Book Review

Book reviewed in this article: Corrupt Exchanges: Actors, Resources, and Mechanisms of Political Corruption by Donatella della Porta and Alberto Vannucci. Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences, and Reform by Susan Rose‐Ackerman.     

A Unique Type of Birth Trauma Mistaken for Abuse

Pediatric abusive head trauma is a challenging subject across many disciplines. Of particular importance is the identification of mimics of abuse, so cause and manner of death can be properly assigned. We present the case of suspected child abuse involving an infant who presented unresponsive to the hospital with hypoglycemia, hypothermia, and bilateral parietal fractures. An autopsy revealed fractures associated with organizing scalp hemorrhage and gross leptomeningeal congestion and hemorrhage. The fractures were circular with external displacement, rounded margins, and subperiosteal new bone formation indicative of healing. Birth records revealed vacuum assist and cesarean section delivery. Although vacuum extraction‐related injuries are typically cephalohematomas and/or linear fractures, the outbending and circular morphology of the fractures are consistent with vacuum extraction. Moreover, microscopic neuropathological examination revealed hemorrhagic purulent leptomeningitis. This unique case demonstrates the importance of considering birth trauma in the determination of cause and manner of death of an infant.     

Face-to-Face and Cyber-Victimization: A Longitudinal Study of Offline Appearance Anxiety and Online Appearance Preoccupation

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Most adolescents and young adults navigate seamlessly between offline and online social environments, and interactions in each environment brings with it...     

An unusual blunt force trauma pattern and mechanism to the cranial vault: Investigation of an atypical infant homicide

This case report presents an unusual fracture pattern in the cranium of a four-month-old infant indicative of child abuse. Upon postmortem examination, the infant presented with numerous bilateral linear cranial fractures running perpendicular to the sagittal suture with depressed and curvilinear fractures apparent on the supra-auricular surfaces of the cranium. Histological evidence indicates multiple traumatic events to the cranium. In addition, the stair-step pattern of a parietal fracture may represent multiple contiguous fractures from repeated loading of the head at different times with variation of the focal points of compressive force. Additionally, the left humerus, left radius, and left ulna have healing metaphyseal fractures, and the left ulna also has an antemortem diaphyseal fracture which resulted in the distal metaphysis being rotated 45 degrees medially. Integration of autopsy, anthropological, and neuropathological reports for this case suggest multiple inflicted injury episodes with a repeated atypical mechanism(s) to the cranial vault of the infant. During investigative interviews, the caretaker admitted to squeezing the infant's head and neck on multiple occasions to quiet the child. This reported abusive mechanism is consistent with the pattern of symmetric cranial fractures and soft tissue injuries indicating asphyxiation. This case report provides forensic investigators with a potential trauma mechanism to explore in cases when a similar pattern of cranial trauma is observed and highlights the need for greater research on fracture propagation and fracture healing in the infant cranium.     

On Moral Thoughts,Feelings and Actions—A Review of The Social Psychology of Morality by Joseph Forgas,Lee Jussim,and Paul van Lange (Eds)

Social Justice Research -     

Natural Disasters and Political Participation: Evidence from the 2002 and 2013 Floods in Germany

How do natural disasters affect electoral participation? The existing social science literature offers contradictory predictions. A considerable body of research in sociology and psychology suggests that traumatic events can inspire pro-social behaviour, which might increase turnout. Yet, political science has long held that even minor changes to participation costs of low benefit activities can lead to considerable drops in civic engagement. Consequently, natural disasters should reduce electoral participation. We show how these distinct views can be jointly analysed within the Riker–Ordeshook model of voting. This paper then reports results on the impact of the 2002 and 2013 floods in Germany on turnout in federal and state elections in Saxony and Bavaria, conducted few weeks after the floods. Analysing community level turnout data, and drawing on a difference-in-differences framework, we find that flood exposure has a consistent negative effect on turnout. This indicates that the increase in the costs of voting outweighed any increase in political engagement in our case and stands in contrast to findings from developing contexts, where flood management was convincingly linked to electoral participation.