Book reviews

The Imaginary War: Understanding the East‐West Conflict By Mary Kaldor. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. 1990. 290 pp. £19.95.

The Nonsuperpowers and South Africa ‐ Implications for U.S. Policy. By Richard J. Payne. Indiana University Press. 336 pp. $35.00.

Elites and the Idea of Equality: A Comparison of Japan, Sweden, and the United States. By Sidney Verba, Steven Kelman, Gary R. Orten, Ichiro Miyake, Joji Watonuki, Ikuo Kabashima, G. Donald Ferreer, Jr. Harvard University Press. 276 pp. £10.25.

Controlling the Sword: The Democratic Governance of National Security By Bruce Russett. 261 pp. £17.95.

America's Germany: John J. McCloy and the Federal Republic of Germany By Thomas Alan Schwartz. Harvard University Press: 1991. 404 pp. £23.95.     

Contribution of Antemortem Computed Tomography Findings to Cause of Death Determination: An Unusual Fatal Stroke

In the case reported here, the antemortem computed tomography scan (CT scan) was essential in the forensic investigation. A 32‐year‐old man was found fully awake with a facial abrasion, after what seemed to be a car accident. He lost consciousness suddenly one hour after initial management. Successive CT scan showed a facial fracture and a metallic foreign body in the carotid canal associated with an occlusion/dissection of the left internal carotid, a pseudoaneurysm, and a carotid‐cavernous fistula. The victim died from a stroke. Autopsy confirmed that the facial abrasion was a gunshot entrance wound, the metallic foreign body being a projectile. Intracranial vascular injuries linked with gunshot wounds are most of the time isolated and due to pelet embolism. The observed vascular injury association has never been described in the existing literature. The CT scan provided a better understanding of the chronology of events that led to death.     

Influenza A/H1N1 (2009) Infection as a Cause of Unexpected Out‐of‐Hospital Death in the Young*

Abstract: In March 2009, a new strain of influenza A/H1N1 virus was identified in Mexico, responsible for a pandemic. Worldwide, more than 13,500 patients died, most often from acute respiratory distress syndrome. Because sudden death cases were rare, involving mostly young apparently healthy persons, influenza A/H1N1 (2009)‐related deaths may be misdiagnosed, which can raise medico‐legal issues. Case history: we report on an unexpected out‐of‐hospital death involving a young male with no past medical history and no vaccination. Fever was his only symptom. Laboratory tests: histology showed patchy necrotic foci with mononuclear inflammation in the lungs. The heart was histologically normal, but virological analyses using molecular biology on frozen myocardial samples showed high virus load. In conclusion, this case report shows that influenza A/H1N1 (2009) virus can be a cause of sudden cardiac death in the young and demonstrates the importance of quantitative virological analyses for the diagnosis of myocarditis.     

The body-worn camera perspective bias

Objectives

Footage from body-worn cameras (BWCs) is sometimes used to assess the quality of police interventions. This study investigates whether there is a “body-worn camera perspective bias,” in which the point of view provided by the footage influences perception of an intervention.

Methods

Participants with different backgrounds (undergraduate students and police candidates) were randomly allocated to a group that looked at one of two videos showing a fictional police intervention during which lethal force was used against a subject; both videos showed exactly the same intervention, but one had been filmed with a BWC and the other with a surveillance camera installed in a top corner of the room. Participants were then asked to rate the appropriateness of the intervention.

Results

No camera perspective bias was found among university respondents. However a significant camera perspective bias was found among police candidates: respondents’ opinions on the appropriateness of the intervention were significantly different when the film was from the body-worn camera than when it was seen from the surveillance camera. This result may be explained by the finding that viewers of the BWC footage reported that the subject was further from the officer.

Conclusions

Results suggest that the more training individuals have in analyzing police interventions, the more affected they will be by the camera perspective in these interventions. One implication of these results is that the perspective of people assigned and trained to evaluate the appropriateness of an intervention (e.g., members of a committee monitoring police misconduct) might be biased if only video footage from a BWC is presented.

     

Suicide Pacts: Six Cases and Literature Review

A suicide pact is the decision of two or more people to die together. This event is rare. The majority of suicide pacts victims are married, socially isolated, with a serious physical illness in one or both partners. We performed a retrospective study of all cases of suicide pacts leading to death between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2010 referred to the Forensic Medicine Department of Tours (France). Six cases were recorded as suicide pacts. Firearms were the preferred means of death. Five suicide notes were discovered. For some cases, it was difficult to establish whether death was the result of a suicide pact or of a homicide–suicide without the consent of the victim. An objective element, such as a suicide note and motive, is required to prove that a suicide pact is involved. The prevalence of mental disorders is hard to assess. In France, psychological autopsies are not performed in such cases, as the investigation is usually very sparse after the death of both individuals.