Homicide–suicide in Hong Kong, 1989–1998

This study provides the first systematic research of homicide–suicide (HS) in a Chinese society. Data were drawn from the HK Homicide Monitoring Data-base computer file derived from investigation and death reports held by the HK Police Force and the Coroner’s Court. During the 10-year study period, 56 events involving 133 deaths were identified. The majority of offenders were males (75%) and most victims were female (64%). The mean age of offenders and victims were 41.9 and 32.3 years, respectively. Spouses and lovers comprised the majority of victims (46.4%) followed by child victims (36%). Most HS events were motivated by separation or termination of marital or sexual relations (39%), economic reasons (25%) and other domestic disputes (20%). The most frequent modes of killing were strangulation/suffocation (26%), stabbing/chopping (24%), followed by gassing/poisoning (14%) and falling from a height (14%). The commonest method of suicide was falling from a height (48%). It was followed by gassing/poisoning (22%) and strangulation/suffocation (13%). Depression (18.3%) was found to be the commonest mental disorder. Most offenders were from low-socio-economic background. Two-third were unemployed and 76.6% had 9 or less years of education. HS in HK were distinguished from those reported in the western literature in respect to the high relevance of economic factors, the absence of mercy killing between old couples, a higher percentage of pedicide–suicides and the infrequent use of firearms.     

Civil Discovery: Lawyers'Views of Its Effectiveness, Its Principal Problems and Abuses

This article, the second in a three-part series based on interviews of 180 civil litigators in Chicago, describes lawyers'assessments of the health of the discovery system and their views about the relative severity of several major problems and abuses that burden the discovery process. The data present a disturbing picture of the way the discovery system functions, especially in larger cases. Big case litigators are much unhappier with the current state of affairs in discovery than are their smaller case counterparts, and apparently for good reason. Tactical jockeying, evasive and dilatory practices, and various forms of harassment play major and costly roles in a high percentage of large lawsuits. And in at least one of every two big cases the discovery system fails to distribute the relevant information to all the parties. Perhaps the most dramatic evidence of disaffection with the current state of affairs in major litigation, however, is the widespread support the lawyers expressed for more aggressive judicial involvement in the process and for more frequent, telling use of sanctions to punish its abusers.
The third article in this series will report the lawyers'reform proposals and will explore some of the implications of the data described here.     

Lawman and the Sabellian heresy

I wish to thank Dean Bernie Patterson and the Arts and Sciences Level I Committee for support on this project, although ultimately thanks should be extended to the Georgia College Foundation for its generous support of research and faculty development projects at Georgia College. I also wish to thank MEDTEXTLers Jim Marchand, Thomas Izbicki, and P.A. Binkley for bibliographic help on the topic of clerical education in twelfth- and thirteenth-century England.     

Improving the linkages between domestic violence referral agencies and the police: A research note

Domestic disputes pose serious threats to police officers and disputants alike. Crisis intervention training programs have improved the ability of police to quell a conflict temporarily, but national studies show that retuns to some households are not unusual, and they are increasingly hazardous. There are a number of service agencies in most jurisdictions having the goal of offering assistance to domestic disputants in hopes of a more permanent resolution to the conflict, but the linkage between these agencies and the police has been unsatisfactory. This article describes a program implemented at the Washtenaw Country Sheriff's Department, Ann Arbor, Michigan, designed to increase the rate of referral contact by domestic disputants. The program was implemented for a six-month period, and increased the follow-up contract rate by 600 percent.     

A Study of Job Preference and Work Ethics in Guangzhou

'Guangdong is the province one step ahead in China and Guangzhou is the city one step ahead in Guangdong.' Being one of the most economically active cities in China, Guangzhou citizens have generally experienced improved living standards and a better quality of life since the economic reform started in the late 1970s. What is also true is that economic modernization has changed the social structure, allowing far more social mobility in the post-Mao society. Nowadays, people living in Guangzhou have more job choices in a relatively free labour market. This paper is set in such a socio-economic context to examine the job preferences and work ethics of Guangzhou citizens, with particular reference to what changes have taken place in people's work values after the adoption of a market economy in the mainland. The paper is based on our current research projects conducted in the Guangzhou area to examine how socio-economic changes have affected people's value orientations and is confined to discussion of whether people living in Guangzhou have changed their attitudes towards work in the 1990s.     

鸭疫里氏杆菌病三价油乳剂灭活疫苗的研究

以 1、2、10型鸭疫里氏杆菌 (RA)分离株为菌种 ,研制鸭疫里氏杆菌病三价油乳剂灭活疫苗。经无菌及安全检验合格后 ,对 6日龄樱桃谷雏鸭颈部皮下接种 0 .4mL/只 ,免疫后第 10、14、2 1和 3 5d分别用 1、2、10型RA强毒株攻击 ,第 14d的攻毒保护率为 91.7%～ 10 0 % ,3 5d的攻毒保护率为 66.6%～ 83 .3 %。田间试验结果表明 ,雏鸭 5～ 7日龄免疫后至上市保护率可达 95 .0 %～ 10 0 %。     

勇气与贡献——李富春经济调整工作述略

６０年代初，中共中央为了克服“大跃进”对国民经济带来的严重后果，实施了“调整、巩固、充实、提高”的经济工作“八字方针”。时任国务院副总理兼国家计委主任的李富春作为国家经济政策的决策者之一，从实际出发，对“八字方针”的形成以及解决“大跃进”带来的诸多问题方面做出了巨大贡献。李富春与经济工作“调整、巩固、充实、提高”八字方针的形成１９６０年，即违背客观经济规律的“大跃进”运动的最后一年，国家的经济业已陷入极度困难的境地。这年６月，在中共中央政治局上海扩大会议前夕的中央座谈会上，李富春在发言中十分尖税…