Samuel Sotolongo^(1)
(1)"Camilo Cienfuegos" Provincial Hospital - Sancti Spíritus. . Cuba

INTRODUCTION

Homicides are the most relevant type of violent death due to their public impact and association with drug dealing and consumption, poverty, racial and ethnic conflicts, changes in family structure, war ⁽¹⁾ and, in general, when quality of life is affected ⁽²⁾.

Despite that homicides are under recorded in many countries, the real mortality rate is supposed to be increasing, however, Cuba is one of the Latin American countries with good statistical coverage of this phenomenon and also, an increase in homicides in general, has been found in our country ⁽¹⁾. Regarding the instrument or the weapon used for that purpose, it has been established that homicides by stabbing are found in a second place, only surpassed by shooting in the U.S.A^(1,3,4). In other countries, the ratio between homicides by shooting and stabbing is changing, being equal in some of them ⁽⁵⁾ and more frequent the stabbing cases in others ^(6,7,8). In Villa Clara, one of the central provinces in Cuba, this phenomenon hasn’t been studied systematically ⁽⁹⁾; thus, taking into consideration the economical changes which took place during the 2nd half of the 1980’s and the 1st half of the 1990’s in Cuba, we decided to carry out this investigation in order to find out how this situation was affecting Villa Clara during those years.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The data was obtained from the necropsy’s protocols of all the deceased by stabbing, investigated by the Provincial Department of Legal Medicine in Villa Clara; also the records located at the Provincial Court of Villa Clara for the crimes of Homicide or Assassination by Stabbing during the before mentioned period were analyzed. Some biological variables (age, sex, race, anatomic regions affected as well as internal findings on performing the autopsy) and non – biological variables (time and place in which the homicides occurred, day of the week) were taken into consideration. Tables and graphics were elaborated with the available information in order to show clearly the results.

DISCUSSION

It can be seen that the great majority of the victims were men may be due to the fact that on the one hand men’s social activity is greater than women’s and on the other hand, probably due to socio cultural traditions, men’s behavior is more violent when they face a situation of stress. Other studies have shown similar results in a 10 year – period ^(5,7,10).

Probably the racial structure of our society had an important influence on the higher number of victims with European characteristics, as is shown in bar graph # 2.

Regarding the age of the victims, the most affected age group was the 15 – 49 year old age, followed by the 50 – 64 year old age group, perhaps because of the greater social interaction in these periods of live. Other studies show similar results ^(5,7).

Most of the homicides may have occurred on week ends during night time, after a party, a sort of celebration or social meetings in which alcohol consumption was taking place although alcohol levels in this research were not taken into consideration because it wasn’t possible in every case.

Also in some studies carried out in Geneva ⁽⁵⁾ and New Zealand ⁽⁷⁾, the same results in relation to day of the week and time of the day were obtained.

In line graph, the distribution of the cases with vascular section of the medium and major vessels in the thoracic cavity in the studied period is shown. It’s quite clear that there was a sudden increasing of this phenomenon during the second half of this period. It’s well known all over the world, that in Cuba, since 1990, started a period of economical crisis (the so-called Special Period) which have had a clear influence in our life’s conditions and has increased the situation of stress in our population, and that, in our opinion, is one of the main causes of the increasing levels of violence.

CONCLUSIONS

1. Most of the victims of the homicides by stabbing in our study were white men, who were in the 15 – 49 year-old age group.
2. More than half of the homicides occurred on week ends during night time.
3. The most wounded area was the anterior region of the thorax and there are internal findings on performing the autopsy (vascular section of the medium and major vessels in the thoracic cavity) which suggest an increasing in the levels of violence, on executing those acts, during the second half of the studied period.

REFERENCES

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Shelley LI. The Internationalization of Crime: The changing relationship between crime and development . Essays on crime and development. UNICRI 1990 ;(36) : 119 – 120 .
Bell CA. Female homicides in United States workplaces 1980 –1985. Am J. Public Health 1991; 81(6): 729 – 732.
Davis H. Workplaces homicides of Texas males. Am. J. Public Health 1987; 77(10): 1290 – 1293.
Fernández CC, La Harpe R. Intentional homicides in the Genf canton (1971 – 1990). Arch Kriminol 1996; 197(3 – 4): 111 7.
Lo M, Vuletic JC, Koelmeyer TD. Homicides in Auckland, New Zealand: a 14 years study. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 1992; 13(1): 44 –49.
Fanslow JL, Chalmers DJ, Langley J.D Homicides in New Zealand: an increasing public health problem. Aust. J Public Health 1995; 19(1): 50 –7.
Lester D. Suicide and homicide in Costa Rica Med Su Law 1995; 35(4): 316-8.
Gutierrez Zurbarán G, López Izquierdo D, Sosa Moreno L, Garrido Cabrera L. Muerte violenta por arma blanca 1986 –1987. Trabajo presentado en la X Jornada Nacional de Medicina Legal. Las Tunas, 1988.
Fisher J, Kleemann. W J, Troger H D. Types of trauma in cases of homicide. Forensic Sci Int 1994; 68(3): 161 – 7.

Discussion Board

Any Comment to this presentation?

[ABSTRACT] [INTRODUCTION] [MATERIALS AND METHODS] [RESULTS] [RESULTS-2] [DISCUSSION] [CONCLUSIONS] [REFERENCES] [Discussion Board]

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Samuel Sotolongo
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Last update: 8/01/00