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Title: Overkilling : analysis of homicides with more injuries inflicted than needed to kill
Abstract:
Introduction: "Overkilling" is a term that does not so far have a uniform and generally accepted definition. In forensic medicine, it is arbitrarily assigned to cases of homicide with an unusually large amount of injuries, in Poland usually inflicted with the use of hard, blunt or sharp and pointy tools. Homicides committed in a particularly aggressive manner, are ad hoc attributed to people who are deeply mentally and emotionally disturbed. The search for perpetrators of homicides proceeds in very different ways, from quick identification and capturing the perpetrator, to tedious and lengthy investigations, sometimes ineffective. Thus, it is necessary to thoroughly examine the phenomenon, also statistically. Aim: 1) assessment of the phenomenon of "overkilling" in comparison to other homicides in the Polish population, with the division of the analysed parameters into five categories regarding: bodily injuries, the victim, the perpetrator, the murder weapon and the circumstances of the event, 2) verification of the possibility of establishing an unambiguous definition of “overkilling” homicides on the basis of the obtained results. Material and method: The paper is based on a retrospective study. The material includes 167 pre-assessed homicide cases in which forensic autopsies were performed in the Department of Forensic Medicine of the Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicu ; m in Krakow in the years 2004–2016. From the gathered cases, a thorough analysis of the full case files obtained with the consent of the court was made for 70 cases - 38 cases of "overkilling" and 32 other homicides. Each case was assessed using five categories of parameters: bodily injuries, the victim, the perpetrator, murder weapon and circumstances of the incident. Obtained results were statistically analysed using the Imago Pro SPSS program. Results and conclusions: Detailed results of the conducted analysis are presented in extensive tables annexed with individual publications. On their basis "overkilling" can be characterized as a type of homicide in which the number of injuries exceeds to varying degrees the number needed to cause death. The introduced Deadly Wound Factor (DWF), which is the quotient of the number of all wounds and the number of fatal wounds, allowed for a gradation of the phenomenon of "overkilling" in the analysed material. In the "overkilling" group, when injuries from sharp instruments occurred, they were most often localized on the trunk, neck and limbs, while when injuries from blunt instruments occurred, they more often affected the head. Victims were most often 40-50 years old, more often with reduced abilities of resistance, lying or sitting when the perpetrator attacked. A characteristic feature was also the occurrence of a large number of def ; ensive injuries to the victim, as well as the presence of post mortem injuries on the corpse. The perpetrators were almost exclusively men, aged around 35, relatively rarely under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident. Most often, the perpetrator was unrelated to the victim, but they could be in a close relationship, the perpetrators often tried to hide the act after the fact, trying to cover up their tracks to varying degrees. They were people with various types of education, but mostly elementary, and with various levels of intelligence, very often mentally disturbed, usually suffering from personality disorders or acute or chronic psychotic disorders. “Overkilling” type homicides were not characterized by a high level of planning by the perpetrator: more often they did not prepare the weapon in advance, even though they owned it or had access to it, and they usually carried out the killing at random locations without luring the victim to them beforehand. “Overkillers” sometimes beat up the victim before the murder, or robbed them after the murder, but very rarely they restrained them or endowed the whole event with symbolic features. The conclusions drawn from the publications in the doctoral dissertation, apart from their usefulness in everyday forensic medical practice, may be used by the legal authorities and investigative services in cases where the perpet ; rator is not identified immediately after disclosing the fact of homicide, providing information about the typicality of a number of dependencies, potentially allowing for a faster and more effective resolution of the case. Nevertheless formulating an unambiguous definition of the phenomenon of "overkilling" would require a similarly extensive analysis of factors analogous to those considered in this paper, carried out for populations of an appropriate size, other than polish.
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Rada Dyscypliny Nauki medyczne
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Last modified:
Nov 29, 2024
In our library since:
May 22, 2024
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13
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http://dl.cm-uj.krakow.pl:8080/publication/5111
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| Edition name | Date |
|---|---|
| ZB-140336 | Nov 29, 2024 |
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