Political Journals in Germany

Germany in the 18th and 19th centuries possessed a wealth of monthly political journals. The period after the Second World War saw a renaissance of monthly journals, which offered orientation to a populace disoriented by National Socialism and war. Today there is a limited number of monthly political journals and their total circulation does not exceed 100,000. But their readership constitutes the small group of citizens who take an interest in politics and in political discourse. Their quantitative influence cannot be measured, their qualitative influence cannot be overestimated. The article focuses mainly on the magazines Neue Gesellschaft/Frankfurter Hefte and Die Politische Meinung. The former is supported by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, the latter by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.     

Fatal crossbow injury in an adolescent

The authors present the case of a 14-year-old boy who died while handling a crossbow, which was a gift from a friend's mother. The bolt passed through the right nostril, penetrated the sinus sphenoidalis, the brain stem, the left occipital lobe and the occipital calvaria. Immediately after the accident, the victim was taken to a maximum care hospital. In spite of neurosurgical treatment and intensive care the victim died 4 days later. The case presented demonstrates that crossbows are not suitable as toys for underage persons, as they are deadly weapons which can cause serious penetrating injuries. In Germany, no license is required to buy and/or possess crossbows. In the authors' opinion, legal restrictions on the sale of crossbows and a special training of the users would be reasonable measures to reduce such accidents.     

The European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics: A New Tool in Assessing Crime and Policy Issues in Comparative and Empirical Perspective

Theories which suggest a relationship between crime or criminal justice variables on the one hand, and variables related to criminal justice policies on the other hand, cannot be tested without reference to historic or comparative data. Since international comparisons offer the most powerful test of such theories, policy-related research in Europe has suffered, so far, from a lack of valid comparative data. Whether crime data from different countries are comparable, has always been subject to controversies. In the case of the European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice, a network of specialists was established under the auspices of the Council of Europe in order to assess the validity of the data. Although some problems in cross-country level comparisons could not be settled, the European Sourcebook offers comparative data on 36 Member States of the Council of Europe on a variety of subjects (offences and offenders known to the police; prosecution, convictions, sentences, and corrections; survey data; and indications on manpower and budgets of police forces, prosecutors, and corrections).     

From Disparity in Sentencing Towards Sentencing Equality: The German Experience

This article addresses movements in Germany towards greater uniformity in sentencing since the entry into force of the first federal criminal code in 1871, with a particular focus on developments since the second half of the twentieth century. The author reviews the empirical evidence for sentence disparity; addresses the limitations of the constitutional principle of equality as a means for overcoming sentencing disparity; identifies the causes of sentence disparity and tracks practical efforts made to overcome that disparity, specifically through the introduction of prosecutorial guidelines and judicial manuals for certain frequent types of offending. He also explains and critiques different theoretical models for increasing sentencing equality, and reviews the advantages and potential uses of sentencing information systems such as a judgment database created in Japan. The author then turns to the contribution made by the appellate courts to greater uniformity in sentencing and expresses the hope that recent trends towards intensified guidance for trial courts in appeals concerning tax offences will be extended to other types of offences as well.     

Autoerotic fatalities in Greater Dusseldorf

Autoerotic fatalities in the Greater Dusseldorf area correspond to the relevant medicolegal literature. Our results included exclusively young to middle-aged, usually single men who were found dead in their city apartments. Clothing and devices used showed a great variety. Women's or fetish clothing and complex shackling or hanging devices were disproportionately frequent. In most cases, death occurred due to hanging or ligature strangulation. There was no increased incidence of underlying psychiatric disorders. In most of the deceased no or at least no remarkable alcohol intoxication was found. Occasionally, it may be difficult to reliably differentiate autoerotic accidents, accidents occurring in connection with practices of bondage & discipline, dominance & submission (BDSM) from natural death, suicide or homicide.     

Computer assisted modeling of ethyl sulfate pharmacokinetics

For 12 volunteers of a drinking experiment the concentration–time-courses of ethyl sulfate (EtS) and ethanol were simulated and fitted to the experimental data. The concentration–time-courses were described with the same mathematical model as previously used for ethyl glucuronide (EtG). The kinetic model based on the following assumptions and simplifications: a velocity constant k_form for the first order formation of ethyl sulfate from ethanol and an exponential elimination constant k_el. The mean values (and standard deviations) obtained for k_form and k_el were 0.00052 h^?1 (0.00014) and 0.561 h^?1 (0.131), respectively. Using the ranges of these parameters it is possible to calculate minimum and maximum serum concentrations of EtS based on stated ethanol doses and drinking times. The comparison of calculated and measured concentrations can prove the plausibility of alleged ethanol consumption and add evidence to the retrospective calculation of ethanol concentrations based on EtG concentrations.     

Creating a new organizational culture: the key to total quality management in the public sector

Total Quality Management (TQM) as a business strategy has been recognized by managers in the public sector since the late 1980s. While much has been written about the need for TQM and its strategies such as quantitative measurement and statistical analysis, team work and worker participation, few empirical and theoretical studies have been carried out or published on the connection of organizational culture to the implementation of TQM. Many leaders in the field have asserted that significant organizational cultural change will be required to ensure the success of TQM. This paper examines the changes that may be required in the process, and presents a synopsis of the need to (perhaps) reexamine the definition of organizational culture and the perspective of management, public or private, to make the culture of an organization more compatible with desired values.