Sharing the Fruit of Labor: Flexible Application of Justice Principles in an Ultimatum Game with Joint-Production

Individuals often need to negotiate how to distribute jointly produced goods—equally (e.g., 50:50) or equitably (e.g., proportionally to their contributions). We examined whether people have stable preferences, or whether they switch between equality and equity in different situations. Pairs of anonymous participants first produced a common pie, and then distributed it in an ultimatum game. Results suggest that individuals apply different justice principles depending on their contribution. When they produced less than 50%, proposers divided the pie equally. However, when they produced more than 50%, their offers fell between equality and equity. Responders’ ratings of fairness and satisfaction varied similarly; with low production, equality was preferred, whereas with high production, equity was preferred. Nevertheless, equal and equitable offers were generally accepted, and only outright unfair offers were rejected. This suggests that individuals are relatively flexible about which justice principle should be applied, but punish proposers whose offers violate both principles.     

Criminology and victimology of rape in context with war-like conflicts using the example of the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda

The topic of this article is sexual violence in context with war-like conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The fundamental categories of sexual violence in war-like conflicts are described. The authors discuss the types of sexual violence as defined in the report of the UN Commission of Experts on the war-like conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. Four criminal trials were evaluated: three held before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague/Netherlands and one before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha/Tansania. The defendants were found guilty of torture, crime against humanity and genocide. Potential procedures with respect to similar crimes in current or prospective conflicts are discussed. An alternative may be the assignment of medical personnel (for example of the German Federal Armed Forces). Finally, the post-war cooperation between the Institute of Legal Medicine at the University Medical Centre of Hamburg-Eppendorf as well as the medical and government institutions in Rwanda is presented, which has been going on since 2005.     

Identifying Counterfeit Cigarettes Using Environmental Pollen Analysis: An Improved Procedure*

Traditional pollen preparation techniques provide clear residues for pollen identification; however, such methods are time-consuming, requiring repeated centrifugation, heating, and digestion with high-concentration hazardous chemicals. Tobacco leaves can effectively trap environmental pollen due to hairy surface and terpene-rich exudates. A new tobacco sample processing method was developed by using different extraction chemistry with surfactant. Marlboro Gold cigarettes were employed as model samples for method development. Parameters critical for pollen extraction, which include number of cigarette sticks used, extraction solution, and extraction temperature, were optimized. By using 1% dishwashing detergent to treat three cigarettes at room temperature, the improved method was able to recover sufficient pollen for microscopic analysis in three repeated centrifuge-washing steps and omit hazardous chemicals involved in traditional methods. We focused on the pollen of common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia), a plant native to North America, as an indicator to differentiate genuine and counterfeit U.S. brand cigarettes. Results from analyzing randomly purchased genuine (authenticated by forensic examination) and known counterfeit Marlboro Gold provided by law enforcement revealed that a significant amount (39%) of Ambrosia were consistently present in all genuine samples, while counterfeit contained none or only trace count. Similar results were found in other counterfeit U.S. brand cigarettes (all seized in the U.S.) involved in this study as well. Lack of Ambrosia in cigarette strongly indicates the product was not originated in the United States.     

Delayed pericardial tamponade following a stab wound to a branch of the right coronary artery

A 45-year-old man was attacked with a knife and suffered multiple stab wounds to the chest and abdomen. After surgical treatment and hospitalization for 9 days he was discharged in a stable condition. The following day he was found dead in his apartment. The autopsy revealed a pericardial tamponade caused by acute bleeding from an injured branch of the right coronary artery. This case shows that life-threatening late complications in patients with penetrating cardiac wounds may occur despite an initially uneventful course.     

Not enough help for themselves--the risk of physicians to commit suicide

Physicians seem unwilling to deal with their own suicidal problems professionally. Suicide is a repressed topic. According to international studies, medical students and physicians are clearly over-represented among suicide victims. Committing suicide stands in sharp contrast to the positive image physicians enjoy as competent, strong helpers transmitting positive energy. Various studies and meta-analyses show that physicians use knowledge specific to their profession and are therefore "more successful" than the general population in committing suicide. Moreover, the data reveal a number of risk factors specifically correlating with medical practice. This is confirmed by an increased number of suicides during medical training and professional life in comparison with the general population. Gender-specific analyses show an even higher suicide risk for female physicians. In this context it cannot be excluded that out of "professional respect" cardiovascular causes of death are sometimes falsely documented in death certificates instead of suicide. Despite their special education, physicians are not very good at diagnosing their own emotional disorders and asking colleagues for adequate professional help. They rather tend to camouflage their own psychological problems also because they are afraid of occupational and personal discrimination.     

Survived crossbow injuries

The Hamburg University Institute of Legal Medicine presents 2 cases of injuries of crossbow arrows where the patients survived. Crossbows are used nowadays as sports and hunting weapons. They are freely obtainable, and since people without practice can shoot them, there are constant injuries and fatal cases. Crossbow arrows have a high penetration force and can even pierce bone. Depending on the tip of the arrow used, they bore or cut through tissue, here damage to the tissue being restricted to the direct surroundings. Due to the elasticity of the tissue, the arrow shaft in the wound track may have the effect of an incomplete tamponade so that major hemorrhaging is prevented. In this condition, the injured person may be conscious and capacitated. From the medical viewpoint, crossbow arrows should therefore be invariably left in the wound, secured against displacement during transport, and only removed in the hospital.     

Intramuscular bleeding in deaths from an internal cause: forensically significant differential diagnosis between external trauma and hemorrhages occurring during agony

Five cases of death from an internal cause are described in which bleeding into the muscles of the neck, the region of the shoulder girdle, the back of the thorax and partly the arms occurred during agony. As the cause of death was unclear at first and a violent crime could not be ruled out, a forensic autopsy was ordered in the course of which hemorrhages were detected which raised the differential diagnostic question whether extravasation might have been caused by an impact of blunt force. However, thorough investigation of the macroscopic and especially the microscopic structure of the lesions provided clear evidence that all the hemorrhages were due to internal causes. The pattern of these muscular lesions suggests intensified breathing with dyspnea leading to ruptures of the accessory respiratory muscles. Intramuscular bleedings of this type are a well-known phenomenon in legal medicine in connection with death by drowning, but have not been described in the medicolegal literature in cases of natural death from an internal cause so far.