How voluntary must treatment of addicted patients be?

As for each medical treatment the principle of voluntariness also applies to the therapy of drug addicts. Indeed, under current drug influence or in an acute withdrawal situation a free will decision could not be possible. Also an excessive drug consumption over a longer period of time can lead to a severe personality disturbances. But from an--unreasonable--drug abuse one cannot conclude a general inability for making decisions of free will. For this reason the expressed will of the drug addict remains decisive. This applies also to juvenile addicts. Besides, one has to call in the parents as legal representatives. In case of consent to the therapy one should not be very exacting on the internal therapy readiness). It can also be awoken within the course of therapy (therapy to the therapy readiness). In case of a briefing in a withdrawal or penal institution a readiness to therapy is not required. But then there is only a state-obligation to offer therapies; for the single therapeutic measure the right of self-determination of the drug addict is further on valid.     

An unusual case of double death

The report presents the case of an alleged double homicide or a homicide followed by suicide of a couple, in which the court-ordered autopsy of both victims revealed that the homicide had been committed by the husband immediately before he died himself from cardiac failure. The article gives a short summary of the pathophysiological relations between emotional tension (stress) and physical strain and the effects on the cardiovascular system. The case report describes a homicide by strangulation immediately followed by the perpetuator's death from a natural cause.     

Individual values and delinquency: on considering universals in the content and structure of values

The systematic relation between delinquency and the overall spectrum of individual values has not been a particular topic of psychological research in the past. To fill this gap, we refer to Schwartz’s [(1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 1–65] theory of universals in the content and structure of values (TUV) and re-interpret the results of Hermann’s [(2003). Werte und Kriminalität. Wiesbaden: Springer] criminological research on individual reflexive values, norm acceptance, and self-reported delinquency against this background: We verify to what extent the Individual Reflexive Value Scale (IRVS) covers the overall spectrum of values defined by TUV. We validate this match by content analysis and multidimensional scaling (MDS) and compute IRVS-based basic and higher-order value scores. Confirmatory and spherical MDS with these scores yield the circular value structure postulated by TUV. Structural equation modelling (SEM) reveals systematic relations between basic values, norm acceptance and self-reported delinquency in accord with the ‘sinusoid curve hypothesis’. Moving around the value circle yields the highest negative correlations of self-reported delinquency with tradition and conformity and the highest positive correlations with hedonism and stimulation. These values are indicators of the higher-order value dimension ‘conservation’ versus ‘openness to change’. The significant impact of this value dimension on norm acceptance and delinquency is documented by means of SEM.     

Lethal intoxication with arsenic using prepared butter

The present case report deals with a lethal intoxication with arsenic mixed into butter. It describes the course of events over about two days on the basis of the statements by the persons involved, the clinical findings after the belated hospitalisation of the victim, the results of the first pathological autopsy, the forensic autopsy performed after exhumation and the results of the chemical-toxicological investigations. The results are discussed in relation to the later confession of the female perpetrator and her statements regarding a previous unsuccessful murder attempt by poisoning. It also presents the judgement pronounced by the court and the reasons given for it.     

The ‘true protection’ concept ‐ a comment on Greenaway and Milner

Empirical studies estimating shift‐parameters to evaluate the ‘true protection’ especially for developing countries often reach the result that those parameters have very high values. This study is to show that it is not substitutional relationships but much more the very inflationary monetary policy of many developing countries which forces the shift‐parameters towards one. Moreover it is shown that it makes little sense to distinguish between ‘traditional’ and ‘non‐traditional’ exports and that shift‐parameters are not necessarily stable over time.     

Zur Europäisierung politischer Mobilisierung

Die Politik der EU gewinnt gegenüber nationalen Regierungen und Parlamenten zunehmend an Gewicht. Kommt es entsprechend auch zu einer Europäisierung der politischen Mobilisierung durch Parteien, Verbände und soziale Bewegungen? Dieser Frage wird anhand von illustrativen und systematischen Befunden nachgegangen. Im Bereich der Parteipolitik und namentlich des Wahlverhaltens gibt es keine deutlichen Anzeichen dafür, dass das Gewicht europäischer Fragen gestiegen ist. Mit Blick auf die Interessenverbände zeichnet sich eine kräftige Zunahme des EU-Lobbying ab, wobei nach wie vor große strukturelle Ungleichheiten bestehen zwischen den ressourcenstarken europäischen Dachverbänden in den Bereichen Industrie, Handel und Landwirtschaft einerseits und den Organisationen und Netzwerken von Arbeitnehmern, Frauen, Umweltschützern, Verbrauchern sowie Menschen- und Bürgerrechtlern andererseits. Im Feld der Protestpolitik ist die Datenlage zur Europäisierung nicht eindeutig. Auf Basis von in ihrer Qualität noch schwer einschätzbaren Daten scheint die Zahl EU-bezogener Proteste insgesamt, aber nicht in allen einzelnen EU-Ländern zuzunehmen. Auf der Grundlage detaillierter und verlässlicher Längsschnittdaten zum gesamten Protestgeschehen der vergangenen Jahrzehnte in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland sowie speziellerer Untersuchungen zu Umweltprotesten von 1988 bis 1997 ergibt sich ein Negativbefund. Von einer Europäisierung des Protests in der Bundesrepublik kann keine Rede sein. Dieses unerwartete Ergebnis sowie das weitgehende Fehlen von Protestaktionen in Brüssel wird abschließend anhand von vier Faktorenbündeln zu erklären versucht.     

Compromising the public good? Civil society as beneficiary of gambling revenue

Profits from legal gambling are often channelled to good causes. This system embeds the predicament of whether citizens’ potentially problematic gambling activities should be a source of funding for the public good. In this article, this dilemma is unfolded by the receivers of public grants that stem from gambling revenues. A total of twenty-three representatives of Civil Society Organizations were interviewed as beneficiaries of the Finnish state-owned gambling monopolies. The article illustrates explicit dependencies and hidden ethical dilemmas, suggesting that CSOs may have limited possibilities of making ethically consistent decisions in view of the origin of their funding.     

Retrospective Voting on the Party Level: An Icelandic Test

This research note adds to the emerging body of literature arguing that retrospective voting works on the level of political parties – for government and opposition parties alike – by investigating the generalisability of previous research findings. Furthermore, it tests whether there is a knowledge gap in retrospective voting on the party level. Using the data of the Icelandic National Election Study (ICENES), support is found for the argument that mechanisms of electoral accountability work both for incumbent and opposition parties. Second, while previous research raised doubts on the electorate’s ability to hold governments accountable, there is no evidence of a knowledge gap in retrospective voting on the party level.