“Murder–Suicide” or “Murder–Accident”? Difficulties with the Analysis of Cases

Abstract: Homicide where a perpetrator is found dead adjacent to the victim usually represents murder–suicide. Two incidents are reported to demonstrate characteristic features in one, and alternative features in the other, that indicate differences in the manner of death. (i) A 37‐year‐old mother was found dead in a burnt out house with her two young sons in an adjacent bedroom. Deaths were due to incineration and inhalation of products of combustion. (ii) A 39‐year‐old woman was found stabbed to death in a burnt out house with her 39‐year‐old de facto partner deceased from the combined effects of incineration and inhalation of products of combustion. The first incident represented a typical murder–suicide, however, in the second incident, the perpetrator had tried to escape through a window and had then sought refuge in a bathroom under a running shower. Murder–accident rather than murder–suicide may therefore be a more accurate designation for such cases.     

Book reviews

The following books are reviewed.

Men of letters, writing lives: masculinity and literary auto/biography in the late victorian period TREV LYNN BROUGHTON, 1999 London: Routledge. 213 pp., ISBN 0 415 08211 0 hardback, £60.00 0 415 08212 9 paperback, £19.99

Adapting to Capitalism: working women in the English economy, 1700–1850 PAMELA SHARPE, 1996, 2000 London: Macmillan. xi + 226 pp., ISBN 0 333 91901 7

Women, Gender and Industrialisation in England, 1700–1870 KATRINA HONEYMAN, 2000 London: Macmillan. vii + 204 pp., £15.50

Breadwinning: New Zealand women and the state MELANIE NOLAN, 2000 Christchurch: Canterbury University Press. 386 pp., ISBN 0 908812 97 3, NZ$39.95

Working-class Culture, Women and Britain, 1914–1921 CLAIRE A. CULLERTON, 2000 London: Macmillan. xii + 221 pp., ISBN 0 333 91290 X

Austerity in Britain: rationing, controls, and consumption 1939–1955 INA ZWEINIGER-BARGIELOWSKA, 2000 Oxford: Oxford University Press. xiii + 286 pp., ISBN 0 19 820453 1, £40.00

Seeing History: public history in Britain now HILDA KEAN, PAUL MARTIN, SALLY J. MORGAN (Eds), 2000 London: Francis Boutle. 193 pp., ISBN 0 9532388 9 X, paperback, £10.00

Migrant Daughter: coming of age as a Mexican American woman FRANCES ESQUIBEL TYWONIAK & MARIO T. GARCIA, 2000 Berkeley: University of California Press. 237 pp., ISBN 0 526 21915 5

The Matriarchs of England's Co-operative Movement: a study in gender politics and female leadership, 1883–1921 BARBARA J. BLASZAK, 2000 London, Greenwood Press. ix + 209 pp., ISBN 0 313 30995 7

Dirt and Desire: reconstructing Southern women's writing, 1930–1990 PAULINE YAEGER, 2000 Chicago: University of Chicago Press. xvii+324 pp., ISBN 0 226 94491 3 paperback, £12.53     

A fresh scientific look at transfer and persistence: From a materials science and tribology perspective

Knowledge of the mechanisms governing transfer, persistence, and recovery of trace evidence, together with background prevalence in the population of interest, and other task relevant information, is key for the forensic interpretation and reconstruction of what happened at the activity level. Up to now, this informational “toolkit” has largely been developed through empirical forensic studies on specific trace materials such as glass, textile fibers, and soil. Combined with the identified systemic siloing between disciplines, while valuable, such research tends to be very material-dependent, introducing specific parameters and interpretations that may have actually impeded the recognition of underlying foundational factors applicable to most material types. In Australia, there has been a renewed interest in developing a discipline-independent framework for the interpretation and/or reconstruction of trace evidence to interpret specific circumstances in casework. In this paper, we present a discipline agnostic “way of thinking” that has been anchored in foundational science underpinning the trace evidence discipline. Physical and mechanical material properties such as material geometry and surface topography, strength, stiffness, and hardness collectively influence contact interactions through underlying friction, wear, and lubrication cause and effect mechanisms. We discuss how these fundamental factors and parameters stemming from materials science and tribology may be adopted and adapted by forensic practitioners and researchers to contribute to a better understanding of transfer, persistence, and recovery mechanisms irrespective of evidence discipline and material type. Examples are provided to demonstrate the practical significance to real-life casework and academic research.     

Reasons for inequality among medieval peasants

The stratification of the medieval peasantry cannot be attributed only to the markets in land and agricultural products. The division between the free and the unfree and between the holders of family subsistence holdings and inadequate smallholdings is found in periods of very low production for the market. The complex interplay between land availability, technical progress, inheritance and endowment customs, demands for rent and tax and the resistance capacity of the peasants must also be examined. The relative strength of these various factors changed considerably during the medieval period, especially between 1300 and 1500 circa, when the land:labour ratio shifted dramatically.     

A Tale of Two Inquiries: Sans Everything and Ely

The government acknowledged scandalously poor care of long‐stay patients in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in 1969. This followed the Ely Hospital inquiry, which emerged in the aftermath of revelations of abuse at seven hospitals described in Barbara Robb's book Sans Everything: A Case to Answer (1967). Allegations in Sans Everything and at Ely were similar. However, the inquiry committees which investigated, ‘disproved’ those in Sans Everything and upheld those at Ely. The Ely inquiry became pivotal to NHS policy reform for long‐stay mental illness and mental handicap hospitals, and for giving patients and their families a greater voice if they had concerns about inadequacies. This paper explains the relationship between Sans Everything and ‘Ely’ and analyses the impact of Robb's work—her high‐profile press campaign, networking, and determination to achieve improvement—which triggered revelations at Ely and elsewhere, and helped shape the course and constructive outcome of the Ely inquiry.     

US Intelligence Performance and US Policy during the Polish Crisis of 1980–81: Revelations from the Kukliński Files

Drawing on intelligence documents that were recently declassified, this article assesses the quality of US intelligence analysis during the 1980–81 Polish crisis and the impact of the intelligence analysis on US policy toward Poland and the Soviet Union. After discussing the value and limitations of the declassified materials, the article raises questions about US policy during the crisis and discusses how intelligence inputs helped to shape policy. The newly available documents confirm that the US intelligence community's analytical products were often deficient and that these shortcomings put a crimp on US policymakers' choices.