Child homicide in northern Tunisia: a retrospective study of forensic autopsy cases

Abstract

Background As far as we know, no previous research has investigated child homicide in Tunisia. In this context, our study was carried out to analyze the epidemiological and medico-legal characteristics of child homicide occurring in northern Tunisia over a 17-year period. Results Eighty-seven cases were collected, with a male-to-female ratio of 2.4. The mean age of the victims was 12.6 years for both sexes. We found that 56.3% of the cases were aged between 15 and 18 years. The majority of deaths under 15 years of age occurred at home as a result of intrafamilial homicide. Victims aged more than 15 years were more likely to be assaulted outside the home by a non-family member. The most frequent method of homicide was sharp force (39%) affecting mostly the heart and the lung, followed by blunt trauma (25%), which affected mainly the head. Sexual assault was diagnosed at autopsy in six victims (6.9%). Conclusions The study offers available data concerning the patterns of child homicide in northern Tunisia and may help to implement preventive measures against this kind of crime.

Patterns of Unnatural Deaths Among Children and Adolescents: Autopsy Study (2011-2018)

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the first Tunisian study to address all types of unnatural deaths in children. Previous articles discussing the epidemiological profile of head injuries in hospitalized children, 10 child homicide, 11,12 child suicide, 13 and even domestic accidents 14 have been published, but there are few studies to date that have raised the problem in a global context. In our study, 767 cases were retained with an overall average of 96 examined children/year, and a mortality rate of non-natural causes in children in northern Tunisia of 8.5 deaths/100,000 children/year.…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, this is the first Tunisian study to address all types of unnatural deaths in children. Previous articles discussing the epidemiological profile of head injuries in hospitalized children, 10 child homicide, 11,12 child suicide, 13 and even domestic accidents 14 have been published, but there are few studies to date that have raised the problem in a global context.…”

A postmortem study of unexpected natural pediatric deaths in Egypt

“…Therefore, a significant number of sudden pediatric deaths are subjected to a medicolegal autopsy; however, most of the pediatric autopsy series were concerned with violent deaths rather than sudden natural deaths. Managing unexpected deaths Page 2 of 9 Fnon et al Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences (2022) 12:55 during childhood necessitates adequate knowledge and experience regarding natural fatal pathologies that differ between children and adults (Rizivi and Herath, 2017;Grayaa et al 2021;Feld et al 2022). Forensic medicine practice is well established decades ago in Egypt.…”