Quantifying Homicide Injuries: A Swedish Time Trend Study Using the Homicide Injury Scale

Abstract

Studies report that the homicide rate has decreased considerably in most Western countries since the 1990s. However, few studies have examined the level of injury in homicides. The injury severity in homicide victims was studied in the Stockholm area using both the Homicide Injury Scale (HIS) and the number of lethal injuries per victim. Cases were included from four periods; 1976-78, 1986- 88, 1996-98, and 2006-08. The number of homicides with overkill according to the HIS was significantly higher in 1996-98 compared to 1976-78. Compared with 1976-78, the number of lethal injuries per victim was significantly higher both in 1986-88 and 1996-98. There are various possible reasons for the changes, including a brutalization of lethal violence or a more effective trauma care. More in-depth analysis of individual cases together with research on victims of attempted homicides is needed to explain these shifts in injury severity.

The usefulness of a trauma probability of survival model for forensic life-threatening danger assessments

“…Lastly and perhaps most importantly, we consider an important strength to be the evaluation of the performance of the forensic protocol regarding life-threatening danger assessments. At present, most of the forensic studies concerning trauma scoring have been focused on postmortem documentation and severity quantification of the injuries [3][4][5][6][7]. Since 2017, CFM examinations have accounted for the majority of the forensic regulatory tasks, compared to the number of autopsies.…”

“…Several forensic studies have examined the applicability of trauma scoring for postmortem documentation of injuries by quantifying the injury severity at autopsy [3][4][5][6][7][8]. However, few studies have examined the potential of trauma scoring for the prediction of mortality in the CFM setting.…”

Association between homicide injury severity and benzodiazepine influence

“…There are also variants of the SAIS in which only injuries to specific body parts are added, such as the SAIS face [ 13 ]. Using injury severity scores, previous studies have found changes in injury severity over time [ 16 , 23 ] and associations between injury severity and the victim–offender relationship [ 13 ], as well as other homicide characteristics [ 25 ]. Thus, injury scores have proven to be useful in homicide research and facilitate a scientific approach to this aspect of criminology.…”

“…Such ambiguities have a negative effect on interrater reliability and complicate comparisons between studies. To make injury severity measurements more objective, some homicide studies have used injury severity scores, which are normally used in general trauma research [12][13][14][15][16]. Injury severity scores are derived from various methods that use a single number to quantify a person's injuries.…”

“…Other studies have used injury severity scores designed specifically for homicide victims [13][14][15][16][23][24][25]. The Homicide Injury Scale (HIS) is a sixgrade scale that takes into account both the cause of death and the severity of related injuries [25].…”