Cardiac Ventricular Laceration Due to Child Abuse: Abusive Ventricular Laceration

Traumatic cardiac ventricular ruptures in children are rare. Only a single case of left ventricular rupture due to child abuse has been reported. We report a child who sustained a fatal left ventricular apical rupture. It appeared to have resulted from hydrostatic forces resulting from abusive blunt thoracic injury. That he was being abused was previously missed when he was presented to the emergency department with facial pyoderma. It was not noted that he also had lip and oral mucosal injury, sites not affected by staph toxins. As a result, his underlying, abusive and secondarily infected, facial flow type scald burn was not appreciated. Within a week thereafter his fatal injury occurred, accompanied by extensive and obvious associated abusive injuries. Postmortem high‐detail whole body computed tomography scanning aided the autopsy. Although rare, ventricular rupture from abusive blunt thoracic injury can occur.     

The Network of Law Reviews: Citation Cartels,Scientific Communities,and Journal Rankings

Research evaluation is increasingly influenced by quantitative data. We focus on the influential Web of Science Journal Citation Reports (JCR) ranking of law journals and critically assess its methodology. In particular, we consider the existence and impact of a tacit citation cartel between US law reviews. A study of 45 US student‐edited (SE) and 45 peer‐reviewed (PR) journals included in the category of Law in the JCR revealed that PR and SE journals are more inclined to cite members of their own class and that this phenomenon is more pronounced in SE generalist journals, reflecting tacit cartelistic behavior generated by deeply entrenched institutional practices. Because US SE journals produce more citations than PR journals, the fact that their citations are directed almost exclusively to SE journals elevates their scores and distorts the journals' ranking and can consequently undermine the flow and creation of ideas. We discuss policy measures that can counter the adverse effects of this situation.     

Toward Better Outcomes for Families Through Innovative Dispute Resolution Programs in England

This article explores and shares the learning from two of Cafcass’ innovative dispute resolution pilot programs. The programs aim to improve outcomes for families against the backdrop of rising private law demand in England, while keeping the child at the center. The Positive co‐Parenting Programme pilot provides a structured intervention to reduce conflict and promote timely resolution for children and families in complex cases. The Support with Making Child Arrangements pilot explores whether the provision of a package of support to parents ahead of the first court hearing can help them come to safe agreements about their children without the need for court intervention.     

Mental Health Services for Incarcerated Youth: Report from a Statewide Survey

The need for mental health care has been steadily increasing for youth coming into contact with the juvenile probation system. This paper presents the results of a statewide survey of juvenile probation departments and associated mental health, health care, court, and education personnel in California. The intent of the survey was to better understand the costs and associated contexts of caring for youth with suspected mental disorders in juvenile detention facilities. The burden of caring for these youth on detention facilities and their staffs is substantial. Implications for courts, policy planning, training, and further research are discussed.     

Partial Agonist Therapy in Schizophrenia: Relevance to Diminished Criminal Responsibility

Abstract: Pathological gambling (PG), classified in the DSM‐IV among impulse control disorders, is defined as inappropriate, persistent gaming for money with serious personal, family, and social consequences. Offenses are frequently committed to obtain money for gambling. Pathological gambling, a planned and structured behavioral disorder, has often been described as a complication of dopamine agonist treatment in patients with Parkinson’s disease. It has never been described in patients with schizophrenia receiving dopamine agonists. We present two patients with schizophrenia, previously treated with antipsychotic drugs without any suggestion of PG, who a short time after starting aripiprazole, a dopamine partial agonist, developed PG and criminal behavior, which totally resolved when aripiprazole was discontinued. Based on recent advances in research on PG and adverse drug reactions to dopamine agonists in Parkinson’s disease, we postulate a link between aripiprazole and PG in both our patients with schizophrenia and raise the question of criminal responsibility.     

Classification Improvements in Automated Gunshot Residue (GSR) Scans

Classification of particles as gunshot residues (GSRs) is conducted using a semiautomatic approach in which the system first classifies particles based on an automatic elemental analysis, and then, examiners manually analyze particles having compositions which are characteristic of or consistent with GSRs. Analyzing all the particles in the second stage is time consuming with many particles classified by the initial automated system as being potentially GSRs excluded as such by the forensic examiner. In this paper, a new algorithm is developed to improve the initial classification step. The algorithm is based on a binary tree that was trained on almost 16,000 particles from 43 stubs used to sample hands of suspects. The classification algorithm was tested on 5,900 particles from 23 independent stubs and performed very well in terms of false positive and false negative rates. A routine use of the new algorithm can reduce significantly the analysis time of GSRs.     

A social and political profile of Canadian legislators, 1996

This research note provides an overview and an update on the social and political backgrounds of all elected Canadian legislators at the federal and provincial/territorial levels of government in 1996. For provincial/territorial legislators data are presented by electoral jurisdiction, and for all legislators by level of government and political party. Relatively few differences in social characteristics were found between the two levels although there were some variations by province, territory and party. Business, education and law are the three most prevalent occupations, although the latter has declined among legislators over time. There is little movement of members from the provincial to the federal level. The most common political experience of both groups lies in municipal governance. Over time women have increased their share of seats at both levels. Even in a polity such as Canada with high rates of legislative turnover at both federal and provincial/territorial levels and with new parties emerging, most changes in social and political experience backgrounds proceed incrementally.     

Books received

Dependency under Challenge: The Political Economy of the Commonwealth Caribbean. Edited by Anthony Payne and Paul Sutton. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984. Pp.xii + 294. £25. ISBN 0 7190 0970 7.

The International Crisis in the Caribbean. By Anthony Payne. London: Croom Helm, 1984. Pp.iii + 177. £14.95. ISBN 0 7099 2052 0.

Grenada: Revolution and Invasion. By Anthony Payne, Paul Sutton and Tony Thorndike. London: Croom Helm, 1984. Pp.x + 233. £17.95. ISBN 0 7099 2080 6.

The Three Worlds: Culture and World Development. By Peter Worsley. London: Weidenfeld &; Nicolson, 1984. Pp.xiv + 409. £16.95 and £8.95. ISBN 0 297 783467 and 78356 4.

Agriculture, Poverty and Freedom in Developing Countries. By Eric Clayton. London: Macmillan, 1984. Pp.x + 277. £15 and £6.95. ISBN 0 333 36100 8 and 36101 6.

Understanding Green Revolutions: Agrarian Change and Development Planning in South Asia. Edited by Tim P. Bayliss‐Smith and Sudhir Wanmali. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. Pp. x + 384. £30/$59.50. ISBN 0 521 24942 2.

Kritsman and the Agrarian Marxists. Edited by Terry Cox and Gary Littlejohn. London: Frank Cass, 1984. Pp. 149. £18.50. ISBN 0 7146 3237 6.

The Defense of Community in Peru's Central Highlands: Peasant Struggle and Capitalist Transition, 1860–1940. By Florencia E. Mallon. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983. Pp. xiv + 384. £28.20 and £12.60. ISBN 0 691 07647 2 and 10140; X.

Miners, Peasants and Entrepreneurs: Regional Development in the Central Highlands of Peru. By Norman Long and Bryan Roberts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984. Pp.x + 288. £25. ISBN 0 521 24809 4.

The New Bourgeoisie and the Limits of Dependency: Mining, Class and Power in ‘Revolutionary’ Peru. By David G. Becker. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983. Pp.xxviii + 368. £30.20 and £8.60. ISBN 0 691 07645 6 and 0 691 02213 5.

The Pharmaceutical Industry and Dependency in the Third World. By Gary Gereffi. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983. Pp.xiii + 292. £21.60 and £8.65. IBSN 0 691 09401 2 and 02828 1.

Law and Policy of Producers’ Associations. By D.E. Pollard. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984. Pp.xii + 372. £30. ISBN 0 19 825480 6.

Inequalising Trade? A Study of Traditional North/South Specialisation in the Context of Terms of Trade Concepts. By John Spraos. Oxford: Clarendon Press in cooperation with UNCTAD, 1983. Pp.ix + 169. £15. ISBN 0 19 828458 6.

Reality and Rhetoric: Studies in the Economics of Development. By P. T. Bauer. London: Weidenfeld &; Nicolson, 1984. Pp.viii + 184. £11.95. ISBN 0 297 78335 1.

Critique and Anti‐Critique: Essays on Dependence and Reformism. By Andre Gunder Frank. London: Macmillan, 1984. Pp.xiii + 336. £20 and £7.95. ISBN 0333 37122 4 and 37123 2.

Participation of the Poor in Development. Edited by Benno Galjart and Dieke Buijs. Leiden: Leiden Development Studies No.2, 1982. Pp.325. NP.

Studies in Rural Participation. Edited by Amit Bhaduri and Md. Anisur Rahman. New Delhi: Oxford &; IBH Publishing Co., 1982. Pp. vii + 229. Rs.85.

Evaluating Population Programs: International Experience with Cost‐effective Analysis and Cost‐benefit Analysis. Edited by Ismail Sirageldin, David Salkever and Richard W. Osborn. London: Croom Helm; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1983. Pp.xxxi + 534. £19.95. ISBN 0 7099 2393 7.

Development Planning Models. Edited by S. Bhagwan Dahiya. 2 vols. New Delhi: Inter‐India Publications, 1982. Pp.xxiv + 392 + xxiv + 270. $60 the set.

Appropriate Products, Employment and Technology: Case‐Studies on Consumer Choice and Basic Needs in Developing Countries. Edited by Wouter van Ginneken and Christopher Baron. London: Macmillan, 1984. Pp. xi + 260. £25. ISBN 0 333 35302 1.

Education and Income Determination in Kenya. By Arne Bigsten. Aldershot, Hants: Gower, 1984. Pp.vii + 156. £14.50. ISBN 0 566 00703 7.

The Impending Crisis in Kenya: The Case for Land Reform. By Diana Hunt. Aldershot, Hants: Gower, 1984. Pp.viii + 314. £17.50. ISBN 0 566 00713 4.

Ibn Khaldun: The Birth of History and the Past of the Third World. By Yves Lacoste. London: New Left Books and Verso, 1984. Pp. 214. £20 and £5.95. ISBN 0 86091 084 9 and 789 4.     

Policy entrepreneurs and post-conflict cross-border cooperation: a conceptual framework and the Israeli–Jordanian case

What is the role of policy entrepreneurs in shaping the dynamics which normalize relationships between neighboring countries after the formal resolution of conflict? This article suggests a conceptual framework to understand the influence of policy entrepreneurs on public policy regarding cross-border interaction in post-conflict border regions. We analyze the motivations, preferences and strategies of local players which design given realities in the border region. We propose a typology of the various policy entrepreneurs active in the post-conflict border region. The theoretical framework is used in the analysis of the Israeli–Jordanian border region since the peace treaty of 1994.