The rise and fall of the criminal law of the German Democratic Republic

Dr. jur., University of Munich 1963; Dr. jur. habil., University of Munich 1968.     

The evaluation of an administrative co-operation project in North Yemen and its significance for German aid policy

This case study is based on an evaluation report of a German project for development co-operation in the field of public administration in the Republic of North Yemen. It describes the history, the efforts and the problems of the project which operated within the framework of the National Institute of Public Administration in Sana'a and in order to understand the project there is an outline of the public administration of North Yemen. The paper also describes the structure of the German side of the administration of development policy, the Ministry of Economic Co-operation, the German Society for Technical Cooperation and the Public Administration Promotion Centre in Berlin. Both the practical problems of administrative co-operation and of undertaking evaluation are analysed and a practical approach to evaluation and evaluation techniques is presented for discussion. The paper argues the merits of providing aid in support of training in order to improve public administration, and specifically emphasises the value of preparatory courses which link the educational system within the occupational system of the public sector by preparing university graduates for the profession of public administration.     

Pneumatic spaces of the zygomatic arch (zygomatic air cell defect) on pantomograms--an aid for age determination and identification

The analysis of panoramic radiographs of the jaws for forensic purposes is well established. The dental findings on the radiographs give valuable information concerning the identity and possible age. Panoramic radiographs also depict the zygomatic arches. Pneumatized spaces of the temporal bone's zygomatic arch process are asymptomatic variations, entitled "zygomatic air cell defect" (ZACD). Data on ZACD prevalence might support the current forensic-odontologic practice in the fields of identification and age assessment. The authors analyzed 6 studies subjected to evaluate ZACD on panoramic radiographs. The out-patients were subjected to systematic radiography prior to treatment planning in specialized dental or maxillofacial surgery clinics. The age of the 7870 patients varied between 6 and 97 years. ZACD was found in 169 patients (prevalence: 2.32%; female: 56.12%, male: 43.9%). Most ZACD were unilateral (70%). In these studies no ZACD occurred in children younger than 7 years of age. There was no statistically significant difference concerning ZACD prevalence in the sub-groups of children aged 9 to 13 vs. 14 to 17 years. This review demonstrates the prevalence of ZACD on orthopantomograms. The prevalence of this finding in the investigated children does not differ from the prevalences reported for adults, and is low in general. The presence of ZACD in persons might be valuable for the identification of humans or human remains and for age estimation in addition to other physical and dental findings.     

Mandibular fracture following stab injury with a knife

Stab injuries of the face accompanied by fractures of the jaws are rare. The report deals with the case of a young man, who suffered a penetrating stab injury to the cheek and fracture of the mandible in an assault. The forensic questions to be answered were if the findings were compatible with a stab and subsequent fracture, if one of the confiscated instruments could have been the causative weapon and if the injury had to be assessed as life-threatening. Both the soft and the hard tissue injury confirmed the assumption that they were caused by a stab. It was not possible, however, to assign the injury to a specific knife from the submitted exhibits on the basis of the clinical findings. In the discussion the serious nature of stab injuries in the facial region is emphasized.     

Advancing knowledge about replication in criminology

Journal of Experimental Criminology - This article summarizes key points made in a session at the American Society of Criminology meeting in Philadelphia in November 2017, entitled “The...     

The effectiveness of interregional security cooperation: evaluating the joint engagement of the EU and the AU in response to the 2013 crisis in the Central African Republic

African Union (AU)–European Union (EU) interregional security cooperation has not so far been analysed systematically with regard to its effectiveness despite the substantial support of African capacity building by the EU and joint peacekeeping of the partners. Assessing AU–EU cooperation in the Central African Republic (CAR), this paper examines to what extent and under which conditions EU–AU efforts are effective. Concerning the dependent variable, the presented conceptualisation of effectiveness includes both internal (goal attainment) and external (problem-solving) perspectives. The independent variable draws on two strands of literature that barely speak to each other: interregionalism and inter-organisationalism. It focuses on the conditions of effectiveness which include both internal (RO-specific) and interregional factors. The findings suggest that AU–EU engagement in the CAR was effective in the medium term. Strong incentives of the partners, the French leading role and the convergence of the partners are identified as factors conducive to a medium to high effectiveness of the engagement.     

Experimental criminology: looking back and forward on the 20th anniversary of the Academy of Experimental Criminology

Journal of Experimental Criminology - This article summarizes key points made in a panel at the American Society of Criminology (ASC) meeting in Atlanta in November 2018, entitled “20th...     

Bread and the attrition of power: Economic events and German election results

Aggregate votes for incumbent parties in post-war Germany were determined by the weighted-average growth of real per capita disposable income. Each percentage point of per capita real disposable income growth sustained over the legislative term yielded approximately two percentage points of votes in Germany. No other economic variables add value or significantly perturb the coefficients of our model. However, attrition of power reduced the vote share in election years 1961, 1994 and 1998.     

Mitral valve prolapse syndrome as cause of sudden death in young adults

Mitral valve prolapse syndrome (MVPS) is a relatively common disorder of the mitral valve and most cases take a benign clinical course. Only a subset of patients develop severe clinical symptoms such as arrhythmia, insufficiency of the mitral valve or infective endocarditis. As a consequence, sudden death might occur in these patients, thought to be caused by an arrhythmogenic event. By presenting six cases of sudden unexpected death in young female adults, we point at clinical and pathological data from the literature, which are of interest from the viewpoint of legal medicine. The incidence of MVPS in autopsy series has been reported to be about 4-5%, while clinical data hint at an incidence of about 2.5%. The presented cases suggest that even clinically benign cases of MVPS in young adults might result in sudden unexpected death. Such cases are not included in hospital based studies on the topic. This might lead to an underestimation of the fatal risk associated with the disease, even if sudden death might be a rare event in MVPS.