Initiation of formal death investigation procedures among the Northern Plains Indians: a necessary adjunct in the study of American Indian sudden infant deaths

The high rate of infant mortality among native peoples in the Aberdeen Service Area of the Indian Health Service (primarily North and South Dakota) prompted a multi-institutional study of this problem. The study investigators assumed that local coroners or medical examiners would be able to perform suitable death scene investigations. However, during the design portion of the study it became apparent that, with one exception, none of the participating Indian Nations had a death investigator or even a legal mandate to provide death investigation. To allow the study to go forward, and ultimately to better the community health within its service area, the Aberdeen Area Indian Health Service submitted a draft enabling coroner legislation/resolutions to the area tribes. By November of 1996, 6 of the 19 Indian Nations enacted enabling coroner legislation. To facilitate both the study and general death investigation within the area, the Aberdeen Area Indian Health Service since 1993 has held five 2-day death investigation training programs covering a variety of death investigation topics which were attended by 68 participants. Without further recognition of the need for tribal death investigation and additional funding, these gains in tribal death investigation will probably be transitory.     

Cocaine-associated rhabdomyolysis and excited delirium: different stages of the same syndrome.

Previous case reports indicate that cocaine-associated rhabdomyolysis and excited delirium share many similar features, suggesting that they may be different stages of the same syndrome. We tested this hypothesis by comparing data from 150 cases of cocaine-associated rhabdomyolysis reported in the medical literature with data from an autopsy registry for 58 victims of fatal excited delirium and 125 victims of fatal acute cocaine toxicity. Patients with rhabdomyolysis are similar to victims of fatal excited delirium with regard to age; gender; race; route of cocaine administration; the experiencing of excitement, delirium, and hyperthermia; and the absence of seizures. Compared with victims of fatal acute cocaine toxicity, patients with rhabdomyolysis are different with regard to each of these variables. Compared with victims of fatal acute cocaine toxicity, both victims of rhabdomyolysis and fatal excited delirium are more likely to be black, male, and younger; to have administered cocaine by smoking or injection; and to have experienced excitement, delirium, and hyperthermia; they are also less likely to have had seizures. Because cocaine-associated rhabdomyolysis and excited delirium have similar clinical features and risk factors, occur in similar populations of drug users, and can be explained by the same pathophysiologic processes, we conclude that they are different stages of the same syndrome. It appears that this syndrome is caused by changes in dopamine processing induced by chronic and intense use of cocaine rather than by the acute toxic effects of the drug.     

Schizophrenia and sudden death: a medical examiner case study.

This study reviews the causes of sudden death of 66 schizophrenic patients who presented to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) for the State of Maryland over a 3-year period from 1994 through 1996. We identified an increased incidence of suicide compared with the general population of OCME cases. This observation is consistent with reports by other investigators. The majority of the deaths were the result of natural diseases, mostly atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Accidents, suicides, and 1 homicide were also present in this group.     

Arresting Statistics: The Drift to Informal Justice in England and Wales

This paper re-examines some of the current theoretical models and paradigms of criminal justice in England and Wales based on an analysis of national arrest statistics between 1981 and 1997. The data show that there has been a large increase in the number of arrests in the period but the number of people prosecuted has declined. An increasing number of people are being arrested and released without any further action. The principal argument is that there has been a radical shift in power away from the formal open and public system of justice towards a more informal closed system. The paper concludes that while these trends lend support to a number of theoretical perspectives on the criminal justice process, particularly Choongh's social disciplinary model, the radical transformation which has taken place in the form of criminal justice can only be understood within the broader politics and economic structures of modern Britain.     

Polymorphism and haplotype study of Y-chromosomal multi-STRs loci in Han population in Guangzhou

Using polymerase chain reaction and silver stain, polymorphism and haplotype study of Y-chromosomal multi-STRs loci: DYS19, DYS389I/II, DYS390 were studied. 111 samples of male were collected from Guangzhou area. 5 alleles were determined in DYS19 locus, 4 alleles in DYS389I locus, 5 alleles in DYS389II locus and 5 alleles in DYS390 locus. Compared with other racial populations, differences of distribution of allele frequencies existed significantly. 72 haplotype were present in this study.     

The Extension of the Criminal Law to Protecting Confidential Commercial Information: Comments on the Issues and the Cyber-Context

Confidential commercial information is an increasingly valuable commodity and commercial resource which may be inadequately protected by the traditional approach of English criminal law against misappropriation. This paper reviews the nature of the problem and some of the relevant legal issues. Notwithstanding that a global reform of the law in this area is probably not on the cards, the position advocated here is that the direct application of the criminal law is indeed an appropriate vehicle through which to deter the misappropriation of confidential commercial information. However, the scope of any new law must be carefully circumscribed - if it is drawn too wide, the law runs the danger of acting outside of the articulated rationale for criminal liability and endangering other legitimate interests (particularly in the cyberspace context). If it is drawn too narrow, any new law may very well prove ineffective. It is suggested that there are a number of difficulties, both doctrinal and practical, that must be resolved prior to enacting new legislation in this area. Some observations are presented upon the more critical issues for those interested in the implications of law reform in this area for cyberspace.     

Book reviews

Journal of Youth and Adolescence -