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Damages for the “Unwanted” Child:

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If a healthy child born as a result of clinical negligence is a “blessing” which should not resound in child maintenance damages, can one create an exception for the birth of a disabled child? If so, should the law then permit a further exception for the disabled parent of a healthy child? And, even if the healthy child is not the proper subject-matter of damages, is this the same as saying that those who actively sought to avoid parenthood suffer no loss at all? Over the last six years, such questions have arisen in the English courts following the House of Lords ruling in McFarlane v Tayside Health Board in 1999 that parents of an unplanned but healthy child were no longer entitled to recover damages reflecting the costs of its maintenance. That McFarlane did not straightforwardly apply to cases where either the child or the parent is disabled, not only led to the lower courts creating a series of difficult exceptions,

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The Emotional Stroop Task and Psychopathology

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Anxiety and depressive disorders remain the most common forms of psychopathology and represent a large challenge for psychological analysis and treatment. Although the various forms of emotional disorder differ in many ways, recent cognitive accounts have pointed out how each of them share a common feature: sensitivity to and preoccupation with stimuli in their environment that represent their concern. Central to these cognitive theories of psychopathology is the notion that such preoccupation arises from biases in attention. For example, hypervigilance to cues signaling impending danger from the environment is an important feature of recent models of anxiety (Beck, Emery, & Greenberg, 1985), and similar hypersensitivity to bodily sensations has been implicated in panic disorder (Clark, 1988; McNally, 1990). In posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), attention is drawn to stimuli that remind of past trauma and exacerbate the fear of future similar events (Yule, 1991 ). In depression, the preoccupation is with past losses, the mind being dominated by ruminations such as "I have lost my friends" and "

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Handbook of Forensic Services

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Introduction

The Handbook of Forensic Services provides guidance and procedures for safe and efficient methods of collecting, preserving, packaging, and shipping evidence and describes the forensic examinations performed by the FBI’s Laboratory Division and Operational Technology Division. FBI Forensic Services The successful investigation and prosecution of crimes require, in most cases, the collection, preservation, and forensic analysis of evidence. Forensic analysis of evidence is often crucial to determinations of guilt or innocence. The FBI has one of the largest and most comprehensive forensic laboratories in the world, and the FBI Laboratory is accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/ Laboratory Accreditation Board. The forensic services of the FBI Laboratory Division and the Operational Technology Division are available to the following:

FBI field offices and legal attachés.

U.S. attorneys, military tribunals, and other federal agencies for civil and criminal matters.

State, county, and municipal law enforcement agencies in the United States and territorial possessions for criminal matters.

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Impulsive-Compulsive Sexual Behavior

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ABSTRACT

Impulsive-compulsive sexual behavior is a little studied clinical phenomenon which affects 5% to 6% of the population. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition-Text Revision, it is classified as an impulse control disorder not otherwise specified or a sexual disorder not otherwise specified. It may be placed in a possible new category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition called substance and behavioral addictions. This clinical entity is reviewed and the merit of classifying it as an addiction is assessed. Information is presented regarding its diagnostic criteria, epidemiology, types of behavior it can involve, relationship to hypersexuality, comorbidities, treatment, and etiology. The data regarding this disorder and its overlap with chemical addiction is limited. If the two disorders are to be grouped together, further data are needed.

INTRODUCTION

Some individuals have a great deal of difficulty controlling their sexual behavior. They have frequent intrusive thoughts about sex and repeatedly engage in sexual behavior that can become

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A Method for Generating Narrative Discourse to Prompt Inferences

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ABSTRACT

Narratives that prompt inferences can be more interesting in that they provide the reader with the opportunity to reason about the narrative world, participating in its construction. These narratives can also be more concise and direct, as details can be filled in by the reader. On the other hand, narratives that leave out important information without the opportunity to infer this information may be incoherent. To generate narratives that prompt inferences a system must 1) employ a theory of how inferences are prompted and 2) provide a capacity for creating narratives that satisfy inference goals. This paper presents is a novel algorithm for generating discourse plans that prompt inferences according to a theory of online inferencing in narrative discourse Though other approaches have generated narrative and discourse structures to influence the reader’s perception of the narrative, this is the first approach to present an empirically based cognitive model of online inference generation. The algorithm is a partial-order planning approach to discourse

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Suicidal Hanging: A Prospective Study

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to focus on various factors associated with suicide by hanging at Chennai, India; with a view to identify the areas of intervention. A prospective study was carried out on 65 cases of death due to suicide by hanging which was received by the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Madras Medical College, Chennai, India, during the period of August 2008- July 2009. In the present study, 84.7%% of the cases were below the age of 40years, time of hanging in 50.8% of the cases was 3am-12noon, place of hanging in 95.5% of the cases was their residence, 92.3% were living with their family and 69.2% were married. Most frequent precipitating factors were marital unhappiness (33.8%), problems associated with organic disease (18.5%) and dowry harassment (16.8%). To reduce the incidence of suicides by hanging, there is urgent need to focus on these factors.

Introduction:

Suicide is a major socioeconomic and public health issue worldwide. Hanging is one of

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Assessing Risk Factors for Intimate Partner Homicide

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Why does domestic violence turn to murder? Can we measure the risk of death for a battered woman? Which women in abusive relationships are most likely to be killed?

One helpful tool for finding answers to these questions is called the Danger Assessment. The series of 15 questions on the Danger Assessment is designed to measure a woman’s risk in an abusive relationship. (See figure 1.)

Figure 1: The Danger Assessment Tool

The Danger Assessment Tool was developed in 1985 and revised in 1988 after reliability and validity studies were done. Completing the Danger Assessment can help a woman evaluate the degree of danger she faces and consider what she should do next. Practitioners are reminded that the Danger Assessment is meant to be used with a calendar to enhance the accuracy of the battered woman’s recall of events.

The Danger Assessment can be printed from: The Danger Assessment Tool which also gives directions regarding permission for use.

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Variations In Risk Taking Behavior Over The Menstrual Cycle An Improved Replication

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Abstract

Evidence that women are less likely to be raped near ovulation than at other times in the ovarian cycle may reflect behavioral adaptations against the risk of fertile insemination by rapists. Chavanne and Gallup [Evol. Hum. Behav. 19 (1998) 27] proposed that women selectively reduce behaviors that expose them to a risk of rape during the ovulatory phase of their menstrual cycle, and reported supportive evidence. However, their study suffered from certain methodological shortcomings. In an improved test involving 51 subjects, repeated measurement, and an explicit distinction between risky and nonrisky activities, we confirmed all predictions: During the ovulatory phase, naturally cycling women reduced risky behaviors and increased nonrisky ones. Women using contraceptives causing hormonal suppression of ovulation showed neither effect.

1. Introduction

Forced copulation is taxonomically widespread, and in many cases it clearly represents an evolved reproductive tactic (Cox & Le Boeuf, 1977; Gowaty & Buschhaus, 1998; Smuts & Smuts, 1993; Thornhill, 1980; Thornhill & Thornhill, 1987).

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California Law Review | Marriage Fraud

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INTRODUCTION

In the last two decades, marriage has emerged as an enormously important topic of legal scholarship, not just in the area of traditional family law, but also in constitutional, tax, immigration, social security, welfares and criminal law. The marriage equality movement and its attendant legal questions of whether same-sex couples can be integrated successfully into marriage as we know it animates much of this scholarly interest. The scholarship on marriage has been remarkably polarizing in its definitions of and assessments of marriage as an institution. Much of the scholarship either advocates for the abolition of marriage altogether or for the replacement of marriage with domestic partnerships or civil unions for all. On the other side of the debate are conservatives who wish to retain marriage but limit it to heterosexual couples and expansionists who also want to retain marriage but open it up to gays and lesbians.' The most common compromise position suggests retaining marriage but also making a registry or domestic

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Critical Incidence Response Group FBI Acadamy – Sexual Homicide

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The Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG) is a division of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. CIRG enables the FBI to rapidly respond to, and effectively manage, special crisis incidents in the United States.

History

In response to public outcry over the standoffs at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and of the Branch Davidians in the Waco Siege, the FBI formed the CIRG in 1994 to deal more efficiently with crisis situations. The CIRG is designated to formulate strategies, manage hostage or siege situations, and, if humanly possible, resolve them "without loss of life," as FBI Director Louis Freeh, who assumed the post four-and-a-half months after the Waco fire, pledged in a 1995 Senate hearing.

CIRG was intended to integrate tactical and investigative resources and expertise for critical incidents which necessitate an immediate response from law enforcement authorities. CIRG will deploy investigative specialists to respond to terrorist activities, hostage takings, child abductions and other

Additional Resource: Audit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Critical Incident Response Group Tactical Section Procurements (59 downloads )

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Fundamentals of Probability and Statistical Evidence in Criminal Proceedings

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Introduction to Communicating and Interpreting Statistical Evidence in the Administration of Criminal Justice

0.1 Context, Motivation and Objectives

Statistical evidence and probabilistic reasoning today play an important and expanding role in criminal investigations, prosecutions and trials, not least in relation to forensic scientific evidence (including DNA) produced by expert witnesses. It is vital that everybody involved in criminal adjudication is able to comprehend and deal with probability and statistics appropriately. There is a long history and ample recent experience of misunderstandings relating to statistical information and probabilities which have contributed towards serious miscarriages of justice.

0.2 English and Scottish criminal adjudication is strongly wedded to the principle of lay factfinding by juries and magistrates employing their ordinary common sense reasoning. Notwithstanding the unquestionable merits of lay involvement in criminal trials, it cannot be assumed that jurors or lay magistrates will have been equipped by their general education to cope with the forensic demands of statistics or probabilistic reasoning.

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Sex, Lies, and Strategic Interference: The Psychology of Deception Between the Sexes

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The desires of one sex can lead to deceptive exploitation by the other sex. Strategic Interference Theory proposes that certain “negative” emotions evolved or have been co-opted by selection, in part, to defend against deception and reduce its negative consequences. In Study 1 (N = 217) Americans reported emotional distress in response to specific forms of deception. Study 2 (N = 200) replicated the results in a German sample. Study 3 (N = 479) assessed Americans’ past experiences with deception and conducted additional hypothesis tests using a procedure to control for overall sex differences in upset. Each study supported the hypothesis that emotions track sex-linked forms of strategic interference. Three clusters of sex differences proved robust across studies emotional upset about resource deception, commitment deception, and sexual deception. We discuss implications for theories of mating and emotion and directions for research based on models of antagonistic coevolution between the sexes

Cooperation between a man and a woman is virtually a...

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An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective On Homicide

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Spend some time perusing an archive of homicide cases and you are likely to find that certain conflict typologies, characteristic of particular victim-killer relationship categories are common. Barroom interactions among unrelated men became heated contests concerning dominance, deference, and face, and escalated to lethality. Women seeking to exercise autonomy were slain by proprietary ex-partners. Thieves killed victims they feared might cause them trouble later. Children were fatally assaulted by angry caretakers. How are we to understand why certain recurring types of conflicts of interest engender passions that are sometimes so intense as to motivate these prototypical sorts of homicides? A satisfactory answer to this question seems to require an understanding of what interpersonal conflicts of interest are fundamentally about, and such an understanding must itself be predicated on a basic theory of the sources and substance of individual self-interests. Fortunately, scientists have been developing, testing, and refining the requisite body of theory for decades, with the result that it is now...

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Cadaver Decomposition in Terrestrial Ecosystems

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Abstract

A dead mammal (i.e. cadaver) is a high quality resource (narrow carbon:nitrogen ratio, high water content) that releases an intense, localized pulse of carbon and nutrients into the soil upon decomposition. Despite the fact that as much as 5,000 kg of cadaver can be introduced to a square kilometer of terrestrial ecosystem each year, cadaver decomposition remains a neglected microsere. Here we review the processes associated with the introduction of cadaver-derived carbon and nutrients into soil from forensic and ecological settings to show that cadaver decomposition can have a greater, albeit localized, effect on below-ground ecology than plant and fecal resources. Cadaveric materials are rapidly introduced to below-ground floral and faunal communities, which results in the formation of a highly concentrated island of fertility, or cadaver decomposition island (CDI). CDIs are associated with increased soil microbial biomass, microbial activity (C mineralization) and nematode abundance. Each CDI is an ephemeral natural disturbance that, in addition to releasing energy and nutrients to the

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Blood Loss in Trauma

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SPECIAL FEATURES OF TRAUMATIC BLEEDING

Multiple sources of bleeding

Blood loss in trauma commonly presents clinical features differing markedly from those seen in experimental bleeding and those arising in the course of disease. Severe traumatic oligaemia rarely arises from one area of bleeding as it does in, say, haematemesis or experimental work. In most cases multiple foci of haemorrhage in soft tissues or into body cavities exist, many of them not amenable to surgical haemostasis; this feature greatly alters the clinical picture and increases the difficulty of assessment of blood loss. Difficulties of diagnosis in trauma are frequently caused by the obscuration of signs of one injury by those of another (particularly in cranial or thoracic trauma) and by the development of complications, such as fat embolism or tension pneumothorax, in the course of resuscitation.

Progressive nature of bleeding

Bleeding into the tissues, other than that which can be staunched operatively, frequently continues for at least 24 hours after injury and the

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True and False Personality

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(The Theosophist, March 1880) The title prefixed to the following observations may well have suggested a more metaphysical treatment of the subject than can be attempted on the present occasion. The doctrine of the trinity, or trichotomy of man, which distinguishes soul from spirit, comes to us with such octrine venerable, and even sacred authority that we may well be content, for the moment, with confirmations that should. be intelligible to all, forbearing the abstruser questions which have divided minds of the highest philosophical capacity. We will not now inquire whether the difference is one of tates or of entities; whether the phenomenal or mind consciousness is merely the external condition of one indivisible Ego, or has its origin and nature in an altogether different principle; the Spirit, or immortal part of us being of Divine birth, while the senses and understanding, with the consciousness Ahankara thereto appertaining, are from an Anima Mundi, or what in the Sankhya philosophy is called Prakriti.

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