Homicide in Singapore

Singapore has one of the lowest crime (and homicide) rates in the industrialized world. Since no prior published study has analyzed the patterns of homicide in Singapore, this study presents data comparing homicide patterns in Singapore to the U.S. Overall, the U.S. homicide rate was found to be 5 times greater than the Singapore rate. Variation between the sexes and across racial/ethnic groups was much less in Singapore than the U.S. The sharpest difference in homicide between Singapore and the U.S. involved gun homicides and the death penalty. Gun homicide rates in the U.S. were found to be 197 times the Singapore rate while the death penalty was utilized 15 times as often in Singapore.     

Homicide by fire

A study of homicide perpetrated by fire was performed on the case files of the Office of the Medical Examiner of Metropolitan Dade County in Miami, Florida, during the years from 1977 until 1984. A total of 26 cases were collected and analyzed as to age, race, sex, and the cause of death of the victim along with the blood alcohol content, the drugs detected at autopsy, and the blood carboxyhemoglobin level. Additionally noted were the geographic location of the terminal incident, the scene circumstances, how the fire started, who started the fire, and the reason for the fire. The most common victim was a 31-50-year-old white man who died from smoke inhalation while sober. Commonly, drugs detected were negative, and the carboxyhemoglobin levels were elevated. The fire occurred at "home" while the victim was sleeping. Usually, a flammable liquid was poured and ignited by a drifter who was a brief acquaintance and earlier involved in an argument with the victim.     

Crime Scene Staging in Homicide

A nonrandom national U.S. sample of 946 homicide crime scenes--supplied by the FBI Behavioral Science Unit for purposes of research--was studied to delineate the prevalence, types, levels, and motives for staging in domestic, nonserial sexual, serial sexual, and general felony homicides. Stagers were found to be a relatively small group who employ a variety of methods to alter the crime scene in an attempt to redirect the investigation away from themselves as logical suspects. Results also suggest that different types of homicides have different staging rates based primarily on the relationship (or connection) between offender and victim. Implications for investigations and understanding this type of crime scene behavior are discussed.     

Homicide by burning

Compared to the total number of deaths by heat (burning, scalding), homicides by the direct effect of thermal energy (setting the victim on fire, pouring hot liquids over them) are rare; accordingly this subject is seldom dealt with in forensic and criminological literature. From our own autopsy material three cases are presented describing some peculiarities of homicide by heat. Sometimes additional findings (e.g., residual traces of gagging or tying) primarily point in the direction of homicide.     

Homicide by methane gas

Two cases of sudden death due to myocardial infarction which were associated external injuries on the chest are discussed here. Injuries were in the form of abraded contusions on the anterior part of chest. Both the cases were declared dead on arrival to the casualty section (Accident and Emergencies Department). In these cases, mention of injuries was not made in the inquest report. In both the cases, suspicion of foul play or the trauma induced myocardial infarction were ruled out by inquiring into the incidents by the autopsy surgeon. The cases highlight the importance of detailed history by the autopsy surgeon in cases of sudden death with associated injuries on the front of the chest.     

Homicide by decubitus ulcers

Traditionally, the only penalties for poor treatment of nursing home patients have been civil lawsuits against nursing homes and their employees by families, or fines and license suspension by government organizations. Recently, government agencies have become much more aggressive in citing institutions for the development of decubitus ulcers (pressure sores) in their patients. A few government institutions have concluded that in some cases, the development of ulcers with resultant death is so grievous that there should be criminal prosecution of the individuals and/or institutions providing care. A leader in this concept has been the State of Hawaii. In November 2000, the State of Hawaii convicted an individual of manslaughter in the death of a patient at an adult residential care home (a form of nursing home) for permitting the progression of decubitus ulcers without seeking medical help, and for not bringing the patient back to a physician for treatment of the ulcers.     

Homicide by insulin administration

This report describes a case of homicide by insulin administration and a study of the effects of storage conditions on insulin in serum. The study revealed insulin to be remarkably stable at refrigerator temperatures. Therefore, for forensic science purposes, insulin immunoassay data are interpretable even when serum is not stored by the standard laboratory method of freezing.     

Homicide by starvation.

Homicide by starvation is a very rare occurrence, especially when the victim is ambulant. This paper presents a case where the death of the individual went undiscovered for more than 3 weeks. A successful conviction for murder ensued. The paper also discusses social and pathological problems associated with this crime.     

Homicide by firearms in two Scandinavian capitals

In the Oslo and Copenhagen areas, 83 homicides by firearms were registered in the 10-year period 1985 to 1994, accounting for 19.3% of all homicides in that period. The majority of the victims were between 20 and 50 years old, and 58% were male, 42% female. The yearly number of firearm homicides varied between 4 and 15, with neither an increase nor decrease throughout the period. Most of the victims had no detectable blood alcohol at autopsy. Female victims were typically shot in their own domicile with a shotgun by their spouse, mostly because of jealousy or in a family argument, whereas male victims were shot on different locations, predominantly with a handgun, for many different reasons. Most victims were shot in the head, and few had entrance wounds in more than one anatomic region.     

Homicide in Cape Town, South Africa

All autopsies performed on homicide victims at the Salt River police mortuary, Cape Town, in the first 6 months of 1986 were reviewed. Most of the homicides that had occurred in Cape Town were as a result of stab wounds to the chest. Smaller, but significant, numbers of homicides were as a result of stab wounds to the head and neck, blunt injury to the head, or gunshot wounds. Homicidal burning also has occurred in civil unrest situations. Infanticide was rarely encountered. Alcohol was detected in the homicide victims in 62.9% of cases; 8.4% had a blood alcohol concentration higher than 0.30 g/100 ml. Our figures confirm that Cape Town has one of the highest homicide rates in the world (56.9/100,000 per annum for 1986). Homicides in Cape Town are characterized by assaults with sharp instruments, usually knives, although "pangas," or cane knives, are also commonly used.     

Families of Homicide Victims: Service Utilization Patterns of Extra- and Intrafamilial Homicide Survivors

Homicides precipitate numerous problems for victims' families that can be eased, in part, by counseling, case management, and court advocacy services. Guided by a crisis theory framework, the records of 112 homicide victims' family members (or survivors) served by a public victims assistance agency were examined to discern typical service utilization patterns and differences for survivors of intrafamilial homicides (i.e., cases in which the perpetrator was a family member of the victim). Results indicated that survivors of intrafamilial homicides utilized services during the initial 8-week crisis period following the homicide more than other survivors, yet used services less during the subsequent 8-week period. The findings substantiated the application of crisis theory to studying the experiences of survivors and underscored the importance of considering survivors' familial relationships to perpetrators in the provision of services.     

Homicide and suicide by aircraft

A report of simultaneous homicide and suicide by aircraft is presented. This confirms the view of Phillips (Science, 201 (1978) 748–750), that despite the previous absence of similar reports in the history of civil aviation, such incidents may occur, and that therefore murder and suicide should be considered as a possible cause of aircraft accidents.     

An Assessment of the Quality of Homicide Data in the Supplementary Homicide Reports: A Research Note

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) is a national-level incident-based data clearinghouse for homicide events in the USA used in countless research studies to track homicide trends, test theory, and analyze policy. Despite its wide use, the SHR has well-known limitations. This research note examines the accuracy of the information in the SHR by comparing homicide cases in Newark, New Jersey with their respective data to determine the level of disagreement between the data sources, which variables exhibit the greatest disagreement, and the case-related variables related to the disagreement. Uniquely, we do this for cases where offenders are known in the SHR. Our findings suggest that variables such as victim-offender relationship and circumstance have high disagreement even when the SHR reports an offender, and that the most important covariate of this is time to close the homicide investigation with an arrest. Research implications of the results are discussed.     

Homicide by manual occipitoatlantal dislocation

Occipitoatlantal dislocation is usually seen as a fatal injury in traffic accidents and has rarely been reported as a consequence of a homicide. The authors report the case of a women presenting a fatal occipitoatlantal dislocation, the circumstances of which pointed to a homicidal origin. Blood extravasation surrounding the muscles of the posterior part of the neck as well as abnormal mobility of the cranio-cervical joint was noted during autopsy; thus a complete dissection of this region was performed. This led to the finding of a fracture of the left occipital condyle and of the left superior articular facet of the atlas. This case clearly demonstrates the need to perform a large, systematic, posterior approach to the upper cervical spine, completed by the opening of the skull around the posterior fossa, when injury to the cranio-cervical junction is suspected. In these cases, the classic anterior approach give poor information and poor dissection possibilities.     

雇凶杀人犯罪研究

雇凶杀人犯罪是指行为人为达到某种目的 ,以钱财、利益等为条件 ,雇请他人谋杀与行为人有着某种特殊关系的人的一种犯罪行为。雇主的心理动因主要源于自我保护和借刀杀人的需要 ,雇凶的心理动因主要源于强烈的侥幸心理和贪图钱财或某种利益的欲望。对雇凶杀人犯罪可从四个方面进行分类。雇凶杀人犯罪具有犯罪行为的预谋性、暴力性和内隐性等四个方面的特点。     

Homicide as Infectious Disease: Using Public Health Methods to Investigate the Diffusion of Homicide

This study examined the spatial and temporal movement of homicide in Newark, New Jersey from January 1982 through September 2008. We hypothesized that homicide would diffuse in a similar process to an infectious disease with firearms and gangs operating as the infectious agents. A total of 2,366 homicide incidents were analyzed using SaTScan v.9.0, a cluster detection software. The results revealed spatio-temporal patterns of expansion diffusion: overall, firearm and gang homicide clusters in Newark evolved from a common area in the center of the city and spread southward and westward over the course of two decades. This pattern of movement has implications in regards to the susceptibility of populations to homicide, particularly because northern and eastern Newark remained largely immune to homicide clusters. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings, as well as recommendations for future research, are discussed.     

Homicide by sharp force in two Scandinavian capitals

In the Oslo and Copenhagen capital areas, 141 homicides by sharp force were committed in the ten-year period 1985-1994. This method accounted for 33% of the homicides in this period. Thirty-five percent of the victims were female, and most of the victims were between 20 and 50 years of age. The majority of the male victims were killed by an acquaintance, the females by their spouse. Sixty-five percent of the male and 37% of the female victims had alcohol in their blood. The majority of the female victims had lesions in 3-4 anatomical regions, while the males most often had lesions in only one anatomical region. Seventy-nine percent of the females and 36% of the males had self-defence injuries in the upper extremities. In 21 cases (15%) the offender was a woman, 19 of their victims being male; the weapon in these cases was most often a kitchen knife. Seventy-eight percent of the females and 49% of the males were killed in their own home. The most common circumstance was family row when the victim was female, while a fight was the most common circumstance when the victim was male. Three offenders committed suicide after having committed homicide(s) (seven victims; three offenders).