A retrospective study on homicidal autopsy cases at ramathibodi hospital in bangkok Thailand

Abstract

Nowadays, the increasing incidence of homicide is worldwide and it is a matter of great concern all over the world including Thailand. The present study is aimed at a description of distributions of homicide and to find the association and risk ratio of personal characteristics of homicide victim cases for Thai people. A 5-year retrospective review of personal and medicolegal autopsy records was conducted at the Forensic Medicine Division in the Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University. A total of 218 cases of homicide victims autopsied during the study period spanning from January 2003 to December 2007 were identified. Data concerning age, gender, marital status, day and time of death, homicide methods, area of death, and the involvement of alcohol were analyzed. The results showed that homicidal victims were more likely to be male than female. The mean age of the victims was 32.14 years with standard deviation 13.67 years, although the most frequent age range was early adulthood (21-30 years). Blood alcohol was found in 102 cases (46.79%). Mean blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was 71.59 mg/dL with standard deviation 101.59 mg/dL. Approximately 35% of all homicide victims had BAC >50 mg/dL (the legal limit). Gun shot was the favorite homicide method used for both male and female victims (32.11%, 3.21%). Most of the crimes were occurred during the night (33.94%) and evening (26.15%). The rainy season and Sundays were the most common times for homicide. There was significant association between gender and homicide methods at p-value < 0.01. In addition, night time proved to be a significant factor in relation to the occurrence of homicide at p-value < 0.01. Marital status associated homicide had more victims of the single and widowed status (OR = 1.63, 2.29). The daytime of weekdays showed that the number of homicide victims was nearly 1.2 times of weekends (OR = 1.197).