Filicidal abuse in the histories of 15 condemned murderers

This paper describes the family characteristics of 15 Death Row inmates. It documents extraordinary physical and/or sexual abuse in 13 cases. It describes murderous behaviors of parents toward children in 8 cases and documents ongoing hostility and neglect throughout childhood and adulthood. The paper explores the mechanisms by which such abuse may contribute to violent behaviors. It highlights the relevance of these findings to the outcome of sentencing in capital cases.     

Acute effects of carbon monoxide and cyanide on hepatic mitochondrial function

The effects of carbon monoxide and cyanide on the hepatic redox state and energy charge were investigated. Rats were used for the experiment under pentobarbital anesthesia. Immediately after laparotomy, a rat was placed in an animal chamber made of a transparent plastic box and exposed to a test gas for 3 min. Every test gas was produced in a gas chamber connected to the animal chamber with a flexible tube. HCN was produced from NaCN and H2SO4. In the CO inhalation experiment, various amounts of CO were introduced into the gas chamber. Immediately after an exposure, about 2 g liver was frozen in situ with a precooled clamp. Oozed blood from the wound surface was sampled. Concentrations of ATP, ADP, AMP, acetoacetate, and beta-hydroxybutyrate in hepatic mitochondria were determined, and the redox state and the energy charge were calculated. For cyanide as well as CO, significant negative correlations were found between the concentration in the blood and the redox state. The same held true for the energy charge. The redox state showed a slight increase at low concentrations of both gases; however, thereafter it began to decrease sharply with increases in concentrations. When concentrations of the toxicant in the blood reached certain levels, a kind of turning point, beyond which the redox state does not decrease any more, was observed. It was about 40% for HbCO and about 2.0 micrograms/ml for cyanide, and the points seemed to be related to the concentrations, beyond which cells are irreversibly damaged. On the other hand, the energy charge did not change at low concentrations. With an increase in toxicant concentrations, the energy charge decreased drastically. The rate of decrease in the energy charge became higher when blood concentrations exceeded certain levels. It was about 40% for HbCO and 2.0 micrograms/ml for cyanide. The presence of low levels of blood cyanide did not affect the relationship between the energy charge and the HbCO concentration.     

Police training in ethics: The need for an innovative approach in mandated programs

Instruction in ethics is included in state-mandated basic training programs in almost all states in America. A review of the relevant literature showed that the courses on police ethics need to highlight adherence to the higher values of law, cultivation of principled conduct, and personal integrity. Based on the examination of the core elements of the currently mandated ethics courses, it was observed that these recompendations are not generally taken into account in the preparation of the courses on ethics.     

Fluidity of cadaveric blood after sudden death: Part III. Acid-base balance and fibrinolysis

In rats, fibrinolytic activity and acidosis increased rapidly after death. Postmortem fibrinolysis and the pH, base excess (BE), and [HCO3-] levels were affected by the method of sacrifice: the lower the pH, BE, and [HCO3-] levels, the higher the fibrinolytic activity. Conversely, in experiments using the vascular perfusion technique, low pH, BE, and [HCO3-] levels of the perfusate induced abundant release of plasminogen activator from the vascular wall.     

Cohabitation and Comparative Method

The paper intervenes in current policy debates on unmarried cohabitation and comparative law debates on methodology. It adopts a culturally alert, discursive methodology of comparison to study regulation of unmarried cohabitation under the common law and civil law as well as the effect of an entrenched right to equality protecting against marital status discrimination. It identifies not different legislative solutions to a common problem, but distinct discourses of family law regulation. Yet the approaches are less radically opposed than is often thought. Discursive comparison tends to highlight dominant voices at the expense of minority ones, wrongly characterising minority views as foreign to a tradition. Discursive comparison should not confine itself to a synchronic view of present legal debates; a richer diachronic approach will also attend to views within a legal tradition's past.