Living victims of strangulation: a 10-year review of cases in a metropolitan community

The prevalence of reported domestic violence or intimate partner violence has greatly increased, with approximately 1.5 million women violently assaulted annually in the United States by an intimate partner. Strangulation is often seen in violence against women, including domestic violence cases. Strangulation is defined as "a form of asphyxia characterized by closure of the blood vessels or air passages of the neck as a result of external pressure on the neck." This is a 10-year case review of 102 living victims of strangulation who underwent medicolegal evaluation at the Clinical Forensic Medicine Program at a State Medical Examiner's Office serving Southern Indiana and all of Kentucky. The majority of victims (79%) were strangled by an intimate partner, and manual strangulation was the most common method (83%). A total of 38 victims (38%) described a history of domestic violence, and the same number lost consciousness while being strangled. Nine (9%) women were pregnant at the time of the attack, while 13 (13%) had a history of being sexually abused in addition to being strangled. A paucity of cases involved only strangulation, as most of the victims were subjected to myriad forms of blunt force trauma which included not only the head and neck but also other bodily regions. This is a unique presentation of strangulation of living persons as most evidence of strangulation in the forensic literature has been derived from postmortem examinations of the victims. This comprehensive study discussing the examination of a living strangulation victim offers valuable insight into the mechanism and the physical findings involved in the strangulation process.     

Adult guardianship: human rights or social justice?

Adult guardianship in English-speaking countries has its roots firmly planted in the protective parens patriae principle. In the last 20 years, in response to societal changes and international developments, concerns about human rights have fundamentally challenged the historic basis of guardianship. This article argues that social justice offers a better framework than human rights for adult guardianship legislation.     

Politicians,the Representativeness Heuristic and Decision-Making Biases

Political Behavior - Do politicians use the representativeness heuristic when making judgements, that is, when they appraise the likelihood or frequency of an outcome that is unknown or unknowable?...     

Public Intellectuals and Think Tanks: A Free Market in Ideas?

The paper critically evaluates the thesis of the interchangeability between the think-tank public intellectual and the academic public intellectual. It suggests that this thesis, while endorsing the rise of the think-tank public intellectual, pronounces the salience of the intellectual-social critic and undermines the authority of academic public intellectuals. It is argued that the think-tank expert doubling as the public intellectuals could limit the political relevance of the academic public intellectual and that the think-tank expert’s monopolization of the public forum could present a threat to the quality of public debates. While recognizing that there are many contradictions inherent in the role of intellectual and that there are now numerous factors that hinder the abilities of academics to act as public intellectuals, the paper emphasizes public academic intellectuals’ contribution to the dynamics of public opinion and the quality of democratic standards. In today’s context, with the omnipresent of media, the new conditions of knowledge production, the neo-liberal ethos and the social prominence of think-tank experts, the sources of the academic public intellectual authority are in a continuous need for reinvestment.     

The Challenges of Contracting and Accountability Across the Federal System: From Ambulances to Space Shuttles

This article focuses on two questions related lo governmentcontracting and accountability. How are key components of contractingsimilar or different for city, state, and federal governmentsin the United States? To what extent do the three levels ofgovernment share the widely recognized challenges of contractdesign and contract management? To address these questions,we compared and contrasted six contracting cases, two each forlocal, state, and the federal governments. We found that forall governments in the U.S. federal system, the public managementfunctions of contracting are remarkably similar, and that contractmanagement and the achievement of accountability are "weak links"in the contracting process. Our findings do not support thehypothesis that contract management is more effective in localgovernment relative to state and federal governments.     

Signs and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in children

Summary Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in children is a complex interaction of cognitive, affective, and physiological responses to an event that is outside the range of usual human experience and would be markedly distressing to almost anyone. Traumatic stress reactions in children are conscious and unconscious efforts to assimilate an overwhelming event and have been identified in the past as panic reaction, acute grief hysterical reaction, and physical shock. PTSD in children is complicated by multiple issues of developmental stages, family dynamics, physical maturity, genetic predisposition, and cognitive skills. Characteristic symptoms of PTSD which must persist for more than one month include re-experiencing (flashbacks, nightmares); avoidance; numbing of general responsiveness; and persistent autonomic arousal. Children exhibit characteristic PTSD symptoms, but research suggests four criteria specific to traumatized children independent of chronological age and the course of the disorder: 1) visualized and repeatedly perceived memories; 2) repetitive behaviors; 3) trauma-related fears; 4) altered attitudes about life and future orientation. These four criteria appear to remain clustered together in childhood trauma victims even when other diagnosis would appear more appropriate. PTSD in children encompasses a complex spectrum of diagnosis and remains technically intricate for the mental health professional.     

Ideology and campaign activity at three levels of government

This article examines the relationship between self-designated political ideology, opinions on twenty-one issues, and campaign activity at local, state, and national levels. The samples examined include delegates to the 1984 Party Conventions in eleven states. Generally, the findings indicate that ideology and issue position are most strongly associated with activity in national campaigns. Among Democrats liberalism is associated with national activity, whereas among Republicans those who are conservative are most active in national campaigns. Some important intraparty differences are found between local campaign activists and national activists. For example, among Democrats local campaign activists are much more conservative than national activists on several issues.