Culling the cousins: Kingship,kinship, and competition in mid-millennial England

Kin selection, an aspect of evolutionary theory, argues that, all else equal, individuals should give preferential treatment to relatives, based on the degree of relatedness [Hamilton, W. D. (1964). The genetical evolution of social behaviour I, II. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 7, 1–52.]. However, one may observe instances where competition for scarce or unique resources is stronger between family members than between unrelated individuals. Such a situation existed between 1377 and 1603 with intense competition for the throne of England among descendents of Edward III. During this period, monarchs were executed by relatives to gain or maintain the throne for him or herself or descendents. Despite the widespread destruction of kindred, we show that executioners never sacrificed lineal relatives nor executed collateral relatives in excess of their own legitimate nuclear relatedness, and the number of executed relatives was positively correlated to the age and legitimate reproductive success of the executioner. Moreover, when resources are scarce, have an intrinsically high value, and are inherited, it may be in your Darwinian reproductive interest not to maximize but to minimize the number of legitimate children in order to reduce competition among family members.     

A clustering algorithm using DNA marker information for sub-pedigree reconstruction

In a mass disaster scenario in which many people are dead, it may be that small family groups are among the dead, and investigators may need to identify such groups, e.g., to return bodies to living relatives for burial. We consider the problem of identifying small groups of closely related people within a large group of people through the use of DNA marker information. We propose a likelihood-ratio-based distance measure of the relatedness between pairs of individuals and use an estimate of this measure as a means of clustering related people into groups. We show the effectiveness of our approach on real examples and through simulations, which suggest that the method is quite reliable for identifying very close relationships. We discuss the use of our clustering algorithm in a two-stage pedigree reconstruction procedure and suggest directions in which the analysis could be extended. Applications include the identification of family groups among bodies found in mass graves and identification of family groups in animal populations.     

“Mom,They are Going to Kill My Dad!” A Personal Narrative on Capital Punishment From a Convict Criminology Perspective

Capital punishment, although opposed by numerous scholars and banned in several countries, continues to be practiced in many locations under a popular rationale associated with retributive justice. While there has been extensive debate on this issue for decades among scholars, policymakers, correctional professionals, and the media; other important voices, specifically the voices of family members of executed convicts, have been ignored or discounted. Situated within a convict criminology perspective, this paper focuses on a personal narrative of how the issue of capital punishment was experienced by the partner (second author of this paper) of an executed convict. This narrative powerfully illustrates complexities and unintended social injustices toward family members that can occur from capital punishment.     

The right of caregivers to access health information of relatives with mental illness

This article reviews the legal, ethical and practical challenges of complying with the Ontario Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) within the context of a Canadian mental health system that is overburdened and under resourced. The advent of deinstitutionalization has placed significantly increased responsibilities on the families of mentally ill individuals. While research evidences that involving family members in the care of their mentally ill relatives improves treatment outcomes, mental health practitioners constantly face the challenge of engaging family caregivers while also complying with privacy laws. The authors propose an Ontario Caregiver Recognition Act (OCRA) to formally recognize family caregivers as informal health information custodians based on the practice of other jurisdictions which incorporate the rights of family members actively engaged in providing care to their mentally ill relatives.     

我国患者近亲属参与医疗决定之法律研究

我国理论界关于患者近亲属参与医疗决定的利弊之争由来已久,实践中各部门和院方也表现出不同的态度和做法。然而,以往各学者的论证也只是将焦点放在患者单方的利益,而少有人关注患者近亲属的合法权益。他们把患者的医疗活动看得过于理想化、无涉他性,完全忽视了患者医疗权利的追求要受到其家庭利益和其近亲属利益的限制。权利的行使是有界限的,在关注患者自主权时,既要立足于我国国情,也要对患者近亲属的合法权益进行考量和保护。     

Beyond conception: legal determinations of filiation in the context of assisted reproductive technologies

This article argues that legal determinations of filiation are normative ideological constructions about how societal relations between parents and children should be ordered. They are based upon regular understandings of the relationship between biological and social facts and, as this article demonstrates, operate to create an asymmetrical relationship between the categories between paternity and maternity. I suggest that fairly recent developments in reproductive and genetic filiation have been made and offer the potential for an expanded understanding of relatedness or kinship which does not take the two-parent--one of each sex--model of the family as its normative form. While the examples I draw on arise in the context of reproductive technologies, I suggest that the analysis has broader implications for the recognition of broader family forms and relationship.     

Unsuspected hereditary hemochromatosis at forensic autopsy: its presentation, confirmation, and implications

Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) is one of the most common genetic disorders and may present clinically in a variety of ways. The most common presentation is micronodular cirrhosis with possible associated diabetes. However, HH may also present with cardiac dysfunction and sudden death. The confirmation of unsuspected HH at autopsy is complicated by the growing number of genetic abnormalities, which are not detected by current commercial genetic testing for C282Y and H63D mutations. Consequently, quantitative liver iron studies on fresh or paraffin embedded liver is recommended in confirming HH. The importance of detection and confirmation of HH cannot be overemphasized given the need to screen surviving family members in preventing organ damage of asymptomatic individuals. We present a case of a 38-year-old white woman with micronodular cirrhosis secondary to unsuspected HH that was confirmed by a quantitative liver iron study. The possible presentation of cardiac sudden death from HH, confirmation issues and implications of a HH diagnosis for surviving family members are also discussed.     

The Impact of Family Environment-Related Factors on Violence Against Adults in the Family

Much of the work on family violence, adult-on-adult violence, relies heavily on the characteristics of potential victims and offenders to explain the causes of violence. Family environment-related factors which can be represented by family organization, resources and stability have received relatively little attention. Those who live in a small family (or alone) may have a lower level of interaction with family members and a much lower risk of physical abuse compared to those living in larger family units. Also, the social organization or functionality of a family, which can be assumed from its structure and the relationships among its members, is likely to be related to the onset of violence. For those living in stable and wealthy families, violence may occur less often as a result of a reduced chance of conflict or family struggle. Findings of the current study show that the family environment differentiates the chances of victimization by family members.     

DNA profile evidence in complex disputed paternity cases: The analysis of 300 real cases

In disputed paternity cases where the putative father is unavailable DNA from one or more of his relatives could be used. However, interpreting results is often difficult, because of the partial information regarding the parental genotype obtained from his relatives. We analyzed results obtained in 300 real paternity cases performed through close relatives of the real father (sib, half-sibs, one grandparent and/or uncle). DNA was typed with PowerPlex (Promega) and the LR estimated with the Software BDGen. As expected the higher LR values were achieved with sibs and half-sibs (in such cases where his/her mother was available for testing). The LR values were tight related to the number of uninformative loci, which varied between 0 and 13. In 10% of the reviewed cases, 10 or more non-informative loci were observed; all of them associated LR values below 0.01. Thus, providing evidence in favor of no relatedness.     

Horizons of long-distance intimacies: Reciprocity, contribution and disjuncture in Cape Verde

This article employs the renewed anthropology of kinship to revisit historical approaches to the study of social relations taking place in transnational social fields. Based on multi-sited qualitative anthropological fieldwork with a strong historical perspective centred on biographical interviews and social network analysis, the author examines a particular Cape Verdean household that comprises four generations and extends its contacts between several Cape Verdean islands, Portugal, São Tomé/Príncipe as well as the United States. The contextualization of the individual life courses of its members and their changing relatedness in the course of time brings to surface a complex design of factors that contribute to the sense of belonging or detachment in this Creole transnational island society. These are different levels of mobility, the challenges and limits of diverse levels of technical connectivity between several localities, the dynamics between approved relatedness and family-based migration regimes as well as the normative aspects resulting in a gendered perspective on the demands of reciprocity. The author introduces the notion of a “contributive family model” in order to capture the individual choice of keeping in touch and the meaning of social practices, which transform ideas of relatedness into reconfirmed transnational solidarities.     

Cross-border public care and adoption proceedings in the European Union

The free movement of persons within the EU has meant that children at risk of harm from family members may be living in a Member State of which they are not a national. The child may be made subject to legal measures under the national law of the host State for the protection of their welfare. This article explores the competence of the EU to protect children in these circumstances, and the scope of the Brussels IIa Regulation in governing jurisdiction over child protection proceedings. It discusses the difference between national child protection systems and the political controversy surrounding English law on adoption following care proceedings issued over a child who is a national of a different Member State. It suggests that further information sharing on national systems and cooperation between courts is necessary for the effectiveness of the law and to encourage understanding of legitimate variation in Member State national family law.     

Role of family factors in adolescent delinquency in an Elazig/Turkey reformatory

Family is one of the most important factors in the social and psychological progress of an adolescent. Social behavior disorders in childhood have been reported to be caused by many factors that may lead children to commit a crime. Our study included a total of 106 convicted adolescents from Eastern Turkey in a reformatory and 126 unconvicted adolescents with a similar socio-economic status. A survey form was completed during a face-to-face interview and a review of official records was undertaken. The role of family disruption, education levels of parents, the rate of imprisonment among first- and second-degree relatives, migration as a family from their place of birth, and the number of delinquent children in the family were evaluated. There was a significant difference between the conditions in the families of convicted and unconvicted adolescents. Family factors play an important role in the development of adolescent delinquency. To prevent or decrease this rate of childhood or adolescent delinquency, there needs to be an improvement in the socio-cultural conditions of families.     

Parental Criminality, Family Violence and Intergenerational Transmission of Crime Within a Birth Cohort

Previous studies documented that crime is heavily concentrated in families. However, many studies relied on relatively small samples, often males and information on criminal involvement was self-reported. The present study investigates: (1) the prevalence of arrests in three generations; (2) the concentration of offenders and arrests within families; (3) the relationships between arrests among the relatives; (4) the relationship between arrests and family violence. A complete cohort of the families in which a child was born in a Dutch city was selected, and the arrests of all known family members (siblings, parents and grandparents) were investigated. Results showed that 7.2 % of the mothers and 18 % of the fathers had been arrested. The likelihood of parental arrests was related to the likelihood of grandparental arrests. There was clear evidence for assortative mating: when the mother was arrested, the likelihood that the father was arrested was increased with a factor five. Maternal arrests were also related to arrests of her parents-in-law. Arrests are heavily concentrated within families, 7.8 % of the families account for 52.3 % of the suspects. Arrests in family members constitute a major risk factor for poor developmental outcomes, such as criminal behavior. At the time of birth, it is possible to use information on arrests to select children who are at relatively high risk for the target of prevention efforts.Implications for prevention policies are discussed.     

Relational Legal Consciousness of U.S. Citizenship: Privilege,Responsibility, Guilt,and Love in Latino Mixed‐Status Families

Based on interviews with 100 members of mixed‐status families in Los Angeles, California, this article analyzes how U.S. citizen children practice and understand citizenship in the context of punitive laws targeting their loved ones. Participants' narratives of citizenship as privilege, responsibility, and guilt reveal that despite normative conceptions of citizenship as a universally equal status, citizenship intersects with key social markers to determine the contours and inequalities of substantive citizenship. Specifically, U.S. citizens in mixed‐status families make sense of their juridical category when they navigate unrealistic aspirations from relatives, maintain silence about undocumented family members' legal status, manage their fear of family separation through deportation, and take on financial and logistical responsibilities prematurely to help relatives. In each of these ways, family proves to be a key site for the social and relational production of citizenship.     

The Revolution and the Criminal Law

Egyptians had many reasons to overthrow the government of Hosni Mubarak, and to challenge the legitimacy of the interim military government. Strikingly, among the leading reasons for the uprising and for continued protest are reasons grounded in criminal justice. Reflection on this dimension of the Egyptian uprising invites a broader examination of the relationship between criminal justice and political legitimacy. While criminal justice is neither necessary nor sufficient for political legitimacy, criminal injustice substantially undermines political legitimacy and can provide independent reasons for revolution. A state may compromise its legitimacy by committing criminal acts, by perverting or subverting the criminal process, and by failing to discharge its duty to punish serious wrongdoing—a duty that then falls to individuals to discharge either directly (through vigilantism) or indirectly (through revolution). Contrary to the views of many leading criminal law theorists, the duty to punish serious wrongdoing applies to individuals and not only to states. The relevance of political legitimacy to criminal justice is more complicated. Individuals are morally obligated to follow the morally justified laws of an illegitimate state, but are not morally obligated to follow the morally unjustified laws of a legitimate state. Nor may any state punish in the absence of moral wrongdoing and moral fault. However, illegitimate states may be incapable of justly holding individuals accountable to the state, to the community, or to victims through criminal trials. This incapacity provides an additional reason to overthrow illegitimate states and replace them with legitimate states capable of justly administering a just criminal law.     

Legitimate rackets: Tax evasion,tax avoidance,and the boundaries of legality

Corporate crime is not the only means by which business can escape legal control. Law and legal definitions can also be used and manipulated to legally avoid both control and penalties or stigma associated with outright crime. This articl analyses such ‘legitimate rackets’ via a study of tax avoidance practices among business and ‘high net worth’ individuals. It describes some of the techniques employed, analyses the difference between tax evasion (an offence) and tax avoidance, explores the ‘grey area’ at the boundaries, and draws out the implications for theory and policy.     

Multi-locus DNA fingerprints using oligonucleotide probe (CAC)5/(GTG)5 in the Chinese population]

In order to test the practical applicability of oligonucleotide fingerprinting in China we have investigated unrelated individuals, family members and a pair of twins from the Beijing area using the probe (CAC)5/(GTG)5. Except for the monozygotic twins highly variable banding patterns were demonstrated as expected for the randomly selected individuals but also for the relatives. On the basis of an initial survey of 50 unrelated individuals the calculated probability for obtaining by chance two identical multilocus patterns is very small (less than 1.93 x 10(-13). Therefore it seems reasonable to conclude that like in caucasians, (CAC)5/(GTG)5 fingerprints are completely individual-specific also in this population. Therefore they have already been used successfully for identification purposes and paternity tests in many actual cases.     

Life histories of single parents and illegitimate infants in nineteenth-century Sweden.

"This essay presents tentative findings for the Sundsvall area of Sweden, which is being studied in a recent project on the decline of infant and childhood mortality in the Nordic countries. The focus is on the complete reproductive histories of single mothers and the life expectancies among infants born to women who at least once in their reproductive life history experienced the birth of an illegitimate child. In Sundsvall, industrialization only temporarily affected the illegitimacy ratio, but its effect was obvious even in agrarian parishes. The number of illegitimate children per woman remained relatively stable over time, with the exception of the town of Sundsvall. It was more common in the urban environment to give birth to several illegitimate children. Mortality was also higher among these infants, but the negative effects can be seen equally among both legitimate and illegitimate children."     

A Life of Grief: an Exploration of Disenfranchised Grief in Sex Offender Significant Others

In criminal justice, researchers have identified disenfranchised grief, or the denial of empathy and social support during the grieving process, in family members who have lost relatives through imprisonment and execution. Although both of these situations involve the physical removal of the offender from the family members’ lives, non-physical losses may also prompt the grieving process. One of these non-physical losses is a psychosocial loss, in which the person the family members knew is now gone. Given the public stigma of the label “sex offender” and the collateral consequences that occur as a result of that label, it is possible that sex offender significant others experience a psychosocial loss. The current research is an exploratory study that used qualitative interviews with 29 spouses and significant others of convicted sex offenders to explore if and how disenfranchised grief impacts sex offender partners. Findings support both the existence of and the detrimental impact of disenfranchised grief on sex offender partners.     

论中国民法典婚姻家庭编的立法理念与制度新规

《民法典》婚姻家庭编的编纂,根据加强国家对婚姻家庭的保护、倡导重视家庭文明建设、尊重婚姻家庭当事人的意思自治、注重夫妻婚姻家庭地位的平等、注重儿童最大利益原则的贯彻、注意保护婚姻家庭弱者的权益等立法理念,新增或修改补充了24项制度或规则,主要包括:在"一般规定"章中,新增婚姻家庭受国家保护原则,增设婚姻家庭文明建设的倡导性规定,确立最有利于被收养人原则,界定亲属的种类、近亲属和家庭成员的范围;在"结婚"章中,减少禁止结婚和无效婚姻的法定事由,修改补充可撤销婚姻制度,新增重大疾病的如实告知义务、婚姻无效或被撤销无过错方的损害赔偿请求权;在"家庭关系"章中,新增夫妻家事代理权及其限制规则、夫妻共同债务认定规则、婚内析产规则、亲子关系的确认与否认之诉规则;在"离婚"章中,新增离婚冷静期、婚姻关系解除的时间,补充诉讼离婚准予离婚的法定事由、离婚时处理子女抚养问题规则、离婚夫妻共同财产分割原则,修改离婚经济补偿、离婚经济帮助的适用条件,增加离婚损害赔偿法定事由的兜底条款;在"收养"章中,放宽被收养人的年龄和收养子女的人数限制,修改收养人的条件,增加收养评估规则等。