Homicidal asphyxia by pepper aspiration

As punishment for lying, the foster mother of a five-year-old white male poured pepper into his throat. He immediately became dyspneic, then apneic, and was pronounced dead about 1 h later. At autopsy, the main stem and several smaller bronchi were occluded with pepper. Mechanisms of asphyxia by pepper include mechanical obstruction of the tracheobronchial tree and mucosal edema caused by the irritant effect of volatile oils in pepper. This rare circumstance represents the second reported fatal case of pepper aspiration and the third reported case overall.     

Predicting troublemaking offenders: A discriminant analysis

Violence, attempted escapes, thefts, persistent rule violations, and other extreme forms of maladaptive prison behavior have created problems for correctional authorities since congregate confinement became the watchword in American corrections. The evolution of prisoner classification programs has aided prison administrators in their attempts to recognize potential behavioral problems but the subjective nature of a number of state classification models has resulted in a continuous wave of litigation and fiscal constraints. The objective of this paper is to provide a prediction model to assist in the classification of adult prisoners. Data on all members of the Georgia adult, male prison population from 1971 to 1978 were used as a baseline. A sample was chosen from inmates in long-term disciplinary segregation whose files contained all necessary demographic, psychometric and judicial variables. A discriminant analysis of these two groups identified 14 variables which correctly assigned inmates in 85% of the cases. The predictive variables include both demographic and personality characteristics.     

Suicide by Cop Among Officer-Involved Shooting Cases

Abstract: The frequency and characteristics of suicide by cop cases (SBC) among a large (n = 707) nonrandom sample of North American officer-involved shootings (OIS) were investigated. “Suicide by cop” is when a subject engages in behavior which poses an apparent risk of serious injury or death, with the intent to precipitate the use of deadly force by law enforcement against the subject. Thirty-six percent of the OIS in this sample were found to be SBC with high interrater agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.93) for category classification. SBC cases were more likely to result in the death or injury of the subjects than regular OIS cases. Most SBC cases were spontaneous, but had clear verbal and behavioral indicators that occurred prior to, and during the event. Findings confirm the trend detected in earlier research that there was a growing incidence of SBC among OIS. SBC individuals had a high likelihood of possessing a weapon (80%), which was a firearm 60% of the time. Half of those with a firearm discharged it at the police during the encounter. Nineteen percent simulated weapon possession to accomplish their suicidal intent. Other findings highlight the histories and commonalities in this high risk group.     

The Early Cold War and American Political Development: Reflections on Recent Research

This paper is a review essay of three books representing new research into the relationship between Cold War mobilization and postwar American political development: Michael Hogan, A Cross of Iron: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the National Security State, 1945–1954 (Cambridge University Press, 1998); Guy Oakes, The Imaginary War: Civil Defense and American Cold War Culture (Oxford University Press, 1994); and Peter Trubowitz, Defining the National Interest: Conflict and Change in American Foreign Policy (University of Chicago Press, 1998).