Psychopathy and Culpability: How Responsible Is the Psychopath for Criminal Wrongdoing?

Recent research into the psychological and neurobiological underpinnings of psychopathy has raised the question of whether, or to what degree, psychopaths should be considered morally and criminally responsible for their actions. In this article, we review the current empirical literature on psychopathy, focusing particularly on deficits in moral reasoning, and consider several potential conclusions that could be drawn based on this evidence. Our analysis of the empirical evidence on psychopathy suggests that while psychopaths do not meet the criteria for full criminal responsibility, they nonetheless retain some criminal responsibility. We conclude, by introducing the notion of rights as correlative, that even if psychopaths were to be fully nonresponsible, imposing some form of civil commitment would still be warranted.     

Job–Worker Balance and Income Match in the United States

This study uses journey-to-work data from urban census tracts across the United States to investigate whether people living and working in the same area is related to job–worker balance or to the income from jobs. The results indicate that more people live and work in the same commute shed if there is job–worker balance and income matching.     

The Multiple Meanings of ‘Resilience’: An Overview of the Literature

‘resilience is in danger of becoming a vacuous buzzword from overuse and ambiguity’ (Rose 2007: 384) ‘Resilience’ is widely used in public policy debate in Australia in contexts as diverse as drought policy, mental fitness in the Australian Defence Force, and in discussion around the Australian economy's performance during the global financial crisis. The following paper provides an overview of the use of the term ‘resilience’ in the academic literature in both the natural and social sciences. The key conclusion from this research is that the term is highly ambiguous, it is used for different purposes in different contexts and in some cases the understandings of the term are diametrically opposed. The malleability of the term suggests that it might be politically risky if employed in policy debate unless clearly defined in each instance.     

The Inclusion of Nonsafety Criteria within the Regulatory Framework of Agricultural Biotechnology: Exploring Factors that Are Likely to Influence Policy Transfer

Policy makers of various countries are exposed to critiques that call for the consideration of issues that transcend human, animal, and environmental safety concerns when assessing agricultural biotechnology products. While some jurisdictions have decided to broaden the scope of their approval process for genetically modified (GM) foods, this paper analyzes legal, political, and economic factors that can influence the transfer of these initiatives. Drawing on mechanisms presented in the policy transfer literature, this article examines their mixed effects pertaining to the regulation of biotechnology. Although the mechanisms of competition and coercion do not preclude such a possibility, one must admit that they do not create any incentives for policy makers to include nonsafety criteria within biotechnology regulations. By contrast, to varying degrees, the mechanisms of mimicry and learning can foster the transfer of such a broadened scope that allows a better assessment of GM foods' social acceptability.     

Primary breast lymphoma with sudden death

Primary breast lymphoma is a rare form of extranodal lymphoma. B cells constitute the most common type involving the breast. T cells represents only 3%. Even though lymphomas have a high predilection to metastasize to the heart, there are no specific clinical or radiological findings, and most of the cases are diagnosed at autopsy. We discuss the case of a 49-year-old woman with primary breast lymphoma who presented with sudden death. Autopsy revealed a primary T-cell lymphoma of the breast with tumoral infiltration of the atrioventricular node and transmural myocardial permeation with focal necrosis.     

Nuclear DNA typing from ancient teeth

Because of the adverse effects that diagenesis exert on ancient skeletal remains, DNA from these samples is often compromised to the point where genetic typing can be challenging. Nevertheless, robust and reliable methods are currently available to allow successful genotyping of ancient specimens. Here we report nuclear DNA-based methods and typing strategies used to analyze 2 human skeletons from a medieval burial. Reliable DNA nuclear profiles were obtained from teeth, whereas mitochondrial DNA analyses in bones were inconclusive. A complete nuclear mini short tandem repeat profile was obtained from a well-preserved premolar, but only a partial one from the femur. Increasing the sensitivity of the polymerase chain reaction system allowed a full profile from the latter, but the presence of artifacts reinforced the idea that the interpretation of this kind of analysis must be performed with caution. The results presented here also indicate that DNA from dental pieces can be better preserved than from bones, even in the case of well-preserved long bones with thick cortical tissue such as the femurs, and have a better chance of successful genetic typing, probably because of the high degree of protection conferred to the DNA by the enamel.     

Uncertainty in Widmark calculations: ABV variation in packaged versions of the most popular beers in the UK

Forensic practitioners regularly use the Widmark equation to determine theoretical blood alcohol concentrations for use in cases involving alcohol. It is important with these calculations to determine the uncertainty associated with any result. Previous work has investigated the uncertainty in percent alcohol by volume (%ABV) from beers produced by small independent breweries in the UK but did not study the top selling beers in the UK. The top selling lagers and ales/bitters in the UK were identified by sales volume and the %ABV determined. These data was then used to determine the percent coefficient of variation (%CV) that should be used by forensic practitioners when constructing alcohol technical defence reports for use in forensic cases. These samples, from what may be described as ‘big’ brewers, were determined to have a smaller root mean square error (RMSE) (±0.1%v/v, n?=?35), and %CV than those previously reported for beers produced by small, independent breweries in the UK. The results from this study shows that different RMSE's should be used for %ABV when determining the uncertainty of results from Widmark calculations depending if the drinks consumed have been from either ‘big’ brewers or small, independent breweries.