Discriminant function sexing of fragmentary and complete femora: standards for contemporary Croatia

Determining sex is one of the first and most important steps in identifying decomposed corpses or skeletal remains. Previous studies have demonstrated that populations differ from each other in size and proportion and that these differences can affect metric assessment of sex. This paper establishes standards for determining sex from fragmentary and complete femurs in a modern Croatian population. The sample is composed of 195 femora (104 male and 91 female) from positively identified victims of the 1991 War in Croatia. Six discriminant functions were generated. one using seven variables, three using two variables, and two employing one variable. Results show that complete femora can be sexed with 94.4% accuracy. The same overall accuracy, with slight differences in male/female accuracy, was achieved using a combination of two variables defining the epiphyses, and with the variable maximum diameter of the femoral head.     

The chameleon of mens rea and the shifting guises of culture-specific genocidal intent in international criminal proceedings

This article examines the significance of the mens rea-related evidence present in the specific language and discourse identified in the records of the International Military Tribunal, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The author argues that international proceedings have seen the emergence of a new type of evidence: a cognitive, linguistic, culturally determined plural of genocidal mens rea. As a result, the mental element of genocidal intent can neither be interpreted nor understood without an advanced forensic approach to the language used by the network of génocidaires. Based on a combination of cognitive and social science research with the humanities, the article applies a hybrid method of analysis to some of the genocide cases in international criminal justice and demonstrates how and why this approach ought to be introduced into the process of identification of the guilty minds of the architects of genocide.     

Evaluation of the Reliability of DNA Typing in the Process of Identification of War Victims in Croatia

Abstract:  Aiming to estimate the frequency of various types of errors that can occur in the large-scale process of identification, we identified and compared genotypes of 911 parent–child pairs in the database of 3498 relatives of people that disappeared during the 1991/1992 war in Croatia. Genotypes of 891 pairs (97.8%) were matching, while 20 pairs did not match in one or more loci. Reanalysis of these samples revealed that out of 1822 analyzed genotypes, one genotype was completely wrong, and two genotypes had one wrong allele because of human errors. Five genotypes had a single wrong allele due to either polymerase chain reaction or electrophoresis errors. In five genotypes mutations were the cause of mismatch. Genetic inconsistencies with parentage were found in four "fathers" (4.2%) and three "mothers" (0.36%). As the majority of observed single-locus errors were caused by nonhuman errors, all databases produced with similar technology would probably have comparable level of errors.     

The exclusionary side of (women’s) social citizenship in Southeastern Europe: childcare policy development in Bosnia-Herzegovina and gender,social and territorial inequalities

ABSTRACT

The article explores the shifts in (women’s) social citizenship in Bosnia-Herzegovina and its effect on the development of childcare policy in the 1945–2019 period. Gendered, selective childcare policy, which was inherent in the socialist notion of social citizenship and aimed to emancipate women as ‘worker-mothers’, deteriorated in the transition period when ethnicity became prioritized over gender and class. Exclusionary citizenship practices increased with the post-1990 reforms as gender and social inequalities incorporated into childcare policy design become intertwined with inequalities based on ethnicity and/or locality. The post-1990 period is characterized by discontinuity, retrenchment and weak implementation of childcare-related rights.     

Between Core and Peripheral Politics: Opposing the EU in the Western Balkans

This article seeks to determine whether parties’ governmental/opposition and core/peripheral positions in the Serbian and Croatian party systems are related to their responses to European integration. In general, parties’ positions in the party system were not crucial driving forces behind their stances towards the EU. However, the experience of opposition significantly contributed to ideological transformation and the adoption of a Euro-enthusiastic agenda by strategically motivated, formerly Eurosceptic parties. Also, different types of party systems in Serbia and Croatia created different opportunities for parties to express Eurosceptic sentiments, with a fragmented and polarised system in Serbia being more conducive to the sharp contestation of EU issues.