Grievous Bodily Harm Research Articles

Turning Assault into a “Harmless Prank”—Teenage Perspectives on Happy Slapping

The article describes the ways in which 41 adolescents from three large English cities discussed the phenomenon of happy slapping, which is typically defined as recording a physical assault on an unsuspecting victim on a camera-enabled phone for Internet upload. Using discourse analysis, the construal of motivations for its creation and watching is explored, elaborating on social, cultural, and legal implications. The identified repertoires (creation of comedy, denial of grievous bodily harm, accomplice-witness ambiguity, and reflection of postmodern culture) caution against attributing happy slapping just to boredom, as the mainstream British press does and puts spotlight on other factors, like seeking originality and keeping "pranks" under control. Concluding with the apparent similarities between the discursive worlds inhabited by unconvicted adolescents and convicted offenders, this study provides a theoretical platform for further research on the subtle and intriguing overlap.

REFUSAL, THE LOOK OF LOVE, AND THE BEASTLY WOMAN OF MACHAUT'S BALADES 27 AND 38

In balades 27 and 38, Machaut likens the wounds suffered by the lover to those that result from the poisons of deadly beasts. He invokes animal imagery to depict the beloved and her behaviour: she encloses within her being monstrous beasts that repel and repulse the lover, causing him grievous bodily harm. In the course of both balades the deadly beasts transform into various allegorical characters that are personifications of secular vices. One of these characters, Refusal (‘Refus’), emerges as central. Machaut personifies the lady's rejection of the lover's advances (which he makes through words/music) as the courtly vice Refusal. In Balade 27, it is her sense organs that enact this refusal: her ears cannot hear him, her mouth rejects him, and her Look kills him. I explore the resonances of Machaut's sadistic and animalistic lady in two spheres: the courtly, where the obvious antecedents for Machaut's imagery are the courtly bestiaries; and the sacred, where parallels between Refusal and the deadly sins of pride and envy can be detected, as suggested by my interpretation of these two balades and some of Machaut's motets, and the links I set forth between these sins, vices, and the senses that partake in them.Patri carissimo eidemque ingeniossimo, John Patrick Desmond (1943–2013)

Evidence, autonomy, and male circumcision

Religion has been an integral part of the fabric of ancient and modern society. However, we must finely balance how much influence faith should have in medicine, and I feel that we have got this balance wrong. I was glad to see that, in Germany, progress has been made to try to distinguish what is and is not acceptable medical practice under the guise of religious and cultural norms. In June, a court in Cologne ruled in favour of banning male circumcision, labelling it a form of grievous bodily harm, after a botched operation on a 4 year old child led to urological complications and hospitalisation. The court noted evidence from New York, where two children have died and one has experienced brain damage in the past 10 years, as a result of …

Paul Christoph Bornkamm. Rwanda's Gacaca Courts. Between Retribution and Reparation

The commencement of proceedings at the Gacaca Courts in Rwanda on 18 June 2002 attracted enormous interest. The question of how the country would deal with a past shaped by the genocide that had ended eight years earlier not only aroused the curiosity of national observers, it also attracted large numbers of international commentators. This situation remained largely unchanged in the years that followed. It sometimes seemed as though a constant stream of academics, in particular, were lining up to take a look at the traditional Rwandan justice workshop. A correspondingly large number of publications on Gacaca have been issued so far. Articles, essays, and books have been published, the quality of which is extremely varied and can generally be measured by the extent to which the author retained a capacity for critical analysis when confronted with the details of the horrendous crimes typical of genocide. As is generally known, emotional involvement can easily clash with judicial appraisal, which must send a robust and future-oriented signal. The book under review is based on a doctoral thesis submitted to Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin in late 2009. However, the Gacaca justice process for the judicial appraisal of crimes of genocide did not reach its conclusion until 18 June 2012, ten years to the day after its establishment. The Rwandan government recently published the following general summary data on the process: Gacaca proceedings were instigated against just over one million suspects, of whom 90 per cent were men and only 10 per cent women. By far the majority of the proceedings concerned so-called Category 3 acts, i.e., unauthorized acts against property, for example, theft and plunder (a total of 1.3 million individual acts). These were followed in number by Category 2 acts, which included murder, manslaughter, and grievous bodily harm (577,000 individual acts). �

Frontotemporal white-matter microstructural abnormalities in adolescents with conduct disorder: a diffusion tensor imaging study

Children with conduct disorder (CD) are at increased risk of developing antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and psychopathy in adulthood. The biological basis for this is poorly understood. A preliminary diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) study of psychopathic antisocial adults reported significant differences from controls in the fractional anisotropy (FA) of the uncinate fasciculus (UF), a white-matter tract that connects the amygdala to the frontal lobe. However, it is unknown whether developmental abnormalities are present in the UF of younger individuals with CD. We used DT-MRI tractography to investigate, for the first time, the microstructural integrity of the UF in adolescents with CD, and age-related differences in this tract. We compared FA and perpendicular diffusivity of the UF in 27 adolescents with CD and 16 healthy controls (12 to 19 years old) who did not differ significantly in age, IQ or substance use history. To confirm that these findings were specific to the UF, the same measurements were extracted from two non-limbic control tracts. Participants in the CD group had a history of serious aggressive and violent behaviour, including robbery, burglary, grievous bodily harm and sexual assault. Individuals with CD had a significantly increased FA (p = 0.006), and reduced perpendicular diffusivity (p = 0.002), in the left UF. Furthermore, there were significant age-related between-group differences in perpendicular diffusivity of the same tract (Z obs = 2.40, p = 0.01). Controls, but not those with CD, showed significant age-related maturation. There were no significant between-group differences in any measure within the control tracts. Adolescents with CD have significant differences in the 'connectivity' and maturation of UF.

Admitting evidence of a defendant's previous conviction (PCE) and its impact on juror deliberation in relation to both juror‐processing style and juror concerns over the fairness of introducing PCE

Purpose. To examine the impact of admitting previous conviction evidence (PCE) on juror and jury deliberation. Major questions are: (1) Is there is an association between the inclusion of PCE and confidence in a defendant's guilt using a relatively rich trial simulation? (2) Does PCE invoke jurors’ considerations of fairness to the defendant? (3) Is heuristic processing (HP) associated with a prejudicial interpretation of evidence?Methods. In experiment 1 (n= 82), individual jurors were asked to recall evidence, express opinion, and justify verdicts on the two counts of Affray and Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH). In experiment 2 (new n= 121), PCE information was emphasized and a jury deliberation condition was included.Results. There was no simple association between admitting PCE and judgements of guilt. However, both interviews and jury deliberations indicated careful consideration of evidence. In particular, juror arguments showed that some were troubled by PCE, which they saw as unwarranted and therefore unfair to the defendant. Finally, HP was associated with both a prejudicial focus on the defendant's character and a higher confidence in guilt.Conclusions. A simple link between PCE and judgements of guilt may only hold in relatively circumscribed experimental simulations. Results also indicate that the introduction of PCE is unlikely to aid evidence‐based deliberation without careful testing of different forms of judges’ explanation concerning PCE.

The Experience of Violence by Male Juvenile Offenders Convicted of Assault: A Descriptive Phenomenological Study

Statistics from both South Africa and the United States of America indicate that the phenomenon of violence amongst youths is increasing. This implies that a larger number of youths are being exposed to the experience of violence and thus present with the complex and multi-dimensional effects of such an experience. Past research has centred mostly on the causative factors that can be statistically represented, with little focus being paid to the juveniles’ in-depth, subjective experience of the phenomenon. For the male adolescent, the experience of the phenomenon of violence is complex, diverse and may span across many aspects of his life, including physical, psychological, personal and social dimensions. Three participants were sourced from the Leeuwkop Juvenile Correctional Facility in Johannesburg and interviewed for the purpose of this study. The participants were selected based on their age (between 13 and 19 years of age) and the type of crime that they had committed (assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, common assault or indecent assault). In accordance with the phenomenological approach, open-ended interviews were used as a research method in order to allow for the participants’ unique and subjective experience of the phenomenon to emerge. The researchers found that the phenomenon of violence is characterised by the juveniles’ experience of external events that provoke a certain response manifesting itself in violent behaviour. The responses described by the participants were mostly emotional in nature and included emotions such as anger, rage and fury. The experience of violence also holds certain consequences for the male juvenile offender. The most common consequence experienced by all three participants was their subsequent arrest and incarceration in a correctional facility.

Imogen Goold and Catherine Kelly (eds), Lawyers’ Medicine: The Legislature, the Courts and medical Practice, 1760–2000 (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2009), pp. xiv + 224, £30.00, paperback, ISBN: 978-1-84113-849-7.

Imogen Goold and Catherine Kelly (eds), Lawyers’ Medicine: The Legislature, the Courts and medical Practice, 1760–2000 (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2009), pp. xiv + 224, £30.00, paperback, ISBN: 978-1-84113-849-7. - Volume 55 Issue 1

A Survey of the Conditionally Released Forensic Patient Population in New South Wales

The purpose of this study was to describe the demographic and clinical variables of the conditionally released forensic patient population in New South Wales. Data were gathered from 74 conditionally released forensic patients. Of this population, 37% had committed homicides and 50% had committed serious violent offences (attempted murder, grievous bodily harm or robbery). Approximately two-thirds had their first admission to a psychiatric hospital before the age of 30. The majority (83%) of patients were diagnosed with schizophrenia and 55% had a history of substance use disorders; 24% were deemed to have been intoxicated at the time of the offence. Conditionally released forensic patients in NSW show similar characteristics to those in other jurisdictions. Areas identified for further evaluation are comorbid substance use and rehabilitation, longer term outcomes and the under representation of indigenous persons.

Problems in qualifying health services provided by physicians and informed consent to treatment

Abstract Introduction Under the provisions of the Act on Patients’ Rights and Patients’ Rights Ombudsman of November 6, 2008, the patient has the right to receive health services adequate to current medical knowledge. The patient has the full right to give consent to medical procedures performed on him/her or to refuse such consent. By this consent, the patient legitimizes in a legal sense the physician's interference with a patient's fundamental rights and freedoms. Acting without consent is usually illegal, thus the physician risks disciplinary action, civil and criminal liabilities. Aim The aim of this work was to provide guidelines to assist in distinguishing between concepts concerning health services provided by physicians. Discussion In practice, the most significant difficulties arise from fluid boundaries between two legal terms “surgical procedure or therapeutic method posing an increased risk to life and health” and these same activities “posing the risk of causing loss of life, grievous bodily harm and grievous health disorder”. In the former case, the physician must obtain informed consent to treatment, whereas in the latter case the consent is not required for providing health services. On the basis of legal literature overview, legal acts and Polish courts judicature, the article presents a comparative legal classification stemming from the provisions of the Criminal Code of 1997, which contains the notion of causing “health disorder”, along with the recent judicature of the Supreme Court. This is an attempt to make up for the lack of statutory definitions of particular elements that contribute collectively to the concept of health services. Conclusions The classification discussed poses interpretative problems, although the knowledge of the statutory division of health services and correct differentiation between terminological concepts are essential for physicians because they enable a correct assessment with regards to the informed consent required in a particular situation and determining those individuals authorized to providing such consent. Physicians are legally obliged to qualify their actions according to the abovementioned classification each time they provide health services, which is difficult for them to cope with. Medical law has not kept pace with constant developments in medicine; however, a complex regulation addressing this matter seems to be impossible to arrive at presently.

The first case of criminalization of transmission of hepatitis B in the UK: defendant sentenced to two years’ imprisonment on the grounds of hepatitis B deoxyribonucleic acid sequencing

A 29-year-old Turkish man Ercan Yasar, who worked as a restaurant worker in Cheltenham, infected a Cheltenham woman 27 years of age with hepatitis B and chlamydia between 14 and 17 September 2007. He was charged with biological grievous bodily harm, which carries a maximum of five years' imprisonment if found guilty following a trial. The defendant, Ercan Yasar, pleaded guilty to the charge and was given appropriate credit for entering an early guilty plea and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment before the Gloucester Crown Court on 14 November 2008.

Sources of crime in the state of Veracruz: The role of female labor force participation and wage inequality

In recent years, crime has become a serious concern in Mexico as its increase has detrimentally affected government institutions and economic growth. There is considerable speculation among policy analysts about the causes of the increase in crime. Whereas some analysts attribute the increase to a rise in income inequality, others believe internal migration and a loss of morals are the roots of criminal behavior. This research shows that at least for the Mexican state of Veracruz, wage inequality and labor force participation have an important impact on crime. When gender is considered, however, the impact is more complicated than it seems. An increase in women's labor force participation decreases the overall number of alleged violent offenders. However, the number of alleged rapists and grievous bodily harm offenders increases as women's wage distribution improves. The results shed light on the gender dimensions of the economics of crime.

A retrospective audit of the extent and nature of domestic violence cases identified over a three year period in the two district command units of the police service of Northern Ireland

The work load of forensic medical officers (FMOs) who provide medical cover for the Coleraine and Limavady district command units (DCU) of the police service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) in dealing with domestic violence was investigated over a three year period from 1st April 2003 to 31st March 2006. A total of 128 cases involving domestic violence were identified during this three year period. There was a significant increase from 4% (32/791) in the first year to 6.6% (56/851, p<0.01) in the number of cases of identified domestic violence in the second year which dropped to 4.2% (40/956) in the third year. Victims were identified in 38% of these domestic violence cases with 62% being identified as assailants. It was noted that there was a significant difference in the proportion of male assailants (96.2%) from female assailants (3.8%). Fifty-four percent of victims were noted to have injuries in accordance with the more serious injury categories of assault of actual bodily harm (AOABH) and grievous bodily harm (GBH). Domestic incidents occurred at the home in 91% of cases, with the FMO being the primary contact in 97% of cases. Alcohol was implicated in 56% of all domestic violence cases recorded.

Regional grey matter volumetric changes in forensic schizophrenia patients: an MRI study comparing the brain structure of patients who have seriously and violently offended with that of patients who have not

BackgroundThe aim was to carry out the first voxel-based morphometry study of grey matter changes in the whole brain in schizophrenia associated with a history of seriously and violently offending.MethodsStructural cerebral magnetic resonance imaging scans of 26 patients with schizophrenia were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry: 13 of the patients had seriously and violently offended directly as a result of schizophrenia prior to admission, the offences consisting of homicide, attempted murder or wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm; the other 13 patients did not have a history of violence. There was no history of comorbid psychoactive substance misuse disorder in any of the patients. Voxelwise generalized linear modelling was applied to the processed magnetic resonance data using permutation-based non-parametric testing, forming clusters at t > 2.3 and testing clusters for significance at p < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons across space.ResultsThe two groups of patients were matched with respect to age, gender and duration of illness, but the group with a history of serious violence was on average receiving a higher dose of antipsychotic medication than the group without a history of violence. There were local regions of reduced grey matter volume in the schizophrenia patient group with a history of serious and violent offending, compared with the schizophrenia patient group without such a history. Significant voxels (p < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons) were noted bilaterally in the cerebellum and in BA 39 and 40.ConclusionThese regions are important in verbal working memory. The cerebellum may integrate inputs from ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and parietal regions, providing a corrective signal that refines the process of rehearing the contents of the phonological store. A strong connection has been hypothesized between the supramarginal region corresponding to BA 39/40 and Broca's area, which may correspond largely to the arcuate fasciculus, with the connectional pattern of the language regions of this model fitting the network of parietotemporal-prefrontal connections that participate in working memory. Therefore our results point to the possibility of an abnormality in neural circuits involved in verbal working memory in this group of patients.

Cerebral spectroscopic and oxidative stress studies in patients with schizophrenia who have dangerously violently offended

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to bring together all the results of in vivo studies of ethane excretion and cerebral spectroscopy in patients with schizophrenia who have dangerously seriously violently offended in order to determine the extent to which they shed light on the degree to which the membrane phospholipid hypothesis and the actions of free radicals and other reactive species are associated with cerebral pathophysiological mechanisms in this group of patients.MethodsThe patients investigated were inpatients from a medium secure unit with a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of schizophrenia. There was no history of alcohol dependency or any other comorbid psychoactive substance misuse disorder. Expert psychiatric opinion, accepted in court, was that all these patients had violently offended directly as a result of schizophrenia prior to admission. These offences consisted of homicide, attempted murder or wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Excreted ethane was analyzed and quantified by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (m/z = 30). 31-phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy data were obtained at a magnetic field strength of 1.5 T using an image-selected in vivo spectroscopy sequence (TR = 10 s; 64 signal averages localized on a 70 × 70 × 70 mm3 voxel).ResultsCompared with age- and sex-matched controls, in the patient group the mean alveolar ethane level was higher (p < 0.0005), the mean cerebral beta-nucleotide triphosphate was lower (p < 0.04) and the mean gamma-nucleotide triphosphate was higher (p < 0.04). There was no significant difference between the two groups in respect of phosphomonoesters, phosphodiesters or broad resonances.ConclusionOur results are not necessarily inconsistent with the membrane phospholipid hypothesis, given that the patients studied suffered predominantly from positive symptoms of schizophrenia. The results suggest that there is increased cerebral mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in patients with schizophrenia who have dangerously and seriously violently offended, with an associated increase in oxygen flux and subsequent electron 'leakage' from the electron transport chain leading to the formation of superoxide radicals and other reactive oxygen species. In turn, these reactive species might cause increased lipid peroxidation in neuroglial membranes, thereby accounting for the observation of increased ethane excretion.

Cerebral spectroscopic and oxidative stress studies in patients with schizophrenia who have dangerously violently offended

The aim of this study was to bring together all the results of in vivo studies of ethane excretion and cerebral spectroscopy in patients with schizophrenia who have dangerously seriously violently offended in order to determine the extent to which they shed light on the degree to which the membrane phospholipid hypothesis and the actions of free radicals and other reactive species are associated with cerebral pathophysiological mechanisms in this group of patients. The patients investigated were inpatients from a medium secure unit with a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of schizophrenia. There was no history of alcohol dependency or any other comorbid psychoactive substance misuse disorder. Expert psychiatric opinion, accepted in court, was that all these patients had violently offended directly as a result of schizophrenia prior to admission. These offences consisted of homicide, attempted murder or wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Excreted ethane was analyzed and quantified by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (m/z = 30). 31-phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy data were obtained at a magnetic field strength of 1.5 T using an image-selected in vivo spectroscopy sequence (TR = 10 s; 64 signal averages localized on a 70 × 70 × 70 mm3 voxel). Compared with age- and sex-matched controls, in the patient group the mean alveolar ethane level was higher (p < 0.0005), the mean cerebral beta-nucleotide triphosphate was lower (p < 0.04) and the mean gamma-nucleotide triphosphate was higher (p < 0.04). There was no significant difference between the two groups in respect of phosphomonoesters, phosphodiesters or broad resonances. Our results are not necessarily inconsistent with the membrane phospholipid hypothesis, given that the patients studied suffered predominantly from positive symptoms of schizophrenia. The results suggest that there is increased cerebral mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in patients with schizophrenia who have dangerously and seriously violently offended, with an associated increase in oxygen flux and subsequent electron 'leakage' from the electron transport chain leading to the formation of superoxide radicals and other reactive oxygen species. In turn, these reactive species might cause increased lipid peroxidation in neuroglial membranes, thereby accounting for the observation of increased ethane excretion.

Liability for spreading sexually transmitted disease

In the second of a series of articles for nurse prescribers working in sexual health, Richard Griffith considers the development of the offence of biological grievous bodily harm that imposes criminal liability for recklessly spreading sexual infection.

Brain cell membrane motion-restricted phospholipids in patients with schizophrenia who have seriously and dangerously violently offended

This study directly assessed, for the first time, whether there was a change in brain cell motion-restricted membrane phospholipids in vivo in male forensic patients with schizophrenia who had seriously and violently offended (homicide, attempted murder, or wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm) while psychotic, by quantification of the broadband resonance signal from 31-phosphorus neurospectroscopy scans. Cerebral 31-phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy was carried out in 15 such patients, who suffered from positive symptoms of schizophrenia, and in 12 age- and sex-matched normal control subjects. Spectra were obtained from 70 × 70 × 70 mm 3 voxels using an image-selected in vivo spectroscopy pulse sequence. There was no significant difference in the broad resonances between the two groups, with the mean (standard error) percentage broadband signal for the patients being 57.8 (5.6) and that for the control subjects 57.7 (6.0). The phosphomonoesters and phosphodiesters narrow signals also did not differ between the groups. These results suggest that patients with schizophrenia who have predominantly positive symptoms may not show neuroimaging-based signs compatible with the membrane phospholipid hypothesis of schizophrenia.

Violent Life Events and Social Disadvantage: A Systematic Study of the Social Background of Various Kinds of Lethal Violence, Other Violent Crime, Suicide, and Suicide Attempts1

This is a systematic study of the social background of Danish males convicted for the first time of lethal violence, either actual or potential (e.g. unlawful killers, attempted homicides, negligent homicide, grievous bodily harm, n = 125). Using registers, the paper addresses the following question: Do young men, convicted of a lethal violent crime (either actual or potential), have the same kind of risk factors related to social disadvantage as other first‐time convicted violent offenders (n = 1,849) and first‐time attempted suicides or completed suicides (n = 476)? The paper describes three separate analyses of the total 1966 birth cohort followed through a 13‐year period from age 15 to 27 (n = 43,403). In each case the discrete‐time Cox model is used to analyse associations between the relatively rare response events and the relatively rare stress factors. Results suggest that all three groups of subjects have a similar exposure to risk conditions, but also that there are important differences in the predictors for the three groups when the risk factors are analysed one by one. So, for example, the experience of domestic violence during adolescence is a strong predictor of males' later violent behaviour but a less strong predictor of suicidal behaviour. In contrast, being battered and being neglected during childhood more strongly predict later suicidal behaviour than violent behaviour. The implications for prevention are considered. 1. An earlier version was presented at the 4th Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 25–28 August 2004.

JUDGING DOCTORS

In three distinct situations, judges may be obliged to pronounce on doctors' opinions or conduct. The first of these is where they are deciding actions involving claims for personal injuries in respect of which doctors have given opinions to the court. The second situation in which the judge may be obliged to pronounce on a doctor's opinion or conduct is when, in a civil action, that doctor is sued for negligence. The third, even less common kind of case in which a judge or a retired judge may be obliged to pronounce on a doctor's opinion or conduct is when the judge has been appointed to conduct a Commission of Inquiry, which includes an inquiry into the quality of medical services. There is a fourth kind of case in which a doctor's opinion or conduct is in question. This is when the doctor is charged with a criminal offence, usually criminal negligence but sometimes grievous bodily harm and even manslaughter, as has occurred in one case recently in Queensland. Each of these situations involves different considerations and the application of different principles, although there are some factors common to more than one. And there are defects and illogicalities in some, which are not there in others. I propose to discuss each of these situations and, in some of them, expose what I see as some defects or illogicalities and suggest how I think they should be improved.