L’Etat face au défi numérique

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -     

Evidence for the role of the justice motive in status generalization processes

Status generalization refers to the capacity of status characteristics, such as race, gender, or occupation, to become the basis of social inequality even when such characteristics are not directly relevant to the immediate social interaction. For instance, individuals with positively valued status characteristics are more likely to assume positions of power and prestige than those of lower standing. To date, status generalization has been assumed to arise from stereotyped beliefs that associate positive standing on a status characteristic with positively valued personal attributes. Findings from two studies indicate that the capacity for status characteristics to produce power and prestige orders may also depend on people's need to believe in a just world. In the first study, participants were fortuitously granted a position of either superior or equal power and prestige to another person. Consistent with just world predictions, participants portrayed themselves more positively relative to the other on assessments of personal attributes when they occupied a superior position than when they occupied a position of equal power and prestige. Results from a second study showed that the tendency to link personal attributes with power and prestige standing was strongest for participants who scored high on the Just World Scale. Thus, just world beliefs appear to play a role in status generalization processes.     

ILLEGAL ENTERPRISE: A THEORETICAL AND HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION *

Illegal enterprise—defined as the sale of illegal goods and services to customers who know that the goods or services are illegal—has long been a central part of the American underworld, but it has received little attention as a separate criminological category. Although such activities are often relatively short term and small scale when compared with legal businesses, three major factors explain the cooperation that sometimes emerges among illegal entrepreneurs. The first factor is systematic corruption, which often permits police or politicians to bring order to illegal activities within a political subdivision. A second factor is overlapping partnerships by which entrepreneurs often launch and maintain illegal businesses. A third factor is the internal economic characteristics of illegal businesses, which shape the manner in which they operate. The paper explores the implications of each factor through historical examples and suggests hypotheses concerning the changing structure of illegal enterprises in American cities.     

Sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome in the Mariana Islands

Sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome (SUNDS) is a distinct clinical entity in previously healthy, young, Southeast Asian males. It is well known in the Philippines and more recently recognized in the U.S. by nonspecific autopsy findings, with no evidence of underlying disease and absence of toxic drug or alcohol levels. In 1973-89, 14 cases of apparent SUNDS came to coroner's autopsy in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas (CNMI) and Guam. All 14 cases, with the exception of one Yapese, were previously healthy, male Filipinos, aged 23 to 55, who were either found dead in bed, or described by their colleagues as having nocturnal seizure activity consisting of gurgling, frothing, and tongue biting immediately prior to death. Autopsy findings showed no anatomic findings to account for death. Comprehensive serum and urine drug analyses were negative. All decedents showed absence of significant atherosclerosis or grossly detectable structural cardiac anomaly, while four showed cardiomegaly. Migrants from Southeast Asia carry with them a pre-disposition to this syndrome, which appears to decline with longer residence in the new country. The mechanism of death in SUNDS is believed to be ventricular fibrillation, possibly precipitated by sudden sympathetic discharge. Studies suggest at least some deaths may be associated with an abnormal cardiac conduction system. Acute pancreatitis has been a finding in some series, but not our cases. Why the condition is virtually limited to males and seemingly sleep-triggered, has not been adequately explained. Stress and depression are believed to be predisposing factors.     

The role of ethanol abuse in the etiology of heroin-related death

Toxicology analyses and other forensic science data were used to examine the mechanisms through which ethanol increased the risk for death caused by injected street preparations of heroin. The authors studied 505 victims of fatal heroin overdose and compared subjects who had concentrations of blood ethanol greater than 1000 mg/L (n = 306) with those who had concentrations less than, or equal to 1000 mg/L (n = 199). We found significant negative correlations between concentrations of ethanol and morphine (a heroin metabolite) in blood (R2 = 0.11, P = 0.0001 for log10-transformed variables) as well as between concentrations of blood ethanol and bile morphine (R2 = 0.16, P = 0.0001 for log10 bile morphine versus blood morphine). Toxicologic evidence of infrequent heroin use was more common in decedents with blood ethanol concentrations greater than 1000 mg/L than in those with lower concentrations. Our data suggest that ethanol enhances the acute toxicity of heroin, and that ethanol use indirectly influences fatal overdose through its association with infrequent (nonaddictive) heroin use and thus with reduced tolerance to the acute toxic effects of heroin.