Guilty but mentally ill: the South Carolina experience

Thirty of the first 45 individuals to receive guilty but mentally ill (GBMI) verdicts in South Carolina were interviewed using a structured interview schedule for diagnosis. The relationship of diagnosis to pretrial evaluation and posttrial conviction treatment are discussed. No person received GBMI in a jury trial. Suggestions to improve the operation of the GBMI verdict are made, as well as a brief review of these data with data from other states.     

Homicidal ethylene glycol intoxication: a report of a case

We report a case of a 75-year-old hypertensive, diabetic man who presented to the emergency room with symptoms and signs of nausea, acute intoxication, significant alteration in mental status with rapid neurologic deterioration, and blunt impact injuries sustained during a recent altercation with a 36-year-old female companion-caretaker. He denied a history of ethanol abuse or other recent toxic ingestion and had not been diagnosed with or treated for depression. Hospital laboratory tests revealed a metabolic acidosis and a negative urine toxicology screen. He was diagnosed with toxic encephalopathy with metabolic acidosis secondary to metformin. Despite treatments including hemodialysis, he expired after approximately 28 hours of hospitalization. A postmortem anatomic examination revealed recent blunt-impact injuries and cardiac and renal pathology. A subsequent histologic examination revealed the presence of calcium oxalate crystals in the kidneys and brain, in addition to cardiac and renal pathology. Comprehensive forensic toxicologic testing was performed on antemortem and postmortem samples and revealed lethal levels of ethylene glycol. The cause of death was as a result of acute intoxication by ethylene glycol with another condition of multiple blunt impacts to the head, trunk, and extremities. The manner of death was ruled as homicide. A trial by jury, involving the female companion-caretaker, resulted in her conviction, and she was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison. In this report, we present an unusual case of homicidal ethylene glycol intoxication in which legal proceedings have occurred.     

Bayesian analysis of fingerprint, face and signature evidences with automatic biometric systems

The Bayesian approach provides a unified and logical framework for the analysis of evidence and to provide results in the form of likelihood ratios (LR) from the forensic laboratory to court. In this contribution we want to clarify how the biometric scientist or laboratory can adapt their conventional biometric systems or technologies to work according to this Bayesian approach. Forensic systems providing their results in the form of LR will be assessed through Tippett plots, which give a clear representation of the LR-based performance both for targets (the suspect is the author/source of the test pattern) and non-targets. However, the computation procedures of the LR values, especially with biometric evidences, are still an open issue. Reliable estimation techniques showing good generalization properties for the estimation of the between- and within-source variabilities of the test pattern are required, as variance restriction techniques in the within-source density estimation to stand for the variability of the source with the course of time. Fingerprint, face and on-line signature recognition systems will be adapted to work according to this Bayesian approach showing both the likelihood ratios range in each application and the adequacy of these biometric techniques to the daily forensic work.     

Tissue distribution of olanzapine in a postmortem case

Olanzapine is a relatively new antipsychotic drug used in the United States for the treatment of schizophrenia. Since its release in the United States market in 1996, few cases of fatal acute intoxication have been reported in the literature. This article describes the case of a 25-year-old man found dead at home who had been prescribed olanzapine for schizophrenia. This case is unique because of the measurement of olanzapine in brain tissue obtained from seven regions in addition to the commonly collected biologic matrices. Olanzapine was detected and quantitated by basic liquid-liquid extraction followed by dual-column gas chromatographic analysis with nitrogen phosphorus detection. The assay had a limit of detection of 0.05 mg/L and an upper limit of linearity of 2 mg/L. The presence of olanzapine was confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry by use of electron impact ionization. The concentrations of olanzapine measured in this case were as follows (mg/L or mg/kg): 0.40 (heart blood), 0.27 (carotid blood), 0.35 (urine), 0.61 (liver), negative (cerebrospinal fluid), 0.33 mg in 50 ml (gastric contents). In the brain, the following distribution of olanzapine was determined (mg/kg): negative (cerebellum), 0.22 (hippocampus), 0.86 (midbrain), 0.16 (amygdala), 0.39 (caudate/putamen), 0.17 (left frontal cortex), and 0.37 (right frontal cortex). The cause of death was determined to be acute intoxication by olanzapine, and the manner of death was accidental.     

Temperance and the origins of the new penology

This article discusses the nineteenth century origins of indeterminate sentencing and discretionary penology. Was this idea an offshoot of contemporary positivist criminology, emanating from Europe, or was it a separate development in the United States? It is argued that although European influences were felt, the “new penology” was clearly an American product. However, it did not derive either from new insights in social science, or from simple reforming zeal. Rather, the new penology is seen here as an outgrowth of the contemporaneous temperance movement, which in turn resulted from social and ethnic conflict. The article suggests that the temperance movement was central to the evolution of discretionary penology, and crucial in keeping these ideas alive until the new positivism made itself felt. In summary, the temperance movement is seen as a vital, through understudied, force in the evolution of the twentieth century justice system in the United States.     

Shakespeare,procreation, and progress

His books include The Economics of Population Growth; The Ultimate Resource; Theory of Population and Economic Growth: Effort, Opportunity and Wealth; The Economic Consequences of Immigration;and most recently Population Matters: People, Resources, Environment and Immigration,published by Transaction.