Drug-facilitated sexual assault using tetrahydrozoline

Drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA) has been defined as the use of a chemical agent to facilitate a sexual assault. We report two cases of the use of tetrahydrozoline for DFSA. We believe this is the first report with urinary quantification of tetrahydrozoline levels postassault. Blood and urine were obtained c. 20 h postexposure in two cases of reported DFSA. Tetrahydrozoline was not detected in blood but was identified in urine in both victims. After initial identification in the urine using the 2010 update to the AAFS mass spectrometry database library, tetrahydrozoline was quantified at 114 and 150 ng/mL, respectively, using GC/MS. Two unique clinical features reported in these cases were intermittent periods of consciousness and postexposure vomiting. Use of GC/MS was successful in identifying tetrahydrozoline in the 100 ng/mL range up to 20 h postexposure. For victims with late presentation, urine may be a better sample for evaluation for tetrahydrozoline.     

Understanding Elder Sexual Abuse and the Criminal Justice System's Response: Comparisons to Elder Physical Abuse

A great deal of research has considered the dynamics of sexual assault and the way that sexual assault cases are processed and handled in the criminal justice system. Most of this research has focused on sexual assault cases involving younger victims. Very little criminological research has considered the dynamics of elder sexual abuse. To fill this void, the current study uses a sample of 127 elder sexual abuse cases and 314 elder physical abuse cases to shed some light on the dynamics of elder sexual abuse and the way the justice system processes these cases. Attention is also given to the way that the processing of elder sexual abuse cases can be distinguished from the processing of elder physical abuse cases. Results show that a wide range of elder sexual abuse cases are committed and these cases are processed differently than elder physical abuse cases. Implications are provided.     

民事抗诉制度的尴尬

2007年修改的《民事诉讼法》及相关司法解释未从根本上完善民事抗诉制度。法学界关于民事抗诉制度的争论一直未达成共识。制度缺陷和理论争辩使民事抗诉制度陷于存与废的纠结之中。民事抗诉制度仍有存续的必要;强化之路在于民事抗诉权与刑事检察权的有机结合。     

行政复议在农村土地征收纠纷解决中的创新

农村土地征收纠纷的解决要以现有法律资源为根本途径。而在现有的法律规定中,最适于解决农村土地征收纠纷的就是行政复议。但现行行政复议法所规定的行政复议却不被农民所看好,因为其存在的缺陷使得它不能很好地维护农民的土地权益。这些缺陷包括：对行政复议的定性错误,规定复议机关可以成为被告,复议机关的自由裁量权过大等。为此,应对现行行政复议法进行修改或在土地管理法中对行政复议作出特别规定,使得复议机关在作出改变土地征收行为的复议决定、农民向法院起诉时,被告仍然是原决定征收的机关而不是复议机关。     

检察机关案件管理机制之法理探讨

检察机关案件管理机制的建立是检察机关创新工作思路、转变工作方式、改革工作体制的一项重要内容,使检察机关执法办案行为更加规范化、合法化,提高案件办理质量和效率,提升执法公信力。为了进一步规范执法办案行为,强化检察内部监督,有必要对案件管理机制从法经济学和法理学两个层面进行探讨,以使其运行能确保检察权的良性运行。     

Collecting and Analyzing DNA Evidence from Fingernails: A Comparative Study,,

Forensic practitioners and crime laboratories regularly collect and analyze fingernail evidence; however, the best techniques for processing such evidence have not been established. In this study, numerous aspects of fingernail evidence processing—collection of exogenous cells, transportation, purification of DNA, and STR analysis—were analyzed using fingernails harboring applied blood or epithelial cells from scratchings. Autosomal STR mixtures resulted when fingernails were soaked or swabbed, while scrapings rarely generated mixtures but exhibited allelic dropout. Y‐STRs yielded single source profiles, with scrapings again showing dropout. A silica‐based kit extraction recovered significantly more exogenous DNA than did organic extraction, neither of which was affected by nail polish. Swabbing nails in succession resulted in some cross‐contamination from exogenous material, while transporting nails together did not, although there was loss of exogenous cells. Optimized nail processing produced complete Y‐STR profiles of male volunteers from female fingernails following scratchings.     

Sexual Dimorphism in Finger Ridge Breadth Measurements: A Tool for Sex Estimation from Fingerprints

Previous research has demonstrated significant sexual dimorphism in friction ridge skin characteristics. This study uses a novel method for measuring sexual dimorphism in finger ridge breadths to evaluate its utility as a sex estimation method from an unknown fingerprint. Beginning and ending in a valley, the width of ten parallel ridges with no obstructions or minutia was measured in a sample of 250 males and females (N = 500). The results demonstrate statistically significant differences in ridge breadth between males and females (p < 0.001), with classification accuracy for each digit varying from 83.2% to 89.3%. Classification accuracy for the pooled finger samples was 83.9% for the right hand and 86.2% for the left hand, which is applicable for cases where the digit number cannot be determined. Weight, stature, and to a lesser degree body mass index also significantly correlate with ridge breadth and account for the degree of overlap between males and females.     

Accommodating Religious Beliefs: Harm,Clothing or Symbols,and Refusals to Serve Others

Is there a middle path between the existing case law of the European Court of Human Rights, which rarely requires accommodation of a religious individual's beliefs, and a ‘general right to conscientious objection’, which would exempt religious individuals from all anti‐discrimination and other rules interfering with manifestations of their beliefs? The author argues that failure to accommodate is better analysed as prima facie indirect discrimination, to highlight the exclusionary effects of non‐accommodation on religious minorities, and that the presence or absence of direct or indirect harm to others (or cost, disruption or inconvenience to the accommodating party) could guide case‐by‐case assessments of whether the prima facie indirect discrimination is justified. The author then applies a harm analysis to the examples of religious clothing or symbols and religiously motivated refusals to serve others, recently considered by the European Court of Human Rights in Eweida and Others v United Kingdom.     

职场性骚扰与女性劳动者权益的法律保障

近年来,职场性骚扰日益成为一个严重的社会问题,不仅直接损害了女性的身心健康,而且从根本上威胁到了女性劳动者的人权.职场性骚扰是两性不平等的产物,它的存在反过来又强化了这种不平等.我国目前在处理职场性骚扰案件方面还存在诸多不足,应该以明确性骚扰概念为起点,建立完善的性骚扰处理机制,以有效应对职场性骚扰的不良影响,确实保护女性劳动者权益.