Internationalism and Commitment at the Kitchen Table

The contributors to this issue focus on legal internationalism (Peroni 2016; Turan 2016), including hybrid mixes with nationalist forms (Sankey 2016). They have provoked us as editors to think more about these sites and forms of engagement. Sankey shows how civic participation in the ECCC has played a key role in surfacing the gendered harms of separation and starvation. Turan highlights the problems with ICC exclusion of the experience of men and boys from sexual violence. Peroni expresses her hesitations over the Istanbul Convention given an association between assumed vulnerability and migrant women, while admiring its uncoupling of violence and culture. Cruz’s interview with Wendy Brown (2016) contextualizes and expands on these themes as they consider, with other participants, the future of feminist theory in the context of neo-liberal capturing of rights and legal space. Thinking more about internationalism and commitment in this context also helps us hold a mirror up to ourselves as we reflect more critically on our own naming of FLS as an ‘international’ journal. Together these contributions, and the reviews of new work, play a role in fleshing out an editorial commitment to enacting the journal as a living thing that ‘hangs together somehow’ (Mol 2002) even as it is known differently in different places.     

Chilling Journalism: Can Newsgathering be Harassment or Stalking?

Newsgathering often requires journalists to ask uncomfortable questions or make multiple attempts to talk to unwilling sources. Some journalists have been accused of harassment, even when the plain language of state laws would not classify their actions as criminal conduct. In the rare instances that journalists actually were charged with harassment or subject to protective orders for stalking, district attorneys or judges typically did not allow them to be punished. This study, however, found nine statutes that might be applied to punish newsgathering activities that are neither hounding nor harassing. It also identifies language from statutes that clearly could not be applied to punish newsgathering communications by journalists. The article recommends that prosecutors and judges continue to prevent the application of criminal harassment and stalking laws to newsgathering activities.     

Asphyxia by tracheobronchial thrombus

Asphyxia secondary to airway obstruction has numerous underlying causes, both acute and chronic. Causes of chronic airway obstruction, such as neoplasms and tracheal scarring, are often clinically apparent well prior to asphyxia. Causes of acute airway obstruction may not be as obvious to clinicians or investigators. These include infections, anaphylactic reactions, status asthmaticus, inhalational injuries, and aspirations, which may result in acute obstruction and sudden death.We report the deaths of 2 individuals, a 43-year-old female and a 78-year-old female, both with adenocarcinoma. The 43-year-old was hospitalized with a stage III, poorly differentiated infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast metastatic to the lymph nodes. She was intubated to treat poor respiratory function and acidosis. A bronchoalveolar lavage was consistent with alveolar hemorrhage; no organisms were identified. Blood and "clot" were in her endotracheal tube, so the endotracheal tube was replaced. She became comatose and life support was withdrawn. At autopsy, a large red-gray thrombus obstructed the trachea and extended into the right bronchus. Microscopically, the entire clot was composed of fibrin, red blood cells, and some mucus. Findings of acute respiratory distress syndrome with hyaline membranes were identified. The cause of death was listed as acute respiratory distress syndrome with tracheobronchial thrombus. Experiencing a decline in mental status, the 78-year-old had metastatic adenocarcinoma of unknown primary. She developed sudden respiratory distress and an airway obstruction was discovered. After failure to relieve the obstruction, she decompensated and died. At autopsy, a large, red-gray thrombus obstructed the distal trachea and both bronchi. Microscopically, the thrombus was composed of fibrin, platelets, and red blood cells. The cause of death was asphyxia secondary to airway obstruction by thrombus. We present these 2 unusual cases of asphyxia and review of the literature focusing on asphyxia and the etiology of airway thrombi.     

Intent to Destroy: The Genocidal Impact of Forced Migration in Darfur, Sudan

The conflict in Darfur is now nearly three years old. Hundredsof thousands of civilians have been killed and millions moreremain unable to return to their homes, living the barest ofexistences in remote and often under-stocked and under-protectedcamps. Displaced populations are subject to malnutrition, diseaseand ongoing violence. Rape and other forms of sexual violenceremain a tool for instilling fear and controlling the civilianpopulation. Yet international will to protect and assist thevictims of the conflict remains weak, with governments and worldbodies bogged down debating the definition of genocide and theproper venues for eventual tribunals. This paper will examinewhether or not the conflict in Darfur does indeed amount togenocide, including a discussion of the role of forced displacementin reaching such a determination. It then looks at the 2005findings of the United Nations-sponsored International Commissionof Inquiry and discusses some of the reasons behind the internationalreluctance to reach a determination of genocide in the region.Lastly, it addresses the constructiveness of the genocide labelin the context of Darfur, and presents options for moving forwardwith a protection agenda regardless of what the conflict iscalled.     

The effect of electron beam irradiation on forensic evidence. 1. Latent print recovery on porous and non-porous surfaces

The recent use of the postal system as a means of delivering anthrax spores via several contaminated envelopes has led to the selective irradiation of mail. These as yet unsolved attacks and the U.S. Postal Service's decision to irradiate certain types of mail has led to some unexpected complications. The high doses of radiation required to destroy biological agents like anthrax are sufficient to induce damage to other materials present in the envelope. There have been reports of damage to many different items that have been subjected to irradiation, including paper, precious gems, plastic, computer discs, and electronics. However, few studies have examined the effect of such treatments on items of forensic interest. In this paper, the authors focused on the impact of the irradiation process on the ability to visualize latent prints. This experiment involved using several donors, substrates (both porous and non-porous), and visualization reagents. The results indicate that the irradiation process can have a detrimental effect on the success of certain visualization reagents.     

Psychotropic Medications for Youth in Child Welfare: Developing and Pilot-Testing A Field Guide for Team Decision-Making

High rates of children involved with the child welfare system are prescribed psychotropics. In response, federal legislation has mandated state child welfare agencies to develop policies to improve the coordination and oversight around the use of psychotropics. This project aimed to support such policies by developing and pilot-testing a field guide for team discussions and decision-making related to the use of psychotropics among youth in child welfare. We used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework to engage a team of local stakeholders, including former youth in foster care and parents, in the research. We developed a field guide to facilitate team discussions and decisions around the individual needs and preferences of youth and families, and we pilot-tested the field guide with child welfare staff, parents, and care team members in seven team meetings. Parents and care team members, in particular, highly valued the guide and found it useful to increase knowledge and improve practices such as side effect monitoring and information sharing. Child welfare responses were more mixed, and some reported feeling burdened by the additional tasks. More work is needed to integrate the guide into routine child welfare practice and reduce burden on staff.     

Progress Toward the Determination of Correct Classification Rates in Fire Debris Analysis,,

Principal components analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA) were used to develop a multistep classification procedure for determining the presence of ignitable liquid residue in fire debris and assigning any ignitable liquid residue present into the classes defined under the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) E 1618‐10 standard method. A multistep classification procedure was tested by cross‐validation based on model data sets comprised of the time‐averaged mass spectra (also referred to as total ion spectra) of commercial ignitable liquids and pyrolysis products from common building materials and household furnishings (referred to simply as substrates). Fire debris samples from laboratory‐scale and field test burns were also used to test the model. The optimal model's true‐positive rate was 81.3% for cross‐validation samples and 70.9% for fire debris samples. The false‐positive rate was 9.9% for cross‐validation samples and 8.9% for fire debris samples.