Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, Unit of Legal Medicine and Toxicology, University of Padova, Via Falloppio 50, Padova 35100, Italy.
Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, Unit of Legal Medicine and Toxicology, University of Padova, Via Falloppio 50, Padova 35100, Italy.
Forensic Sci Int. 2024 Aug;361:112084. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2024.112084. Epub 2024 Jun 5.
Violence against women is a significant public health concern, with femicide as its most extreme manifestation. This crime is often perpetrated by current or former intimate partners, thus taking the name of intimate partner femicide (IPF). Although international comparisons are essential for prevention policies, cross-country comparative studies are scarce in this context. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare clinical, epidemiological and medico-legal characteristics of IPF autopsy cases investigated at the Institutes of Legal Medicine of two Western European cities, in order to identify a potential medico-legal pattern of IPF. Autopsy and police reports of IPF cases occurred in the judicial district of Freiburg (Germany) and Padova (Italy) from 2000 to 2022 were analyzed. Data relating to victims, perpetrators, relationship context, and circumstantial and pathological-forensic characteristics of the homicide were collected. Statistical analyses were performed to explore potential relationships between the data collected. Additionally, a review of the literature dealing with autopsy-based studies on IPF was performed. Overall, 82 cases of IPF were analyzed, 39 from Freiburg and 43 from Padova. A total of 6 papers fulfilled the review inclusion criteria. Our study identified a medico-legal pattern of IPF and demonstrated that it did not vary substantially between the two European Countries considered, suggesting that certain IPF characteristics are shared at the European level. However, a significant finding emerged regarding the higher prevalence of firearm-related IPFs in Italy compared to Germany. Forensic pathology research might contribute to developing targeted prevention policies to protect women from this lethal form of violence.
针对妇女的暴力行为是一个重大的公共卫生问题，其中杀女性暴力行为是其最极端的表现形式。这种犯罪通常是由现任或前任亲密伴侣实施的，因此被称为亲密伴侣杀女性暴力行为（IPF）。尽管国际比较对于预防政策至关重要，但在这方面，跨国比较研究很少。本研究旨在评估和比较在两个西欧城市的法医研究所调查的 IPF 尸检案例的临床、流行病学和法医学特征，以确定 IPF 的潜在法医学模式。分析了 2000 年至 2022 年在弗莱堡（德国）和帕多瓦（意大利）司法管辖区发生的 IPF 案件的尸检和警方报告。收集了与受害者、犯罪者、关系背景以及凶杀案的环境和病理法医特征有关的数据。进行了统计分析以探索收集到的数据之间的潜在关系。此外，还对涉及 IPF 尸检研究的文献进行了综述。总体而言，分析了 82 例 IPF 案例，其中 39 例来自弗莱堡，43 例来自帕多瓦。共有 6 篇论文符合综述纳入标准。我们的研究确定了 IPF 的法医学模式，并表明它在两个欧洲国家之间没有显著差异，这表明在欧洲层面上存在某些 IPF 特征。然而，一个重要的发现是意大利与德国相比，枪支相关的 IPF 更为普遍。法医学研究可能有助于制定有针对性的预防政策，以保护妇女免受这种致命形式的暴力。
