Women Victims of Violent Partners: The Italian Situation Amid Culture and Psychopathology

In 2006, the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) conducted a survey over the entire national territory of women victims of sexual, physical, and psychologic violence, a few years after the first survey, conducted in 2002. For the 2002 survey, respondents were 60,000 women, 22,759 of whom were aged 14–59 years. For the 2006 survey, the sample consisted of 25,000 women aged 16–70 years. Owing to the sensitivity of the issues, the telephone survey technique seems best suited because it provides more anonymity and guarantee of protection. The survey showed that the phenomenon of violence against women is most commonly perpetrated by the partner or ex‐partner, even in cases of homicide. A comparison of the Italian data with those of the U.S.A. for the period 2001–2006 showed a specificity of Intimate Partner Violence in Italy, that seems to be related to cultural elements and psychologic and psychopathologic factors.     

论虐待罪法律规制的范畴——以北京董珊珊案件为例

立法者设立虐待罪是为了加强对家庭内弱势群体人身的特殊保护,将发生在家庭成员之间不符合其他犯罪而又长期存在的轻微伤害行为用法律加以规制,虐待罪与故意伤害等罪是位阶的关系,对董珊珊被殴打致死的恶性故意伤害案件,应当以故意杀人罪和虐待罪数罪并罚。     

Stranger sexual homicide: an exploratory behavioural analysis of offender crime scene actions

ABSTRACT

This study explores the role and function of homicidal and sexual violence in cases of stranger sexual homicide. The aim was to determine whether the instrumental/expressive hypothesis of physical violence and the overt/covert hypothesis of sexual violence applies to this crime. The method involved an analysis of the crime scene actions of 81 British stranger sexual killers using multidimensional scaling. Results suggest the instrumental/expressive hypothesis of physical violence and the overt/covert hypothesis of sexual violence does apply to stranger sexual homicide but they manifest as instrumental/overt and expressive/covert superordinate themes comprising four sub-themes reflecting rape, impersonal sexual assault, overkill and control. Although these superordinate themes can explain some stranger sexual homicides, a key hypothesis of this study is that the four sub-themes can also combine into different superordinate themes, knowledge of which can aid our understanding of this serious and deviant form of interpersonal violence.     

Barriers to safety* for victims of domestic homicide

ABSTRACT

Research on domestic homicide has focused on risk factors presented by perpetrators such as prior violence, threats to kill, stalking, access to weapons, mental health concerns, controlling behaviour and separation. However, there has been less focus on the barriers that victims face regarding finding support, increasing personal safety and decreasing violence and risk of homicide. The present study explored 20 potential barriers that female domestic homicide victims faced using 183 cases occurring between 2002 and 2012 from the Ontario (Canada) Domestic Violence Death Review Committee to examine the presence and frequency of these barriers within the sample. Using two-step cluster analysis, different profiles of barriers were identified that centred on victims’ fear, social isolation and mental health. The study is limited in being a post hoc analysis of homicides and no causal links can be made. The implications of this finding are discussed in the context of risk assessment, risk management and safety planning.     

Piquerism in homicide: A knife wound analysis of a sexually motivated serial killer

As part of a wider research project into paraphilic disorders and homicide, a case is presented of a piquerist who achieved sexual satisfaction through the infliction of stabbing wounds. Against a background of sexual domination with willing and unwilling sexual partners, the offender stabbed four men to death. A study of the resulting autopsy reports, in association with the offender's testimony and crime scene documentation, was undertaken to discern a piquerist crime scene signature. An excessive number of stabbing wounds, the targeting of sexual areas, and a variation in wound size and depth were found to be evidence of piquerism. Although there was opportunity to commit a sexual assault upon victims, the preference was to penetrate them with a knife. It is contended that, even without any evidence of sexual assault at a crime scene, a knife wound analysis can reveal a sexual motivation in some cases of homicide.     

False allegation of child abduction

Cases in which a child has been falsely reported as missing or abducted can be extremely challenging to the law enforcement agencies responsible for their investigation. In the absence of a witnessed abduction or an obvious crime scene, it is difficult to determine whether a child has actually been abducted or has become a victim of a homicide and a false allegation. The purpose of this study was to examine falsely alleged kidnapping cases and identify successful investigative strategies. Sixty-one adjudicated false allegation cases involving 66 victims were analyzed. The mean age of the victim was 5 years. Victims came from generally unstable, high-risk family situations and were killed primarily by biological parents. Victims were killed because they were unwanted or viewed as an obstacle to a desired goal, or they were victims of abuse or maltreatment that ended in fatality.     

Different Mechanisms of Decapitation: Three Classic and One Unique Case History

Abstract: Three classic cases and one exceptional case are reported. The unique case of decapitation took place in a traffic accident, while the others were seen after homicide, vehicle‐assisted suicide, and after long‐jump hanging. Thorough scene examinations were performed, and photographs from the scene were available in all cases. Through the autopsy of each case, the mechanism for the decapitation in each case was revealed. The severance lines were through the neck and the cervical vertebral column, except for in the motor vehicle accident case, where the base of skull was fractured. This case was also unusual as the mechanism was blunt force. In the homicide case, the mechanism was the use of a knife combined with a saw, while in the two last cases, a ligature made the cut through the neck. The different mechanisms in these decapitations are suggested.     

Fingering a Murderer: A Successful Anthropological and Radiological Collaboration*

Abstract: We illustrate an interdisciplinary approach to identify a victim in a case with complex taphonomic and procedural issues. Burning, fragmentation, species commingling, and examination by multiple experts required anthropological preparation and analysis combined with radiographic adaptations to image and match trabecular patterns in unusually small, burned specimens. A missing person was last seen in the company of a reclusive female on a remote rural property. A warranted search found several burn sites containing human and animal bones. Fragment preparation, analysis, and development of a biological profile by anthropologists enabled examination by the odontologist, molecular biologist, and radiologist, and justified use of antemortem radiographs from one potential victim. Visual and radiological comparison resulted in a positive (later confirmed) identification of the victim by radiological matches of three carpal phalanges. Although some dimensional changes are expected with burning, morphological details were preserved, aided by selection of relatively intact, small bones for comparison.     

An Empirical Analysis of 30 Years of U.S. Juvenile and Adult Sexual Homicide Offender Data: Race and Age Differences in the Victim–Offender Relationship

Abstract: Little is known about the racial patterns of crimes committed by sexual homicide offenders (SHOs). This study examined race and age influences on victim–offender relationship for juvenile and adult SHOs. A large sample (N = 3868) from the Supplemental Homicide Reports (1976–2005) was used. Analyses of victim–offender patterns included examining victim age effects (child, adolescent, adult, and elderly). The findings revealed several race‐ and age‐based differences. Black offenders were significantly overrepresented in the SHO population. This finding held for juveniles and adults independently. White SHOs were highly likely to kill within their race, “intra‐racially” (range 91–100%) across four victim age categories, whereas Black SHOs killed both intra‐racially (range 24–82%) and inter‐racially (18–76%), with the likelihood of their killing inter‐racially increasing as the age of the victim increased. This study underscores the importance of considering victim–offender racial patterns in sexual murder investigations, and it offers practical implications for offender profiling.