A 70-year study of femicides at the Forensic Medicine department, University of Bologna (Italy)

Giorgetti, Arianna; Fais, Paolo; Giovannini, Elena; Palazzo, Chiara; Filipuzzi, Ilenia; Pelletti, Guido; Pelotti, Susi

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2022.111210

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In most cases, a relationship between victim and perpetrator existed. 23 They also noted an increase in family homicides. A 20-year study in Milan found 73.5% of cases the victim was related to the perpetrator.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Victim–perpetrator relationship, age and method of homicide in intimate and non-intimate cases of femicide from the republic of Ireland

Manifold

2023

Med Sci Law

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This study presents a review of femicides over 31 years (1991–2021) from the Republic of Ireland. A total of 253 cases were located and reviewed, of those 125 were intimate partner homicides (IPH) and 128 non-intimate homicides (NIH). One hundred and ninety-nine (78%) girls and women were killed by a male known to them – intimate partner (husband, partner, boyfriend, ex-partner, ex-boyfriend) (n = 125; 48%), family members (son, grandson, brother, cousin) ( n = 25; 10%) and/or acquaintances ( n = 49; 19%) from adolescence to old age. Thirty-one (12%) were killed by a stranger and 23 cases remain unsolved at this time. The method of killing depended on the relationship and age of the victim and perpetrator. The majority of IPH victims were less than 45 years of age ( n = 101). Twenty-four were over 45 years of which six were over 60 years of age. The leading method of killing in IPHs was stabbing and strangulation and this was more prevalent in those aged between 26 and 45 years. As age increases, IPH decreases with the exception of cases of IP homicide-suicide. Adolescents (13–19 years) and young women (20–25 years) were more often killed by strangulation. Strangulation was also the leading cause of death in stranger killings particularly with sexual violence. There were 20 cases of matricide, with 17 perpetrators suffering from a mental illness at the time of the killing. The leading method of homicide in non-intimate homicides was blunt force trauma.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Victim–perpetrator relationship, age and method of homicide in intimate and non-intimate cases of femicide from the republic of Ireland

Manifold

2023

Med Sci Law

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“…If violence is not hypothesized and maltreatment not suspected, nothing will be done to protect the patient’s health and life [ 23 ]. Therefore, violence should begin to be considered on the same level as any other disease [ 24 ] and, if not diagnosed and addressed, can lead to health deterioration or even have lethal outcomes, as in the case of feminicides [ 25 , 26 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consequences of the lack of clinical forensic medicine in emergency departments

et al. 2023

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Most victims of physical violence sooner or later will access a hospital or medical cabinet because of that violence, and in particular emergency departments (EDs). This paper aims to analyze the performance of emergency ward clinicians in the forensic management of such victims by examining the activities carried out and the data reported. A total of 991 medical records were extrapolated from the database of the ED of the Policlinico of Milan in an average pre-pandemic 1-year activity. For each medical record, 16 parameters were analyzed in-depth including epidemiological data, information on the type of violent actions, injuries, and time between the infliction of the lesion and access to the ED. In the vast majority of cases, all the actions with medicolegal implications had been neglected by health professionals causing loss of data not only for the justice system but especially for correctly interpreting what happened and taking appropriate measures to protect the patient/victim. Hence, given that clinicians in EDs are busy with non-forensic clinical tasks (and rightly so), it should be ensured that there be specific forensic clinical personnel. However, it is crucial that when unfortunately there can be no forensic staff, at least the clinicians who work in the ED are properly trained to correctly apply essential medicolegal measures. Overall, timely and informed medical and forensic intervention is possible and necessary for the improvement and maintenance of the mental and physical health of victims of violence.

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“…The increasing awareness of this phenomenon has led the Italian Parliament to introduce new laws and promote measures aimed at providing protection for women and, thus, at preventing femicide since 2019; nonetheless, the increasing number of such crimes testifies to a flaw in such preventive strategies. Possible explanations might lie in incomplete knowledge of the real extension, mechanisms, and evolution of the phenomenon due not only to the lack of standardized methodologies but also to missing/fragmented information from police officers, legal professionals, hospitals, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and medico-legal departments [10,11]. This context leads to the consideration of femicide as a preventable death that should be treated as a social and public health problem and a distinct form of homicide in the legal code.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Femicide Circumstances and Harmfulness: Case Report and Focusing Review

Stassi,

La Mantia,

Lo Re

et al. 2024

Diagnostics

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(1) Background: Femicide is an increasing phenomenon consisting of the murder of a woman for gender-related reasons. Despite the enactment of new laws aimed at controlling the phenomenon by toughening the penalties and introducing aggravating circumstances, there is an increasing trend that testifies to the persistence of a flaw in the actual measures. (2) Case Presentation. We report the case of the murder of a 32-year-old woman—perpetrated by an ex-husband who refused to accept the end of the marriage—the analysis of which allowed us to frame the case as femicide. (3) Discussion. Despite global awareness of this phenomenon, the identification of risk factors to predict and prevent femicide is of utmost importance. This can be achieved by a multidisciplinary approach involving police officers, legal professionals, hospitals, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, and medico-legal departments aimed at promoting standardized methodologies. (4) Conclusions. We evaluate the contribution of forensic investigations to the identification of key elements that can help frame the murder of a woman as a femicide. Considering the devastating consequences for children who witness this kind of violence within the domestic setting, the planning of more impactful preventive actions is, thus, mandatory to minimize effects on public health.

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A 70-year study of femicides at the Forensic Medicine department, University of Bologna (Italy)

Cited by 16 publications

References 23 publications

Victim–perpetrator relationship, age and method of homicide in intimate and non-intimate cases of femicide from the republic of Ireland

Victim–perpetrator relationship, age and method of homicide in intimate and non-intimate cases of femicide from the republic of Ireland

Consequences of the lack of clinical forensic medicine in emergency departments

Femicide Circumstances and Harmfulness: Case Report and Focusing Review

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