Atypical autoerotic death: part II

Autoerotic fatalities encompass a wide array of means and mechanisms used to attain sexual gratification. The most commonly encountered autoerotic practice, specifically, autoerotic asphyxia, denotes death resulting from failure of a release mechanism of the apparatus designed to attain cerebral hypoxia for heightened arousal. Historically, the majority of victims of autoerotic death are Caucasian males under the age of 30. While autoerotic death is most often associated with a constrictive cervical ligature tied to either other parts of the victim's body or to an inanimate object such as a door, several other methods have been reported. These modalities include ligature around the thorax or abdomen, plastic bags covering the face, electrical current, inhalation of a toxic gas or chemicals, or partial or total submersion, known as aquaerotic asphyxiation. This study highlights 11 cases of atypical autoerotic death, including asphyxia with a plastic bag, electrocution, and inhalation of butane and nitrous oxide (N2O). Whereas the manner of death in the majority of autoerotic death cases is deemed accidental, we present and analyze unique and equivocal cases representing 4 different manners of death: accident, natural, suicide, and homicide. The 11 victims were all Caucasian and between the ages of 17 and 55. Ten decedents were males, 1 female. A comprehensive investigation incorporating a thorough scene analysis, gathering of the victim's history, and complete postmortem examination is necessary to elucidate both the cause and manner of death in these atypical cases.     

THE BOOK SHELF

NICHOLS, William C., Jr., (Editor) Marriage and Family Therapy: A Reader from the NCFR Journals
FERBER, MENDOLHSON & NAPIER, The Book of Family Therapy
GARDNER, Richard A., M.D., The Boys and Girls Book About Divorce
BURR, Wesley R., Theory Construction and the Sociology of the Family     

The Politics of Police Violence in Democratic Brazil

More than a decade after Latin America's most recent turn to democracy, unchecked police violence and torture continue and in some cases have increased. This study examines police killings in 19 Brazilian states from 1994 to 2001 and finds that democracy has not substantially reduced these types of human rights violations, for two reasons. First, underlying social conflict has continued to exert a significant impact on the lethal use of force by police officers. Second, pro-order political coalitions, generally represented by right-wing politicians, have blocked effective measures to control police violence and have implemented public safety measures that stress the use of force. The analysis emphasizes the nonteleological nature of democratization processes and demonstrates the strength of political forces working to maintain "illiberal democracy."     

Reviews

William A. Clark, Crime and Punishment in Soviet Officialdom. Combating Corruption in the Political Elite, 1965–1990. London: M. E. Sharpe, 1993, xi + 242 pp., $49.95 h/b, $16.50 p/b

Leslie Holmes, The End of Communist Power. Anti‐Corruption Campaigns and Legitimation Crisis. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1993, xx + 358 pp., £45.00 h/b, £13.95 p/b.

Rachel Walker, Six Years that Shook the World: Perestroika—the Impossible Project. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993, viii + 312 pp., £35.00 h/b, £9.99 p/b.

Stephen R. Graubard (ed.), Exit From Communism. New Brunswick, NJ, and London: Transaction Publishers, 1993, 292 pp., $19.95.

Sergei V. Chugrov, Rossiya i Zapad: Metamorfozy Vospriyatiya. Moscow: Nauka, 1993.

Zoltan D. Barany, Soldiers and Politics in Eastern Europe, 1945–90. London: Macmillan, 1993, xi + 243 pp., £40.00.

Paul Hockenos, Free to Hate. The Rise of the Right in Post‐communist Eastern Europe. London: Routledge, 1993, x + 332 pp., £17.99.

Ben Eklof (ed), School and Society in Tsarist and Soviet Russia. New York: St Martin's Press, and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1993, xii + 254 pp., illustrations, index, £45.00.

Timothy Edward O'Connor, The Engineer of Revolution. L. B. Krasin and the Bolsheviks, 1870–1926. Oxford: Westview, 1992, xix + 322 pp., £36.95.     

Reviews

Paul Welfens, Market‐oriented Systemic Transformations in Eastern Europe. Heidelberg and New York: Springer Verlag, 1992, 261 pp., DM120.00.

Jan Winiecki & Andrzej Kondratowicz, eds, The Macroeconomics of Transition: Developments in East Central Europe. London and New York: Routledge, 1993, ix + 154 pp., £35.00.

Roman Frydman, Andrzej Rapaczynski, John S. Earle, et al., The Privatisation Process in Central Europe. CEU Privatisation Report, Volume 1; Roman Frydman, Andrzej Rapaczynski, John S. Earle, et al. The Privatisation Process in Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic States. CEU Privatisation Report, Volume 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press/CEUP, 1993, xiii + 262 pp. (Volume 1), xiii + 276 pp. (Volume 2), £30.00 h/b, £10.00 p/b.

Alexander Dallin, ed., Political Parties in Russia. Berkeley, CA: International and Area Studies, University of California at Berkeley, 1993, x+ 102 pp., $10.95.

John Lowenhardt, James R. Ozinga & Erik van Ree, The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Politburo. London: ULC Press, 1992, xix + 244 pp., £30.00.

James R. Millar, ed., Cracks in the Monolith: Party Power in the Brezhnev Era. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharp, 1992, xv + 245 pp., $49.95.

A. J. Motyl, ed., Thinking Theoretically about Soviet Nationalities. History and Comparison in the Study of the USSR. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992, vii + 284 pp., No price.

Coit D. Blacker, Hostage to Revolution: Gorbachev and Soviet Security Policy, 1985–1991. New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1993, xvii + 239 pp., $16.95.

Peter G. Boyle, American‐Soviet Relations: From the Russian Revolution to the Fall of Communism. London and New York: Routledge, 1993, xiv + 321 pp., £40.00 h/b, £12.99 p/b.

Jan S. Adams, A Foreign Policy in Transition: Moscow's Retreat from Central America and the Caribbean 1985–1992. Durham, NC, and London: Duke University Press, 1992, 248 pp., $39.95 h/b, $14.95 p/b.

Loren R. Graham, Science in Russia and the Soviet Union. A short history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, x + 321 pp., £30.00, $49.95.

Bohdan Krawchenko, ed., Ukrainian Past, Ukrainian Present. London: Macmillan, 1993, xii+133 pp., £35.00.

Anatol Lieven, The Baltic Revolution—Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and the Path to Independence. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 1993, xxv + 454 pp., £22.50.

Romuald Misiunas & Rein Taagepera, The Baltic States: Years of Dependence 1940–1990. London: C. Hurst & Co., 1993, xv + 400 pp., £35.00 h/b, £12.95 p/b.

Dirk Philipsen, We Were the People: Voices from East Germany's Revolutionary Autumn of 1989. Durham, NC, and London: Duke University Press, 1993, xiv + 417 pp., £47.45 h/b, £16.95 p/b.

Patrick Artisien, Matija Rojec & Marjan Svetli?i?, eds, Foreign Investment in Central and Eastern Europe. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan, 1993, xiv + 206 pp., £40.00.

Stanley Moore, Marx versus Markets. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1993, x + 126 pp., $22.50.

Eero Loone, Soviet Marxism and Analytical Philosophies of History, Translated by Brian Pearce. London and New York: Verso, 1992, xvii + 280 pp.

Ralph C. Elwood, Inessa Armand: Revolutionary and Feminist. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, xi + 304 pp., £49.95, £29.95.     

Taxation,money, and credit,in a liberalizing socialist economy

Understanding the system of financial control in the pre-existing régime of ‘classical’ socialism is a key to understanding what might go wrong in the transition. Accordingly, this paper proceeds in four steps by examining:

1. how domestic fiscal and monetary processes complement central planning in the classical socialist economy;
2. why this mechanism for securing domestic financial control under classical socialism tends to break down naturally into inflation when decentralization begins and central planning though direct materials balancing is weakened;
3. how, in a more deliberate transition, domestic tax and monetary arrangements might be better managed to keep the price level stable as prices of individual goods and services are freed; and
4. how, in moving toward free foreign trade, explicit policies governing tariffs and foreign exchange convertibility could best parallel and complement the evolving restraints on money and credit in domestic commerce.

In effect, moves to dismantle the apparatus of central planning, decontrol prices, privatize property, and so on need to be supported by a proper sequence of fiscal, monetary and foreign exchange measures-as analyzed more fully in the author's new bookThe Order of Economic Liberalization. In this short essay, a summary outline of such a financial order is provided.     

Malaysia: The anxieties of success

Malaysia is a complex social and political phenomenon that could easily have become mired in ethnic conflict and economic stagnation. Malaysia has had to manage a shift from a natural resource-based economy to an export-oriented manufacturing system while balancing delicate racial and religious divisions in a democratic, constitutional federation. A proud and nationalist history has been confronted by global economic interdependence. Malaysia’s political leadership has been able to balance competing and almost contradictory domestic and international demands to carve out a prominent position for the country in world affairs while bringing forth a progressive economic entity. That success is neither accidental nor incidental.     

A computerized aid for international crisis management

Among the problems facing decision makers are those of receiving reliable warnings of nascent crises and of having relevant information which can be brought to bear on unforseen decision problems. This paper describes how computer technology is being used to address both of these problems in a real-time environment. Specifically, computers are being used to manage and analyze the relations among nations in order to forewarn decision makers withad hoc information retrieval and data analysis capabilities. Using computers in this fashion in the foreign policy arena is a recent innovation which may have application in other arenas where decision makers must continually anticipate and adapt to unfolding world situations.     

Book reviews

Jerry F. Hough, The Soviet Union and Social Science Theory. Harvard University Press, 1977. Russian Research Center Studies, 77. xiv + 275 pp.

Fredrick J. Fleron, Jr. (ed.), Technology and Communist Culture: The Socio‐Cultural Impact of Technology under Socialism. Praeger Publishers, New York and London, 1977, 518 pp.

David Lane, The Socialist Industrial State: Towards a Political Sociology of State Socialism. London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1976. 230 pp. £5.95.

Edward L. Warner, III. The Military in Contemporary Soviet Politics: An Institutional Analysis. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1977. 314 pp.

Economic Relations Between Socialist Countries and the Third World, edited by Deepak Nayyar. London: The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1977. xiv + 265 pp. £15.00.

Donald D. Barry, Georg Ginsberg, and Peter Maggs, Soviet Law After Stalin, Part I, The Citizen and the State in Contemporary Soviet Law. Leyden: A. W. Sijtoff, 1977. xv + 303 pp. D.fl.86.00. $36.00.

Fitzpatrick, Sheila (ed.), Cultural Revolution in Russia, 1928–1931. Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1978. 309 pp. $17.50.

Tucker, Robert C. (ed.), Stalinism: Essays in Historical Interpretation. New York: Norton and Co., 1977, xx + 332 pp. $19.95.

Maurice Friedberg, A Decade of Euphoria. Western Literature in Post‐Stalin Russia, 1954–64, Indiana University Press, Bloomington & London, 1977. xii + 372 pp. £13.15.

Gregory Walker, Soviet Book Publishing Policy, Cambridge University Press, 1978. xvi + 164 pp. £6.95

Raymond Pearson, The Russian Moderates and the Crisis of Tsarism, 1914–1917. London: Macmillan, 1977. 208 pp. £8.95.

Andrew Borowiec, Yugoslavia After Tito, Praeger Special Studies in International Politics and Government, New York and London: 1977. 122 pp.

B. Knei‐Paz, The social and political thought of Leon Trotsky. Oxford University Press, 1978. 629 pp. £15.00.

Bogdan Szajkowski, ed. Documents in Communist Affairs 1977. Swansea: Christopher Davies (Publishers) Ltd. in association with the University College Cardiff Press, 1978. 363 pp. £6.95 or £4.50 paperback.

Nonconformity and Dissent in the Ukrainian SSR, 1955–1975: An Annotated Bibliography. Compiled by George Liber and Anna Mostovych. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, 1978. xxxix + 245 pp.