This study provides a statistical analysis of 1,226 cases of death occurring in Area 8, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (Gangseo, Yangcheon, and Guro Police Stations) from January 1 to December 31, 2017. There were 427 postmortem inspection cases in Gangseo, 393 in Yangcheon, 377 in Guro, and 29 in other areas. The number of autopsy cases was 69 in Gangseo, 70 in Yangcheon, 86 in Guro, and seven in other areas. According to the postmortem inspection reports, there were 593 cases of natural death and 336 cases of unnatural death, while in 297 cases the cause of death was unknown. Of the 297 unknown cases, autopsy rates from each police station were as follows: 54 of 99 cases (54.5%) in Gangseo, 60 of 101 cases (59.4%) in Yangcheon, 67 of 93 cases (72.0%) in Guro, and in all four cases (100%) from other areas. Unnatural deaths included 215 cases of suicide, nine cases of homicide, and 64 accidental death, while 48 cases were undetermined. Among the unnatural deaths, the cause of death included 138 cases of hanging, 72 cases of falls from a height, and 32 cases of poisoning. Since this statistical study is based on actual postmortem inspection data for 1,226 cases of death in the eight areas of Seoul (excluding deaths from traffic accidents), it raises issues relating to the current postmortem inspection system, and can be used as reference material for a comprehensive overview of causes of death.
Accidental Falls ; Autopsy ; Cause of Death ; Homicide ; Humans ; Poisoning ; Police ; Seoul ; Statistics as Topic ; Suicide

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the key points, difficulties and relevant practical experiences for analyzing the scene of solved intentional homicide cases. METHODS: The data of 88 solved intentional homicide cases in a county from 2004 to 2013 were collected and the retrospective analysis was performed. RESULTS: The number of local female victims obviously higher than non-local female victims and the number of non-local suspects is obviously higher than local suspects. The number of Male suspects showed higher compared with the female. Most of them were temporary workers, unemployment or farmers with less education backgrounds. The main causes of victims' death were mechanical injury or asphyxia. The murders were acquaintances in most intentional homicide cases. The motive of the stranger murders was commonly money. The murder behavior types of homicide cases were related with people, money and sexual assault. Camouflage and guilty behavior showed the most significance. CONCLUSION The accurate identification of suspects is one of the most important task in forensic investigation and reflects the importance of the criminal scene analysis for intentional homicide cases. It also provides the direction of future research.
Asphyxia ; Cause of Death ; Crime Victims ; Criminals ; Female ; Homicide/statistics & numerical data* ; Humans ; Male ; Mental Disorders ; Motivation ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Offenses

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relation between the behavior psychology analysis of partial mechanical injuries and the nature of death in high-falling cases, and provide reference, for such cases. METHODS: Of 311 death victims of high-falling injuries collected from 2008 to 2013, 205 cases were associated with partial mechanical injuries. The characteristics of injury formation, preliminary crime scene traces, fatal injury of high-falling, and text messages were all retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: According to the investigation of preliminary crime scene traces, fatal injury of high-falling and text message, there were 86 suicide, 24 accident and 95 uncertainty in the 205 cases. According to the behavior psychology analysis of partial mechanical injuries, there were 80 suicide, 11 accident, and 4 homicide in the 95 uncertainty cases. CONCLUSION The partial mechanical injuries uncertainly caused by high-falling correlate with the manner of high-falling death. According to the behavior psychology analysis of the partial mechanical injuries in high-falling death cases, the presumption of high-falling death is usually accurate
Accidents/statistics & numerical data* ; Cause of Death ; Death ; Female ; Forensic Pathology ; Homicide/statistics & numerical data* ; Humans ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Suicide/statistics & numerical data* ; Uncertainty ; Wounds and Injuries/pathology*

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the solved homicide cases taking place in Suzhou city and to find out the characteristics and commonness of them in order to analyze the key points of investigation at the scene. METHODS: The data of 483 solved homicide cases occurring from January 2006 to March 2010 in the city were analyzed. RESULTS: Most cases involved 1 victim and 1 suspect, with young male adults dominated. Most of them were non-local residents. The majority of suspects were intentional by passion due to quarrel and dispute. The most common weapons were sharp instruments generally carried by the suspects. Mechanical asphyxia and mechanical injury were the two most common causes of death in these cases. CONCLUSION The social characteristics of suspects, criminal motivation, injury instruments, distribution of injuries, cause of death, and manner of death in Suzhou showed similar general characteristics as the experience for detecting homicide cases in the future.
Adult ; Age Distribution ; Asphyxia/mortality* ; Cause of Death ; Crime Victims/statistics & numerical data* ; Criminal Psychology ; Female ; Forensic Pathology ; Homicide/statistics & numerical data* ; Humans ; Male ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Distribution ; Shock, Hemorrhagic/mortality* ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Weapons/statistics & numerical data* ; Wounds and Injuries/pathology*

OBJECTIVE: To explore the characteristics of the dismembered homicide cases in Shanghai and to provide the valuable guidance for forensic pathological practices. METHODS: Twenty-four cases of dismembered homicides were selected from 2005 to 2012 in Institute of Forensic Science, Shanghai Public Security Bureau. The general information of the victims and suspects, cause of death, criminal motive, postmortem body parts, tools and information of discarding body parts were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS: Among the 24 dismembered homicide cases, victims were female in 16 cases, and suspects were male in 23 cases and were acquaintances in 22 cases. The main causes of death were mechanical asphyxia and traumatic brain injury. Most of the criminal motives were emotional disputes. The number of postmortem body parts was commonly from 20 to 30. The tools were mainly sharp instruments, including kitchen knives used in 20 cases. The postmortem body parts were discarded to different transregional areas, mainly using vehicles. CONCLUSION The dismembered homicide cases in Shanghai show the following characteristics: the number of postmortem body parts is in large quantity; the methods of dismembered corpse are complex and different; the job characteristics of suspects are difficult to determine; the distance from homicide scene is far and the vehicles are commonly used.
Adult ; Age Factors ; Asphyxia/pathology* ; Autopsy ; Brain Injuries/pathology* ; Cause of Death ; China/epidemiology* ; Crime Victims/statistics & numerical data* ; Criminals/statistics & numerical data* ; Female ; Forensic Medicine ; Homicide/statistics & numerical data* ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Motivation ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Distribution ; Wounds and Injuries/pathology* ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the characteristics of recidivism in patients with mental disorders, including criminology, clinic and guardianship, in order to provide references for preventing recidivism. METHODS: Using the self-designed questionnaire, 156 psychotic patients who had repeated crimes were appraised by West China Forensic Science Center of Sichuan University from 2007 to 2011 and the data were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: In the majority of these cases, patients were male, 26-45 years old, junior high school or below diploma, unmarried, and farmers or jobless. Each patient broke law 3.26 times on average. The main crimes were intentional injury (34.6%) and murder (15.7%). Within 5 years after diagnosis with mental disorder, 56.4% of the patients committed first crime. Within 1 year after the first time breaking the law, 55.8% of them repeated crimes. The diagnoses of schizophrenia (63.5%) were in the majority. The assessment results were mostly irresponsibility (61.5%). Among the patients, 44.9% of them didn't receive treatment while 34.6% of them were out of supervision. After the first crime, 66.1% of them didn't receive criminal prosecution while only 7.1% of them went through the appraisement of forensic psychiatry. CONCLUSION Most of the patients had low education and low income. Meanwhile, low outpatient rate and pool supervision occurred in this special crowd. A good system for care and treatment of these mental patients should be built to prevent them from recidivism.
Adolescent ; Adult ; China/epidemiology* ; Crime/statistics & numerical data* ; Criminals ; Educational Status ; Female ; Forensic Psychiatry ; Homicide/statistics & numerical data* ; Humans ; Liability, Legal ; Male ; Mental Disorders/psychology* ; Middle Aged ; Personality Disorders/psychology* ; Recurrence ; Schizophrenia/epidemiology* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Violence/statistics & numerical data* ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: To explore the unidentified corpses in Shaoxing city in recent years to provide the experience for these types of corpse examination and forensic identification. METHODS: One hundred and twenty-seven unidentified corpses were collected and analyzed in the period from January 2009 to June 2011. The scene investigation, clothing examination and information of forensic investigation were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: Most of the unidentified corpses are the young male. Of them, there are 3 homicide cases. There are 92 cases (72.44%) of the corpses was found with all clothes and 72 cases (56.69%) with the belongings. There are 63 cases (49.61%) of the cases was died from downing and 15 cases (11.81%) was died from hypothermia and starvation. Cause of death in 25 cases (19.69%) was undetermined. CONCLUSION The most of unidentified corpses in Shaoxing are found in water and died from accidents. The degree of corpse putrefaction is the principal factor to analyze the cause of death.
Accidents/mortality* ; Adult ; Age Distribution ; Aged ; Cadaver ; Cause of Death ; Child, Preschool ; China ; Clothing ; Drowning/mortality* ; Female ; Forensic Medicine/methods* ; Homicide/statistics & numerical data* ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Postmortem Changes ; Sex Distribution ; Suicide/statistics & numerical data* ; Wounds and Injuries/pathology*

OBJECTIVE: To establish a database of high-fall death cases for future forensic study and practice, based on the scene investigation, injury characteristics and other informations. METHODS: Five hundred and four cases of high-fall death from 5 provinces and cities were included in the study. Data including personal information of the deceased, scene investigation, autopsy findings, history of mental illness and the results of toxicology were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: The male accidental death rate was significantly higher than that of female. No case of suicide was found in the 0-10 age group, while the suicide rate was apparently higher in the 60 years or over age group than that of accident. Most of the accident cases occurred at workplace, with head landing first and foot or lower-extremity landing first observed from height below 10 m and between 10-25 m, respectively. CONCLUSION The majority of cases have obvious conclusions. A substantial set of the cases, however, is still difficult to determine the mechanism of injury and the manner of death. So further study should be performed.
Accidental Falls ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Age Distribution ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Cause of Death ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Forensic Pathology ; Homicide/statistics & numerical data* ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Sex Distribution ; Suicide/statistics & numerical data* ; Wounds and Injuries/pathology* ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: To explore the criminal characteristics of alcohol-related offence in forensic psychiatric practice. METHODS: Ninety cases were collected according to our research criteria and were divided into two groups, ordinary drinking (OD) (63 cases) and chronic alcoholic (CA) (27 cases). Descriptive and comparative studies were conducted between the two groups. RESULTS: 54.0% OD group had induced incident compare with 22.2% CA group; 58.7% of OD group had a motive while 55.6% of CA group were with no clear motive; 66.6% of OD group had a chosen target, 51.8% of CA group with no clear target; 19.0% of OD group chose criminal time while only 3.7% of CA group did; 61.9% of OD took certain anti-detection means while 59.3% of CA group stayed at the scene. 98.4% of OD group was found guilty and only 3.7% of CA was found guilty. CONCLUSION OD group tends to have induced events, criminal motive, often are found to be guilty; CA group tends to be older, lacks awareness of self-protection during and after committing the crime, and usually is found not guilty or only partially responsible.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Alcoholism/psychology* ; Crime/statistics & numerical data* ; Criminal Psychology ; Female ; Forensic Psychiatry ; Homicide/statistics & numerical data* ; Humans ; Liability, Legal ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

INTRODUCTIONThe aim of this study was to determine the problems encountered during investigations into causes of death in corpses found in wells, sewer systems and pits, and to seek solutions to the problems. In fact, wells, sewer systems and pits have some common characteristics which may cause the problems. They contain water, have a hypoxic/anoxic environment and prevent corpses from being recognised.

MATERIALS AND METHODSBased on the data obtained from the 1st Specialization Board of the Council of Forensic Medicine, affiliated with the Ministry of Justice, we retrospectively reviewed 69 corpses found in wells, sewer systems and pits between 1 January 1992 and 31 December 2002. Data on age, sex, crime scene and causes of death were obtained and evaluated using the SPSS 11.0 package programme.

RESULTSOf 69 cases, 69.1% were male and 33.4% were aged 0 to 10 years. Fifty-eight per cent and 13.1% of the cases were found in wells and sewer systems respectively. Forty-three (62.3%) cases were found in a place with water. However, 34.9% of them had not drowned. The most frequent cause of death was drowning (40.6%). The cause of death was unknown in 18.8% of the cases. 15.9% of the corpses were exhumed to determine the cause of death. Twenty-six cases (37.7%) had signs of putrefaction and the cause of death was not determined in 9 cases. Diatom was investigated in 42.0% of the cases (29 cases), but 17 cases did not have diatom.

CONCLUSIONIt is a complicated process to determine the causes of death in bodies recovered from wells, pits, water supplies and sewer systems, etc. Thorough forensic investigations are required because death may result from a wide variety of factors, and lesions on the corpses may undergo some changes quickly or can be covered in wells, pits and water supplies. A complete crime scene investigation, a thorough autopsy and histopathological, toxicological and biochemical examinations would prevent potential problems in determining the causes of death in bodies recovered from wells, sewer systems and pits. Almost one-third of the bodies recovered from wells, sewer systems and pits were aged 10 years or younger, which indicates a public health problem. Extra safety precautions will help to solve this problem.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Autopsy ; Cause of Death ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Diatoms ; growth & development ; Drowning ; mortality ; pathology ; Female ; Homicide ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postmortem Changes ; Retrospective Studies ; Turkey ; epidemiology ; Water Supply ; Wounds and Injuries ; mortality ; pathology