The patterns and prevalence of mass murder in twentieth-century America

Even though previous research has not examined mass murder prior to 1965, scholars have asserted that the mid-1960s marked the onset of an unprecedented and ever-growing mass murder wave. Using news accounts and the FBI's Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) as sources of data, this study analyzes 909 mass killings that took place between 1900 and 1999. Although the mid-1960s marked the beginning of a mass murder wave, it was not unprecedented, because mass killings were nearly as common during the 1920s and 1930s. The results also show that familicides, the modal mass murder over the last several decades, were even more prevalent before the 1970s. Moreover, mass killers were older, more suicidal, and less likely to use guns in the first two-thirds of the 20th century. Although some have claimed that workplace massacres represent a new “strain” in mass murder, the findings suggest that the only new type of mass killing that emerged during the 20th century was the drug-related massacre.     

Gang Membership,Drug Selling,and Violence in Neighborhood Context

A prominent perspective in the gang literature suggests that gang member involvement in drug selling does not necessarily increase violent behavior. In addition it is unclear from previous research whether neighborhood disadvantage strengthens that relationship. We address these issues by testing hypotheses regarding the confluence of neighborhood disadvantage, gang membership, drug selling, and violent behavior. A three‐level hierarchical model is estimated from the first five waves of the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, matched with block‐group characteristics from the 2000 U.S. Census. Results indicate that (1) gang members who sell drugs are significantly more violent than gang members that don’t sell drugs and drug sellers that don’t belong to gangs; (2) drug sellers that don’t belong to gangs and gang members who don’t sell drugs engage in comparable levels of violence; and (3) an increase in neighborhood disadvantaged intensifies the effect of gang membership on violence, especially among gang members that sell drugs.     

Local Social Ties and Willingness to Intervene: Textured Views Among Violent Urban Youth of Neighborhood Social Control Dynamics and Situations

Social control in urban neighborhoods has been studied for over a century in America, yet our understanding of the dynamic nature of social relations for exerting informal social control remains limited. The present study uses detailed reports from those most likely to be the target of local control efforts—violent youth in extremely disadvantaged urban locations—to re‐examine two features of this work: variations across different hypothetical scenarios widely used in this research, and connections between local ties and intervention type and likelihood in actual events. In‐depth qualitative interviews from 159 violent males aged 16–24 from two distressed New York City neighborhoods identify ways in which responses to commonly used scenarios of informal social control are age‐ and space‐graded. Reports on the transactional nature of social control in violent events show how local ties may undermine, rather than support, social control processes. It would appear that we need to consider more carefully general suggestions about local ties encouraging more informal social control, move to a more textured, multithreaded view of these connections, and incorporate age‐ and space‐graded dynamics into future studies of social control.     

A study of DNA transfers onto plastic packets placed in personal bags

The ability to detect low level DNA brings with it the uncertainty of whether the detected DNA is a result of transfer. To address this uncertainty, a simulation study was conducted in which a mock illicit drug packet was placed into the personal bags of individuals. When the average transit time of the packets was increased from around 2 h to more than 14 h, the percentage of the DNA profiles recovered from the packets which could be attributed to the individuals increased greatly from 5.3% to 48.6%. We found that drug packers who were poor shedders could not be included as contributors to the DNA profiles from the drug packets at all and there was a higher chance that individuals other than themselves could be included as contributors to the DNA profile recovered from drug packets. We also found that it was equally likely that the drug packers who had direct contact with the drug packets and bag owners who did not, could be included as contributors to the DNA profiles recovered from the packets. The results in this study highlight the importance of taking into consideration the transit time of drug packet, the shedder status of the alleged packer and the history of an item, when evaluating DNA evidence in the context of illicit drug activities.     

Driving Under the Influence of Synthetic Cannabinoid Receptor Agonist XLR‐11

The case of a 22‐year‐old male Caucasian driver is presented. He was involved in a traffic collision. At the roadside, he displayed blank stare and mellow speech with a barely audible voice. A DRE found low body temperature, rigid muscle tone, normal pulse, lack of horizontal and vertical gaze nystagmus, nonconvergence of the eyes, dilated pupil size, and normal Pupillary reaction to light. A standard toxicology DUID protocol was performed on the driver's whole blood including ELISA and GC‐MS drug screens with negative results. Additional drug screening was undertaken for bath salts and synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists by LC‐MS/MS by a commercial laboratory and identified the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist XLR‐11 in the driver's blood. XLR‐11 was subsequently quantified at 1.34 ng/mL. This is the first documented case involving a driver operating a motor vehicle under the influence of the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist XLR‐11.     

甲卡西酮类新型策划毒品的危害及其检测

甲卡西酮类策划药物是近年出现的新型毒品,在世界范围内已经形成滥用趋势。在介绍甲卡西酮类策划毒品的结构、性质及作用的基础上,对于其滥用现状、危害性和检测方进行了综述,以期对建立复杂生物检材中痕量甲卡西酮类策划毒品的高灵敏检测方法有所助益,对研究甲卡西酮类毒品的毒性作用、体内代谢过程及戒断机制提供参考和依据。     

实验室信息管理系统在毒品检测实验室的应用

介绍了一种基于计算机数据库平台的实验室信息管理系统（Laboratory Information Management System,简称LIMS）为平台的毒品检测工作的质量保证体系,将毒品检测工作的一般流程和LIMS的基本功能结合,制作建立在LIMS体系架构下的每个流程的交互界面和监控程序.实现了毒品实验室的样品管理、样品状态监控、数据的录入和采集、样品分析、工作流程管理、报告的审核和发布等信息管理功能.通过在毒品检测实验室建立LIMS,充分辅助了实验室的质量管理工作,有效减少了管理工作量,使实验室工作更高效、准确和规范.     

发光细菌在法医毒物检测中的应用

目的利用发光细菌-青海弧菌Q67对于法医毒物的敏感性,建立一种案发现场快速检测法医毒物的发光细菌检测方法。方法制备冷冻干燥青海弧菌Q67测试液,将法医毒物检材的不同浓度稀释液加入制备好的青海弧菌Q67测试液中,通过检测青海弧菌Q67反应前后的相对发光强度的变化,计算出样本对青海弧菌Q67相对发光强度的变化率或抑制率,对法医毒物检材的毒性进行生物影响的定性评价。结果通过对包含多种农药混合物的法医检材稀释液的测试,发现发光细菌检测结果呈阳性的4个检材对青海弧菌Q67的发光强度抑制率分别为：100.00%,90.41%,84.26%,88.81%。结论通过对包含多种农药混合物的法医检材的测试表明,青海弧菌Q67发光检测方法对法医毒物的毒性的检测是一种快速、灵敏的现场检测方法。     

知识产权国际博弈与中国话语的价值取向

美国在知识产权全球治理中呈现出一味强化权利保护的价值倾向。受其影响,知识产权保护的国际规则呈现不断强化之势。但是,美国在国内法中存在对知识产权强化保护的平衡机制,有别于其对外片面输出强化保护规则。一味强化保护的知识产权制度会走向偏颇。我国在知识产权国际博弈和对话中需要提出自己的话语和话语体系,其前提是明确本国话语的价值取向。相比历史、文化取向而言,话语构造的价值取向路径具有优越性。在国际博弈中,我国宜秉持并提倡知识产权法的二元价值取向。二元价值取向契合知识产权法基本原理,体现了世界共同价值,其核心作用在于纠偏,我国应坚持和发扬这一价值取向。     

War Hypotheses: Drug Trafficking,Sovereignty and the Armed Forces in Mexico

This essay analyses how Mexican presidents have interpreted the concepts of drug trafficking and national security and how these particular connotations have redefined national sovereignty and the specific role of the armed forces in protecting this sovereignty. A qualitative technique of discourse analysis is used to examine public speeches by Zedillo (1994–2000), Fox (2000–2006) and Calderón (2006–2012). The conclusions suggest that drug trafficking and US omnipresence are the two main issues that shaped Mexico's national security threats during this period, with qualitatively distinct trajectories.