How Priming Innocence Influences Public Opinion on Police Misconduct and False Convictions: A Research Note

Issues of innocence have become more salient to the public in recent years, including the problem of police misconduct. However, citizens also tend to be supportive of the police, perceiving them as ethical, honest, and trustworthy. Using a survey experiment with a nationally representative sample, we explore the degree to which public opinion toward police misconduct is influenced by priming respondents on the issue of innocence. We find that reminding citizens of these issues increases their willingness to admit police misconduct that contributes to this problem by roughly 7 percentage points overall. Moreover, this effect is driven by conservatives and, to a lesser extent, moderates, presumably because liberals do not need priming. In contrast, the efficacy of the prime was not affected (i.e., moderated) by the race of the respondent. We place these results in the context of the current debate regarding police use of force as well as the ideological divide in rhetoric surrounding the recent string of high-profile police shootings

Understanding perceptions of citizen demeanour: using an experimental design to understand the impact of encounter and observer characteristics

Systematic social observations of police-citizen encounters have revealed that citizen demeanour is an important predictor of outcomes (e.g. arrests and searches). Drawing from research on stereotypes and impression formation, we examine whether characteristics of the encounter and/or observer affect how respondents perceive demeanour. We exposed undergraduates (n = 255) to a randomly rotated series of five between-subjects design, in which characteristics of the encounter (citizen race, gender, or age; officer gender; neighbourhood context) and the level of demeanour displayed were manipulated. OLS regression was used to examine how these manipulations interact to produce our dependent variable – perceptions of demeanour – and whether characteristics of the observer matter for perceptions, independent of the manipulations. We find that some aspects of the encounter, specifically officer gender and the socio-economic context of the neighbourhood, influence perceptions of demeanour. Previous victimisation, observers’ race, and perceptions of the police also impact how demeanour is perceived. These findings suggest that understanding the impact of citizen demeanour on police-citizen encounters requires consideration of encounter and observer characteristics

Using force in arrests against those who are not resisting can mean more violent prisoners.

Recent events have seen a re-evaluation of the relationship between the police and citizens, with increased concern about the use of force during arrests. In new research, Charles Klahm, Benjamin Steiner, and Benjamin Meade find another consequence of police using violent force during arrests: once in prison, inmates who did not resist their arrests were more likely to be involved in rule violations, including acts of violence. They argue that these inmates’ beliefs that their treatment was unfair mean that they may no longer believe in the legitimacy of the police, leading them to be less likely to cooperate with authorities

How police use of force at arrest can lead to greater mental health problems among prison inmates.

In many arrests, police use force to restrain suspects, often when suspects are not resisting. But what are the long-term effects of the use of force on those who are arrested? Benjamin Meade, Benjamin Steiner, and Charles Klahm examine the effects of exposure to police use of force, finding that it is significantly associated with increased mental health problems among prison inmates. Such inmates were more likely to experience a greater number of both manic and depressive symptoms compared to those who were not exposed to violence upon arrest. They write that in light of their findings, police administrators may wish reexamine existing use of force policies, and prison administrators should identify inmates who were exposed to police use of force so that they might be assessed for trauma related needs

The Role of Entertainment Media in Perceptions of Police Use of Force

Scholars have long noted the importance of the media in shaping citizens’ attitudes about crime and justice. Most studies have focused on the impact of news and particularly local TV news, yet Americans spend far more time watching entertainment media. We examine the portrayal of police misconduct in crime dramas, and how exposure to these portrayals affects perceptions of the police. We find that viewers of crime dramas are more likely to believe the police are successful at lowering crime, use force only when necessary, and that misconduct does not typically lead to false confessions. In contrast, perceptions regarding the frequency of force are unaffected. Our results add to a growing literature demonstrating the importance of entertainment media for attitudes toward crime and the criminal justice system

Partial reflux condensation of pure fluids and mixtures in narrow inclined channels with circular and rectangular cross-section

Bei der partiellen Rückflusskondensation strömt der Dampf in einem geneigten gekühlten Kanal von unten ein und das sich an den Wänden bildende Kondensat fließt ihm entgegen. Diese Art der Gegenstromkondensation bewirkt bei Gemischen eine Trennung der Komponenten. Die geringe Unterkühlung des Kondensats und der geringe Installationsaufwand wirken sich auch bei Reinstoffen positiv aus. Es kann allerdings zum Aufstauen des Kondensats und auch zur Strömungsumkehr kommen, die die Anwendbarkeit der Rückflusskondensation beschränkt. Ziel der Arbeit ist es die physikalischen Mechanismen der Wärmeübertragung zu identifizieren und zu analysieren. Dazu wurden experimentelle Untersuchungen mit den Kältemitteln R134a, R123 und Wasser im Rohr mit dem Durchmesser 7mm und in rechteckigen Kanälen mit hydraulischen Durchmessern von 7mm und 3,5mm durchgeführt. Die Reinstoffkondensation und die Kondensation eines Gemisches aus gleichen Anteilen R134a und R123 wurde analytisch untersucht und mittels eines numerischen Modells berechnet. Der Vergleich zwischen Experiment und Simulation ergab wichtige Hinweise auf die Mechanismen der Wärmeübertragung im geneigten Kanal. Die Ergebnisse zeigten unter anderem, dass der Wärmeübergangskoeffizient im geneigten Kanal in den Untersuchungen immer größer war als im senkrechten. Bei Reinstoffen liegen die Wärmeübergangskoeffizienten im Rechteckkanal bei gleicher Kondensatreynoldszahl um 50% höher als im Rohr mit dem gleichen hydraulischen Durchmesser. Für das Fluten wurde eine ähnliche Überlegenheit des Rechteckkanals nachgewiesen. Bei der Gemischkondensation spielt der konvektive Transport zur Phasengrenzfläche eine entscheidende Rolle. Der Rechteckkanal war der Rohrgeometrie hinsichtlich des Wärmeübergangs unterlegen. Die Simulation der Gemischkondensation zeigte, dass Teile des Kanals durch den Wärmeübergang im Kondensatfilm und andere Teile durch den Wärmeübergang vom Dampf an die Phasengrenzfläche dominiert werden. Die geneigte Anordnung hat bei der Gemischkondensation einen wesentlich geringere Verbesserung des Wärmetransports zur Folge als bei der Reinstoffkondensation.Steam enters a cooled, inclined channel at the bottom end and condensate forms at the walls and flows downward. This kind of countercurrent steam-condensate flow causes a separation of fluid components which is beneficial in separation processes. Advantages are also low subcooling of the condensate and simple installation. Steam velocities which cause the channel to flood with condensate has to be avoided to maintain the reflux mode, this restricts the use of reflux condensation. The aim of this work is to shed some more light on the physical mechanisms of reflux condensation. Experimental investigations with refrigerants R134a, R123 and water inside a tube of 7mm diameter and rectangular channels of hydraulic diameter 7mm and 3,5mm were carried out. Pure fluid condensation of R134a and condensation of a mixture of equal parts of R134a and R123 were investigated numerically. The comparison of experiments and simulation gave insight into the mechanisms of heat transfer. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient of the inclined channel is always bigger than that of the vertical channel. Heat transfer coefficients of pure components show 50% higher values in the rectangular channel compared to the tube with same hydraulic diameter. Flooding in rectangular channels is retarded compared to the tube which is also desirable. Mixture condensation on the other hand is governed by convective heat transfer from the gas to the film surface. The rectangular channel at the same hydraulic diameter shows lower heat transfer coefficients in this case. The simulation of the mixture condensation showed that one part of the channel was governed by heat transfer through the condensate film and the other part by convective transport in the gas. The improvement of mixture heat transfer rates due to the inclination is much less than in pure fluid condensation

Ab-initio-Schwingungsspektroskopie zu starren und nicht starren Molekülen

The work deals with the ab initio vibrational spectroscopic analysis of rigid and non-rigid molecules. While rigid systems, id est those which have a clear equilibrium geometry and are separated from adjacent local minima on the potential energy surface by virtue of effectively negligible potential barriers, are analyzed with regard to their internal vibrations via frequency analyzes available in standard ab initio software, the treatment of non-rigid systems, id est those for which adjacent local potential minima are separated by non-insuperable barriers, can not be described qualitatively correct by harmonic or anharmonically corrected frequency analyzes because of tunneling splittings of the energy levels. Due to the spectroscopic accuracy of quantitatively successful calculations of other studies, the nuclear Hamiltonian of the transition states of the respective proton transfer processes without taking into account the coupling between overall rotation and internal vibrations in a reduced dimensionality approach was chosen as a starting point for spectroscopic analysis in rectilinear saddle-point normal coordinates. The aim of the work was the development of a theoretical basis for the generation of potential energy surfaces including an additioal zero-point correction in the Vibrationally Adiabatic approximation, which is complementary to the purely electronic part, and the efficient calculation of the Hamilton matrix elements. Based on this, the parallelized program ReDVANC was developed, which generates pointwise potential surfaces in saddle-point normal coordinates for the calculation of any rigid and non-rigid molecules and can efficiently calculate and diagonalize Hamilton matrices in corresponding bases. The rigid, diatomic systems C2 and FeS and the non-rigid, tetraatomic molecules NH3 and H3O+, as well as the systems malonaldehyde and acetylacetone, were investigated on the basis of the theory developed and with the program ReDVANC. For C2 and FeS, with the specificity of statistically defective potential surfaces, experimental vibration levels could be reproduced within the statistical confidence intervals of the simulated spectra. On the basis of two potential energy surfaces for two energetically similar states of the FeS, it was shown that it is theoretically possible to distinguish these two states by comparison of simulated spectra and experimentally accurate measurements of the length of the bond. The potential energy surfaces and spectra for the systems NH3 and H3O+ were determined within the framework of one- and two-dimensional simulations and the underlying theory with an accuracy that allows quantitative analysis and assignment of experimental spectra. For the system malonaldehyde it was shown in one-, two- and three-dimensional calculations that a simulation of the entire spectrum is possible by varying the modes used on a quantitatively high level and the approach pursued is competitive to other reduced dimensionality approaches with regard to the generated results. For the molecule acetylacetone, whose proton transfer between the oxygen atoms is coupled to the rotation of the two methylene groups, reference results for the proton transfer can be reproduced quantitatively using one- and two-dimensional calculations, which do not explicitly take into account the coupling with the rotors. In a three-dimensional approach with a set of new coordinates derived from saddle-point normal coordinates, the proton transfer could be investigated with respect to coupling with the methylene rotors of the system. The calculations show a substantially smaller splitting of the vibrational ground state compared to the reference results and the one- and two-dimensional simulations and provide a new basis for future, high-resolution experimental investigations with regard to tunnel splittings in this system. The results of the investigation show that calculations on the basis of the electronic Schröder equation lead to a geometrically uniform minimum and explain the discussion of the experimental side with regard to the structural picture to the ground state of the acetylacetone

The Role of Entertainment Media in Perceptions of Police Use of Force

Scholars have long noted the importance of the media in shaping citizens’ attitudes about crime and justice. Most studies have focused on the impact of news and particularly local TV news, yet Americans spend far more time watching entertainment media. We examine the portrayal of police misconduct in crime dramas, and how exposure to these portrayals affects perceptions of the police. We find that viewers of crime dramas are more likely to believe the police are successful at lowering crime, use force only when necessary, and that misconduct does not typically lead to false confessions. In contrast, perceptions regarding the frequency of force are unaffected. Our results add to a growing literature demonstrating the importance of entertainment media for attitudes toward crime and the criminal justice system