Bureaucracy, “domesticated” elites, and the abolition of capital punishment. Processes of state-formation and the number of executions in England and Habsburg Austria between 1700 and 1914

The paper argues that the introduction of bureaucracy civilized death penalty and brutal punishment. The study bases on a quantitative analysis of the numbers of death sentences and executions in England and Habsburg Austria from 1700 to 1914 and on a qualitative analysis of historical literature about the death penalty in both countries. The paper shows that professional law enforcement specialists, bureaucrats, civil servants, and detached juridical stuff formed a new class of “domesticated middlemen elites”. In strong states, this new class becomes the dominating group. In weak states, however, old elites that combine economic and political power preserve their privileged positions. For them capital punishment is the most proper mean to deter criminals because old elites fear the alternative: the introduction of strong-state institutions. Beside obvious power struggles between central and local elites—which effects penal policy pro and con capital punishment—there is a civilizing process going beneath the surface of rationality and political interests. In strong states, the formation of a “habitus” averse to brutal punishment is initiated amongst “domesticated middlemen elites” who are acting in peaceful living- and working conditions.     

Anise oil as para-methoxyamphetamine (PMA) precursor

These days, MDMA is one of the most popular drugs of abuse. Due to its illegality, MDMA and its chemical precursors are watched by governmental organizations in many countries. To avoid conflicts with legal instances, underground chemists have tried to market several new unregulated amphetamine analogues, such as 4-MTA. Para-methoxyamphetamine (PMA), on the other hand, is regulated by law but its precursors are easily obtained since they are cheap and unwatched. This article presents such a case, namely the large scale synthesis of PMA using anethole, a main constituent of anise oil, as precursor. Anethole has been converted to its phenyl acetone analogue via peracid oxidation, while PMA itself has been synthesized using this ketone as precursor in the Leuckart synthesis. The synthesis of PMA using anethole as starting product has been investigated applying GC/MS and GC-HSPME/MS techniques, hereby discovering new specific (4-methoxyphenol) and already identified synthesis impurities (4-methyl-5-(4-methoxyphenyl)pyrimidine, N-(beta-4-methoxyphenylisopropyl)-4-methoxybenzyl methyl ketimine, 1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-N-(2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1-methylethyl-2-propanamine, 1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-N-methyl-N-(2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1-methylethyl-2-propanamine, N-(beta-4-methoxyphenylisopropyl)-4-methoxybenzaldimine). The new impurity 4-methoxyphenol is specific for the application of a peracid oxidation method where anethole is used as precursor.     

Children in motor vehicle collisions: analysis of injury by restraint use and seat location

This study was a retrospective chart review of hospital records and autopsy reports of 499 children nine years old or younger involved in motor vehicle collisions from 1994 to 1998. The objective was to evaluate the frequency and severity of injuries as a function of age, restraint use, and seat position. We found that 33% of the children were unrestrained and 20% were improperly restrained. Unrestrained children had the highest mean Maximum Abbreviated Injury Scores (MAIS) and Injury Severity Scores (ISS), accounted for 70% of the fatalities, and had the highest incidence of head injuries. Although most of the head injuries were superficial, 80% of the fatalities were the result of a head injury. Improperly restrained children had the highest frequency of abdominal injuries. Regardless of restraint use, the back seat was associated with fewer head injuries and lower mean MAIS and ISS scores compared to the front seat. Also, properly restrained children in the front seat had lower mean MAIS and ISS scores than unrestrained children in the back seat, suggesting that restraint use is more beneficial than seat position.