Commentary by Co-Defendant\u27s Counsel on Defendant\u27s Refusal To Testify: A Violation of the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination?

Currently, the circuits are divided on whether comments by co-defendants\u27 counsel on a defendant\u27s silence impair that defendant\u27s fifth amendment rights. Furthermore, among the circuits that regard such commentary as potentially prejudicial, disagreement exists over the proper test for identifying such comments. This Note asserts that the risk of prejudicing a defendant\u27s fifth amendment rights is too great to allow counsel any comment on a defendant\u27s decision to testify or to remain silent. Part I of this Note examines the historical evolution of the privilege against self-incrimination and the policy goals behind the privilege. The Note argues that prohibiting comments on silence by codefendant\u27s counsel is consistent with the fifth amendment\u27s historical purpose and subsequent interpretation. Part II considers the Supreme Court\u27s decision in Griffin v. California and later decisions concerning commentary on courtroom silence and applies analytical models derived from these decisions to the issue of co-defendant\u27s commentary. Finally, Part III examines the circuit courts\u27 attempts to define a standard for identifying comments made by co-defendant\u27s counsel that prejudice a defendant\u27s privileged silence. This Part concludes by demonstrating the insufficiency of the current tests and by advocating a new standard which prohibits all commentary on the act of testifying or on the limitations imposed on some defendants by another defendant\u27s silence

Environmental Initiatives and Earnings Management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide initial evidence on the association between environmental initiatives and earnings management. Prior literature documents firms participating in environmental initiatives to report relatively stronger financial performance. Moreover, firms with superior performance have been shown to engage in greater levels of earnings management. A natural question that arises is to what extent do firms with environmental initiatives engage in earnings management to report better financial performance? Design/methodology/approach – The study draws on two theoretical frameworks, external monitoring and internal corporate culture, to predict an inverse association between environmental initiatives and earnings management. The authors test this prediction using an earnings management regression model, estimating discretionary accruals using the modified-Jones approach. Findings – The study finds that firms with environmental initiatives exhibit lower earnings management proxied by absolute and income-increasing total discretionary accruals. The authors further find pollution prevention and climate related initiatives to help explain this inverse association. The results imply that firms practising environmental responsibility report better financial performance, with the most likely reason being due to real economic performance rather than through earnings management techniques. Originality/value – This study provides initial evidence on the association between environmental initiatives and earnings management, an area of importance to all stakeholders in a market with increasing interest in corporate environmental performance and its implications

Model-Based Fault Diagnosis for Turboshaft Engines

Tests are described which, when used to augment the existing periodic maintenance and pre-flight checks of T700 engines, can greatly improve the chances of uncovering a problem compared to the current practice. These test signals can be used to expose and differentiate between faults in various components by comparing the responses of particular engine variables to the expected. The responses can be processed on-line in a variety of ways which have been shown to reveal and identify faults. The combination of specific test signals and on-line processing methods provides an ad hoc approach to the isolation of faults which might not otherwise be detected during pre-flight checkout