I volunteer to kidnap Oliver North

“I Volunteer to Kidnap Ollie North”, is an exercise in following our government's sometimes criminal, often bizarre and always hypocritical actions in the war on drugs during the Reagan-Bush years to their logical conclusion. The Supreme Court has indicated in its June, 1992 decision in U.S. v Machain, that American law enforcement officers can now enter the sovereign territories of other nations to legally abduct violators of U.S. drug laws. Iran immediately proclaimed that they had the same right for violations of Islamic law. What might happen if kidnapping becomes a recognized “tool” of international law enforcement? What prominent Americans might wake up in South American jails with bags over their heads?     

Toxicologic findings in the USS Iowa disaster.

The toxicologic results from the 47 victims of the explosion on the USS Iowa are presented. Good correlation between carboxyhemoglobin saturations and cause of death was found. There were no correlations between blood cyanide concentrations and causes of death. Volatile analysis suggested postmortem ethanol production rather than antemortem ethanol ingestion. No drugs except nicotine were detected in any of the victims.     

Consequences and dilemmas in therapeutic relationships with families resulting from mandatory reporting legislation

Mandatory reporting legislation has been adopted in every state to insure the protection of children from maltreatment. These statutes have become a significant factor in the lives of mental health professionals who work with children and families. Thirty psychotherapists who had made a recent report of child maltreatment on a client in treatment were interviewed about their experiences with reporting and the consequences of reporting for therapeutic relationships. Several potentially problematic consequences and dilemmas were identified by the therapists, including immediate and long-term effects on the therapeutic alliance and course of therapy, and conflicts of interest in working with children and families.     

Child witnesses and the confrontation clause

InMaryland v. Craig, the United States Supreme Court relied heavily on a brief prepared by a committee of the American Psychology-Law Society on behalf of the American Psychological Association (APA). The APA brief concluded that sexually abused children may be particularly vulnerable to distress in the legal process, especially when forced to confront the defendant face to face, and that such acute distress may be inconsistent with the state's interests in promotion of reliable testimony and child welfare. APA also argued that psychological theory and research provide foundations for individualized determination of the need for measures to protect children from face-to-face confrontation. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** AFE06051 00002     

Are the Benefits of Economic Resources for Socioemotional Functioning Shared across Racial/Ethnic Groups?

Growth in economic disparities, economic segregation, and racial/ethnic diversity have occurred in tandem in the U.S., leading to essential questions concerning whether the benefits of economic resources are shared across diverse groups. Analyzing a sample of eighth grade early adolescents (age 14 years) drawn from the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–1999 (N?=?7625; 59% White, 12% Black, 19% Hispanic, 7% Asian, 2% Native American, and 2% multiracial; 47% female), lagged regression models assessed links between family, neighborhood, and school income and adolescent emotional and behavioral functioning. The results found that family income was associated with heightened emotional and behavioral functioning, and school income with improved behavioral functioning for White adolescents, whereas no benefits emerged for Black or Hispanic youth. In contrast, mixed associations emerged between income and early adolescent functioning for Asian and American Indian youth, with predominantly negative links appearing for multiracial youth. These patterns highlight diversity in the potential benefits and costs of economic resources, and suggest the need to better specify mechanisms through which economic disparities affect youth from varied backgrounds.     

Minorities and the free press in Hungary after 1867

SUMMARY

The study analyses the status and the standard of freedom of the press in Hungary in the first decade of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Special attention is paid to libel cases against nationality papers attacking the government in Pest. The author's main purpose is to discuss the limits on the freedom of the press drawn by criminal law, and in addition, to examine the accusations against the oppositional papers and the court practices involved. As a result, the study emphasizes that the picture of ‘the press under a state of siege’ could hardly be verified from the criminal procedures examined. The author does not, however, paint an idealized picture of the freedom of the press. The government in Pest was biased against the nationality papers. Yet even so, in the first ten years of Dualism juries adjusted the official criminal law policy by acquittals of authors and editors. The prosecuting magistracy therefore accepted the independence of the jury and the unreliability of the lay judges, and often withstood the demands of government departments. The members of the government of Hungary accepted the practice instituted by the prosecuting magistracy and ‘instead of strict laws and even more strict courts’ they gave up trying to rule the press by means of the criminal law. The first half of the 1870s thus became a period of a free press, indicating to what extent the parliamentary system and its government in Dualism could ‘practise liberalism without risking its own existence’.