Radiography of perforating centerfire rifle wounds of the trunk

All deaths resulting from perforating centerfire rifle wounds of the chest and abdomen, investigated by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the Province of Alberta from 1988 to 1995. were reviewed retrospectively to determine whether the radiographic distribution of bullet fragments in such cases is a useful predictor of bullet trajectory. Study cases were limited to single gunshot wounds without surgical intervention or intermediate targets, and for which adequate radiography was available. Three pathologists individually viewed the radiographs on two separate occasions; wound locations were provided for the second viewing (Group 2). Differences in opinion regarding direction of fire were resolved by consensus review. A trauma radiologist independently made two sets of interpretations in the same way. Comparisons of these groups of interpretations were made with the actual bullet direction determined at autopsy. Of 21 cases included in the study, only three (14.3%) did not require consensus resolution in either group. Accuracy of pathologists' interpretation improved from 38.1% (8/21) to 76.2% (16/21) with provision of wound locations (p = 0.012). The radiologist achieved similar improvement, from 28.6% (6/21) to 47.6% (10/21). The rate of agreement between radiologist and pathologists increased from 42.9% (9/21) to 61.9% (13/21) between Groups 1 and 2. Both the pathologists and radiologist interpreted several cases the same way in both groups; of those cases interpreted differently, the second interpretation was occasionally incorrect after correct interpretation in Group 1. We conclude that bullet direction for perforating centerfire rifle wounds cannot be accurately determined from postmortem radiographs. When wound location is known, the ability to predict bullet direction improves but is still subject to error, including a lack of consistency between observers.     

Ethics, Integrity, Compliance and Accountability in Contemporary UK Government–Business Relations – Till Death Do Us Part

This paper takes as its main themes the impact of public choice theory and the impact of Thatcherism and the rise of public management on the delivery of public services. These themes have created, according to a Chief Executive of a Regional Health Authority, the need 'to learn new disciplines of commercial relationships and competitive tendering and so on, and at the same time . . . remember the very important traditional public service values; and that is not an easy combination'. Whether the relationship with business has been a temporary affair, a marriage of convenience or a marriage until death do us part, business and business practices have had significant implications for the dominant morality now prevailing in the delivery of public services.     

Book reviews

How Nuclear Weapons Spread By F. Barnaby. Routledge, London, 1993, Hbk. £30.00.

Germany and the Approach of War in 1914 By V.R. Berghahn. Macmillan, London, second edition 1993 (first edition 1973), Hbk. £35.00, Pbk £10.99.

The Age of Migration’, International Population Movements in the Modern World By Stephan Castles and Mark Miller. Macmillan, Basingstoke, 1993, Hbk. £35.00, Pbk. £10.99.

Ideas and Foreign Policy, Beliefs, Institutions and Political Change Edited By Judith Goldstein and Robert O. Keohane. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1993, Hbk. S41.25, Pbk. S16.45.

European Monetary Union: Lessons from the Classical Gold Standard By Milivoje Panic. St. Martin's Press, New York, 1993.

In Defense of Naval Supremacy: Finance, Technology and British Naval Policy, 1889–1914 By Jon Tetsuro Sumida. Routledge, London, 1993, Pbk. £12.99.     

Closing the door

States no longer can afford to provide illegal immigrants with the health care and education federal law says they deserve.     

Human rights and money laundering: The prospect of international seizure of defense attorney fees

Conclusion At bottom, the power of the state to intervene and effectively control the relationship of a private attorney with that lawyer's client before trial and conviction is simply too onerous to be justified on the basis of crime control alone. The most persuasive arguments inMonsanto andCaplin & Drysdale are those of the dissent, which relied on the centrality to the sixth amendment of the relationship of trust that is fostered in the private attorney-client relationship. The failure to honor the right to counsel of choice results, as the dissent noted, in the possibility of the socialization of criminal defense services and diminution of counsel's independence.These conclusions, of course, are statements of policy, not empirically provable propositions. Major human rights instruments, as well as their interpretation by tribunals, express a policy of overwhelming and explicit commitment to the right to a fair trial, to equality of arms, to the presumption of innocence, to protection from undue government interference with chosen counsel, and to the right to counsel of choice itself. It can only be hoped that these provisions will persuade the European Court of Human Rights to strike the balance of policy equities in favor of protection of the accused.This paper was originally presented as part of a panel on International Human Rights and International Criminal Law, at the American Bar Association annual meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., August 13, 1991.B.A., De Pauw University 1965; J.D., University of Illinois 1972.