to revise and ultimately improve their writing.

The purposes of this study were: 1) evaluate the effectiveness of Criterion on writing performance, 2) measure students’ perceptions of the writing process, 3) measure knowledge and rules of citation, and 4) evaluate knowledge and understanding of plagiarism. The sample, (N=61) included students from three sections of a criminal justice writing course. A quasi experimental design was used with two sections serving as the experimental groups, (using Criterion) and one serving as the control group, (not using Criterion). An exit survey probed students’ assessment of Criterion and average number of revisions made on writing assignments.

Findings suggested that students’ confidence in the writing process and their knowledge about plagiarism significantly increased by the end of the semester. Policy implications were discussed and questions for future research suggested.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This study examined the effects of message valence, structure, and informational complexity on recognition memory sensitivity and criterion bias. The results of this study support the general theory of motivated cognition underlying the limited capacity model for motivated message processing, with evidence of positivity offset and greater resource allocation to encoding for appetitive activation compared to aversive activation. The results also add to signal detection theory by suggesting that, for recognition judgments, criterion bias may be tracking available encoding resources.

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: In 2002, the Supreme Court held in Atkins v. Virginia that individuals with mental retardation (MR) could not be executed. Two judges’ evaluations of expert testimony in the Green v. Johnson (2006, 2007) post-conviction federal habeas corpus hearing illustrate the challenge of making post-conviction MR determinations. The judges accepted expert testimony that it was necessary to consider improvements in mean IQ test performance (the Flynn effect) when interpreting Green’s IQ scores and found that he met the IQ criterion for MR. However, the judges ruled that Green did not have MR because he lacked significant deficits in adaptive functioning

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This study examines the effects of structural complexity and information density of television messages on memory sensitivity and criterion bias. Results support the theoretical prediction that as information density increases, at a given level of resource allocation, available resources decrease. As a result, memory sensitivity declines and criterion bias becomes more liberal. When required resources exceed available resources – that is, when a state of cognitive overload is reached – both memory sensitivity and criterion bias drop dramatically. The results are discussed in terms of both practical and theoretical importance, particularly as they provide support for the contention that secondary task reaction times are often very fast during highly complex messages because the system is overloaded and therefore resources are shifted from the primary task to the secondary task.