Die Begründung der Geschworenengerichtsurteile

Seit der Wiedereinführung der Geschworenengerichte nach dem Kriege laufen die Debatten um eine Reform auf dieselben Argumente hinaus. Das Ergebnis ist Geschmackssache. In letzter Zeit ist jedoch das Fehlen der Begründung des Wahrspruchs immer mehr in den Vordergrund der Kritik getreten, unterstützt von einem Urteil des EGMR vom Januar 2009. Der Gesetzgeber ist aufgerufen, Abhilfe zu schaffen. Diese Abhandlung befasst sich damit, wie das am besten geschehen soll.     

Explosive "Roman find"

A case of a 40-year-old hobby archeologist is presented who searched for remains from Roman times. After finding an oblong, cylindrical object, he opened it with a saw to examine it, which triggered an explosion killing the man. The technical investigation of the remains showed that the find was actually a grenade from the 2nd World War. The autopsy findings and the results of the criminological investigation are presented.     

An unusual occupational accident: fall into a sewage plant tank with lethal outcome

Occupational accidents, often presenting with lethal outcomes, are a rarely reported issue in forensic literature. However, these incidents are part of medicolegal casework with special regard to reconstruction, liabilities and insurance law-related issues, respectively. We report on a lethal occupational accident in a metropolitan sewage plant. When performing routine controls, a technician fell into an overflow sewer and was immediately pulled into a 30 cm diameter drain. Rescue efforts were initiated immediately, but had to be terminated due to gas warning. Rescue teams continued the search, however, the body remained undiscoverable. Forty-eight hours later, the cadaver was found in an adjacent digester tank, from where it was finally rescued. It was concluded, that the body had been transported between the overflow sewer and the digester tank through a 120 m pipeline with several 90 degrees bendings and branch connections with a minimum diameter of 25 cm at the discharge valve. On medicolegal examination, the cadaver showed marked signs of advanced decomposition caused by anaerobic microorganisms in the 37 degrees C biomass environment. Moreover, as a consequence of the passage of the pipeline system, signs of massive trauma (several comminuted and compound fractures) were disclosed at autopsy. To us, this is the first report on a lethal occupational accident in a sewage plant; our observations demonstrate the rapid progress of putrefaction in a warm anaerobic bacterial environment and the massive trauma sustained.     

Medical malpractice charges in Germany--role of the forensic pathologist in the preliminary criminal proceeding

Medical malpractice charges from 1989 to 2002 were evaluated. A rising number of cases during this period is evident. The charges of practice falling below the standard of care (n = 285) were surveyed to determine who informed the prosecution, which clinical subjects are involved, what kind of charges can be found and whether such allegations can be appropriately assessed by means of a forensic autopsy. Forensic pathologists were found to be useful for ascertainment and interpretation of autopsy findings. If special questions arise, an additional expert opinion should be suggested by the forensic pathologist. There was no relevant shift in the range of subjects involved compared to former studies. The investigated charges might represent only a small fraction of cases of medical practice falling below the standard of care.     

Politico-Economic Determinants of Public Debt Growth: A Case Study for Austria

Based on a number of economic andparticularly politico-economic arguments,we examine the reasons for the growth ofthe central government's debt in Austriausing time series data for the period 1960 to 1999. Starting with an empiricaltest of Bohn's theory of sustainability offiscal policy, which is based on Barro'stax-smoothing model, we extend the model toaccount for several politico-economicvariables suggested by public choicetheories. Keynesian stabilization policyobjectives, influences of ideology andpolitical parties, the form of governmentand the political business cycle are testedregarding their ability to explain thegrowth of public debt in Austria. There issome empirical evidence for systematicinfluence of government behavior inaccordance with recent public choicetheories. However, it seems that the mostimportant influence on Austrian fiscalpolicy is the unemployment rate, which has asignificant influence on the decisions madeby policy-makers. Concluding, we brieflydiscuss the implications of these resultsfor the prospects of reducing public debtin Austria in the near future.     

Morality Influences How People Apply the Ignorance of the Law Defense

In four empirical studies, we showed that laypeople apply the ignorance of the law defense differently depending on the perceived morality of the defendant's course of conduct at the time of the illegal act. Moral and neutral defendants who pled ignorance of the law were afforded leniency, whereas immoral defendants were sentenced as though they were not ignorant, even when defendants in all three conditions violated identical laws. These findings suggest that laypeople adopt a just deserts approach to criminal law, which influences their responsiveness to a criminal defendant's claim to be ignorant of the law. We discuss the implications of these findings for criminal law and argue that legal doctrine should reflect laypeople's moral intuitions.