Radical Criminals in the Grey Area: A Comparative Study of Mexican Religious Drug Cartels and Australian Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs

This article defines and assesses the ideal-type of the radical criminal as the analytical framework for a comparative qualitative study of Mexican religious drug cartels and Australian outlaw motorcycle gangs and concludes that radical criminals operate in both weak and failed states and stable democracies. The article participates in the wider discussion concerning the existence (and the features) of a grey area between criminal and political violence, through the lens of the radical criminal ideal-type.     

The Influence of Amicus Curiae Briefs on U.S. Supreme Court Opinion Content

We address fundamental questions about the ability of interest groups to shape public policy by examining the influence of amicus curiae briefs on U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion content. We argue that the justices will incorporate language from amicus briefs into their opinions based on the extent to which the amicus briefs contribute to their ability to make effective law and policy. Using plagiarism detection software and other forms of computer assisted content analysis, we find that the justices adopt language from amicus briefs based primarily on the quality of the brief's argument, the level of repetition in the brief, the ideological position advocated in the brief, and the identity of the amicus. These results add fresh insight into how interest groups influence the development of federal law by the Supreme Court.     

Mothers,Maidens and the Myth of Origins in the Irish Constitution

This article examines the ``hidden' ideological appeal which the 1937 Irish Constitution attempted to make by the invocation of the rural ideal, a hybrid of Irish nationalism, Catholicism and, most importantly, Gaelic romanticism. In this move, the historical legitimacy of the new state could be defined through the constitution by an appropriation of diverse symbols from an imagined past, a golden age of Gaelic unity and moral certainties. Particular attention will be paid to the image of woman as a representation of the nation in the 1937 Constitution, and to the context of Irish nationalist discourse generally, where she repeatedly appears in the archetypal forms of either mother or virgin. The predominance of the image of woman as mother in the Constitution, in contrast to her appearance in pre-independence nationalist discourse (where she regularly figured as a combination of mother, helpless maiden, seductress and destroyer) will be examined in terms of the Lacanian themes of Lack and jouissance (or enjoyment). This cultural (and legal) shift will be examined in terms of the renunciation of enjoyment inherent in this new national imagery, and in relation to the redemptive potential of the image of woman as mother; themes which appear significant in relation to post-colonial political formations generally, and to post-independence Irish political discourse in particular.     

Note the Robinson report

The Politics of Poverty, D. Donnison, Martin Robertson, 1982, pp.239, £3.50 paperback, £9.95 hardback.

Images of Welfare, P. Golding and S. Middleton, Martin Robertson, 1982, pp.296, £5.95 paperback, £16.50 hardback.

The Politics of Poverty, S. MacGregor, Longman, 1981, pp.193, £2.95 paperback.

Policy and Action‐Essays on the Implementation of Public Policy, edited by Susan Barrett and Colin Fudge, Methuen, 1981, pp.308, £7.95 paperback, £15.00 hardback.

Inside the Treasury, Joel Barnett, Andre Deutsch, 1982, pp.220, £8.95.

Ombudsman—Onwards Man, Pat Cook, BKT Publications, 1982, pp.155, £6.95.

British Dogmatism and French Pragmatism, Douglas E. Ashford, Allen and Unwin, 1982, pp.406+xvii, £27.50.

The Politics of Mass Housing in Britain 1945–1975, Patrick Dunleavy, Clarendon Press, 1981, pp.447, £17.50.

Economic Policy‐Making by Local Authorities in Britain and Western Germany, Nevile Johnson and Allan Cochrane, George Allen &; Unwin, London, 1981, pp.182, £15.00.     

Possible role of pseudoephedrine and other over-the-counter cold medications in the deaths of very young children

The Philadelphia Medical Examiners Office has reported a series of 15 deaths between February 1999 and June 2005 of infants and toddlers 16 months and younger in which drugs commonly found in over-the-counter (OTC) cold medications were present. A total of 10 different drugs were detected: pseudoephedrine, dextromethorphan, acetaminophen, brompheniramine, carbinoxamine, chlorpheniramine, ethanol, doxylamine and the anticonvulsants, phenobarbital, and phenytoin. The drugs were confirmed and quantified by gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry, with the exception of ethanol, which was analyzed by headspace GC and of phenobarbital and phenytoin that were quantified by GC with a nitrogen phosphorus detector. The most predominant drug was pseudoephedrine, which was found in all of the cases (blood concentration, n=14, range=0.10-17.0 mg/L, mean=3.34 mg/L) and was the sole drug detected in three cases. Acetaminophen was detected in blood from each of the five cases with sufficient sample. Other drugs (with frequency of detection) were dextromethorphan (five cases), carbinoxamine (four cases), chlorpheniramine (two cases) and brompheniramine, doxylamine, and ethanol (one case each). In the majority of the cases, toxicity from drugs found in easily available OTC medications was listed either as the direct cause of death or as a contributory factor. The manner of death was determined to be natural in only two of the cases. This postmortem study supports previous evidence that the administration of OTC cold medications to infants may, under some circumstances, be an unsafe practice and in some cases may even be fatal. The treating physicians and the general public need to be made more aware of the dangers of using OTC cold medications to treat very young children so that these types of tragedies might be avoided.