An unusual death by transcranial stab wound: homicide or suicide?

Penetrating stab wounds of the brain are uncommonly seen in modern times and occur almost exclusively in homicides. We report an unusual death by self-stabbing. A 24-year-old man was found dead at home, the handle of a kitchen knife protruding from his forehead. Data such as the psychiatric history of the victim, the multiplicity and site of wounds, the implement used, the presence of hesitation, and defense wounds were studied to elucidate the manner of death, and the suicidal nature of the event was established after police investigation. Atypical injuries require a careful forensic investigation, and medico-legal aspects of the differentiation between homicide and suicide are discussed in this particular case. A review of the literature revealed few cases of suicidal transcranial stab wounds.     

Modeling the Deviant Y in Criminology: An Examination of the Assumptions of Censored Normal Regression and Potential Alternatives

Many dependent variables of criminological interest have censored distributions. Investigations that use such variables increasingly have turned to the Tobit model, a censored regression technique that is specified based on a latent dependent variable. When used under suitable circumstances, this model provides appropriate estimates. This paper discusses key assumptions of the Tobit model. It then highlights the risk of violating these assumptions and reviews alternative flexible parametric and semiparametric modeling techniques, currently used sparingly in criminology, which researchers may find helpful when assumptions regarding the error terms are untenable. By using an empirical example focused on sentencing outcomes and comparing estimates across analytic methods, this study illustrates the potential utility of simultaneously estimating the Tobit model along with some alternatives.

Les transformations du travail et de l'entreprise : qu'attendre des politiques publiques?1

Sommaire : Les politiques publiques du travail ont été conçues pour offrir des mesures de protection aux salariés travaillant à temps plein, pour un seul employeur, sous son contrôle et sur les lieux de l'entreprise. Or, le marché du travail est aujourd'hui composé d'une pluralité de relations d'emploi qui limitent l'efficacité de ces protections. Ce constat soulève la question suivante : que devraient contenir les politiques publiques pour être mieux adaptées au marché du travail? La première partie de cet article examine les voies de renouvellement possible des politiques publiques pour tenir compte des transformations du travail et de l'entreprise. Certaines suggèrent de faire reposer l'octroi de droits et d'avantages sur l'existence d'un travail ou d'une activité professionnelle alors que d'autres les rattachent à l'individu ou au citoyen. Ces propositions ne pourront cependant voir le jour que si elles font l'objet d'une appropriation par les acteurs sociaux et étatiques. Une réflexion sur le contenu des politiques doit ainsi être combinée à l'étude des processus sociaux susceptibles de faire émerger de telles réformes. Cette question est abordée dans la deuxième partie de l'article à partir de trois exemples récents de réformes législatives. Abstract: Public labour policies were developed to ensure the protection of workers who work for one employer on a full‐time basis, at the employer's place of work and under his control. However, today's labour market is composed of a multiplicity of employment relations that limit the effectiveness of the protection. This raises the following question: what features should public policies include to better meet the needs of the labour market? The first part of this article examines how public policies could be renewed in order to take work and organizational transformations into account. Some policies suggest that rights and benefits should be granted on the basis of a job or professional activity, whereas others link rights and benefits to the individual or the citizen. However, these proposals will only emerge if they are appropriated by social and governmental stakeholders. A reflection on the content of the policies must therefore be undertaken in combination with a study of the social processes that may influence the emergence of such reforms. This question is examined in the second part of the article through a review of three recent examples of legislative reform initiatives.     

Cocaine‐Induced Intracerebral Hemorrhage in a Patient with Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy*

Abstract: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a well‐recognized complication of recreational cocaine use. The precise mechanism of the cocaine‐induced hemorrhagic event is unclear, although multiple factors have been implicated. We report a case of a 62‐year‐old woman who suffered left parieto‐occipital ICH with herniation and death, following a cocaine binge. Microscopic examination also revealed extensive cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) in the vicinity of the hemorrhage. We additionally studied brain tissue in eight subjects between ages of 60 and 80 who were positive for cocaine metabolites at autopsy; of these, none had vascular amyloid‐β deposits by immunohistochemistry. Whereas we found no evidence that chronic cocaine use is a risk factor for CAA, given the age‐associated nature of CAA and the aging population using cocaine, CAA‐induced hemorrhage in the setting of cocaine use may be more common than recognized. This is the first reported case of CAA‐associated ICH precipitated by cocaine.     

Citizenship in Pakistan: state,nation and contemporary faultlines

The research investigates young Pakistanis' self-articulation of their relationship with the state and what factors play a role in determining their views. The article argues that beyond the issues traditionally seen as causing the instability of the Pakistani state (which include sectarian and ethnic faultlines as well as the role of the army), there is another – between ordinary citizens and the state. Although there are provincial differences, people at large feel alienated by the state and the concept of citizenship has become hazy as it is often mixed up with the issue of identity. Given the paucity of rights and responsibilities and the lack of political participation, the problems across Pakistani society are ever increasing. The research used a mixed methods approach and 1300 questionnaires were collected in 27 different education institutions across three provinces. On aggregate response the research found that there is a high sense of belonging to the nation, yet paradoxically also a high sense of alienation with regard to the state. Whilst most of those surveyed professed awareness of their rights and duties, as well as political awareness, political participation was very low. The qualitative section of the questionnaire exemplified the level of alienation and anger felt by many across the various institutions and provinces.     

The Right to Be Racist in College: Racist Speech,White Institutional Space,and the First Amendment

Throughout the post–civil rights era, colleges and universities across the United States have periodically experienced explicitly racist incidents on their campuses. From the hurling of racial slurs at students of color, to the hanging of nooses on campus, to students donning Ku Klux Klan outfits or throwing “ghetto” parties that caricaturize communities of color, these incidents challenge the notion that modern racism has changed to a more subtle form, referred to as color‐blind racism. We place these incidents within a broader context of race and institutions, suggesting a connection between overt racist expressions and the more covert elements of neoliberal color‐blind racism. Through a critical discourse analysis of news stories about these incidents, the website of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and the controlling legal cases involving racist expression on campuses, we suggest that explicitly racist incidents operate in tandem with neoliberal educational policies and color‐blind racism to mark and reinscribe colleges and universities as white institutional spaces.     

Female Delinquents: the Effect of Offense Characteristics on Adult Criminal Careers in the 1958 Philadelphia Birth Cohort

This paper uses the official juvenile offenses among delinquent girls in the 1958 Philadelphia Birth Cohort to investigate the two overarching questions. This research investigates the nature of delinquency conduct, offense-by-offense, and its relationship to adult crime status. Although it is convenient to think of an offender’s delinquency career as a whole, such a career actually consists of one or more specific offenses, and offense conduct can be worth studying in its own right. Thus, it is necessary to determine whether the timing, type, severity, court disposition, and so on, of these juvenile offenses can be used to predict adult career pathways. An extensive review of the literature revealed that investigations of early offense conduct and its connection to adult crime are exceedingly scarce. This study indicates as follows. First, the way a delinquent begins her criminal career is predictive of the adult trajectory that will be followed. Second, we also found that aspects of the first few offenses doe influence whether delinquent girls do continue committing crimes as adult. The strongest predictor of adult crime status was juvenile court dispositions.     

Increased Lung Weights in Drug‐related Fatalities

This study is of autopsy data for potential validation as to whether increased weights of the lungs support toxic effects of drugs as the cause of death. This retrospective study compared data from 133 deaths resulting from the toxic effects of drugs with previously reported normal lung weights (Toxicol Mech Methods, 22, 2012, 159; Am J Forensic Med Pathol 33, 2012, 368). The lung weights and their standard errors were used in a two‐sample independent t‐test comparing the average drug‐related death weight to the average control weights. To account for multiple comparisons, a Bonferroni‐adjusted alpha level of 0.0125 was used. We are 98.75% confident that the mean right lung weight for female drug‐related deaths is between 227 and 377 g greater than the mean right lung weight for female non‐drug‐related deaths. We are 98.75% confident that the mean right lung weight for male drug‐related deaths is between 245 and 378 g greater than the mean right lung weight for male non‐drug‐related deaths.