TOWARDS THE RULE OF LAW OR THE RULE OF THE BOOTS？ A LIBERAL PERSPECTIVE ON DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Since the beginning of the ＂war＂ on terror, governments have implemented counter-terrorism laws and policies, in breach of their obligations under international human rights law, on account of the necessity to protect democracy against its enemies. Reliance on the human rights discourse in order to justify the violations committed renders it difficult to criticise these drawbacks without rethinking the concepts of rights and democracy and reformulating them. The present article attempts to answer this challenge along the lines of the reconstruction of the notions of liberal democracy as the rule of law and liberty, and human rights as spheres of individual sovereignty.     

Effects of genetic and environmental explanations of psychopathy and gender on perceptions of criminal behaviors

Genetic/biological evidence is increasingly introduced into courtrooms but findings regarding its impact are mixed. This study integrates research on psychopathy and the use of genetic evidence in legal contexts by considering how information on genetic causal accounts of psychopathy affect perceptions of culpability, recidivism, amenability to treatment, and sentencing severity. Perpetrator gender was examined as a moderator. Two-hundred thirty-eight undergraduates read a hypothetical violent crime vignette and mock expert testimony regarding psychopathy. The testimony included a diagnosis only, or a diagnosis plus genetic or environmental explanations of the etiology of psychopathy. Results indicated that a genetic account of psychopathy was not clearly perceived as aggravating or mitigating such that participants were more lenient in their perceptions of culpability yet more punitive in their sentencing recommendations when perpetrators were described to have genetically-caused psychopathy. An environmental account of psychopathy was mitigating but only for sentencing severity. In addition, although participants were more lenient in sentencing male and female perpetrators when provided with an environmental cause of psychopathy, participants judged male perpetrators most harshly when provided with a genetic cause of psychopathy. Implications of the relations between etiology and gender in legal decision-making are discussed.     

Smoking behavior and cytology of the cells of smokers

Cytological examinations of lung impression preparations from 131 smoker lungs revealed that the content of smoker cells within lung tissue increases up to a daily consumption of 40 cigarettes. Additional cigarette consumption does not raise the number of smoker cells further. Determination of the nuclei content in the smoker cells of groups with different consumption rates showed that the number of macrophages with more than two nuclei increases in proportion to the number of cigarettes smoked. If more than 50 cigarettes a day were smoked, many multinucleated giant cells were observed. Anamnestic inquiries proved that these cytological changes in the lungs were caused exclusively by the smoking habits of the deceased. Not only the number of cigarettes used per day, but also the manner of inhalation and peculiarities of cigarette smoking are reflected in the morphological changes of lung tissue. For the forensic pathologist, examination of lung impression preparations from smoker lungs makes it possible to note the quantity of daily cigarette consumption of a dead person to help to identify the deceased.     

Effect of temperature on development of the forensically important holarctic blow fly Protophormia terraenovae (Robineau-Desvoidy) (Diptera: Calliphoridae)

Immature development times of the blow fly Protophormia terraenovae (Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830) were studied in the laboratory at five different constant temperatures (15, 20, 25, 30, 35 degrees C). The minimal duration of development from oviposition to adult emergence was inversely related to temperature, ranging from 9.19+/-0.3 days at 35 degrees C to 37.78+/-2.96 days at 15 degrees C. From linear regression of development rates at the five studied constant temperature regimes, it followed that the minimum development threshold (t(L)) for total immature development is 8.95 degrees C ( approximately 9 degrees C) and the overall thermal constant (K) for P. terraenovae is 240.2+/-9.3 day-degrees (DD) above the threshold. Linear regression of developmental rates from oviposition to pupariation resulted in a minimum development threshold of 9.8 degrees C. However, it is possible that developmental time from oviposition to adult eclosion might be different in various regions of the world, and that the thermal constant of a holarctic species like P. terraenovae is not same everywhere. Additionally, as the present paper shows, studies characterizing variation in these parameters between geographically distinct populations of the same species would be of great value for future forensic entomological casework.     

Adolescent and Young Adult Mothers’ Relationship Quality During the Transition to Parenthood: Associations with Father Involvement in Fragile Families

Data from the Fragile Families and Child-Well-being Study were used to examine predictors of involvement among fathers of young children (N=2,215) born to adolescent and young adult mothers (ages 14–25; N=2,850). Participants were interviewed immediately following their baby's birth and at 3-years postpartum regarding co-parental relationship quality, fathers’ caretaking behavior (“father involvement”), and fathers’ provision of material support for the child (“in-kind” support). Early postnatal and 3-year postpartum parental relationship quality and father-child cohabitation predicted 3-year father involvement while early father involvement did not. The race of fathers, specifically African American, was associated with lower levels of father involvement. For in-kind support, 3-year father-child cohabitation and 3-year relationship quality were both positively associated with provision of in-kind support. Father's income was not a significant predictor but mother's involvement with a new partner at the 3-year follow-up was marginally significant. Lastly, the race of fathers, specifically African American and Latino, was associated with provision of less in-kind support. Christina B. Gee, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, The George Washington University, Christina Gee's research interests include coparenting and father involvement during transition to parenthood among adolescent mothers and fathers, adolescent mothers’ psychological adjustment, and romantic relationships among at-risk couples. Christopher M. McNerney, B.A., Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Christopher McNerney's research interests include marginalized couples, couples interventions, and family treatments to improve parenting outcomes. Michael J. Reiter, B.A., Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Michael Reiter's research interests include interfaith and interracial romantic relationships within a family systems approach. Suzanne C. Leaman, B.A., Department of Psychology, George Washington University, Suzanne Leaman's research interests include adolescents and young families, minority mental health, low-income communities, and the implications of dating violence for mental health.     

Maggot-induced postmortem changes simulating gunshot wounds

In the warm season, human cadavers often are the breeding ground of fly larvae. In special conditions, the damage by maggots can take on the appearance of bullet holes. Preexisting injuries allow the maggots to penetrate the skin also in parts other than the body apertures commonly infested. Round tissue damage similar to gunshot-wounds are favored by the fact that the larvae of some types of flies bundle together to form feeding communities. The enzymes from the salivary glands of the fly larvae may in some rare instances even lead to perforation of bone lamellae (e.g. in the region of the orbital roofs). The case reports deal with 2 cases in which changes due to damage by maggots primarily gave the impression of gunshot-wounds.     

Effect of temperature on Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) development with special reference to the isomegalen- and isomorphen-diagram.

Developmental behavior of eggs, larva and pupa of the blowfly species Lucilia sericata (Meigen) were studied under 10 different temperature regimes. Data from these studies were used to construct the isomegalen-diagram. In this diagram, time from hatching to peakfeeding is plotted against temperature, each line representing identical larval length at various temperatures. If the temperature is roughly constant, as is the case with corpses found indoors, the age of the maggot can be read off instantly from its length, provided that the maggot has not entered the migratory phase. Where temperature is variable, an age range can be estimated between the points where the measured larval length cuts the graph at the maximum and minimum temperatures recorded. Equally, the isomorphen-diagram representing all morphological stages from oviposition to eclosion should be used, if maggots in the migratory phase or pupae or puparia are recovered from the scene. The isomegalen- and the isomorphen-diagrams could facilitate a quick and more precise estimate of the postmortem interval even for the inexperienced investigator. In addition, our results vary from those of other investigators, suggesting a different thermal behavior of the holarctic blowfly L. sericata in various zoogeographic regions.     

Rally 'Round the Union Jack? Public Opinion and the Use of Force in the United Kingdom, 1948–2001

This paper provides the most comprehensive and extensive analysis to date of the possibility of a "rally 'round the flag" effect—an increase in support for the government caused by involvement in international conflict—in Britain, for the years 1948–2001. We use a fractionally integrated time series model with an array of political and economic controls. Our primary dependent variable is intention to vote for the ruling party. The results confirm earlier studies that the Falklands War generated a rally effect, but they provide a more sophisticated understanding of the Gulf War rally. New results also include the findings that participation in international crises which stopped short of war did not engender rallies, and that there were no rallies for the Korean, Suez, or Kosovo Wars. The findings indicate that when they do occur rallies are heterogeneous in nature, that rallies are most likely when there is intense and direct threat to the national interest, that the relationship between multilateralism and rallies in the British case is tenuous, and that rallies for the ruling party are sometimes expressed through satisfaction with the prime minister.     

Species determination of puparia of forensically important blowflies

The cephalopharyngealsclerite and the morphology of the 12th puparian segment provide useful recognition features to distinguish the puparia of forensically important blow-fly species. In addition it was found that the size of the puparia can only make restricted reference to the identification of the species. The most useful characters of the puparia are finally collected in a classification key.     

Pump-gun as a weapon. Type of injuries, prohibition of weapons

Pumpguns are shotguns with pump action whose injuries and wound mechanisms have several special features: extremely high kinetic energy of the shot (2500 to 3500 J) frequent cases of "Kr?nlein shots" (exenteration of the brain) punchmark/imprint immediately adjacent to the entrance wound from the front of the pipe magazine exit wounds from buckshot may be similar to pellet entrance injuries from a distant shotgun discharge the use of various shotgun cartridges (plastic ammunition, slug bullet, various lead pellets) within the same weapon. The change in the Austrian gun law and the banning of the pumpgun in 1995 is also discussed in the article.