Observations of high velocity bloodspatter on adjacent objects

In a recent homicide investigation, high velocity backspatter was observed on the sleeve cuff of the accused. These minute droplets were discovered only after microscopic examination and were limited in number. A study was initiated to determine if these were truly backspatter droplets or transferred blood produced from light contact with a bloody item. It was observed that the backspattered blood was primarily limited to contact or near contact shots. An exception was a shot into an already bloody surface. It was found that backspattered blood would deposit on the shooter's shirt sleeve irrespective of the weave pattern. Transferred blood was observed only on the fiber tops. This information was found to be useful in reconstruction of events in suicides as well as possible homicides.     

Ethics and the Physician-Patient Relationship

Book Reviews in This Article:
Getting Rid of Patients: Contradictions in the Socialization of Physicians . By Terry Mizrahi
Physicians and Social Change . By John Colombotos and Corinne Kirchner
Changing Values in Medicine . Edited by Eric J. Cassell and Mark Siegler
Professional Ethics and Primary Care Medicine: Beyond Dilemmas and Decorum . By Harmon L. Smith and Larry R. Churchill
Physician—Patient Decision-Making: A Study in Medical Ethics . By Douglas N. Walton
With Dignity: The Search for Medicare and Medicaid . By Sheri I. David
The Dismissal of Students with Mental Disorders. Legal Issues, Policy Considerations, and Alternative Responses .
Courtroom Toxicology . By Marshall Houts, Randall C. Baselt, and Robert H. Cravey     

Paternity testing in a kidnapping case

A case of kidnapping involving the concept of paternity testing is described. The couple arrested and charged with kidnapping stated the child in their possession was their biological daughter. Serological tests were performed on liquid blood samples in an effort to determine if the couple could have been the biological parents of the child. Two genetic inconsistencies were discovered in the 15 blood marker systems analyzed.     

'Diacuí Killed Iracema': Indigenism, Nationalism and the Struggle for Brazilianness

If categories of 'race' and nationality are social and historical constructions laden with irrefutable meaning and consequences, then ethnic identities, like any other forms of identity, are means to other ends that may or may not be particular. Twentieth‐century indigenist history in Brazil reveals how the cultural politics of indigenism and nationalism can coalesce in a tautological politics of identity that undermines individual liberty and democratic heterogeneity. The concepts 'post‐indigenism,'post‐nationalism' and 'post‐identity' point to the strategic suspension of the infinite heterogeneity of the political subject as a means to widen the ground of shared experience and common interests beyond the realm of hollow and oppressive essentialisms.     

ASSESSING NEIGHBORHOOD AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON CHILDHOOD VIOLENCE IN AN AFRICAN‐AMERICAN SAMPLE*

The present study examines the extent to which neighborhood and social psychological influences predict childhood violence among 867 African‐American youth. The results showed that neighborhood affluence was the only neighborhood‐level variable to exert a significant influence on childhood violence. Furthermore, childhood violence was significantly related to social psychological influences, such as adopting a street code, associating with violent peers, parental use of violence, and quality parenting. Overall, the findings suggested that simply living in a violent neighborhood does not produce violent children, but that family, peer, and individual characteristics play a large role in predicting violence in childhood.