Homicide by a Forensic Female Sample in Brazil: A Preliminary Study

The objective of the study was to evaluate the mental status of all women (n = 14) who were acquitted by reason of insanity of charges of murder or attempted murder and committed to a forensic psychiatric hospital in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. All cases were retrospectively examined, including medical files, technical records, and forensic experts' official reports. A conclusive psychiatric diagnosis was established using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM‐IV Axis I and II Disorders and clinical and forensic records. The most common diagnosis was schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorders (n = 8; 57.3%). Most victims (n = 12; 75%) were close relatives of the patients. We found that 43% (n = 6) of the patients had a previous history of violent behavior. According to the initial psychiatric forensic evaluation, 5 patients (35.7%) had psychotic symptoms. It is expected that a growing understanding of motivational factors underlying homicidal behavior in mentally disturbed female offenders may further the implementation of effective preventive and therapeutic interventions.     

Soil Fungi: Their Potential use as a Forensic Tool

As a grave is an anomalous environment and differs from its surroundings, criminal investigators employ different techniques for locating, recovering, and analyzing clandestine graves. In this study were identified the fungi found in the soil under corpses in decomposition with an aim at relating the copresence of human remains and different fungal species. Were isolated the fungi in three ways: soil washing, serial dilutions, and moist chamber growth. Dichotomomyces cejpii, Talaromyces trachyspermus, Talaromyces flavus, and Talaromyces sp. were the representative species found—with those belonging to the ammonia group, whose fungi are the first in the succession of cadaver decomposition directly in the ground. The mycobiota found at the present study area clearly differs to mycobiota identified in control sample and from previously described species for other areas of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Further forensic examples of this type are needed to develop fully the detailed use of mycology as a forensic tool.     

Early Repolarization,Acute Emotional Stress and Sudden Death

We herein report the case of a 36‐year‐old man who died suddenly after a fight with another man. Forensic investigations included unenhanced computed tomography, postmortem angiography, autopsy, histology, neuropathology, toxicology, and biochemistry and allowed a traumatic cause of death to be excluded. An electrocardiogram recorded some years prior to death revealed the presence of an early repolarization pattern. Based on the results of all investigations, the cause of death was determined to be cardiac arrhythmia and cardiac arrest during an emotionally stressful event associated with physical assault. Direct third party involvement, however, was excluded, and the manner of death was listed as natural. The case was not pursued any further by the public prosecutor.     

Methadone‐Related Deaths – Epidemiological,Pathohistological, and Toxicological Traits in 10‐year Retrospective Study in Vojvodina,Serbia

The number of methadone‐related deaths (MRDs) during a 10‐year period (2002–2011) in the region of Vojvodina, Serbia, was increased. The cases were evaluated according to epidemiological parameters, pathohistological findings, and toxicological screening. The majority of victims were men, aged from 20 to 38. Pathohistologically, the signs of acute focal myocardial damage were present in the heart of victims with drug abuse history shorter than 2 years, while both signs of recent and chronic focal myocardial damage were developed among victims with longer drug abuse history (2–5 years). In postmortem blood samples of 54.84% of victims, methadone was detected in combination with diazepam, both in therapeutic range. Alcohol was absent in most cases. Other detected drugs were antipsychotics and antidepressants in therapeutic concentrations. These findings raise the attention to the concomitant use of methadone and benzodiazepines with the need for further studies to clarify the mechanism of death in such cases.     

Public and private: change and continuity in economy through two meta-fields in society

The current literature on comparative political economy does not seem to consider unifying under a single theoretical framework the analysis of continuity and change in different economic systems. On the one hand, major comparative works derive their theoretical propositions from dynamics in the Western world. On the other, studies that are focused on national trajectories of development are concentrated in cross-national comparisons involving countries with similar characteristics in what concerns strategies of development. In this paper, I argue that all fields in the world of social action are pervaded by two major fields, hereby dubbed ‘meta-fields’: public and private. Both are in a ‘double movement’ to shape each other's boundaries through the definition of social and property rights that regulate access to human capabilities and capital. Public and private are meta-fields because they constrain human action and the organization of social configurations on state and non-state levels.     

Are bar associations anticompetitive? An empirical analysis of recommended prices for legal services in Spain

The European Commission Report on Competition in Professional Services found that recommended prices by professional bodies have a significant negative effect on competition since they may facilitate the coordination of prices between service providers and/or mislead consumers about reasonable price levels. Professional associations argue, first, that a fee schedule may help their members to properly calculate the cost of services avoiding excessive charges and reducing consumers’ searching costs and, second, that recommended prices are very useful for cost appraisal if a litigant is condemned to pay the legal expenses of the opposing party. Thus, recommended fee schedules could be justified to some extent if they represented the cost of providing the services. We test this hypothesis using cross-section data on a subset of recommended prices by 83 Spanish bar associations and cost data on their territorial jurisdictions. Our empirical results indicate that prices recommended by bar associations are unrelated to the cost of legal services. Therefore, we conclude that fee schedules are not playing the role of providing useful cost information to practitioners and therefore this efficiency justification is weak.     

How Bureaucracies Listen to Courts: Bureaucratized Calculations and European Law

The European Court of Justice, and courts in general, were key actors in the creation of the European Union (EU). However, they cannot change major policy without political supporters to lobby and litigate for implementation. We argue that part of the resolution of this apparent paradox comes from complementing existing work on the activities of EU courts and litigants with a focus on a third actor: implementing bureaucracies, whose effect on law and politics has not been a focus of studies of EU legal development. Their calculations about whether to pay attention, lobby, and comply shape the impact of the law. Those calculations are variable and patterned; when and how bureaucracies listen to courts varies in predictable ways. We find evidence for this proposition in the case of EU health care services law, both in the secondary literature and in empirical studies of France and Spain.     

Participatory communication for development in practice: the case of community media

Since it emerged, the field of communication for development has undergone a constant process of redefinition. Since the 1990s, the importance of participation in social and communicative processes has been stressed, and studies carried out during those years focused on participation as an important component to be considered. The so-called community media are privileged forces driving the participatory communication for development approach. Since their emergence and up to the recent studies, community media have been characterised by the centrality of citizenship participation in the creation of widespread messages, and in the processes of social change that they promote.

Communication participative pour le développement dans la pratique : le cas des médias communautaires

Depuis son apparition, le domaine de la communication pour le développement a traversé un processus constant de redéfinition. Depuis les années 1990, l'importance de la participation aux processus sociaux et de communication a été soulignée, et des études effectuées durant cette période-là se sont concentrées sur la participation comme élément important à prendre en compte. Ces « médias communautaires » sont des forces privilégiées qui impulsent l'approche participative pour la communication pour le développement. Depuis leur naissance et jusqu'aux récentes études effectuées, les médias communautaires se sont caractérisés par la position centrale de la participation citoyenne à la création de messages généralisés, et aux processus de changement social qu'ils promeuvent.

Comunicación participativa para el desarrollo en la práctica: el caso de los medios comunitarios

Desde que inició, el ámbito de la comunicación para el desarrollo ha experimentado un proceso constante de redefinición. A partir de los años noventa, ha comenzado a insistirse en la importancia de participar en los procesos sociales y comunicacionales. Los estudios realizados durante esa década, se centraron en la participación como componente primordial que debía ser tenido en cuenta. Los llamados medios comunitarios constituyen fuerzas privilegiadas que impulsan el enfoque de la comunicación participativa para el desarrollo. Desde que iniciaron sus actividades y hasta las últimas investigaciones realizadas al respecto, los medios comunitarios se caracterizaron por la significación otorgada a la participación ciudadana en la creación de mensajes de amplia difusión y en el proceso de cambio social promovido por dichos mensajes.

Comunicação participativa para o desenvolvimento na prática: o caso da mídia comunitária

Desde que surgiu, a área de comunicação para o desenvolvimento tem passado por um processo constante de redefinição. Desde a década de 1990, a importância da participação em processos sociais e comunicativos tem sido ressaltada e estudos têm sido realizados durante estes anos tendo como foco a participação como componente importante a ser considerado. A chamada mídia comunitária constitui-se em forças privilegiadas que dirigem a comunicação participativa para a abordagem de desenvolvimento. Desde o seu surgimento até estudos recentes, a mídia comunitária tem se caracterizado pela ênfase na participação dos cidadãos na criação de mensagens disseminadas e nos processos de mudança social que elas promovem.     

The Evolution of Jihadist Terrorism in Morocco

Over the last few years, Moroccans have been disproportionately involved in jihadist terrorism. Morocco has been increasingly identified as one of the largest producers of terrorists and insurgents in Afghanistan, Iraq, and throughout Europe. This article examines the factors behind the emergence of jihadist terrorism in Morocco, and how this terrorist threat has gone beyond this country's borders. Three factors have contributed to this development: the influence of global jihad on potential Moroccan jihadists; the growing Islamization of the country; and deteriorating socioeconomic conditions. In analyzing these variables, special attention will be paid to the Casablanca terrorist attacks on May 16, 2003, marking the debut of suicide terrorism in Morocco. The article will also examine the principal counterterrorist initiatives Morocco has implemented in response to this threat.