Unusual self-electrocution simulating judicial electrocution by an adolescent

Electrocution is one of the rarest modes of suicide. In this case, one school going adolescent committed suicide by electrocution using bare electric wire. This is a rare case of suicidal death by applying live wires around the wrists, simulating the act of judicial electrocution. He positioned himself on armed chair and placed the nude wire loops from a cable around both wrists and switched on the current by plugging in to nearest socket by foot. There were linear electric contact wounds completely encircling around the both wrists. In addition to these linear electric burns all around wrists, there were electrical burns over both hands. This death highlights the need of supervision and close watch on children for self-destructing activities and behavior. This case also highlights unusual method adopted by adolescent to end his life.     

A Hard Time to Be a Father?: Reassessing the Relationship Between Law,Policy, and Family (Practices)

This article seeks to unpack the way in which a constellation of ideas around what it means to speak of 'good fatherhood' has come to inform a series of debates, after the election of the New Labour government in 1997, around the content and contours of paternal responsibility. Via a focus on family law and recent developments around the idea of 'work-life' balance, it discusses the concepts underpinning present debates. In questioning the still-powerful (if frequently unspoken) influence of social constructionist ideas of sex/gender, it explores and question how men's 'family practices' have been understood.     

The BALCO scandal: the social structure of a steroid distribution network

The current study revisits the notorious Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO) scandal involving the production and distribution of an undetectable anabolic-androgenic steroid to professional athletes from late 1990s until 2003. Multiple sources are reviewed to re-create the social structure of BALCO and examine whether it formed a close-knit community or instead multiple communities defined around a specific sport or discipline. Results from a community fragmentation analysis suggest that six communities could be identified as distinct in the BALCO network of 97 individuals – three structured around athletic interests (baseball, football and boxing), one around BALCO's chemist, another around the eventual whistle-blower, and a ‘broker’ community, labelled the network's core. The network's core functioned as the best intermediate between communities because of the diversity of actors involved and the presence of BALCO's founder (Conte), who was brokering ties all over the network, though such a structure ultimately resulted in complete demise of the BALCO network.     

Many Spiders,One Worldwide Web: Towards a Typology of Internet Regulation

This article examines emerging Internet law and policy from a comparative, international perspective. This complex, multi-cultural, global, information, communication, commercial and cultural platform that the Internet has become is gradually being adapted to the political, economic and cultural realities and interests of specific countries around the world. The United States, where the Internet was created, has advocated an Internet regulatory regime based on self-regulation. Though this principle has also been endorsed by some international agencies and non-governmental organizations, Internet self-regulation is neither desirable nor universally applicable. After a survey of patterns of Internet law and policy around the world, a five-part typology of Internet regulation based on the multiple political, cultural, social and economic contexts and realities around the world is proposed. They are: (1) Internationalist, (2) Neo-merchantilist, (3) Culturist, (4) Gateway and (5) Developmentalist. An attempt is made to show that these different regulatory regimes arise out of differential attitudes toward the Internet around the world.     

Accidental strangulation in a rickshaw

A 40-year-old female was accidentally strangulated by a ‘Chunni’ (piece of cloth worn around neck) while travelling in a cycle rickshaw. She was declared dead on arrival in the hospital. This case highlights the hazards of wearing cloth loosely around the neck while travelling in a rickshaw which is a common mode of transport for short distances in India and other South-East Asian countries.     

A judge's three worlds: proof, philosophy, and the prison

Tensions between the world of science and the world of law may arise because of their differing viewpoints and philosophies. Disagreements may center around such questions as what constitutes proof, around human behavior, and around the use of the insanity defense in criminal cases. The just deserts model is examined and is criticized as being harsh and possibly unrealistic in today's society.     

Clearing the muddy waters of shared watercourses governance: conceptualizing international River Basin Organizations

Institutions that have been set up by riparian states to internationally govern shared water resources—international River Basin Organizations (RBOs)—play a key role in river basin governance. Despite an increased attention paid to RBOs in international relations and water scholarship, there has been little focus on defining and conceptualizing RBOs and, subsequently, on comprehensively identifying the RBOs that exist around the world. This has challenged research around RBOs in both methodological and theoretical ways. This paper aims to meet this challenge by offering a theoretically grounded definition of an international RBO and crafting a comprehensive list of international RBOs. We do so deductively, building from the larger neo-institutionalist research and international water resources governance literature. Our definition identifies three broad categories of constitutive elements: internationalization, institutionalization and governance. We apply this definition to potential cases to better identify the extent of RBOs around the world today and outline which cases qualify as RBOs and which cases fail to meet our constitutive criteria. This allows us to compile a comprehensive list of all existing international RBOs, including the identification of RBOs with specific characteristics. The article concludes by crafting an agenda for future research around RBOs that builds on this more complete understanding of RBOs.     

2008年中国法治政府建设大盘点

2008年中国法治政府建设伴随着依法治国,建设社会主义法治国家的进程迈出了坚定的步伐。在这一年,中国的法治政府建设围绕无边大爱这一新的历史主题,开始了行政程序建设的新实践,同时围绕着限制公共权力、信息公开、有权必有责等主题,实践了新的法治政府追求,为和谐中国奠定了坚实的基础。     

Swedish Drug Policy: A Successful Model?

The shift in Swedish drug policy since around 1980 towards a more strict model has according to the official point of view been successful by comparison with the earlier, more lenient drug policy. However, available systematic indicators show that the prevalence of drug use has increased since around 1980, that the decrease in drug incidence was particularly marked during the 1970s and that some indicators point towards an increase during the 1990s. The shift towards a more strict policy.     

Self‐Strangulation Turning into Partial Hanging for a Suicide Victim

Hanging is the most common asphyxial method of suicide, whereas suicide by strangulation is unusual. Here, we are reporting a particular methodology of the asphyxial method of suicide in which a case of self‐strangulation culminated into partial hanging. A 30‐year‐old male wrapped one end of the cable wire around his neck. He then passed the other end over a curtain rod and tied that end around the right hand. He pulled the hand down, using the curtain rod as a fulcrum, to tighten the noose around the neck in an attempt to strangulate himself. However, he lost consciousness during the process and the body slipped down, pulling the right hand up which got stuck at the curtain rod. This led the body hanged in the kneeling position. This bizarre scenario raised suspicion of homicide but the crime scene, autopsy and victim characteristics were in favor of suicide.     

Formation of a "crow's foot pattern" in the smoke residue in homicide by forehead gunshot injury

We report a "crowsfoot-like" pattern in the smoke marks around the entrance of a close-range bullet wound in the center of the forehead; the weapon in this homicide was a revolver. This pattern only occurs if the facial muscles that form expression are completely contracted at the moment the shooting occurs and if the victim expects the event. The wrinkles gather around the entrance of the bullet, and this wound pattern may indicate that the shot was expected by the victim and represent a piece of the mosaic that might help clarify the circumstances in a case.     

Frozen Corpses and Feuding Parents: Re JS (Disposal of Body)

In October 2016, a dying teenager won the legal right to have her remains cryogenically frozen and stored indefinitely in an American clinic. The cryonics aspect was novel, posing questions around the legality of this particular method of corpse ‘disposal’ in the UK and the processes involved. More significantly, the case raises other substantive legal issues around the fate of the dead, including the status of funeral instructions under English law, and how courts adjudicate parental disputes over the funeral arrangements for a dead child.     

Unusual suicidal smothering by means of multiple loops of adhesive gummed tape

In suicidal asphyxia smothering is very rare, especially when caused by winding strips of adhesive tape around the head to cover the nose and mouth. The authors report a very unusual case in which the deceased, a 66-year-old man, was found with two strips of tape wound around his head: the first, more superficial tape was wrapped six times and the second was wrapped nine times. Only integration of the crime scene data with those of the autopsy and the patient's psychological profile enabled identification of the event as suicide.     

Deaths and COVID-19: Talk,silence and alternative realities

This article critically considers the UK Government's insidious attempts to control the narrative around COVID-19 deaths through using the interrelated strategies of “talk and ‘silence’ in order to socially construct a definitive ‘truth’” around the virus. The article traces how these strategies worked in practice and the shift which took place from numerous press briefings and Parliamentary debates to an ominous silence around the number of deaths, in particular. At the same time, as the article illustrates, the government's truth has not prevailed. Their twin strategy has been contested and resisted by grassroots organizations and radical lawyers who have demanded that Ministers should take responsibility for the tens of thousands of preventable deaths which have occurred. Rather than government talk and silence prevailing, it is the voices of the haunted relatives of the dead, demanding accountability, which are creating an alternative narrative.     

在校大学生犯罪的原因与预防

近年来,大学生犯罪率呈上升趋势。纠其原因,和大学生的生理特点、心理特点以及大学生所处的社会环境有着密切的关系。鉴于大学生犯罪原因的复杂性,对大学生犯罪应实施预防的系统工程。在这一系统工程中,包括预测系统、预防系统与控制系统。具体的措施为:从心理咨询工作的开展到校园文化的净化,从关注高校管理体制到增强大学生的法制教育,从深化高校的全面改革到治理高校的周边环境。     

Distortion of teatree stems by twine as a means to determine the number of years that the stems have been used to support cannabis plants.

In New Zealand, stems of teatree (Kunzea/Leptospermum) growing around illicit cannabis plots have been used to anchor lengths of twine running through the plots to hold cannabis plants upright. Forensic examinations of distortions of teatree stems caused by the twine have been carried out to determine when the twine had been first tied around the stems, in order to estimate the number of years that plots have been in operation. In this experiment, baling twine was tied around stems of a teatree (Kunzea ericoides) and the effect monitored for a period of three years. Varying degrees of stem distortion occurred during the first year, caused initially by expansion of callus (a wound tissue) rather than constriction of the growth (annual) rings of the xylem. Although this callus has a type of growth ring, these are not annual, therefore cannot be used to determine the number of years that stems have had twine attached. Xylem growth rings of the teatree in this experiment were not restricted until the third year. Distortion of teatree stems allows the determination of a minimum (not absolute) number of years that twine has been attached.     

To recommend or not recommend: That is still the question

The boundaries around what parenting plan evaluators should and should not say in their reports to Courts has been debated in both mental health and legal circles for decades. The controversy about whether parenting plan evaluators should make specific recommendations to Courts regarding access plans and decision-making rights revolves around varied views of the limits of mental health professionals' knowledge about such matters, whether they are socio-moral or psychological in nature, and the benefits to children and society of facilitating case-resolution. In the conversation presented below a seasoned family law attorney and a psychologist who is a frequent critic of the practice of making specific recommendations debate this area of controversy.     

An extreme case of undoing and posing in a case of murder-suicide. A forensic pathological approach to crime scene investigation

A 7-year-old boy was killed by his father by manual strangulation during a murder-suicide. After the killing of the son, the father showed typical "undoing" behaviour: He changed the boy's clothes and laid him down on the bed. Then he placed candles around his head, put pictures of the parents' wedding around him and a crucifix and a picture of the family into his hands. He broke off a rose in a vase next to the bed, lit the candles and took photographs of his dead son. Later he called his wife, threatened to kill the son and finally called the police to confess the murder and to announce his forthcoming suicide.     

环渤海地区水权法律问题初探

环渤海地区水资源分布不均衡，水权法律制度的缺失成为桎梏环渤海区域经济发展不平衡的因素之一。水权是一个综合性概念，水权法律制度的建构是一个综合性立法过程。因此，通过原有的取水许可制度向水权初始分配制的转换，实现水资源国家所有权分离,从“转化式”向“授予式”过渡是水权法律制度建构的重要途径。同时，《反垄断法》与《环境保护法》相关制度的配套建设，也是环渤海地区水权法律制度综合建构的一部分。     

运用神经行为测试系统评价酒后行为功能的可行性研究

目的研究运用神经行为测试系统评价酒后行为功能的可行性。方法采用汉化第三版计算机化神经行为评价系统(NES-C3),通过自身对照的方式,对49名饮酒者进行神经行为功能的测试,并与步行回转试验进行比较。结果心算、视觉保留、线条判断和数字筛选均在酒后0.5￣2.5h的时间点上能力指数有所下降,视简单反应时能力指数下降则延续至酒后5.5h;步行回转在酒后0.5￣2.5h间有阳性案例。血中酒精质量浓度在0.50mg/mL以上,视觉保留、线条判断及视简单反应时的能力指数有明显下降;血中酒精质量浓度在0.80mg/mL以上,心算和数字筛选的能力指数有明显下降。步行回转实验的阳性人数在血中酒精质量浓度0.50mg/mL以上有明显增加。结论计算机化神经行为评价系统作为一个定量指标,可反应酒精质量浓度与神经行为功能的关系,且比步行回转试验更客观、更灵敏。