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Nonchemical Suffocation Deaths In Forensic Setting: A 6-year Retrospective Study Of Environmental Suffocation, Smothering, Choking, And Traumatic/Positional Asphyxia*

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Abstract

There are still several areas of forensic pathology mainly based on tradition, with textbooks explaining and describing common knowledge that is not supported by modern research data. This study is intended to contribute to evidence-based data on nonchemical suffocation deaths in the forensic population aged more than 1 year. From 2000 to 2005, all autopsy cases were reviewed: age, gender, type of suffocation, and manner of death were compiled for all victims (96 cases). In general, the results from this study are concordant with the textbook literature, therefore supporting common knowledge related to manner of death in nonchemical suffocation. However, discrepancies have been underscored in smothering: smothering, contrary to the general belief, is probably not mostly homicidal, and accidental smothering is probably not that unusual. Furthermore, new data without actual literature correlates were obtained in the conducting of this study and are presented here....

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Offender And Offense Characteristics Of A Nonrandom Sample Of Mass Murderers.

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Abstract

A nonrandom sample (N = 30) of mass murderers in the United States and Canada during the past 50 years was studied. Data suggest that such individuals are single or divorced males in their fourth decade of life with various Axis I paranoid and/or depressive conditions and Axis II personality traits and disorders, usually Clusters A and B. The mass murder is precipitated by a major loss related to employment or relationship. A warrior mentality suffuses the planning and attack behavior of the subject, and greater deaths and higher casualty rates are significantly more likely if the perpetrator is psychotic at the time of the offense. Alcohol plays a very minor role. A large proportion of subjects will convey their central motivation in a psychological abstract, a phrase or sentence yelled with great emotion at the beginning of the mass murder; but in our study sample, only 20 percent...

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Murder-Suicide of the Jealous Paranoia Type: A Multicenter Statistical Pilot Study

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Abstract

The authors present a pilot statistical study of murder-suicide comprising 32 cases from the years 1990-1992, collected from the offices of the medical examiners of seven counties in five of the United States. The study includes brief reviews of previous statistical surveys of murder, murder-suicide, and suicide. This present study's conclusions parallel the findings of previous research on the demographic characteristics of the perpetrators of murder-suicide, the relationship between killers and victims, the types of weapon used, locations of the incidents, and the time intervals between the murder and suicide. It also highlights the similarities between the characteristics of the perpetrator of murder-suicide and those of persons who commit only suicide, supporting the thesis that murder-suicide is an extended suicide. Suggestions for prevention of such a type of crime are offered.

From the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Department of Criminology, Marquette...

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Suicide Theory, Practice and Investigation

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Suicide is an ageless concern that has been with us as long as man has existed. Forbidden by all religions, suicide has nonetheless become such a practical problem that it is now an everyday concern, resulting in more annual deaths than homicide. Suicide must be seen as a societal and personal problem—it is a complex act with no simple explanation. The motivation is multifaceted, often not understood by the family or by other survivors.   

Suicide: Theory, Practice and Investigation is the only text available in paperback form that offers an accessible overview of suicide in the United States. Written by Ronald M. Holmes and Stephen T. Holmes, two of the foremost authors of murder and violent crime books in the world, this book examines the social problem and criminal justice concerns of suicide from unique perspectives. The authors discuss the various forms of...

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The Role Of Depression In Couples Involved In Murder-suicide And Homicide

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Abstract

Twelve couples in cases of murder-suicide were compared to 24 couples in cases of homicide during the period 1978 to 1987 in Albuquerque, N.M. Data were obtained from police, the courts, hospital records, and interviews with friends and family of the deceased. The most striking findings were that perpetrators of murder-suicide were depressed (75%) and men (95%), while perpetrators of homicide were not depressed and one-half were women. The data indicate that the murder-suicide and homicide groups are two different populations....

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Explaining Criminal Careers Implications for Justice Policy | Explaining Criminal Careers: Implications for Justice Policy

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Abstract

Criminal career research conducted over the past 40 years is reviewed with a focus on theories and mathematical models leading to quantitative predictions. Starting in the 1970s The evolution of criminal career theories is described in some detail with key career features like: onset, prevalence, frequency, duration and termination; identified. The various offender categorisations that have been proposed, like: chronics, innocents, desisters, persisters, frequents and occasionals; and the models using these concepts are also described together with their results. Criminal career research in the two decades spanning the millennium is also reviewed, including offending trajectory modelling. The importance of longitudinal studies is stressed while some of the objections to the paradigm are addressed. The main aims of the book and the methodological approach to the analysis and modelling are described.

Background

Unlike theories in the physical sciences, theories in criminology, as in the other behavioural and social sciences,...

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Forensic Science Wound Simulation Kit

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Forensic Science Wound Simulation Kit, Product Details:

Simulaids proudly introduces the next generation forensic wound simulation training kit. This basic trauma evidence-gathering unit contains a series of wounds created specifically for teaching crime scene analysis and forensic scene reconstruction. The details in the wounds are designed to determine type of weapon, direction of force, and other related details that only come with realistic trauma reproduction.

This innovative Forensic Science Wound Simulation Kit contains carefully sculpted models of injuries taken from actual victim's wounds and reviewed by forensic education professionals insuring real scene representations of trauma commonly found on violent crime victims. This Forensic Science Wound Simulation Kit is a must for any applied program of wound study. Materials in this kit will provide first time exposure to the novice as well as continued training for the professional already in the field.

From simple puncture wounds associated with sharp instrument trauma to...

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Legal versus Moral Complicity

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Abstract

Since the publication of Kadish’s article ‘Complicity, Cause, and Blame’ in 1985, legal scholars have taken great interest in the notion of complicity and have produced a significant number of publications on the subject. With the exception of Christopher Kutz, these scholars have largely ignored the moral, as opposed to legal, aspects of complicity. In this paper I make an attempt to compare the moral and legal notions of complicity. I will argue that, unless one takes a position of strict consequentialism, the moral notion of complicity casts a wider net than the legal notion. This is a point of no small importance. People need to realize that if they skirt the boundaries of legal complicity, their behavior might well still qualify as complicity on moral grounds.

1. Since the publication of Kadish’s article ‘Complicity, Cause, and Blame’ in 1985, legal scholars have taken great interest in the notion of...

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Complicity, Cause and Blame: A Study in the Interpretation of Doctrine

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This is a study of a body of doctrine, the doctrine of complicity, that determines when one person is liable for a crime committed by another. Doctrine may be studied in several ways depending on the question asked. One question asks what the doctrine is in some jurisdiction. This is the question primarily addressed by treatise writers. Another question asks whether the doctrine serves the purposes of the law and, to the extent it does not, how it should be altered. This is the question addressed by those engaged in revising the law. I do not mean that these questions can be answered independently of one another, only that they are different questions. In any event, the question this study addresses is distinguishable from both. It asks how the doctrine of complicity can best be interpreted as a coherent concept. This entails articulating the relationships between different parts of complicity...

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The Buller-McGinnis Model of Serial Homicidal Behavior: An Integrated Approach

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Abstract

The seemingly random and motiveless natures of serial homicides make identifying and capturing serial killers nearly impossible. Theories of violent behavior and models exploring the etiology of serial murderers fail to provide an accurate method of predicting serial homicidal tendencies. The present paper seeks to construct an integrated model of serial homicidal behavior designed to pinpoint commonalities shared by serial killers, in order to discover a link between certain characteristics and future homicidal behavior. After examining the lives of four known serial killers, the results yielded two prominent general traits: poor childhood social environments and isolation common amongst all subjects....

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An Empirical Test of Holmes and Holmes’s Serial Murder Typology

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Abstract

This article presents the results of an empirical test of Holmes and Holmes’s serial murder classification scheme. Crime scene evidence from 100 U.S. serial murders, each the third in a distinct series, was content analyzed. The co-occurrence of content categories derived from the crime scene material was submitted to smallest space analysis. The features characteristic of the category of “power or control” killings were found to be typical of the sample as a whole, occurring in more than 50% of cases, and thus did not form a distinct type. Limited support was found for aspects of the lust, thrill, and mission styles of killing, but this support drew attention to differences in the ways victims were dealt with, through mutilation, restraints, or ransacking their property rather than the motivations implicitly inferred in Holmes and Holmes’s typology. The current results are presented as an empirical basis for the...

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U.S. Attorneys 1107. Murder-for-Hire—The Offense

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The "murder-for-hire" statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1958, was enacted as part of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, Pub.L. 98-473, Ch. X, Part A (Oct. 12, 1984). Section 1958(a) provides:

Whoever travels in or causes another (including the intended victim) to travel in interstate or foreign commerce, or uses or causes another (including the intended victim) to use the mail or any facility of interstate or foreign commerce, with intent that a murder be committed in violation of the laws of any State or the United States as consideration for the receipt of, or as consideration for a promise or agreement to pay anything of pecuniary value, or who conspires to do so [violates this statute].

Initially § 1958 was codified as 18 U.S.C. § 1952A, but in 1988 it was renumbered as § 1958. Section 1958 was patterned after the Interstate Travel in Aid of Racketeering (ITAR) statute,...

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Problems Associated With The Diagnosis Of Vitality In Burned Bodies

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Abstract

The most important signs of vitality in burned bodies are soot deposits in the respiratory tract, the esophagus and the stomach as well as elevated CO-Hb values in the blood. But these findings show only that a person was exposed to fire fumes while alive; they are no indicator for vital heat exposure. As the external findings in burned bodies are often not very conclusive due to postmortem consumption by the fire, the internal findings are all the more important. Macroscopic signs that hot fumes were inhaled may be edematous swelling and vesicular detachment of the mucosa in the pharynx, the larynx and/or the upper section of the esophagus. As histological changes in the respiratory tract soot deposits, vesicular detachment of the epithelium, hyperemia and edema of the tracheal and bronchial mucosa as well as increased secretion of mucus have been described. These findings may partly be absent although...

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Concealment Of Psychopathology In Forensic Evaluations: A Pilot Study Of Intentional And Uninsightful Dissimulators.

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Abstract

Dissimulation is the concealment of genuine psychiatric symptoms in an attempt to present a picture of psychiatric health. In this pilot study, the authors set out to demonstrate that defendants may conceal psychiatric illness even in forensic settings, contrary to their apparent self-interest. They reviewed their records for forensic assessments of dissimulators and malingerers and classified dissimulators as "intentional" or "uninsightful" depending on whether their concealment of symptoms appeared to be a volitional act or driven by a lack of insight. Although there were obvious diagnostic differences, the only other significant difference between malingerers and dissimulators was that malingerers were more likely to be facing charges related to financial crimes. Uninsightful dissimulators were significantly older than were intentional dissimulators. Uninsightful dissimulators were also more likely to be psychotic, particularly delusional and schizophrenic, than were intentional dissimulators. While forensic psychiatrists are vigilant in attempts to detect malingering, these data suggest that they...

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Types of Injuries and Interrelated Conditions of Victims and Assailants in Attempted and Homicidal Strangulation

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Abstract:

The injuries of victims surviving strangulation were separated into six distinct types characteristic for strangulation, with one hand, with two hands from the front, with two hands from behind, by pressing the larynx with two thumbs, by ligature, and by putting the forearm or the elbow region around the neck. These types of injuries could also be recognized on the murdered victims. Besides the signs of strangulation, 43% of the surviving victims had head injuries. If the strangulation was attempted in connection with rape, the body injuries were usually not severe, but self-defence injuries were seen in 73% of the cases. The body injuries of the victims of maltreatment and murder were severe but self-defence injuries were seen only in 20% and 30% respectively. Conjunctival petechiae were seen on 14 out of 79 surviving victims but only 8 of them became unconscious and only 4 experienced sphincter incontinence, which suggests that the...

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The Reliability Of Forensic Osteology — A Case In Point: Case Study

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Abstract

The medico-legal investigation of skeletons is a trans-disciplinary effort by forensic scientists as well as physical anthropologists. The advent of DNA extraction and amplification from bones and teeth has led to the assumption that morphological assessment of skeletal remains might soon become obsolete. But despite the introduction and success of molecular biology, the analysis of skeletal biology will remain an integral part of the identification process. This is due to the fact, that the skeletal record allows relatively fast and accurate inferences about the identity of the victim. Moreover, a standard biological profile may be established to effectively narrow the police investigator’s search parameters. The following study demonstrates how skeletal biology may collaborate in the forensic investigation and support DNA fingerprinting evidence.

In this case, the information gained from standard morphological methods about the unknown person’s sex, age and heritage immediately led the police to suspect, that the remains...

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