Russian and Soviet forensic psychiatry: Troubled and troubling

Russian forensic psychiatry is defined by its troubled and troubling relationship to an unstable state, a state that was not a continuous entity during the modern era. From the mid-nineteenth century, Russia as a nation-state struggled to reform, collapsed, re-constituted itself in a bloody civil war, metastasized into a violent “totalitarian” regime, reformed and stagnated under “mature socialism” and then embraced capitalism and “managed democracy” at the end of the twentieth century. These upheavals had indelible effects on policing and the administration of justice, and on psychiatry's relationship with them. In Russia, physicians specializing in medicine of the mind had to cope with rapid and radical changes of legal and institutional forms, and sometimes, of the state itself. Despite this challenging environment, psychiatrists showed themselves to be active professionals seeking to guide the transformations that inevitably touched their work. In the second half of the nineteenth century debates about the role of psychiatry in criminal justice took place against a backdrop of increasingly alarming terrorist activity, and call for revolution. While German influence, with its preference for hereditarianism, was strong, Russian psychiatry was inclined toward social and environmental explanations of crime. When revolution came in 1917, the new communist regime quickly institutionalized forensic psychiatry. In the aftermath of revolution, the institutionalization of forensic psychiatry “advanced” with each turn of the state's transformation, with profound consequences for practitioners' independence and ethical probity. The abuses of Soviet psychiatry under Stalin and more intensively after his death in the 1960s–80s remain under-researched and key archives are still classified. The return to democracy since the late 1980s has seen mixed results for fresh attempts to reform both the justice system and forensic psychiatric practice.     

Group Segregation and Urban Violence

How does segregation shape intergroup violence in contested urban spaces? Should nominal rivals be kept separate or instead more closely integrated? We develop an empirically grounded agent‐based model to understand the sources and patterns of violence in urban areas, employing Jerusalem as a demonstration case and seeding our model with microlevel, geocoded data on settlement patterns. An optimal set of parameters is selected to best fit the observed spatial distribution of violence in the city, with the calibrated model used to assess how different levels of segregation, reflecting various proposed “virtual futures” for Jerusalem, would shape violence. Our results suggest that besides spatial proximity, social distance is key to explaining conflict over urban areas: arrangements conducive to reducing the extent of intergroup interactions—including localized segregation, limits on mobility and migration, partition, and differentiation of political authority—can be expected to dampen violence, although their effect depends decisively on social distance.     

Tuberculous Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm with Alimentary Tract Hemorrhage: A Case Report with Medico-legal Implications

An autopsy case of sudden death induced by alimentary tract hemorrhage was presented,which was caused by the unexpected rupture of clinically unrecognized tuberculous abdominal aortic aneurysm(TAAA).The initial diagnosis was made of the syndrome of coronary heart disease and hypertensive disease.The detailed autopsy showed that the alimentary tract hemorrhage was caused by a sudden rupture of the mass after posture changing was ascertained as the cause of death.The diagnosis of TAAA was determined by the autopsy findings.Analysis for the medical dispute of TAAA was described,and the difficulty of the diagnosis and medico-legal implications were also discussed.     

Bargaining unexplained

Is there a bargaining equilibrium comparable to the equilibrium in the competitive economy? The claim in this paper is that there is not. Bargaining models with well-specified equilibria have been built upon a shared sense of what is fair, concessions in proportion to harm from failure to agree or an imposed bargaining procedure. The claim is that these models either come dangerously close to assuming what they seek to prove or define bargaining as something other than what it is commonly understood to be. We know that people strike bargains and that civilized life could not proceed otherwise, but something over and above pure self-interest is required for bargaining and compromise to take place.     

民族地区低碳城市建设的优势及不足

由于受独特的地理区域和经济发展状况、文化传统影响,民族地区低碳城市建设有自然资源较为丰富、低碳经济发展潜力大和行政灵活性较强等优势。但也存在一些问题,需要从城市规划、法律法规建设、城市发展模式等方面进行完善。     

关于促进长春市物业管理健康发展的对策

从长春市物业管理现状和存在问题看,必须加强宏观调整,发挥市场主导作用,推进责任制度建设,以此促进长春市物业管理的健康发展。     

论派生诉讼中的原告

关于派生诉讼中的原告资格,如果要求过严会挫伤股东提起诉讼的积极性,如果原告范围过广则会产生过度阻遏的后果并引发权利被滥用的可能性。因此,对派生诉讼中原告资格的设计要遵循适度和必要的原则。我们应该借鉴域外派生诉讼制度发达国家和地区的立法规定,在持有股份、同期所有、持续持有、善意代表、持股数额等几个方面明确和完善对派生诉讼原告的资格限定要求。     

渤海溢油事故海洋生态损害赔偿法律问题研究

2011年我国渤海溢油事故引起了社会的强烈关注,尤其对我国海洋环境保护相关法律提出了挑战。在对渤海溢油事故所涉及的"海洋生态损害"的概念界定、责任主体与索赔主体、赔偿范围、索赔额度及评估标准等法律问题进行分析后,还将揭示该溢油事故对我国海洋生态损害赔偿制度的几点启示。     

Suicidal Behavior Among Homeless and Runaway Adolescents

The present study considered risk factors associated with suicidal ideation and the likelihood of a suicide attempt in a sample of 297 homeless and runaway youth from four Midwestern states. It was hypothesized that sociodemographic characteristics, family factors, suicide exposure, street factors, externalizing behavior, and internalizing behavior would be related to suicidal ideation and to the likelihood of a suicide attempt. It was also hypothesized that suicidal ideation would mediate the relationship between the other predictor variables and the likelihood of a suicide attempt. Over half the sample (53.9%) endorsed some level of suicidal ideation, and over one quarter (26.3%) attempted suicide in the year prior to the interview. Univariate and multivariate results indicated that sexual abuse by a family member, knowing a friend who attempted suicide, drug abuse, and internalization were highly related to suicidal ideation. In the absence of suicidal ideation, sexual abuse, sexual victimization while on their own, and internalization were highly related to the likelihood of a suicide attempt. Finally, the hypothesized mediating effect was found for both sexual abuse and internalization.