Citation

Cengija M, Cuculic D, Petaros A, Sosa I, Bosnar A. Med. Sci. Law 2012; 52(4): 217-222.

Affiliation

Department of Forensic Medicine and Criminalistics, Rijeka University, School of Medicine, Brace Branchetta 20, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, British Academy of Forensic Sciences, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1258/msl.2012.012006

PMID

22875795

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence and characteristics of homicide-suicide events in Southwestern Croatia from 1986-2009 relying on autopsy reports of the Department of Forensic Medicine and Criminalistics, Rijeka and police records. A total of 17 cases involving 19 victims were identified. The perpetrators were most often men (82%), living in a spousal relationship with the victim. In 76.5% cases, suicide was committed immediately after homicide, and the same mean (most often an illegal firearm) was used for both. After examining the belongings of those involved in homicide-suicides, two factors differentiated our study from others, i.e. more victims and perpetrators were from the lower socioeconomic class and explosives were used in two homicide-suicide (12%) cases. The greater frequency of explosive used in homicide-suicide events may be a result of factors associated with the recent war fought in Croatia. These data prove the influence of sociological, historical and also political factors on the characteristics of a rare event such as homicide-suicide.

Language: en