Suicidal gunshot to the head while driving a car

A severe traffic accident occurred on the German autobahn. According to eye witnesses, the car had changed from the left to the right lane at 160 km/h before crashing into a thicket at full speed. In the car, a sports pistol was found in the footwell of the driver's side. The emergency doctor who performed the external examination of the victim's body found a gunshot wound in the region of the driver's right lower jaw. As the prosecutor released the body without further examination, the family of the suicide asked for an autopsy, which demonstrated a lethal suicidal gunshot to the head; toxicological tests proved a previous consumption of cocaine.     

UK: AIDS treatment main factor in decision to grant permission to appeal immigration decision

On 26 June 2003, the England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) granted an application for leave to appeal a decision of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal, which had overturned an adjudicator's decision to allow an HIV-positive citizen of Uganda to immigrate to the United Kingdom (UK).     

Judges,juries, and the decision to convict

The bureaucratic context of criminal prosecution emphasizes efficiency; its legal context emphasizes due process and procedural fairness. This paper focuses on the trial stage of prosecution where both concerns are central. It empirically examines the bench trial, an alternative to the more commonly used plea of guilty and the more traditional trial by jury. A comparison between trial by judge and trial by jury reveals striking differences in determinations of guilt. These differences have implications for commonly held assumptions about both jury and judicial behavior.     

Fitness to drive in spite (because) of THC

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by a lack of concentration and/or an altered activation level. People with ADHD are found to violate traffic regulations, to commit criminal offences and to be involved in traffic accidents more often than the statistical norm. Furthermore, they show more deviant behaviour and have an increased co-morbidity regarding substance abuse and dependence. Hence, this disorder is of some forensic importance. The purpose of this case study is to demonstrate that in some cases people with ADHD may show unusual effects after the consumption of THC. A 28-year-old male, who showed abnormal behaviour and seemed to be significantly maladjusted and inattentive while sober, appeared to be completely normal with a very high plasma level of THC. Performance tests conducted with the test batteries ART2020 and TAP provided average and partly above-average results in functions related to driving. Thus, it has to be taken into account that in persons with ADHD THC may have atypical and even performance-enhancing effects.     

Investigating the Determinants of the Street Code and its Relation to Offending among Adults

Theoretical and empirical consideration has long been given to the role of subcultural attitudes and how they relate to delinquency and crime. Recently, Anderson has reconceptualized these early attitudinal depictions by considering the formation and role of these specific attitudes or ‘code of the street’ among African-Americans in inner-city neighborhoods. A number of important findings have emerged from this literature, yet much remains to be considered. We contribute to this literature in three specific ways by examining: (1) the scope of street code attitudes across a wide variety of individuals—and not just inner-city African American (males) to assess the generalizability of these attitudes; (2) the correlates of street code attitudes; and (3) the extent to which street code attitudes mediate the relationship between various demographic and attitudinal (self-control) variables and crime. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are addressed.     

The stalking victim's decision to contact the police: A test of Gottfredson and Gottfredson's theory of criminal justice decision making

There is a significant body of research exploring the reporting behaviors of crime victims. Much of this literature has focused on specific types of victimization (e.g., sexual assault) and the correlates of victim reporting. Recently, the crimes of stalking and cyberstalking have received empirical attention; however, few studies have examined the reporting behaviors of victims of these crimes. Using the theoretical framework proposed by Gottfredson and Gottfredson (1988), the current study explored how offense seriousness, the victim-offender relationship, and the prior record of the offender influenced a victim's decision to contact the police. Data were drawn from the 2006 stalking supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, which examined stalking in the United States. Results offered support to Gottfredson and Gottfredson (1988) and highlighted the significance of understanding the reporting behaviors for this sample of crime victims. Differences in reporting for victims of stalking and cyberstalking were also examined.     

Expanding the R&;E tax credit to drive innovation,competitiveness and prosperity

The research and experimentation (R&E) tax credit has long been the subject of criticism. Some argue that if the goal is more research and innovation, it’s better to increase direct federal funding of research. Others argue that the credit is not effective, that companies would do the research in any case. Some object the very notion of using tax policy to influence private sector behavior, preferring instead a more “neutral” tax code. Still others, including Tassey in this volume, point to what they see are a host of design flaws in the current credit, including that its incremental nature reduces its effectiveness. I will argue here that most of these arguments are mistaken. To promote innovation in a global economy both direct funding and indirect tax incentives are needed. The credit, while it can be improved, has been shown to be effective in stimulating research. Moreover, far from distorting the market, the credit corrects for a market failure where firms are unable to capture all of the benefits of corporate research, leading them to under invest in research. Finally, while reform and expansion are needed, it would be a mistake to shift to a completely flat credit. However, several important changes should be made including doubling the current value of the credit, modifying the Alternative Simplified Credit to become incremental, and expanding the flat credit for collaborative R&D.

The will to win: Determinants of public support for the drug war in Belize

The premise of this paper is that the drug war cannot be won without the public's full commitment. Based on a random sample of households (n=532) in Belize City, public attitudes are analyzed to assess the degree of support for drug enforcement. The findings show strong support for drug education as well as for increasing criminal sanctions and the size of the police force. Support fades, however, as drug enforcement is militarized. The significant determinants of public support are education, gender, attitudes toward the police, fear of property crime, and neighborhood crime prevalence. The paper closes by offering two concrete ways to build public support for drug enforcement.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, March 1991.