Women who kill: a comparison of the psychosocial background of female and male perpetrators

The purpose of this study was to compare the psychosocial background of female and male perpetrators convicted of homicide in Sweden between 1995-2001. All women (n=43) who were convicted for lethal violence during the period and a corresponding number of randomly chosen men (n=43) were examined. In total, information about 86 individuals was collected retrospectively. Areas of interest were psychosocial variables during childhood and at the time of the current crime. Results showed that both female and male perpetrators were psychosocially encumbered already at an early age. Homicidal women had more severe childhood circumstances, but less aggressive childhood behaviour than did their male counterparts. At the time of the crime, women had a more ordered social situation, had more often been exposed to violence and searched for help than had the men. These gender differences suggest that specific actions are needed for preventing women's homicidal behaviour.     

使大学更像大学——现代大学与政府关系的一项重要原则

大学教育作为传播和创造人类明的事业其精神和品格无疑是高贵且神圣的然而这种作为大学特征的高贵性和神圣性，在我们现实的大学中却显得淡薄且逐渐被疏远，而与此精神相悖的功利主义，庸俗风气则日见昌盛，这无疑显现了大学中存在着深重的精神危机，要使大学显现出自身就有的高贵性和神圣性，就就该让大学像个大学，而大学更像大学的基本途径，就是对大学与政府之间行政性隶属关系的解构和致力于大学地自主办学的新制度创造。     

别让创业板成“创孽板”

目前创业板仍存在的诸多问题不仅严重危及到其市场本身的稳定健康发展,也有违为中小企业融资服务的初衷。完善相关制度,加强对违法违规行为和有违职业道德行为的监管力度,已成当务之急     

State services for children: an exploration of who benefits, who governs

In recent years, equity, choice, and efficiency issues in the provision of education have received much attention and analysis. Yet, in the area of other state services for children (health, protective services, day care, etc.), there has been scant concern for equity, efficiency, or choice, despite the fact that out-of-school influences can be crucial in determining in-school performance. This paper reports on work in progress that reaches the following initial conclusions: 1. In the field of children's social services, data compilation is approximately 20 years behind the state of the art for education. Basic data on services provided is not collected for submission to state or federal authorities in any standard format on a recurring basis. 2. From the limited data available, the access of children to quantity and quality in social service programs varies enormously within states. The variations are much larger than those discovered in the public financing of education even before the recent school finance reform movement (1968-1978). 3. Federal allocations to states for social service programs comprise a substantial proportion of state Title XX budgets. For several reasons, the degree of accountability for these funds is less than that for federal education grants. 4. In all three states Title XX state allocations to localities are purported to be based on need. Closer examination of the formulas, and interviews with policy makers, revealed that Title XX allocations are determined primarily by political criteria.     

An autopsy case of an infant with Joubert syndrome who died unexpectedly and a review of the literature

The present report describes the unexpected death of a 6-month-old female infant who had been clinically diagnosed with Joubert syndrome. This is a relatively rare congenital neurological disorder characterized by hypoplasia/aplasia of cerebellar vermis, which transmits information from the body to the cerebellum, and is associated with respiratory dysfunction, abnormal eye movements, and developmental delay. The infant was found dead in bed and the immediate cause of death was determined as aspiration of vomit which may have been induced by a neurological disorder related to hypoplasia of the cerebellar vermis. These findings, together with a review of previous clinical case reports, suggest that Joubert syndrome should be considered as a predisposition to sudden unexpected death in infants mainly due to aspiration or complicated infection.     

别让质询权睡着了

本文是从现实中的广东省人大代表质询案出发对质询权的探讨.文章研究了质询权的概念及其特点,介绍了质询权的由来,从我国现存的宪法和法律的规定考察了我国质询权的特点,并比较外国质询权行使的特点,提出完善质询权的法律规定的几点设想,文章最后探讨了质询权行使的重大意义,呼吁人大代表充分行使自己的宪法权利,别让自己的权利睡着了.     

Personality features of an adolescent female offending population

The incidence of adolescent offending has been shown to be different for young males and females. However, there is a lack of literature concerning adolescent female offenders, and despite research suggesting that personality factors may be linked with antisocial and criminal behaviour in adolescents and young adults; there have been a lack of studies investigating intra-sex personality differences in young female populations. The Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory, a 160-item self-report personality measure, was administered to 26 non-offending and 28 offending adolescent females. It was found that the offending group was significantly less submissive, less conforming, more forceful, more oppositional and more likely to exhibit borderline personality traits than the control group. The offending group also had higher reported incidences of childhood abuse and family conflict, and were more prone to substance abuse, impulsive actions and suicide ideation. These initial findings suggest that personality differences may well exist between offending and non-offending adolescent females.     

法律的生命不在于逻辑,而在于经验——论绝对新颖性标准在我国的适应性

从比较研究世界主要国家和地区有关新颖性制度的立法状况及缘由分析入手,结合我国企业创新、发展的实际,指出专利制度的设计仅从法理或案例去考虑是片面的,应根据中国国情制定适合的专利新颖性标准.     

The effect of frame rate on the ability of experienced gait analysts to identify characteristics of gait from closed circuit television footage

Forensic gait analysis is increasingly being used as part of criminal investigations. A major issue is the quality of the closed circuit television (CCTV) footage used, particularly the frame rate which can vary from 25 frames per second to one frame every 4 s. To date, no study has investigated the effect of frame rate on forensic gait analysis. A single subject was fitted with an ankle foot orthosis and recorded walking at 25 frames per second. 3D motion data were also collected, providing an absolute assessment of the gait characteristics. The CCTV footage was then edited to produce a set of eight additional pieces of footage, at various frame rates. Practitioners with knowledge of forensic gait analysis were recruited and instructed to record their observations regarding the characteristics of the subject's gait from the footage. They were sequentially sent web links to the nine pieces of footage, lowest frame rate first, and a simple observation recording form, over a period of 8 months. A sample-based Pearson product-moment correlation analysis of the results demonstrated a significant positive relationship between frame rate and scores (r = 0.868, p = 0.002). The results of this study show that frame rate affects the ability of experienced practitioners to identify characteristics of gait captured on CCTV footage. Every effort should therefore be made to ensure that CCTV footage likely to be used in criminal proceedings is captured at as high a frame rate as possible.     

Husbands who kill their wives: an analysis of uxoricides in contemporary Ghana

This article addresses the current lack of research on uxoricides in non-Western societies by examining the phenomenon in Ghana, West Africa. Analysis of data from the 60 husband-wife killings reported in a national daily newspaper reveals that jealousy and suspicion of infidelity overwhelmingly provided the basis for wife murders. The findings also indicate that assailants and victims were of low socioeconomic background and the murders predominantly occurred in the rural areas of the country. Posthomicidal suicide by the assailant occurred in about one fourth of the cases. Overall, the results demonstrate that the patterns of uxoricide in Ghana are congruous in many significant ways with those noted in Western industrialized societies. It is concluded that additional research in non-Western societies is warranted to contribute to the development of sound conclusions about and remedies for uxoricide.     

Examination of an interventionist-led HIV intervention among criminal justice-involved female prisoners

The purpose of this study was to examine the implementation, adherence and protocol fidelity for the Reducing Risky Relationships for HIV (RRR-HIV) study. The RRR-HIV study is a phase III trial of a randomized intervention to reduce human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk behaviors among incarcerated women in four US states: Connecticut, Delaware, Kentucky and Rhode Island. The intervention consists of five interventionist-led prison-based group sessions and a sixth individual community-based session. Data on adherence, implementation, acceptability and fidelity of the intervention were obtained from forms completed after the five prison-based sessions by both the interventionist and participant. Data from the sixth session were collected by the interventionist. Of the 363 women recruited to date, 173 (47.6%) have been randomly allocated to the experimental RRR intervention, of which implementation measures were available for 162 (93.6%). Almost three-quarters of women attended all five sessions, each of which lasted a median of 90 minutes, indicating successful implementation of the protocol across multiple study sites. Interventionists and participants alike reported that all of the topics for each session were discussed, suggesting adherence to the protocol. In addition, protocol interventionists indicated that more than 95% of the women were engaged/involved, interested, and understood the materials presented, indicating high levels of acceptability among the participants and fidelity to the intervention protocols. The majority of participants also answered all of the post-test questions correctly, which is another strong indicator of the fidelity to the intervention. Results suggest that the RRR-HIV study has been successfully implemented across multiple study sites. Adherence to the protocol, as well as protocol fidelity and acceptability, were also strong, which is essential to establish prior to examining outcome data.     

Investigating the effect photodegradation has on natural fibres at a microscopic level

It is a known fact that when fabric is left exposed to sunlight photodegradation occurs. However, no study has ever looked at the photodegradation that occurs to individual fibre filaments as commonly recovered from a scene of crime. To look at photodegradation of individual fibres, wool and cotton fabric were dyed using CI Acid Red 27 and CI Direct Red 80 respectively at two depths of shade, 0.25% and 2.0% owf. Pieces of fabric and individual fibre samples were then placed in a Light Fastness Q-Sun 1000 Xenon test chamber which simulated exposure to sunlight over two time periods, 64 h (equivalent to one weeks sun exposure) and 128 hrs (equivalent to two weeks sun exposure). The resulting pieces of fabric and fibres where then examined using high power comparison microscopy, as well as graded for colour fading using SDC Grey Scale for Assessing Change in Colour (including half steps). Results show that in both fibre types, photodegradation occurs in all samples, however, the degree of fading is shown to vary within a given fibre population showing it is unpredictable in nature.