A rare suicidal case of a ten-year-old child stabbing himself in the throat

A rare case is reported of a ten-year-old boy who committed suicide by stabbing himself in the throat with a pointed knife. Possibility of an accidental injury was excluded by the autopsy findings; suspicion of a homicide by his father was cleared through the deposition of his sister. The reason of suicide was attributed directly to his father's severe scolding and indirectly to his mother's death two years before.     

T. Dale Stewart's perspective on his career as a forensic anthropologist at the Smithsonian

T. D. Stewart (1901-1997) is internationally recognized as an early leader in forensic anthropology. In a series of taped interviews in 1975 and in 1986, Stewart discusses his professional development. The interviews document his early education in Delta, Pennsylvania, his long career at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC and aspects of his many contributions to forensic anthropology. His well-known careful editorial work and exhaustive, problem-oriented research approach may have been influenced by his early training in his hometown bank and his many years of apprenticeship under Ales Hrdlicka (1869-1943). Stewart describes aspects of the difficulties of working for Hrdlicka, yet credits the work ethic established by him as a formative factor in his own prodigious productivity.     

和光同尘中的骯髒气骨——澹归《遍行堂集》的民族思想平议

明末骨鲠之臣澹归,入清寄身僧寮,托钵募化,隐忍以生.所著<遍行堂集>成为乾隆时期文字狱严令禁毁的对象,却也为当时以至近代以来一些民族意识浓厚的学者所鄙薄.从澹归本人对其集的态度来看,有卑之无甚高论、卑之不敢高论和足堪为世导航之三途.循此去考察<遍行堂集>,可见它在许多俗滥文字的表面之后,别有玄机藏寓,体现出深沉的民族情怀和执着的民族气节.     

Autonomy in Extremis: An Intelligent Waiver of Appeals on Death Row

This article provides an in-depth account of the experiences of one condemned prisoner, Joseph Mitchel Parsons, who made the profound decision to waive his appeals and expedite his execution after serving eleven years under sentence of death in the State of Utah. Parsons determined that, at best, he faced years of appeals culminating in a long or life sentence that would likely end in a slow death in prison by unknown causes. Dropping his appeals, in contrast, offered a quick death in the execution chamber on a timetable under his control. The court granted Parsons the right to drop his appeals and expedite his execution. We provide evidence from this case study that the court allowed Parsons to make an autonomous decision to die on his own terms. As this research illustrates, an evaluation of the voluntariness of decisions to waive appeals in capital cases must be nested in an understanding of the death row experience of the individual under study. Case studies of the death row experience of those who waive their appeals, such as the research reported here, are integral to understanding these momentous decisions.     

公正的旁观者:亚当·斯密经济伦理思想的伟大创新

斯密从经济理论的人性假设出发,对其独特的"经济模型"和"看不见的手"理论进行了创新性研究,指出道德标准和公正原则是其"经济模型"赖以实现的价值支撑."公正的旁观者"是价值的最高裁判者,是上帝、自然神性与人的德性的统一."公正的旁观者"在经济伦理思想的演进中发挥着承前启后的作用.以"公正的旁观者"理论的提出为标志,经济与伦理的关系在现代性语境中发生了重大的转向."公正的旁观者"是现代经济伦理思想的伟大创新,是实现现代经济社会良序运行的伦理保障.     

Homicide and economic conditions: A replication and critique of M. Harvey Brenner's new report to the U.S. Congress

M. Harvey Brenner has produced two influential studies of the social costs of unemployment, economic inequality, and economic growth, both sponsored by the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress. This paper reports the results of an effort to reproduce Brenner's findings for homicide from his more recent (1984) study. Our conclusions are as follows. (1) Although not obvious from his write-up, Brenner's 1984 results differ substantively from his earlier results. (2) We are unable to reproduce his reported findings. (3) There are serious methodological problems with his procedure for choosing a regression specification.     

原初状态的由来及其内在困境——浅论《正义论》的逻辑基点

罗尔斯以其《正义论》而奠定了他在当代政治哲学界的地位。据说,他扭转了政治哲学的方向,从新回到了近代的契约论传统,并使之上升到更高的抽象水平而提出了他的“作为公平的正义”的理论。他整个理论的逻辑起点是“原初状态”,那么通过分析“原初状态”构建及其内在的困境我们可以透视其整个理论的说服力。     

《九朝律考》“北优于南”说献疑

程树德先生在法史学的定鼎之作--<九朝律考>中反复表达了这样一个观点:在南北朝分裂之际,中原律学,衰于南而盛于北.此观点影响久远,目前通行的法史教材中基本上都在复述这一观点.在阅读<九朝律考>的基础上,献上三点心得:北魏律之优未能一以贯之;南朝诸律并非无所建树;北周律并非无善可陈.     

UK court denies prisoner with HIV early release

On 19 August 2003, the England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) denied an application by a man with HIV and hepatitis C to suspend his sentence of imprisonment due to his poor health.     

Familicide, depression and catathymic process

A case of familicide by a 36-year-old male is reported. After years of stable marriage, exemplary military service, and steady employment, the subject developed his first episode of depression triggered, in part, by his inability to solve a problem associated with completion of a home improvement project. As the depression intensified, and dormant conflicts regarding his competency and self-esteem were rekindled, he experienced pronounced feelings of failure. After an extended period of agonizing about his problem, the idea suddenly emerged that his only recourse was to kill his family and himself, in order to spare everyone the humiliation of his perceived inadequacy. Such a fixed idea, along with a mounting pressure to act, is characteristic of the (chronic) catathymic process, in which a subject, without apparent motive, resorts to extreme violence directed at someone close to him. A detailed discussion of this case within the framework of catathymic process adds to our knowledge of family mass murder and refines the profile of potentially familicidal men.     

Somnophilia and Sexual Abuse Using Vaginal Administration of Triazolam

Somnophilia is a rare paraphilia, a form of sexual fetishism which is characterized by the desire to have sex with an unconscious human object who is unable to respond. To the author's knowledge, this is the first case study concerning somnophilic sexual abuse associated with vaginal administration of triazolam. The perpetrator video‐recorded his sexual acts with two unconscious female victims with whom he also had normal sexual intercourse and who were unaware of his paraphilic activities. His Internet conversations with other persons whom he thought to be interested in somnophilic sex and his plans to kidnap a child were recorded by the police. It was evident that sex with an unconscious object played a specific fetishistic role for this man. He obviously used a combination of drugs mixed with alcoholic drinks to make his victims fall sleep and videotaped vaginal administration of triazolam used to deepen the victim's unconscious state.     

论唐代"王孟"诗风对法式善诗歌创作的影响

法式善是乾嘉时期秉承唐代王孟诗风的重要诗人。乾隆盛世的诗学导向和淡泊的个性,成就了法式善以清雅见长的诗风。他在致力于对唐代王孟一派的摹写的同时,也在某种程度上表现出师法杜甫、白居易和晚唐诗风的诗歌倾向。正因为如此,在他那些熔铸着人生际遇、人文关怀和审美趣味的诗歌中,我们能够看到他在追踪王孟一派时,襟怀颇为包容,表现出了在唐诗影响下创作的多样性。这种多样性正是法式善作为清代诗人的独特价值所在。     

李白诗歌风格分期论略

用“飘逸”两字概括李白的诗风,既不符合李白的生活道路,也不符合李白的创作实践。细加考究,他之自然吐露感情,在各个时期,有着显著的不同风格。概括地说,出蜀前后主要是“飘逸”的;一入长安后主要是豪放的;而入长安后主要是于豪放之中时时发为幽愤和沉郁的慨叹,及至晚年流放夜郎就完全成为悽怆和悲壮了。     

《合同法》预期违约阻却机制之建构评析

预期违约成立后,可因法定事由而发生违约属性的消解,从而构成预期违约的违约阻却。我国《合同法》在经由不安抗辩权机制发生的特殊预期违约制度中设定了预期违约阻却机制,其机制设定模式缺乏严谨,体系亦欠完备,有待补充与完善。     

Wrapped to death. Unusual autoerotic death

Despite the large population of New Orleans, including many homosexual and transsexuals, there have been relatively few cases of autoerotic deaths. The case reported here is an interesting one as it includes a bizarre form of autoerotic behavior from the standpoint of the method used. There have been no deaths reported in the literature in which the victim died as a result of jeopardizing himself by enclosing his body into plastic with an airway out of his "cocoon" in the form of a snorkel tube. He was engaged in masturbation when he apparently lost his mouth piece or airway. He attempted to use a knife to cut himself out.     

Multiple suicidal gunshots to the head

We report two cases of suicide by multiple gunshots to the head. The first victim (of two shots) fired the first shot, which was observed, into his mouth, leading to damage to the left optic nerve and frontal lobe. The man still was able to drive his car home, where he shot himself in his right temple. He died 2 days later. The second victim (of three shots) was a 58-year-old man who was found dead on his bed. Reconstruction of the case disclosed that the first shot had passed through his tongue and slightly damaged the second cervical vertebral body. He then shot himself in his right temple, leading to damage of the temporal lobe. Finally, he shot himself in his left temple, resulting in destruction of the pons. In the first case, an amateurishly modified 8-mm blank revolver firing 6.35-mm- (.25)-caliber ammunition was used; in the second case, a rifle firing 5.6-mm (.22)-caliber ammunition with a reduced charge was used. In both cases, low-energy transfer to brain tissue by the initial bullets was due to low bullet energy or due to the bullets' missing the brain or vital centers.     

"Insanity" in civil law

The issue of "insanity" is rarely alluded to in the area of civil law. As a consequence, the legal standard for insanity is not clearly understood by many psychiatrists. The standard derives from case law and is based upon statutory law in the criminal sector. A civil case will be presented where the question of "insanity" was raised. In this case an individual committed suicide and his insurance company refused to pay the beneficiaries of his life insurance policy based upon a provision in his policy that excluded payment in situations of suicide. His beneficiaries sued, claiming that the deceased was insane at the time of his suicide and therefore not responsible for his actions. The standard for insanity in New Jersey and the reasoning of the psychiatrists will be presented.     

Gardner on the Philosophy of Criminal Law

Offences and Defences is an outstanding collection of elevenof John Gardner's previously published papers in the philosophyof criminal law. I briefly examine his views on five centralissues: his claims about basic responsibility and whether itshould be construed as relational; his positions on agent neutrality;his arguments about whether moral and criminal wrongs are typicallystrict; his thoughts about the structure of defences, and, finally,what his account of rape reveals about the content of the harmprinciple.     

People We Hire as Executioners: Who Are They? Who Are We?

Christopher Bennett has introduced a new inquiry into the capital punishment debate by looking at whether the role of executioner is one in which it is possible and proper to take pride. He argues that this will depend on the kind of justifications that an executioner can offer in defense of his role and takes as an example the English executioner Albert Pierrepoint as portrayed in the film Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman. Bennett claims that none of the justifications available to Pierrepoint are adequate, that his pride in his role was unjustified, and that this gives us reason to doubt those justifications for capital punishment. I am unpersuaded by Bennett’s arguments and give reasons for thinking that the role of executioner can under certain circumstances be an honorable vocation in which one may legitimately take pride.     

人的道德主体性与主体道德教育

人是道德的主体，人的主体性是一切道德活动的内在依据。人的主体性在道德活动中的具体化，构成人作为道德主体的主体性，包括为“我”性、求善性、内在超越性、自由意志性、自我约束性。道德教育本质上是一种主体性的活动，是教育和受教育通过以道德化为中介的交往而实现的受教育德性自我建构的活动。主体道德教育反映了时代的要求，它以教育和受教育主体性的发挥为前提，以民主、平等的教育关系为保证，关注个体的需要，以培养生活中的道德主体为根本。