A tale of two cities

The authors are respectively parttime professor sociology at the University of Texas (San Antonio) as well as lecturer at the medical faculty of the State University Limburg (section psychiatry) and researcher at the Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Justice, Schedeldoekshaven 100, 2511 EX The Hague, The Netherlands. Dorette Courtar, a mobility programme exchange student at the University of Maastricht and the Stockholm University, assisted in the basic research. We would like to thank Paulina Loennroth and the mayor of Hulst, dr. A.A.L.G.M. Kessen, both connected to the ECAD and Paul Vasseur, Urban Weber, Suzanne Schardt, all connected to the ECDP for their information and comments.     

Responding to the global tobacco industry: Canada and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

Abstract: In a continuing quest to build and defend world markets for tobacco products, tobacco companies have long been involved in international cooperation and information‐sharing through their own international corporate networks, as well as through national and international industry trade associations. This is evidenced in tobacco industry corporate documents now freely available on the internet. In order to institute effective tobacco control policy, policy‐makers needed to become equally astute at sharing information across national boundaries and at considering the cross‐national implications of policy and legislation. The World Health Organization has been instrumental in developing the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), and Canada has played an important part in this effort. The FCTC contains both demand‐reduction provisions and supply‐side provisions intended to reduce tobacco use worldwide. As a signatory to the FCTC, Canada has pledged to adhere to these provisions, thereby providing Canadian public administrators with effective tools to reduce tobacco use and its associated health burden both nationally and internationally. Sommaire: En cherchant continuellement à développer et à défendre les marchés mondiaux pour les produits du tabac, les sociétés productrices de tabac sont impliquées depuis longtemps dans la coopération internationale et le partage d'informations par le biais de leurs propres réseaux de sociétés internationales et d'associations professionnelles nationales et internationales. C'est ce qui ressort des documents des sociétés productrices de tabac auxquels on peut accéder librement sur Internet. Afin d'instituer une politique efficace de contrôle du tabagisme, les décideurs politiques ont dù devenir astucieux quant au partage d'informations et à l'étude des répercussions transnationales des politiques et des lois. L'Organisation mondiale de la santé a fortement contribuéà l'élaboration de la Convention‐cadre sur la lutte contre le tabagisme (CCLCT), et le Canada a joué un rôle important sur ce plan. La CCLCT contient à la fois des dispositions relatives à la réduction de la demande et d'autres relatives à l'offre qui visent à réduire la consommation de tabac dans le monde entier. En tant que pays signataire de la CCLCT, le Canada s'est engagéà respecter ces dispositions, fournissant ainsi aux administrateurs publics canadiens des outils efficaces pour réduire la consommation de tabac et le fardeau sur la santé qui lui est associéà l'échelle nationale et internationale.     

Scales for perceived risk of student-on-student victimization in grades 7 through 10: A psychometric analysis of the adolescent index on school safety

Although past research has developed scales for the incidence, prevalence, and fear of student-on-student victimization (SSV), little is known about the scaling of perceived risk (i.e., the cognitive appraisal of the chances of experiencing SSV). Hence, this study examined self-report survey data for the perceived risk of SSV as measured in the Adolescent Index for School Safety (AISS). Children in grades 7 through 10 (n=337) in a single Florida public school completed the AISS. Factor analyses using Maximum Likelihood Estimation with Oblimin Rotation identified nine unique factors for perceived risk. Reliability analyses found standardized Cronbach Alphas that ranged from .64 to .91, and seven out of the nine identified scales were above .80, which suggested good to excellent internal consistency. Future research should examine the content validity, construct validity, and predictive validity for the AISS and other self-report surveys of SSV dynamics. This publication was made possible by a grant [#97-MU-FX-KO12 (S-l)] from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (O.J.J.D.P.), United States Department of Justice (U.S.D.O.J.). This grant is administered through the Hamilton Fish National Institute on School and Community Violence at George Washington University. This specific study was developed and implemented by staff at: 1) East Carolina University’s Department of Criminal Justice; and 2) Florida State University’s Center for Educational Research and Policy Studies. All points of view and opinions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of East Carolina University, Florida State University, the Hamilton Fish National Institute on School and Community Violence, the O.J.J.D.P., or the U.S.D.OJ. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Bill Doerner and Jennifer Jolley for their support, editorial feedback, and insightful comments regarding earlier drafts of this paper.     

Unusual hanging deaths

Four unrelated hanging deaths involving young white males, all in enlisted status in the United States military, are presented. Taken in a military context, one scene served as a suicide note equivalent with the unmistakable message of extreme defiance toward military regulations. In two cases, the elaborate attire of the decedents could have lead to the misclassification of the manner of death if investigative information had not been considered. Extensive background investigation and review of medical records in the fourth case disclosed that the victim had an eight- to ten-year history of compressing his neck to cause unconsciousness. He left an extensive suicide note in which he concluded that "hanging would be good." Each case has certain unique features, as a group, the cases all demonstrate a continuum from obvious suicide to cases where the manner of death is, at first, equivocal.