Russian roulette with a knife

The following case report describes an accidental stabbing that occurred on Halloween. The unwitting victim, while preparing for a holiday charade, stabbed himself with an ornamental dagger. By placing himself in a potentially hazardous situation, the victim's behavior entailed risk taking. The psychological implications of such risk taking are complex, and may be compared to such behaviors as russian roulette, gambling, and parasuicide.     

Europe’s Jewish problem

He is affiliated with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria. He is author of Applied Mathematical Demography; Population Change and Social Policy;and co-author (with Wilhelm Flieger) of World Populations: An Analysis of Vital Data.     

Validating the components of a taxonomic system for rapists: a path analytic approach

This study was part of a series designed to validate a classification system for rapists developed at the Massachusetts Treatment Center. This system (MTC:R2) determines subtypes according to three major dimensions: the meaning of the aggression in the rapist's offenses (expressive versus instrumental), the meaning of the sexual behavior (compensatory, exploitative, displaced anger, or sadistic), and the degree of general lifestyle impulsivity (low or high). A total of 201 rapists were subtyped using this system. A path analytic approach was used to relate family, juvenile, and adult histories to the main decisions of subtype assignment. The classification of an offender on each of the three dimensions was informed by a developmental perspective. Results provided support for the use of the discriminators used and highlighted the deficiencies in our current knowledge regarding developmental precursors. These results were integrated with the findings from other studies using MTC:R2 and suggestions for revisions to the current classification system were discussed.