Identification of the murder weapon by intricate patterned injury measurements

Critical studies of an intricate blunt force injury pattern in a brutal homicide led to the identification of the murder weapon. A 50-year-old male was bludgeoned to death in his apartment during a robbery allegedly engineered by his daughter. Careful measurements and overlay construction of the wounds relative to the magazine catch, lanyard ring, magazine chamber, and butt of a 32-caliber Eistegui Hermanos fibar (Espa?a) automatic pistol led to the conclusion that either the alleged weapon or one identical to it caused the fatal injuries.     

DISENTANGLING THE EFFECTS OF GENDER AND INTIMACY ON VICTIM PRECIPITATION IN HOMICIDE*

Research indicates that incidents in which women kill their husbands are more likely to involve victim precipitation than incidents in which men kill their wives. Formulating a causal interpretation of this finding, however, is complicated because the observed pattern may reflect gender differences in violence rather than any special dynamics between husbands and wives. In this research, we introduce and illustrate a framework for disentangling the effects of intimacy and gender on violence. We examine the additive and multiplicative effects of the gender of the offender, the gender of the victim, and the relationship between the offender and victim on victim precipitation. For the most part, the pattern of victim precipitation in homicide reflects the fact that males tend to be more violent than females. However, we find some evidence of special dynamics for intimate partner homicides: Men who are killed by their partners tend to have more violent records than men who are killed in other circumstances.     

Death caused by orphenadine poisoning

The number of deaths as a consequence of orphenadine poisoning seems to increase, mostly among severely psychotic males. The lethal dose corresponds to the weekly average dose used in the treatment of neuroleptic extrapyramidal side effects. Based on the literature, the serious, rapidly incipient, cardiac, and neurologic symptoms of poisoning are emphasized. The handing out of orphenadine to suicidal persons must be restricted, and even small overdoses (1-2 g) ought to result in the immediate initiation of observation at an intensive care unit.     

Correspondence

Negotiation Journal -     

Human cannibalism: a case report

Human cannibal cases are relatively rare in modern civilized societies. We report a single case of familial cannibalism that occurred in Oklahoma in 1977. The investigation posed unique problems in pathology, psychiatry, criminalistics, and serology.     

The epidemiology of sudden infant death syndrome in Finland in 1969-1980

SIDS cases were defined by examining all death certificates, in which sudden deaths were expected to be found from the years 1969-80 from the Central Statistical Office of Finland. The age limits were 28-364 days. If the death certificate did not give enough information as to whether the cause of death was explained or unexplained, autopsy records and microscopic specimens were examined. If the death was sudden, but no autopsy was done, no microscopic specimens were taken, or there were some slight findings which could have partly explained the death were classified as borderline cases. The mean annual incidence of SIDS in Finland was 0.41/1000 livebirths in 1969-80. In 1969-74 and 1975-80 the incidences were 0.31 and 0.51, respectively. The increasing tendency of SIDS was partly due to more borderline cases in the first period and partly due to more twins, and infants with small birth weight, dying of SIDS in the second period. Deaths at weekends and sleeping with parents in the second period were more common than in the first study period. In the SIDs group the young maternal age, low social class, family type unmarried couple or single mother, maternal anemia during pregnancy were more common than in the control group. Mothers of SIDS infants had more previous children and fewer visits and later first visit to prenatal clinics than control mothers. The duration of gestation was shorter and the mean birth weight and length were smaller in the SIDS case than in the control group. Twins were more common among SIDS infants than in the common population. The most important risk factor of SIDS was maternal smoking during pregnancy. The epidemiological results conform with the hypoxia hypotheses.     

The sciatic notch/acetabular index as a discriminator of sex in European skeletal remains

The sciatic notch/acetabular index and its rule of thumb application was tested on two European skeletal series of documented sex. The results showed poor consistency between documented and estimated sex. Of the two variables comprising the index, it appeared that sciatic notch width was a particularly poor discriminator of sex. It is suggested that this may be due to differences in the relationship between sciatic notch form and body size in different ethnic groups.     

Evaluation and treatment of insanity acquittees in the community

This paper describes the monitored outpatient treatment program for Psychiatry Security Review Board (PSRB) clients in the largest single community treatment agency in the Oregon system. We describe 161 persons referred to this agency for evaluation and treatment. Ninety-one PSRB clients received treatment and of this group 51% had their conditional release revoked by the PSRB. The most frequent cause of revocation was noncompliance with treatment. There were only 11 crimes committed during the study period, four of which were in the felony range. The majority of PSRB clients are chronically mentally ill persons. We discuss both the treatment approach and our results in light of a recently published research agenda for insanity acquittees.