Medicolegal aspects of witnessed suicide due to gunshot to the head. Part 1: Circumstances and psychopathology

In the USA the frequency of witnessed suicide, i.e. suicide committed in the presence of at least one further individual, is reported to range between 5 and 15%. As up to now no detailed analysis of this special issue has been given in the medicolegal literature, this article presents and discusses a number of cases including 8 males and 1 female (age 19-58 years, mean 41.2 years) who had all committed suicide by inflicting a gunshot to the head. In 3 cases post-mortem blood alcohol concentrations of 1.73, 1.88 and 2.23 g/kg respectively were observed. Toxicological tests produced negative results. 5 cases had a medical history of psychiatric disorder with endogenous depression in 3, chronic alcohol abuse and drug abuse with concomitant psychosis in one case each. As far as the motives were known, domestic arguments were of prevailing importance. With one exception the suicides were committed at home. In 6 cases one witness was present, in 2 cases 2 individuals and in one case 22 persons witnessed the suicide. The reported cases are discussed in comparison with the psychiatric-psychological classification according to McDowell et al. with the aim to provide a solid and comprehensive medicolegal method to distinguish between homicide and suicide. Furthermore aspects of psychiatric sequelae and psychological support of the witnesses, which are also of importance for the forensic pathologist called to the scene, are discussed.     

Bildungsexpansion und Wandel des politischen Interesses in Westdeutschland zwischen 1980 und 2002

Interest in politics is a prerequisite for political participation and political engagement. The promotion of political engagement and education to politically mature citizens were basic concerns of educational reforms in the 1960s. This article focuses on the question if educational expansion has lead to a rise in political interest. To reproduce the change in political interest adequately, effects of education, age, period and cohort will be analyzed simultaneously. The data base of the empirical analyses is a cumulated data set consisting of the German General Social Survey (ALLBUS) from 1980 to 2002. Results show that there is a robust effect of education: More highly educated people are more politically interested. Regarding educational expansion evidence suggests that it actually leads to a rise in political interest.     

Popular with the Robots: Accusation and Automation in the Argentine Presidential Elections, 2015

Accusations of dishonourable campaigning have featured in every Argentine presidential election since the return to democracy in 1983. Yet, allegations made in the elections this October and November looked different from earlier ones. The campaign team for the centre-leftist candidate Daniel Scioli argued that Cambiemos, the centre-right coalition led by Mauricio Macri, was abusing the political affordances of social media by running a Twitter campaign via ‘50,000’ fake accounts. This paper presents evidence suggesting that both teams promoted their campaigns through automation on Twitter. Although the Macri campaign was subtler, both teams appear to have used automation to the same end: maximizing the diffusion of party content and creating an inflated image of their popularity. Neither team attempted to muffle or engage with opposing voices through automation. We argue that in a political culture fixated on the appearance of popularity, the use of automation to simulate mass support appears an organic development as campaigning enters the still unregulated Twittersphere. We compare our findings to the uses of automation in the Russian Twittersphere and conclude that there may be greater variation in the political usage of Twitter between political contexts than between different types of political event occurring in the same country.     

How Many Offenses are Really Committed per Juvenile Court Offender?

This article compares juvenile court petitions and self-reported offending between ages 13 and 17 for 506 boys followed up in the Pittsburgh Youth Study. There were 2.4 self-reported offenders for every petitioned offender, and 80 self-reported offenses for every petitioned offense. The prevalence of self-reported offenders stayed constant with age, but the prevalence of petitioned offenders increased with age. Conversely, the individual offending frequency stayed constant with age according to court petitions but increased with age according to self-reports. Therefore, prevalence and frequency did not vary similarly with age, and did not vary similarly in self-reports and court records. With increasing age, more and more of the self-reported offenders were formally petitioned, but they were formally petitioned for fewer and fewer of their offenses. The probability of an offender being petitioned to court increased with the number of offenses that he committed, but the probability of each offense leading to a court petition decreased with the number of offenses committed. There was little overlap between self-reported and official chronic offenders. It is concluded that researchers should always measure both self-reports and official records in studying offending, and that the juvenile court should seek to intervene earlier in delinquency careers.     

Exploring Identity Dynamics from a Combined Social Exchange and Social Identity Perspective

The aim of this article is to explore identity dynamics of unit and department leaders in a healthcare setting using both social identity and social exchange theories. In particular, we developed a mediational moderated model in which supervisor trust indirectly influences identification with a subordinate level (i.e., the clinical unit) through its effect on identification with a superordinate level (i.e., the organization as a whole). Furthermore, we predicted and found that this relation is moderated by organizational tenure, contract breach, and the clinical-manager's role (heads of clinical units vs. chairs of departments). We tested our hypotheses with doctors of a large public hospital in northern Italy. A total of 370 doctors completed questionnaires measuring organizational and unit identification, supervisor trust, and contract breach. Results supported our hypotheses: supervisor trust was related to unit identification through its effect on organizational identification. As expected, this relation was stronger for more tenured department chairs, and for those doctors who perceived less contract breach.     

Infant mortality in town and countryside: northern Germany, ca. 1750–1850

The discussion still continues among researchers about the causes for the decline in infant mortality in widespread parts of Europe at the turn of the 19th century. This article is based on sources such as unpublished statistical material from Prussia, parish registers, and lineage and village genealogies. As these sources are broken down by town and countryside and into various phases of infant mortality, they provide evidence for further reflection that may be fruitful. Thus, several causes for the decrease in infant mortality and ways of diffusion can be excluded and the impact of others delimited. The present study concludes that research should pay more attention to changes in infant care than it usually does.