Russia: new criminal process code promises a more tolerant incarceration policy

The population of Russian prisons is one of the largest in the world: as of 1 April 2002, there were 1,220,368 people living in prisons in the country. Some data suggest that 15 to 20 percent of all people living with HIV/AIDS in Russia are in prisons and detention facilities.     

Post-mortem SNP analysis of CYP2D6 gene reveals correlation between genotype and opioid drug (tramadol) metabolite ratios in blood

Tramadol is an opioid drug metabolised in phase I by cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, of which CYP2D6 is mainly responsible for the O-demethylation of tramadol, but is not involved in N-demethylation. Defects in the genes encoding drug metabolising enzymes (DMEs) may lead to adverse drug effects, even to death. To aid interpretation of the forensic toxicology results, we studied how the genetic variation of the CYP2D6 gene is reflected in tramadol metabolite ratios found in post-mortem samples. In 33 Finnish autopsy cases where tramadol was found, we analysed both the CYP2D6 genotype and the concentrations of tramadol and its metabolites O- and N-demethyltramadol. As expected, we found a correlation between the number of functional CYP2D6 alleles and the ratio of tramadol to O-demethyltramadol. We also found a correlation between the number of functional alleles and the ratio of tramadol to N-demethyltramadol. This can be explained by the complementary nature of the two main tramadol demethylation pathways. No known CYP2D6 inhibitors were associated with exceptional metabolic ratios. Furthermore, no accidental tramadol poisonings were associated with a defective CYP2D6 gene. Our results on the tramadol are among the first to demonstrate that genetic variation in drug metabolising enzymes can be analysed in post-mortem blood, and that it correlates well with the parent drug to metabolite ratios. The results also suggest that genetic factors play, in general, a dominant role over other factors in the metabolism of individual drugs.     

Reviews

Daniel S. Fogel (ed.), Firm Behaviour in Emerging Market Economies: Cases from the Private and Public Sectors in Central and Eastern Europe. Aldershot: Avebury, 1996, ix + 193 pp., £35.00.

Oldrich D#akedek et al., The Break‐up of Czechoslovakia: an In‐depth Economic Analysis. Aldershot: Avebury, 1996, xi + 208 pp., £32.50.

OECD, OECD Economic Surveys: The Czech Republic. Paris: OECD, 1996, viii + 121 pp.

OECD, OECD Economic Surveys: The Slovak Republic. Paris: OECD, 1996, viii + 159 pp.

Jan Winiecki (ed.), Five Years after June: the Polish Transformation, 1989–1994. London: The Centre for Research into Communist Economies, 1996, vi + 138 pp., £9.95.

Boris Rumer (ed.), Central Asia in Transition: Dilemmas of Political and Economic Development. London: M. E. Sharpe, 1996, xx + 286 pp.

Rosemarie Forsythe, The Politics of Oil in The Caucasus and Central Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, 67 pp., £13.99.

Wei Ding et al., Bosnia and Herzegovina: Toward Economic Recovery. Washington, DC: The World Bank, 1996, xxxi + 68 pp., £8.95.

Dmitri Steinberg, The Soviet Economy 1970–1990. A Statistical Analysis. San Francisco: International Trade Press, 1990, x + 350 pp., $115.00.

Abram Chayes & Antonia Handler Chayes (eds), Preventing Conflict in the Post‐Communist World. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1996, vii + 605 pp.

Trevor Findlay (ed.), Challenges for the New Peacekeepers. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, xii + 170 pp., £25.00 h/b, £12.95 p/b.

Ike Jeanes, Forecast and Solution: Grappling with the Nuclear, a Trilogy for Everyone. Blacksburg, VA: Pocahontas Press, 1996, xiv + 770 pp., £25.00.

David R. Marples, Belarus: From Soviet Rule to Nuclear Catastrophe. London: Macmillan, 1996, xxi + 179 pp., £14.99.

Jeffrey D. McCausland, Conventional Arms Control and European Security: Conventional Arms Control Agreements and Their Role in the Emerging European Security Architecture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, 76 pp., £13.99.

Christopher Williams, Vladimir Chuprov & Vladimir Staroverov (eds), Russian Society in Transition. Aldershot: Dartmouth, 1996, xi + 315 pp., £39.50.

James O. Finckenauer, Russian Youth. Law, Deviance and the Pursuit of Freedom. London: Transaction, 1995, xvii + 237 pp., $34.95.

Rosalind Marsh (ed. & trans.), Women in Russia and Ukraine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, xvii + 350 pp., £55.00 h/b, £19.95 p/b.

Jeff Chinn & Robert Kaiser, Russians as the New Minority: Ethnicity and Nationalism in the Soviet Successor States. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996, xii + 308 pp., £48.50 h/b, £13.50 p/b.

Ladislav Holy, The Little Czech and the Great Czech Nation. National Identity and the Post‐communist Transformation of Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, x + 226 pp., £50.00 h/b, £16.96 p/b.

Francine Friedman, The Bosnian Muslims. Denial of a Nation. Colorado: Westview Press, 1996, xv + 288 pp., £14.95.

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Kathryn Hendley, Trying to Make Law Matter. Legal Reform and Labour Law in the Soviet Union. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996, viii + 265 pp., $39.50 h/b.

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Attachment to Parents,Best Friend,and Romantic Partner: Predicting Different Pathways to Depression in Adolescence

Research indicates that insecurely-attached adolescents are at risk for depression, but little is known about factors that may influence or explain this vulnerability. The present study focuses on close relationships during adolescence and their association with depression. Specifically, the objectives were to investigate (1) the role of working models of specific attachment figures (i.e., mother, father, best friend, and romantic partner) in the prediction of depression; and (2) the existence of target-specific pathways to depression following relational stress. It was expected that the paths to depression would differ depending on the attachment figure under consideration. A total of 134 adolescents (n = 88 girls; Mage = 16.95 years; SD = .74) completed attachment questionnaires, a depression inventory, and a computer task consisting of hypothetical interpersonal vignettes and questions. Insecure attachment relationships with romantic partner, and for girls only, with mother, were uniquely predictive of depression. Insecurely-attached adolescents' tendency to make negative attributions in response to stresses fully mediated the attachment–depression association. These adolescents were found to ruminate when confronted with stresses involving romantic partner, which was also associated with depression. Results underscore the link between attachment, negative attributions, and depression. Staff Psychologist, Child Psychiatry Department at the Jewish General Hospital. Received PhD in clinical psychology from Concordia University. Research interests include attachment and adolescent adjustment. Professor of Psychology and Applied Human Sciences, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H4B 1R6. Received PhD in social psychology from Ohio State University. Research interests include close interpersonal relationships and adjustment. Professor of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H4B 1R6. Received PhD in developmental psychology from Stanford University. Research interests include attachment and parenting in adolescence.     

The role of set-shifting ability in differentiating between subgroups of female violent offenders

The aim of the present study was to extend the current understanding of the relationship between executive functions and violent crime in women. This was done by investigating whether set-shifting ability differentiated between subgroups of female violent offenders, with regard to criminal diversity and frequency of violent offenses. The study was conducted in a nationwide sample of 42 women imprisoned for violent crimes. Important characteristics common in violent offenders, such as certain personality disorders and substance abuse, were taken into account. The results indicated that offenders who only committed violent crimes had poorer set-shifting ability and less frequently personality disorders than offenders who had also committed non-violent crimes. Set-shifting ability was not connected to violent crime frequency.     

The effect of choice reversals on blindness for identification decisions

The present study examined blindness for identification decisions from target-present (TP) and target-absent (TA) lineups using a field study methodology. Eighty pedestrians were exposed to a staged theft. Subsequently, they were asked to identify the thief and the victim from separate, simultaneous six-person lineups. Their identification decision concerning the thief lineup was manipulated such that participants’ selections were exchanged with a previously unidentified lineup member (choice exchange) and lineup rejections were turned into identifications (choice reversal). Participants were 7–10 times less likely to detect choice exchanges (66.7%) compared with choice reversals (11.2%). Furthermore, identification accuracy was not a prerequisite for detection. Thus, rejections and particularly selections made from both TP and TA lineups are susceptible to choice blindness. Finally, our study implies that for blindness in eyewitness identification decisions between-category changes (i.e. choice reversals) are easier to detect than within-category changes (i.e. choice exchanges).     

Correlates of hopelessness in the high suicide risk police occupation

Police officers are chronically exposed to work stress. We examined specific stressors that may be associated with hopelessness, a possible risk factor for suicide in this high suicide risk population. The study included 378 officers (276 men and 102 women) with complete data. Analysis of variance was used to estimate mean levels of hopelessness scores as associated with stress, adjusted for age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Posttraumatic symptoms were tested as a modifier of the association between stress and hopelessness. Increasing stress of administrative practices and lack of support were significantly associated with increasing hopelessness among officers (p < .006 – hopelessness range: 1.64–2.65; and p < .001 – hopelessness range 1.60–2.80, respectively). Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms significantly modified the association between lack of organizational support and hopelessness (p < .010) with significant association only among individuals with higher PTSD symptoms (p < .001). Results suggest that hopelessness is associated with specific stressors in police work, and this is modified by posttraumatic symptomatology.     

Fraud,Free Speech and Fossil Fuel: Lessons from Big Tobacco for Big Oil

Recent journalistic investigations revealed that ExxonMobil carried out research beginning in the 1970s indicating fossil fuel's dangerous role in global warming. Rather than heed the warnings of its research, for the next few decades, ExxonMobil instead chose to become a leader in climate change denial; stressing uncertainty, propagating misinformation, funding denial, and politicizing and undermining the expert scientific consensus. Exxon's behavior invoked the tactics used by the tobacco industry years earlier, tactics which wound up the subject of a successful federal government lawsuit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The parallels with the tobacco industry prompted legislators and environmentalists to call on the Department of Justice to use RICO again to hold the fossil fuel industry to account. This article will consider the legal issues associated with bringing such an action, and whether useful lessons can be drawn from the tobacco litigation.