Victim-related aspects of homicide of elderly persons in the catchment area of the Bonn Forensic Medicine Institute]

The present study examines the circumstances of 19 homicides involving 10 males and 9 females 60 years of age or older, which were submitted to the Bonn Institute of Forensic Medicine for autopsy. The incidence of these homicides sharply decreased by age. The causes of death were blunt force injuries alone or in combination in 8 cases and strangulation in 5 cases, thus reflecting the importance of the direct physical assault. Defense wounds were found in only 6 cases. The deceased unexceptionally suffered from diseases of the cardiovascular or respiratory system. Robbery or family/partner conflicts accounted for the vast majority of motives. Both, the most common location for homicide being in the victim's own residence and the high proportion of neighbours, acquaintances and relatives among the assailants underline that violence in the close social context endanger the elderly more than conventional violent street crimes. In the victims of homicide the elderly were represented in a smaller proportion than their percentage in the population at large. Over the 8 years of the present study there was no increasing tendency in the homicide rate in the elderly population.     

Dimensions of democracies

Nomination: Arguments in favour of 'Democracies_—' by Manfred G. Schmidt, p.193
Reflections: Dimensions of democracy by Arend Lijphart, p.195     

Christian Müller: Das vertragstheoretische Argument in der Ökonomik

Politische Vierteljahresschrift -     

Political performance and types of democracy: Findings from comparative studies

Abstract. This essay explores the relationships between political performance profiles and major types of democracy from a comparative perspective. The article focuses attention mainly on the political performance of majoritarian and non-majoritarian government, democracies with small and large numbers of veto players, hybrid regimes, presidentialism and parliamentary government, referendum democracy and representative government, and established as apposed to partial democracies. The findings point to relatively robust and significant patterns of relationships between performance and type of democracy. Types of democracy are important constraints and represent at the same time enabling conditions of policy choices. However, a caveat must be added: types of democracy do not determine policy choices and they also do not determine the outcome of these choices.     

The Influence of Religious–Political Sophistication on U.S. Public Opinion

Scholarly accounts of elite–mass communication often suggest that political sophistication is a necessary condition for adopting the attitudes of partisan elites. Some have also suggested that political knowledge promotes religious–political issue constraint among religious identifiers. This paper contributes to the political sophistication literature by piloting and testing a new measure, religious–political sophistication (RPS), assessing knowledge of church teaching on particular political issues. Using original measures launched on the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, I show that for evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics, RPS (in conjunction with frequent church attendance) depresses support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage. Moreover, I argue that assessing RPS this way is not fatally contaminated by unsophisticated respondents interpolating that their clergy must share their political positions. Results suggest religion-and-politics scholars should adopt RPS measures to gain a greater understanding of the unique sources of political communication upon which religious identifiers draw.     

A Broad Alliance of Civil Society Organizations on Climate Change Mitigation: Political Strength or Legitimizing Support?

One hundred and one very different organizations joined together prior to the election for the Norwegian parliament in 2013 in order to make climate change mitigation the most important issue in the election campaign. The alliance (CE2013) agreed on six political demands relating to mitigation. In this article, we categorize the 101 organizations and discuss their identity and objectives according to these demands. The analysis demonstrates that even though a broad variety of organizations joined the campaign, their commitment was rather weak. Few of the organizations justify their involvement in CE2013 by all six political demands, hence demonstrating that climate change mitigation is a valence issue.     

Abusive Pediatric Thoracolumbar Fracture Due to Forced Hyperextension: Case Report,Biomechanical Considerations,and Review of the Literature

Pediatric thoracolumbar fractures are rare due to the physiological differences which afford greater resilience to the immature spine. Most pediatric thoracolumbar fractures occur as the result of high energy trauma, such as motor vehicle accidents, and modes of reasonable accidental injuries are limited by age and developmental capabilities of the child. These fractures can occur as the result of inflicted blunt force trauma and child abuse, and in most cases, the mechanism of injury to the spine is not known. We report the death of a 29-month-old man due to blunt force trauma to the back and forced hyperextension of the thoracolumbar spine causing fracture of the fourth lumbar (L4) vertebral body. A complete forensic examination revealed a previous healing fracture of the anterior aspect of the L4 vertebral body, with acute disruption of the anterior longitudinal ligament overlying the fracture site, complete fracture of the vertebral body, and fatal retroperitoneal hemorrhage. We present a review of the biomechanical considerations of the pediatric spine, a survey of pediatric spinal fractures, and a review of the literature on pediatric abusive thoracolumbar fractures. In this case, there was never a provided explanation for how the injury occurred; however, understanding the biomechanics of the pediatric spine allowed for the determination of the mechanism, force required to produce this specific pattern of abusive spinal injury, and the manner of death.     

Die Entwicklung der Rechtsprechung zum Umweltinformationsgesetz in den Jahren 2007 und 2008

Zusammenfassung  Der Artikel gibt einen überblick über die in den Jahren 2007 und 2008 ergangene Rechtsprechung zu grundlegenden Fragen des Umweltinformationsgesetzes (UIG) des Bundes und einzelner L?nder. Die Entscheidungen werden anhand des Sachverhaltes kurz zusammengefasst und bei Bedarf durch die Verfasser kommentiert. Der Artikel ist nach den einzelnen Themenbereichen des UIG strukturiert, denen sich die jeweiligen Entscheidungen zuordnen lassen.     

Migration past and present: changing patterns in Kyrgyzstan

Internal and international labour migration is a main livelihood strategy for many people in rural areas of Kyrgyzstan. It is estimated that approximately one-third of the employable population of Kyrgyzstan is working abroad. However, current labour migration phenomena are not exceptional since Central Asia's history has always been characterized by the movement of people, including external and internal, forced and voluntary, legal and illegal, permanent and temporary, ethnically or economically motivated migration. This article gives an overview of the historical and present migration processes with a special focus on three village communities in rural Kyrgyzstan. It deals with the opportunities and difficulties with which labour migrants and their non-migrating family members are confronted today. The results are based on extensive field work in Kyrgyzstan.     

An Illicit Love Affair During the Third Reich: Who is My Grandfather?*

More than 60 years after an illicit love affair had occurred between Erika H, wife of a Wehrmacht soldier, and a Polish slave worker during World War II, we could clarify the blood relationships of her daughter Uta. When Erika H had become pregnant both of the men could have fathered the child. Erika H was found guilty of fraternization and imprisoned at Ravensbrück concentration camp. She gave birth to Uta and died there in 1944. Uta survived the war as did Erika's husband Gustav, who accepted Uta as his child. Blood samples from family members were taken and DNA extracted. A panel of 16 short tandem repeat (STR) loci were amplified and separated by capillary electrophoresis and the likelihoods calculated using the MLINK software. The combined genotypes yielded a cumulative likelihood ratio of over 200,000 against paternity of Gustav H. This case serves to illustrate the utility of STR profiles for complex deficiency kinship analysis.