Promoting Stability for Youth Returning from Residential Care: Attorney Perspectives

Aftercare services have been suggested to improve reintegration for youth departing residential care programs. The purpose of this study was to collect views from legal professionals about the challenges youth and families face during reintegration and solutions to improve stability. Views were collected from 14 legal professionals (e.g., guardian ad litem, legal counsel) through a survey and 90‐minute nominal group technique focus group. Results indicated parent expectations about re‐entry and lack of services, supports and resources were challenges. Solutions suggested by participants included family, mental health and educational supports, and transition planning. Study limitations and future implications are discussed.     

Complex Suicide by Self‐stabbing and Drowning: A Case Report and a Review of Literature

Sharp force injuries and drowning are methods exceptionally combined in complex suicides. We report a challenging case of complex suicide by self‐stabbing and drowning that illustrates the difficulty in discriminating between homicide and suicide in such circumstances of death. The corpse of a young man was found submerged in a river, stabbed nine times with two wounds that had penetrated the thorax and had caused lung injuries and a hemopneumothorax. The postmortem and histological examinations were consistent with a death caused by drowning, but the manner of death still remained undetermined. Police investigation finally concluded to a suicide, although no suicide note had been left and the victim had no underlying diagnosed mental disorder. The parameters that may help distinguish suicide from homicide at the autopsy should be interpreted in light of a thorough forensic investigation to determine the exact manner of death in such a case.     

Child Fatalities in Dammam: A Call for Child Fatality Reviews in Arab Countries

Identifying children's risk exposure is the first step toward mortality prevention. This retrospective study determined the causes of child fatalities in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Death reports of children and adolescents from 1999 to 2015 (N = 157) were analyzed. Boys represented most cases (69%) and there were two age peaks (1–5 years and 16–18 years). Accidents (typically immersion) defined the main death circumstance (51%) followed by homicide (25%). Only 33% of cases underwent autopsy, and the most common cause of death was head injury (27%) followed by firearm injury. Only one immersion death underwent autopsy. This study revealed important data about the risk exposure of children in Dammam and emphasizes deficient investigative procedures. Child fatality reviews comprise systematic data collection by multidisciplinary teams to determine the true risks toward children in a community. Such teams do not exist in Arab countries; therefore, strategies should be implemented to initiate them.     

Organizing a Proficiency Testing Program on Stamp Impressions Examination in Accordance with ISO/IEC 17043 Requirements

Stamps and stamp impressions examinations are based on matching defects and design details on the questioned and control samples. These examinations are routinely carried out by document examiners around the world. International proficiency tests for questioned documents examination have been available for decades while similar programs specifically focusing on stamp impressions examination are rare. This study reported a recent proficiency testing program on stamp impressions examination organized by an accredited provider in accordance with ISO/IEC 17043 requirements. Twenty‐four forensic laboratories registered for the program. Apart from giving details on the design and operation of the program, this study also aimed to provide the limitations and difficulties encountered in sample preparations, homogeneity, and stability tests of the testing materials. Various comments and feedbacks received from the participants, particularly in respect of examination approaches, challenges faced by the participants in forming conclusions and their suggestions for further improvement would be evaluated.     

Skeletal Trauma Resulting From Fatal Low (≤3 m) Free Falls: An Analysis of Fracture Patterns and Morphologies

The skeletal trauma resulting from fatal low (≤3 m) free falls is poorly researched and understood by forensic practitioners. The aim of this study was to identify the types of skeletal trauma resulting from low falls through investigating fracture patterns and morphologies. Skeletal trauma was analyzed using full‐body postmortem computed tomography scans of 145 individuals who died from a low free fall. Trauma was then contextualized to the variables that influence how a person falls using multiple logistic regression. Results showed fracture patterning primarily involved the axial skeleton and that there were a number of patterns significantly associated with the height fallen, pre‐existing health conditions, and age. Analysis of fracture morphologies showed 108 possible fracture types, six of which were significantly associated with the height fallen. Understanding the skeletal trauma characteristic of low free falls will further inform anthropological interpretations of trauma in cases where a fall may be considered the possible mechanism.     

The Concealed Information Test is Susceptible to Misleading Information

An approach toward detecting hidden knowledge is the Concealed Information Test (CIT). It relies on the memory of crime‐relevant information. This study investigated whether its validity is susceptible to memory distortion by misleading information. A misleading information paradigm was employed to distort memory prior to an interrogation with a CIT. Forty‐one participants watched a video with specific crime‐related information. After a 1‐week retention interval, misleading information was introduced. Afterward, a CIT was performed, followed by a threefold memory test. When misleading information was presented, memory performance was reduced, and no physiological response differences between crime‐relevant and crime‐irrelevant information were found. Without presenting misleading information, physiological responses differed between responses to crime‐relevant and crime‐irrelevant information. However, responses in all physiological measures also differed between misleading and irrelevant information. The results indicate that the CIT is susceptible to misleading information, which reduces its validity in specific constellations.     

NEW FORMS OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW IN THE AGE OF THIRD‐PARTY GOVERNMENT

This article explores the democratic values underlying public services when they are outsourced. Building on Rosenbloom and Piotrowski's (2005a, 2005b) framework, we examine whether and how administrative law norms – that serve as central democratic governance and accountability mechanisms in the administrative state – are extended to the new (private) frontline service providers. Through a study of the regulation of the privatized welfare‐to‐work programme in Wisconsin, we find that new forms of administrative law are evolving in third‐party government. These forms differ from administrative law as it usually applies to public agencies in several important aspects. The findings highlight the active role of legislative and administrative mechanisms in the promotion of these new forms of administrative law; and they shed light on the transformations that administrative law norms undergo in the age of third‐party government.     

环境中氡的来源、危害与防治

随着人民生活水平的日益提高,家庭装饰中存在的环保问题逐渐引起了人们的注意,其中广泛用于家装的花岗岩等天然石材引起的氡气辐射污染是普遍存在的问题.本文就氡气的来源、造成的危害及如何防护等问题进行了讨论.     

"文化中断"理论对我国民族教育的启示

本文阐述了西方教育人类学"文化中断"理论的产生背景,并借用了其研究方法分析了我国少数民族教育中"文化中断"的特殊内涵,认为"文化中断"是民族教育发展过程中的一种自然现象,最后从教育学的角度指出了减少"文化中断"对民族教育负面影响的具体措施.     

A Fatal Shot with a Signal Flare—A Crime Reconstruction*

Abstract: A reconstruction of an incident of a fatal wounding of a football fan with a parachute flare was performed. Physical and chemical examinations of the victim’s trousers and parts of a flare removed from the wound in his leg were performed by means of an optical microscope and a scanning electron microscope coupled with an energy dispersive X‐ray spectrometer. Signs of burning were seen on the front upper part of the trousers, including a 35–40 mm circular hole with melted and charred edges. Postblast residue present on the surface of the trousers contained strontium, magnesium, potassium, and chlorine. Also the case files—the medical reports and the witnesses’ testimonies—were thoroughly studied. It has been found that the evidence collected in the case supported the version of the victim being shot by another person from a distance.